Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

__________________________________________________

{3/9/2040 Monday- Dupain-Cheng bakery 6:00}

The morning sun rose from the horizon to make way for another dreadful day. Why you ask? Today was the first day of school. A horrible thing all children around the world dread. But alas, by the power of parents, they must attend.

Within a small living room was a Chinese woman, Sabine Cheng, getting breakfast ready for her family. Her husband, Tom Dupain, was downstairs getting everything prepared to open the bakery. Once done she went up a ladder to her teen daughter's room, Marinette, who was still asleep in bed.

Sabine sighed, shaking her daughter awake, she got to use to sleeping in through summer break. The French Asian girl stirred from her slumber, forcing her eyes open to see her mother before her. Marinette rubbed her eyes and moved her hair out of her face to see clearly. She was confused as to why she was being woken up so early, before registering the vibration coming from her alarm. Eyes widening, Marinette shot out of bead and headed for the bathroom, not before hitting the wall with her face.

"I'm fine!"

__________________________________________________

{Inside Dupain-Cheng bakery- 7:00}

Marinette walked down the stairs tying her hair in a low ponytail with a black hairband. She still remembers all the insults Chloe threw at her for having pigtails.

Her outfit was rather simple, a white t-shirt with a black JD; a pair of navy turn-up denim shorts; a matching cropped, unbuttoned denim jacket that reached her forearm. A pair of black and white high tops, white leg warmers; and a black smartwatch on her left wrist. She had a navy backpack with black lining, with a matching purse.

After breakfast and nearly dropping the box of macarons her father gave to share with her classmates, she went on her marry way to school. It was the first day back and she defiantly didn't want to be late. Stepping up through the doors of Collège Françoise Dupont, which was only a few blocks away from her house, she met up with her cousin Marc Anciel.

Marc wore a white t-shirt with a rainbow heart in the middle, and a pair of navy jeans. A pair of black fingerless gloves; a pair of red converses; and a red version of the backpack Marinette wore.

"2 minutes early and no tripping Mari, that's a new record", a small chuckle came through his mouth.

"I'm here though, aren't I?" The girl puffed her cheeks before a smirk crossed her lips. "Or do you not want a free macaron?"

The other blue head covered their mouth, letting out a dramatic gasp. "You wouldn't dare deprive me of the treats from the heavens!"

The two shared a laugh before snaking on a sweet treat while heading for their designated classes. Marinette to the French room and Marc to the science lab. Entering the classroom, Marinette was met with a red head woman with cyan eyes. Her homeroom teacher, Madam Caline Bustier, greeted them with a warm smile upon her face.

She had a turquoise, knee length A-line dress with a white collar and buttons in the shape of hearts, a white ribbon belt cinching her waist, and pair of white high heel sandals. A selenite comb in shape of a heart in her bun and matching earrings. Caline also had some watermelon-coloured lipstick. Her white Satchel sat on her desk next to the computer.

Marinette moved to sit in her usual spot in the second front row on the left, only to see Chloe Bourgeois, her bully since kindergarten, sitting there. And right next to her was her servant, Sabrina Raincomprix. Both wearing clothes from Gabriel Agreste's Sweet Dreams fashion line.

Chloe, who was filing her nails, looked over at the French Asian girl. "What do you want, Dupain-Cheng?" She sneered.

"Nothing", Marinette muttered looking down, audible enough for Chloe to hear.

"Then stop staring and mind your own business," and the blond went back to painting her nails.

Chloe is the daughter of Andre Bourgeois, the mayor, and Audrey Bourgeois, owner of the number one fashion magazine in the world, style queen magazine. Her older half-sister, Zoe Bourgeois is also a famous actress in America, currently starring in a new movie.

She wore a yellow sleeveless turtleneck with a black pleated, mid-thigh skirt decorated with tiny white dots, imitating the cola sweet. A thick, golden belt, matching bracelet on her right wrist, black wedge sandals with gold on the edge, and golden hexagon shaped locket. She had a black leather backpack with golden accent and a matching purse.

She had some ash gold eyeshadow and pink tinted lip-gloss. Her platinum blonde hair was down, held back with a black comb with visible hexagonal lemon quartz in each five sections.

Sabrina's the daughter of the head of the police department, she had been at Chloe's side for as long as anyone could remember, acting as her slave. However, that didn't mean she didn't partake in the bullying either.

She wore a pale blue polo, pale pink pleated skort like the bubble-gum bottle sweet. White fingerless gloves, a white belt bag, white and blue flats, and white headband. White framed glasses, white leather backpack with blue accent and a bulldog keychain.

"Nino, I want you to sit in the front this year" Called their teacher, "Marinette, I'd like you to sit next to the new girl here, Kamar Akel". And she gestured to an Arabian girl sitting in the first row on the right, eyes rising from her phone.

Kamar had a capri blue scarf around her head with bromeliads on the edge, along with central heterochromia eyes. Full-sleeved, white shirt, blue mesh long shirt with a bromeliad on the front, white jeans. Black gladiator sandals, and black gloves with the back open. She had a black backpack embroidered with bromeliads and white accent.

"Hi" Marinette nervously put her hand out "I'm Marinette".

"Kamar" the other girl shook Marinette's hand, a neutral look on her face.

"Uh... Macaroon?" She opened the box up. "They have no gelatine or alcohol."

Kamar took one, muttering a small thanks plopping into her mouth, the French Asian just smiled.

Slowly, more students came into the classroom, all of which took a few macaroons upon entering the classroom. Caline had even taken one before thanking the blunette. Eventually, there was one raspberry macaroon left, which the designer ate before another could claim it. Of course, Chloe and Sabrina didn't take one.

The red head teacher called everyone's attention to the front as 7:30 came. "Students, I have an announcement to make, this year we have three new students joining. However, only one of them is present today," she gestured for Kamar to stand at the front, which she obediently did.

"This is Kamar Akel, please treat her nicely". The class gave a nod before greeting Kamar. The teacher then gave her a little nudge to tell her to sit down. After she did, the teacher continued.

"The other two students are Lila Rossi, a girl from Italy, and Adrien Agreste, the teen model and a childhood friend of Chloe and Sabrina." Chloe preened at that. "Lila's family is still setting up their home. And Adrien's father called him in sick, so hopefully they'll be able to attend tomorrow".

The class started chatting about how cool it is that they were getting not only a model who's the son of the king of fashion, but also a foreign girl in their class. Though it was to be expected as their school was a private school with a pretty high fee.

"Also, if you want to run for class representative" the teacher's gaze fell on Chloe for a second. "Tell me and I'll sign you up. You have until the end of the week".

More murmuring coursed through the class, some glancing towards Chloe, who no doubt would run for class representative again.

Smiling, Caline clapped her hands to call everyone's attention back to her.

"Now class, let's begin our new school year."

__________________________________________________

{Agreste Mansion, Adrien's bedroom}

In a white mansion, the sound of a piano could be heard from a bedroom window. The boy playing it was the teen model, Adrien Agreste. His father had him to stay home today as he wanted to assess his knowledge before attending school, and after, to see if it was worth it and wasn't a bad influence on him. His father had even let him sleep in late just so he'd stay in.

Weird. But he wasn't about to complain.

__________________________________________________

{ Collège Françoise Dupont, Library-  10:30}

The bell rang to signify the end of third period, Chemistry with Mademoiselle Olga Mendeleiev, and the beginning of a thirty-minute break. This is normally used to have a small snack, do any extra work, or even go into some shops nearby. Marinette used this time to show Kamar around the school as assigned by their tutor.

Unfortunately for one of their classmates, Ivan, he was sent to the headmaster's office after starting a fight with Kim.

She made sure to text this to Marc, who replied by telling her there was a new girl in his class too named Alya. Apparently, unlike Alya, Kamar wasn't much of a talker, only asking questions relevant to what she was shown. The two had just reached the library when a huge crash came, shaking the whole school.

"What the heck!?"

"Where'd that come from!?"

"Was that an explosion!?"

Panic raced through the room and was easily heard coming from outside too.

"There's a giant fudging rock monster outside!"

"What the what!?"

Everyone came running outside to see the school being broken apart. A huge hole in headmaster Denis Damoclès' office, exposing a plump man with a big grey beard. Stiff in fear. But that wasn't what caught people's attention.

It was the giant rock monster exiting the school, his footsteps shaking the ground. Eyes the colour of acid.

"KIM!"

"That monster has Ivan's voice," Marinette breathed out, leaning against the railing.

"What did you just say!?" Kamar immediately faced her "He has who's voice!?"

But Marinette was too stunned to respond.

In the locker-room, a girl shot out of her daze and to her feet.

She opened her waist bag and took out a small video camera. Determination flashing through her eyes. "I'm gonna film it!" Turning her camera on she races to catch up.

"Wait what!?" The declaration broke Marc out from his out of his own shock, "Alya it's too dangerous!" And proceeded to chase after her.

Marinette on the other hand, manoeuvred her way through her distressed schoolmates with the goal of finding Marc. She wasn't as diligent as she'd like as she tripped over some rubble. Stopping herself mid fall only to be pushed back by a new girl rushing past her.

Regaining her bearings she bursts through the door to the locker room she scanned the room for the male blunette. She didn't see Marc, but she did see Zain, a Muslim-American boy in Marc's class, coming from the left side of the room. His left prospect arm in front of him in a protective manner.

"Zain! Where's Marc!?"

Zain's eyes widen at the sight of the female blunette. "Marc was touring a new girl around school when this happened!"

He did mention that earlier. Eyebrows scrunched up, raking her head for any unfamiliar faces. The school's a small population made it easy to spot a new face. She then remembered the girl who ran past her. After the monster...!

"I need to go!" And she ran out to find her cousin.

__________________________________________________

{Sports Stadium}

A giant rock monster rummaged around the stadium, intent on finding something, or someone? He created several holes within the empty stadium in the process.

Ivan finally stops when he brings a set of seats, he'd torn out to eye level with him. His eyes landing on a boy whose hair looks like an enormous chunk of cheese stuck to his head. Picking him up like some sort of rag doll, he discards the seats as they crash to the floor.

"Who's the wimpy one now? Huh Kim!?" Ivan's voice rang through the stadium, a calm bellow at his victim, now has been identified as Kim. "How about a test of bravery?" And he drops Kim, letting him fall to the ground.

However, instead of hitting the cold hard ground, a man in black came in and swooped Kim from the air, and gently onto the ground. Kim opened his eyes to meet a pair of neon green ones staring right at him, surrounded by a black cat mask. Kind of Like those romance scenes you see in movies, cartoon, and anime.

"Hey, you okay kid?" The mysterious man asked. All he got in response was a nod. "Good, then get out of here!" and he put him down.

Kim did a double take at the stone being before he ran off to the exit. That monster had Ivan's voice so maybe it was him? But why was he so angry at him? What did he do?

Back to the cat man, he decided to pull an SAO Kirito and try smacking Ivan with his staff. Of course it didn't phase the giant, but what was more surprising is how the monster seemed to ab, this caused the akuma to grow bigger and stronger.

"Uh oh" a panicked expression came over his face as a giant stone hand came to grab his face. "HELP!"

An answer to his prayers came in the form of a force tugging him back, causing him to fly to the other side of the stadium. Looking up he saw a ladybird woman, reverting a string back into her yoyo.

"Thanks for the help, lady, although I had it covered," as if he didn't just scream for help 2 seconds ago.

The ladybug girl just rolled her eyes. "Totally fur ball."

"I am Stoneheart!" The stone being finally declared their name. "Give me your miraculous!"

"Forgot about him," muttered the female heroine.

"How about we use our powers?" A cunning expression crossing the cat's face as he put his hand out into the air. "Cataclysm!" Small black bubbles started emitting from his right hand.

"And what are your powers again?" Asked the brunette.

"Watch", he touched the football net behind him, disintegrating it into nothing. "Claw-some!"

He ran toward Stoneheart in confidence. Ignoring the protests from his head.

So, he did the Naruto run, no joke, towards Stone heart, before pulling a chidori and struck his hand down onto the foot of the stone being.

And it did nothing.

YOU ONLY GET ONE SHOT AT YOUR MOVE YOU MORON! THE FUDGE DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING!? DO YOU WANNA DIE!? An enraged male voice yelled in his head. And honestly, he's got a point, kid was being an idiot.

This time, the black head was able to save himself with a backflip before a fist could dig him into the ground. Jumping back a few times, he returns to the red girl's side.

"Did your kwamii not tell you that you only have one shot?" She fumed.

Now you only have... five minutes left, check the ring to... see how long. The cat boy looked down at his ring. You'll detransform... when it's... gone. Anger slowly left as exhaustion took over.

"Must have forgotten to tell me," he shrugged.

Kitten... don't... lie

Yeah, yeah

Now...just....

A confused expression crossed the hero's face, at the exhaustion his heard.

Meanwhile, the ladybug heroine scanned the area around her. Eyes laid back to Stoneheart who was taking long yet slow strides towards them. Looking over his body, she realized one of his fists were clenched at all times.

The akumatized object must be there! The voice of a female rang through her head. By breaking it, you can free the victim!

So, I just need to somehow make him open his other hand? That's simple.

"Well Cat Knight, I got a better plan then you", he looked towards her in bewilderment.

"And what exactly is that, Lady Ruby?"

"Lucky charm!" as the lady threw her yoyo in the air, a flurry of ladybug came out from it, and from them emerged...a wet suit? She questioned this, aware of her partner's judging eyes.

And what am I supposed to do with this Tikki? She thought while looking around a second time.

Use your... imagine ...ation. The tired voice from Tikki had caused her to rush for a plan.

You better not black out on me! But there was no response.

While searching for a way out of the situation, Lady Ruby noticed a Martinique Creole-French girl with a camera recoding her. Sending a small flying kiss in their direction, barely dodging the giant punch that came their way.

"Would you just stay still your stupid rock!"

"And I didn't even get to show off my abs."

"You don't have any!"

"Just hurry up and break the object you stupid brat!"

"It's an Akuma your useless runt!"

Their arguing just seemed to anger the monster further as he flew into a rage, stomping and breaking the ground around him with no real pattern behind it. And as Lady Ruby deemed the wet suit as useless, she discarded it near the stands where four teenagers took in the sight before them.

"Alya! You need to leave here immediately!" Marc yelled, he wasn't one to leave someone, despite his distaste of standing out.

"But there's a live battle right here!" The auburn-haired girl argued.

"Get back!" A blonde girl pulled the glasses girl away before a piece of rubble could hit her.

"Whoa! Thanks Aroura", Alya breathed out, camera clutched to her heart. She'll never understand how news reporters in fiction ever survive these battles.

It was just then that the blue haired girl arrived, "what the hell is going on!? Marc!"

"Your guess is as good as mine Mari," he replied as Aroura gestured them over to look at her phone. On it was a bird's eye view of the entire battle before them.

"How are you filming that?" Alya asked in amazement.

"A drone obviously", the blonde ponytail girl replied. "Got is during summer and wanted to try it out."

"Hey, what do you think that thing is?" Marinette pointed to the red and black object on the ground that seemed to be near them. The four looked up to see the wet suit that the spotted heroine had dropped.

"The ladybug looking girl made it appear before just discarding it", Aroura answered.

"The question is, why would she make it then leave it?" Alya put her hand on her chin in wonder.

"We can wonder about that later, look!" Marc pointed towards the battle as the knight got caught by the stone monster's massive fists, the lady flying up and out of reach.

The female blunette looked around at her surroundings as the stone being, Ivan, waved its fist in the air to the red heroine. A clenched fist. Now that I think about it, his fist has been clenched the entire time. If I were trying to catch something, I'd open both hands. Marinette thought.

"Hey guys, do you have any info on how to stop this?" Okay, that sounded stupid.

"The monster, Stoneheart, did say he wanted something called miraculous from them", the blonde replied, though her hands held her phone tightly.

Fortunately, Alya, who'd been going through her feed, knew something. "Listen to this, the two said earlier that they're looking for an object called an akuma to break", she played the part of the argument where they mentioned it.

"Well, whatever this akuma is might be here, considering they don't seem to be searching anywhere else," the male tapped his chin.

"It's probably in his left fist, he's been keeping it clenched the entire time", The blue ponytailed girl pointed over to the fight. "If he opens his hand then it would drop out", her eyes wondered to the hose nearby.

Maybe if the wetsuit was tied to the end of the hose, then allowed herself to get caught, she could get one of us to turn it on. The suit would inflate, and she'd be free to destroy the akuma. But who'd trust a random civilian?

Luckily, the woman in red seemed to realise where the location of the akuma, as she wrapped her yoyo around the fingertips of the fist, clearly getting desperate. Unluckily for her, the lack of planning backfired as she was pulled forward, trapped in the monster's grasp.

"Let go of me you overgrown bolder!" Lady Ruby attempted to break free from the enemy.

"If I can't get out, what makes you think you can!?" Cat Knight was clearly frustrated after failing in his own struggle.

The glowing silhouette of a butterfly hovered over the face of Stoneheart. Eyes no longer seemed to be looking at the surroundings, his body stiff.

"What was going on?" Marc wondered.

Marinette's pointed over to the purple rock that had fallen from Stoneheart's hand, "Whatever it was there's no way it's gonna last long". Everyone else knew what she was getting at.

"I'll do it", All four turned their heads over to Kim, coming down from the chairs next to them.

"I thought you left already", the drone girl couldn't help but blurt out.

"I'm the one he's mad at, so I'll fix it", he crouched down, ready to sprint.

""But wait, Kim-!" Whatever Marinette wanted to say was cut off by the jock sprinting down at the purple object.

"Break the purple rock!" The female yelled out just as the blonde boy reached the rock. The same time when the butterfly silhouette disappeared from the stone being.

"KIM!" Ivan's eye's landed on Kim. The wail pierced his ears as he stomped on the rock, breaking it easily and releasing a purple mist. Weird.

A purple smoke engulfed the monster, letting go of both heroines and leaving a big boy looking rather pale and fatigue. Ivan Bruel. squinting due to the sudden bright light from the sun. Sirens from both the police and the ambulance getting louder.

"Out of the way! Let the professionals deal with this!" They pushed the two heroes aside to surround Ivan, who lay on the ground in need of some clear rest. Luckily, the doctors took him in an ambulance. Kim, and the other four were also taken away in case of any injury.

A chubby officer with an injured arm came up to the two heroes as Aroura slowly brought her drone down. Both her and Alya recording. "Who are you two?"

"We're Paris's new superheroes, here to fight against the Akumas", The Knight leaned on his staff as the lady placed a hand on her hip before seeming to remember something. The cat took out a green gem from his staff and the red girl walked over to the wetsuit and threw them into the air.

"Miraculous Miracle!" Both heroes yelled and the items disappeared. In their places were black cats and ladybugs, running through the air. All the fallen building and broken items from the attack had disappeared.

"Did you just waste a miracle!?" Gasped the heroine at the hero.

"Hey, if you get to look cool, so do I!" He resorted back before remembering they had company and letting out an awkward cough. "My apologies officer, my name is Cat Knight". Said hero bowed down in the direction of the camera.

"And I'm Lady Ruby", the female hero flipped her brown locks before a beeping was heard from the two heroes. "Well, bug out!" What the beeping meant was unknown but before they could question the two, they left.

__________________________________________________

{4/9/2040 Tuesday Dupain-Cheng bakery, living-room- 6:20}

"Earlier yesterday, at around 10:30 am, there was a monster attack at Collège Françoise Dupont that resolved a couple of hours later at the sports stadium. What should have been a peaceful return to school, ended up becoming a traumatic event. Thus, all schools were cancelled for the rest of the day."

Nadija Chamack on ITV News was playing in the background as the Dupain-Chengs ate their breakfast. As Nadija stated, school was indeed cancelled yesterday, despite the damage reversal. Once her check up at the hospital was done, she was picked up and taken home by her parents, not before dropping Marc off.

"What happened exactly however, is still unknown. But we do have some details thanks to a livestream taken by a pair of students in the scene".

"Are you sure you're okay after today? It was a rather horrid experience", her mother worried with her father ending a similar look.

"Don't worry mama, I'm fine. And I don't wanna miss anything important, even if it is just the beginning of the year", she reassured her mother. She didn't want her parents to worry about her too much about her.

__________________________________________________

{Agreste Mansion-living room 7:00}

Adrien Agreste, teen model, son of Gabriel Agreste the king of fashion, and Emilie Agreste a world-famous actress, was starting his first day at Collège Françoise Dupont. His childhood friends Chloe and Sabrina also went there. He knew this was his mother's wish but after her death, he just didn't feel the same.

Adrien was wearing a white, short sleeved polo shirt with neon green lining and buttons, a pair of cropped white jeans. Green belt bag, white leather cuff bracelet on his left wrist, emerald oval locket, and leather brown sports sandals.

He finishes his breakfast and grabs his backpack that was at his feet. it was a white waterproof backpack, with green accent. The zips in the shape of his father's logo.

"I'll be leaving for school now father", he grinned at the man next to him.

"Excited I see", the man, Gabriel Agreste gave a warm smile back. "Goodluck and enjoy your first day".

"I will!" Adrien called back.

Walking out of the mansion he went into his limousine, driven by his bodyguard, Placide, whom he addressed as 'Gorilla'. He was mute, but incredibly strong. Qualities that made him the perfect bodyguard for a teenage celebrity like Adrien.

The cause behind his mother's death is unknown. At first it was just dizzy spells here and there, but over time it became worse and worse. Eventually, to the point she was bedridden. Death followed soon after.

After a 10-minute drive, he finally arrived at school. Exiting the car, he was suddenly thrown off balance from a body enveloping him.

"Adrikins!" Stabilizing himself, he realized the one to hug him was his childhood friend, Chloe.

Sabrina, who was just behind her gave a little wave. "Good morning, Adrien".

"Good morning, Sabrina, Chloe."

"Good morning to you too Adrikins," Chloe let go of her best male friend. "Now come on now, I'll show you to our school and where our class is!" She grabbed onto his arm and lead him through the school.

__________________________________________________

{ Collège Françoise Dupont,  Inside school- 7:00}

Just as seen at the stadium, the school had been entirely fixed, almost as if there was no danger from yesterday. Marinette and Marc entered the building to see a crowed of students at one of the benches. Police officers close by.

Walking over to get a better look at the situation, they realized that the cause of the crowed was Ivan Bruel, the same person who turned into Stoneheart. Despite the students knowing about the whole butterfly situation, thanks to Aurora's and Alya's livestreams, they were still rather weary of him. But of course, that wouldn't stop them from asking offensive questions.

Ivan wore a black t-shirt with white sleeves and a skull and bones, black shorts with white lines on the edge. Black slip-on sandals, and a black skull wristband on his left wrist.

His face was dropped down in guilt, aware of the looks of fear he was reserving. There were a few similar looks given towards Kim, mixed with respect. He was the cause of Ivan's anger but had also helped.

Kim was aware of the part he played in this. Head down in shame. His parents had let him off the hook this time due to how severe the attack was and how he tried to help. But he was required to apologise and go to therapy to understand why other people wouldn't see things in the same light he does.

Lê Chiến Kim, a Vietnamese French boy, wore a pair of blue sports shorts with white lining on the sides, a red muscle tank with the French flag, and red high tops. A wool wrist band on his left wrist, a red smartwatch on his right wrist, and a pair of ruby stud earrings.

"You were totally out of it! How do you feel?" Alya held her camera up and ready for information.

The cousins really didn't want to deal with any of this drama, so they quickly headed for the locker room. But they were still able to hear the conversation through the thin walls.

"I don't remember anything, it felt as though I just woke but all my energy was drained" The boy talked in a mumble without facing the auburn-haired girl.

"Ugh!" a sound of disgust came from the famous spoilt blonde and orange bob. "I really don't get how you all can still treat him like he's human!"

"The hell Chloe!?" Aurore Beaureal, a French British girl in Marc's class, yelled at her.

"Ivan went around on a rampage, nearly killing people!" Sabrina agreed with her BFF. "My father's arm was also broken!"

"And who's to say he won't just turn into a monster again!" Chloe exclaimed. Only Sabrina heard the fear in her voice.

That outburst Chloe and Sabrina had seemed to just do if for Ivan, and he went scurrying off into the locker room, away from the crowed. Some of the students started to glare at Chloe, some even called her a few choice names before leaving as the officers followed Ivan.

__________________________________________________

{ Collège Françoise Dupont,  locker room- 7:10}

While Chloe escorted Adrien around school, a pair of blueberries went to check up on a schoolmate of theirs. The note that Ivan had yesterday was written by Kim. He admitted that he was making fun of Ivan being scared to confess to their classmate, Mylene Haprele. He had done it with the intention of edging getting Ivan to confess.

Marinette thought it was rather obvious that the two liked each other. They tend to blush around each other, and their eyes are always searching for each other. She even remembers when Ivan attended the circus last year when Mylene said she was going.

Marc would often deadpan and say that she noticed and remembered the weirdest things. Though she laughed it off, she was worried if people would see her as a stalker because of this.

Ivan looked up when the female cousin tripped, "what do you want?"

"Well... we heard about what happened," Marinette nervously smiled. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah" Ivan's simple reply had the blue heads worried.

"You like Mylene right?" Marc blurted out before covering his mouth.

"What? Who told you!?" The black-bland exclaimed with a red face, as if it weren't obvious.

"Come on Ivan, everyone but Mylene knows" Marinette started.

"And Mylene probably likes you too" Marc added, causing Ivan's eyes to widen and his face to turn a deeper red.

"But how do I tell her?" Ivan wondered.

"You could write her a poem, or maybe paint her a picture?" Marinette suggested.

"Maybe I could write her a song?" Ivan seemed to have hope in his eyes.

"That's perfect for her!" Marc exclaimed

"What girl wouldn't love a love song!" Marinette gave the boy a thumbs up.

"But what if she doesn't understand what I'm saying?" Ivan worried, "I'm not the best at singing."

"Then write it down and give it to her," Marc suggested.

Ivan got up, a newfound determination rising inside of him. "I'm gonna go and start right now!"

"Go on Ivan!" Marinette cheered.

"Get your girl!" Marc joined.

And as Ivan walked off, Marinette spoke one more motivational phrase. "And stay positive," and he disappeared behind the doors, police officers, once again following him behind.

Proud with their work, the two went to sort out their lockers and prepare for class.

__________________________________________________

{Collège Françoise Dupont, French classroom- 7:20}

Unfortunately, as the first school bell rang, the scene Marinette saw in the classroom traded her happiness to annoyance. A blonde boy, whom she didn't recognise, was putting gum on her seat.

"Hey!" Her cry caused the boy to whirl around in alarm. "What are you doing?"

"I-I was just trying to-", the unknown boy tried to stutter out an answer, but a laugh from the queen bee and her slave stopped him.

Marinette sighed, coming to one conclusion as she sighed, "I get it, your friends with Chloe." Moving around the boy to her seat she looked at it in disgust. No way am I touching that. Thankfully, Kamar gave her a tissue to cover the gum with. While she did ignore the upset look the boy gave her, she had the distinct feeling he looked familiar.

Adrien sat back in his seat as Chloe spoke to him in a cheerful voice. "See Adrikins, life outside of solitude is much different".

However, lady luck seemed to shine down on him that day as he sat next to a Moroccan French boy. "Hey dude," Green orbs met golden orbs. "Why don't you tell her that it was Chloe who put the gum on the seat?"

Sad anime boy looked down, "I know she's not the nicest person, but she and Sabrina have been my only friends ever since I was a kid."

The headphone boy gazed at the boy in pity before replacing it with a smile. "Well then, I guess it's time for you to make new friends," he put his hand out to shake. "The name's Nino".

Emerald orbs smiled like he'd been blessed from the heavens, accepting the offered hand, "I'm Adrien."

__________________________________________________

{Collège Françoise Dupont, locker room}

Meanwhile, a short plump girl was in the bathroom. This girl was Mylene Haprele, daughter of the drama teacher Fred Haprele, who's also a famous Mime.

She wore a chocolate brown t-shirt, fern green overall shorts, and brown and gold gladiator sandals. A magenta scarf around her head, a tear shaped, magenta amulet, and a brown rucksack with golden accent.

Exiting the bathroom, the multi-haired girl was startled by a big boy in front of the entrance. Ivan, and how the hell he knew she was there anybody's guess. As for the officers, they were at the other end of the locker, beholding the teenage drama that would appear before them. Were on of them chewing on a cereal bar?

"I-Ivan," the female stuttered. "What are you doing here? Isn't class about to start"?

"I-I-," Ivan tried to speak, but the words simply would not leave his mouth. In the end he simply shoved a piece of paper in Mylene's hand and looked away.

Mylene gave him a confused look before reading what was on the sheet. It was the song he wrote for her. How'd he finish it so quick? Did he have this song planned for valentine's day or something?

"Wow..." she looked up at Ivan who was avoiding eye contact. "It's really beautiful", yeah, they were both the embodiment of a tomato.

"I'm sorry... about yesterday.... I scared you, didn't I?" Ivan's shoulder's slumped and he looked away when Mylene remained quiet. "I'm sorry" he turned to look at her "I'll do my best not to let that happen again". Like this boy is too sweet just marry him already!

Instead of saying anything, Mylene gave him a huge hug, raising the amount of pink on his face. They stayed like that for a few seconds before the second school bell rang. GOD DANG IT! And they ran off to class. The officers deny having cursed out at the school bell.

__________________________________________________

{Collège Françoise Dupont, French classroom}

The final bell rang for school and Madam Bustier started taking morning attendance that day, and luckily for Adrien, he knew what to do when the teacher called his name. Unfortunately, he seemed rather too enthusiastic.

"Here!" He stood up in his seat with his hand raised in the air, causing some sniggers from his classmates behind him, even Nino.

He sat down right after, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. Nino gave him a 'really?' look but all Adrien could do was sheepishly shrug.

Caline just let a gentle giggle through as she continued the take attendance before landing on another new name. "Lila Rossi?"

"Here Madam!" An Italian girl raised her hand similarly to Adrien but stood still in her seat behind Marinette who let out a small yelp of surprise having not noticed her.

Once finished she stood up from her desk and moved her hands at the two new students telling them to come forward. "I'd like everyone to greet the two other new students." The two stood up, Lila to the class's right, Adrien to the left.

The red head gestured to the boy. "This is Adrien Agreste, a famous model and the son of Gabriel Agreste King of fashion," a cough from a female blonde caught the teacher's attention. "And of course, childhood friends with Chloe and Sabrina."

She then gestured to the girl. "And this is Lila Rossi, she's also new to Paris so she may get confused due to the language barrier. Make sure to make her feel welcome and be patient towards her."

She's beautiful. The blunette thought as the new girl stood with grace, brushing some of her chocolate hair away from her face. Her emerald eyes holding so much warmth. A friendly smile place upon her tan skin came from her carnation pink lips. Her round nails painted a lovely rose red.

Lila wore a ruby red short culotte jumpsuit with a sweetheart neckline, a black ribbon around her waist, and a black cropped blazer folded at the elbows. White crew socks, black and white high-tops, three tiny red and black beaded bracelets on her left wrist, a red heart shaped purse across her body and a pair of red pearl earrings. On her seat behind Marinette sat her red backpack with black accent.

I wish I were as beautiful and confident as her. Marinette groaned. The only skills I have are stalker and clumsiness. She slumped in her seat as the two students went back to theirs.

"Marinette, I'd like you to show Lila around the school along with Kamar, which is if you haven't already after... yesterday." The teacher was correct, they were still touring the second floor when they were.... interrupted.

"Yes, Madam Bustier," she replied.

"As for Adrien, I know you have friends in here, but I'd like Nino to show you around," Nino gave Adrien a bump on the shoulder. "He is your seatmate, and it would be good for you to make friends with others." Caline smiled at the two, ignoring the look of disbelief on Chloe's face.

__________________________________________________

{Collège Françoise Dupont- 10:30}

A school break comes once again, and Marinette was once again showing two girls around school. Nino and Adrien came along too so they were doing a joint tour. Though Marinette wasn't fond of Adrien, she wasn't going to be outright hostile.

"So, where did you guys' study before coming here, and how were your friends?" Nino asked, as they walked down the stairs to the ground floor. Great question Nino.

Nino wore a white sleeveless, turtleneck with a red music note on the front, a pair of dark grey cropped jeans, and red converses. Black fingerless gloves, red headphones around his neck, red baseball cap. He wore a red messenger bag with white accent and a white music note. Last year he had glasses but now it seems he's opted for contacts.

"I'm pretty sure it's already known who my only friends were and that I was home-schooled before." Adrien rubbed the back of his neck, and yes, it was already known.

"I studied in a different school in France," was Kamar's simple reply.

"I studied in a private school back in Italy," Lila confidently yet gently stated. "I made a few friends there I had to leave when I moved to France."

"Well, your French is really good, so I guess that helps," Marinette commented.

"Thank you", the brown-haired person beamed at the praise "I actually travel around quite a lot with my father so I'm rather fluent in quite a few languages."

"Really? I only know French and Arabic. Along with a bit of English," Nino said amazed.

"Well apart from Italian and French I know, English and Korean. I also know a bit of basic Spanish and German," Lila seemed pleased to share her talent with the others. "What about all of you guys? Excluding French."

"I know Chinese and English along with some basic Japanese," Adrien stated.

"I also know Arabic and some English," Kamar mentioned, hands in her pockets.

"I know Chinese and a bit of English too," Marinette stated, English is part of the curriculum, so they had to know it.

"I've been meaning to try to get to know some Japanese. Even if it's just the basics, do you mind teaching me some time?" The Italian's eyes filled with hope as she looked over to the model.

"Sure, I don't see why not," the blonde-haired boy smiled.

"Thank you so much Adrien!" Emerald eyes lit up at the news of being able to expand her knowledge of language.

"Shouldn't we continue the tour?" Kamar spoke up annoyed. "The two of you can study in the library after school or something."

"Kamar's right guys, we can't have you getting lost in here", Nino agreed. "The library has an entire section dedicated to foreign languages you can use. Granted, most of it is English," and the group moved forward.

__________________________________________________

{Outside school- School gates, 15:30}

School had ended for the day, and finally, it was a rather normal one that both student and teachers were grateful for. After the attack no real work was able to be done, which would obviously take a toll on the students' education.

Unfortunately, it was raining, and our blueberry didn't have an umbrella. Her last one had broken, and her scatterbrain head had forgotten to buy another. So, she had to wait for Marc to see if he could walk her home.

While waiting, Adrien Agreste had walked up beside her, "hey there."

She turned away once again. Sighing, he opened his umbrella and took a step into the rain but still faced her.

"I wanted to tell you that I was only trying to take the gum off the seat, I swear." His voice seemed so sincere that the blunette couldn't help but look at him. "For a long time, Chloe and Sabrina were my only friends. It's all sort of, new to me" " he looked down for a second before holding his umbrella out to her.

Marinette was stunned, the boy in front of her, now that she looked at him, didn't have a single look of falsehood in his eyes. Could someone who's been friends with Chloe even be nice?

Something, or someone, then weighed themselves down on her right shoulder. "Who are you?" Turning her head to the side, blue eyed girl found her cousin standing next to her with his umbrella open. He looked over at Adrien in a challenging manner. Oh, sugar! I forgot I told him about the bubble gum!

Adrien seemed taken aback by the newcomer. "I-I'm Adrien, I'm in the same class as her," he pointed towards the female blunette.

"Well, I'm her cousin," he grabbed her hand. "And we'll be leaving now goodbye," and Marc dragged his slightly dazed cousin off.

"Wah-!" The pull seemed to knock her out of her daze. She turned her head around to the teen model. "S-see you tomorrow!" She called out before facing forward.

Adrien on the other hand was just relieved that he hadn't made an enemy on his first day.

Chapter Text

__________________________________________________

{10/9/2040, Monday, Inside Françoise Dupont, French Classroom - 7:30}

"Now class, I have an announcement for everyone," Madam Bustier called for everyone's attention. Those who've been here for a while defiantly knew what was coming next.

"As you all know, the deadline to run for class representative has been reached. And since only one person has decided to run, we'll just dub them as right now." The teacher waved her hands to two terrors as they strut to the front. "Chloe will be the representative with Sabrina as her deputy."

Sabrina held up a tablet that had 'CLAP' written down for everyone to see. Everyone, even the ponytailed blunette, obliged. Chloe held her head up high, bathing in the applause before she was made to sit.

"Now, as you already know, for your French exams this year all surround fairy tales. So, in one of your assignments, I'll be splitting you all up into groups of 3!" Excitement radiated off of the woman, lighting up the room. Group activities are her favourite thing after all.

Alix, Lila's seatmate, raised her hand. "Are we allowed to choose our groups?"

"I'm afraid not, I'd like all of you to collaborate with people you don't normally talk to. Having said that, I expect all of you to treat each other with respect and share the work equally." The stern look on her face shut down any argument any of the 16 students would make, Mainly Chloe.

"Now, I'll be announcing the teams," she took out a piece of paper she had. "Keep in mind a one of the teams will have 4 people in them."

"Team 1: Chloe, Alix and Max. Team 2: Marinette, Lila and Kamar. Team 3: Sabrina, Rose and Mylene. Team 4, Ivan, Nathaniel and Juleka. Lastly, team 5: Adrien, Nino, Kim, and Laurent." Each name was written down under their team number on the blackboard.

"Now, each of you are to look into an individual fairy-tale and it's previous, darker version, from which it was inspired by. Such as the brother's Grim version of snow white with the Disney version. What changed and why? Who was the targeted audience? And why exactly was it written in a certain was?"

This time, Laurent rose his hand, he had pale skin, short black hair, and caramel eyes. "Are we allowed to choose the fairy tale we study?"

"Don't worry, this part you can choose, and to make sure that nobody does the same one, we'll choose them right now." Caline now had a blue chalk to write a fairy-tale under. "I shall allow you all to get up and converse with your teammates."

Everyone did as they were told, getting up they all discussed and chose what their group project would be. In the end, the topics were as followed. Team 1: Rapunzel, team 2: Cinderella, team 3: Mulan, team 4 snow white, team 5: Frozen.

Anyone who knows the original story of Frozen knows that Adrien is the protagonist.

__________________________________________________

{Inside Françoise Dupont, Library - 11:00}

"So, we have Cinderella huh?" Lila stated as she, Marinette and Kamar entered the library.

"Well, I do know there's one book on the original tales," Marinette had been the one to suggest they check out the book on the original Cinderella stories.

"Well, me and Lila will stay here, and you can go find it, seeing as you know what it looks like. We can set up what she should do", Kamar suggested.

Once Marinette checked out the book the three girls went through the previous tales on Cinderella. The French one, the little glass slipper by Charles Perrault wrote that was the main inspiration for the modern-day Cinderella, La Gatta Cenerentola by Giambattista Basile, Ye-Xian from Duan Chengshi in China, And the Grim brother's rendition which is where the name Cinderella was first taken from. There was even a small section on Rhodopis from Greek that was rather short.

They all took on one of the origins each to compare to the current Cinderella and would just have a small mention of Rhodopis at the end. While sorting that out another group came over to them, Adrien, Nino, Laurent, and Kim.

Laurent Lafitte wore a pair of mint jeans with golden leaf stitching. a pair of white high tops, a mint green tank with a white leaf on. A white and gold belt bag, and a pair of golden earrings with mint green gems. A white backpack with mint lining, decorated with golden leaves, was hanging from his shoulder.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Nino asked, he seems to be trying to get Marinette and Adrien closer after they made up.

"We're just looking up on old versions of Cinderella for the project," the Italian replied.

"That's cool", Adrien looked over at Marinette. "So, what do you think of Cinderella?"

After the umbrella incident, Adrien and Marinette had made some small talk. Nino and Marc would sometime be there. It was a small way to make become friends. By the end of last week, the Marinette deemed him trustworthy as he never showed signs of lying. The only annoying things were the rumours of them possibly dating.

"It's pretty cool," she turned the book to them and pointed at a couple of stories on the context page. "Though I don't like how the stepfamily don't get their karma most of the time."

"Hey, at least they did in the Disney version," Kim smiled, unusually kind.

A few seconds of awkward silence.

"Hey Adrien, didn't your old man make some sort of announcement yesterday?" Nino was searching for something to talk about. Why did my teammates want to come to the ladies table anyway?!

"You mean the one about novice model and beginner designer?" The golden boy asked.

"Oh, I remember that! I've already signed up for the novice model contest," Lila let out a dreamy sigh. "It's always been my dream to be both a model and an actress."

"Well, I'm not sure about myself, but I'm sure you'll be an amazing actor model" Laurent looked over at Marinette which caused a wave of dread to come. "You gonna entre the beginner designer contest?"

Yep, she should've seen that coming. One day Marinette had been doodling a dress in art class, the paper was stolen straight from her hands. And by who? Chloe!

"Wow Dupain-Cheng, you actually think you can draw?" Her condescending voice had caught everyone's attention. "Not only that but you call this lame thing fashion?" She held it for all to see.

"Chloe knows good fashion when she sees it, she is, after all, the daughter of style queen. The one who made Gabriel who he is today", Sabrina sat at her desk, a cocky smile crossed her lips before the two laughed.

The teacher was out of the class that time so the two never got in trouble. And Marinette's doodle ended up in the bin. Chloe's right, I'll never be a designer.

"I don't think so, I'm too busy helping my parents at the bakery," the version in the present looked away with a small smile.

"You do fashion Marinette?" This surprised Lila, the two had also hung out sometimes in school but the Chinese girl had never mentioned this.

"Only sometimes, though I'm not that good."

"I'm sure you're amazing, I'll even model your design when you decide to post them!" The smile on Lila's face was a rather bright one.

"Well... I guess I don't mind," and it seemed rather contagious as the blunette finds herself smiling brighter at the brunette's.

Unbeknownst to them, someone was spying on them from behind a shelf, leaving with the confirmation they needed.

"Well, if you ever change your mind Marinette, just remember the item must be an accessory that is of the Victorian era and has feathers," the blond really wanted his friend to succeed.

"And on that note, we should really be looking for the previous versions of the Snow Queen, see you ladies later!" Nino now felt like he was intruding in on some girl time and wanted to leave asap.

"So, Marinette, are the rumours true?" Kamar, who had remained quiet throughout the interaction asked.

"Which one?" There were way too many rumours and Marinette hated all of them. Though she already had a guess on which one.

"The one about you and Adrien dating?" Yep.

"They're just rumours," she suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. "After the whole bubble gum misunderstanding was cleared up, Adrien and I started to talk a few times."

"But he obviously likes you," Lila stated.

"Huh?" My reaction exactly Kamar.

"Come on, you can't tell me he doesn't. Every time he talked it was directed towards you."

"Well, we are friends."

"So are him and Nino," she stood up and sat over on the other side of Marinette. "In my experience, that obviously means a boy likes you."

"You really think so?" This was the kind Lila who was talking, what reason would she have to lie?

"I'm sure everyone else sees it too," now that caught the blue head's attention. She had said that Ivan and Mylene liking each other was obvious to everyone but them.

"W-well, he is kind of cute..."

"See, you do like him!" Lila exclaimed. "I've had an admirer, and he was in denial at first before finally asking me out. Sadly, for him I already had a boyfriend," she tucked a strand behind her ear, seemingly embarrassed. "So, you need to go for him quick before you regret it!"

"But how?" If Lila had a boyfriend, she probably already knows what she's talking about. And Marinette definitely doesn't wanna loose a possible dream relationship!

"Don't worry, I'll help you win him over," the Italian placed a reassuring hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Th-then I guess I don't see why not?" Though still unsure of what she felt it had to be love, and the only way to find out is to act on it.

Lila turned to the third girl in their group, "will you be helping too Kamar?"

Kamar shook her head with a firm frown, "no way! I'm not here to make friends but to do work. Which, may I remind you, is what we're supposed to be doing".

Marinette ran a nervous hand through her ponytail, "you've got a point, we really should get back to work."

"Then how about we continue this after school?" Lila sat back down, "there's a cafe I've been meaning to visit; we can go there."

__________________________________________________

{Inside Françoise Dupont, School Hall- 15:30}

Monday was the fencing club's turn to use the gym. Armand D'Argencourt, the history teacher, was the leader of the fencing club. Laurent, the second best only to Adrien, warned the model about the teacher's tendency to get sidetracked about his ancestor, Darkblade, who had once ruled over Pairs with an iron fist.

Monsieur D'Argencourt longed to gain the power of a mayor, sadly however, due to his position as a teacher and not a big shot businessman, he couldn't. He did try to start making a fitness program, but it crashed right when it started to take off. Luckily, he was able to recover from that and become a gym teacher and fencing expert.

Alas, there are some people who just couldn't mind their business.

"Well, well, well", the sound of clapping turned everyone's attention to the school entrance to see a bald man and a brown bun camera woman. "If it isn't Monsieur Armand D'Argencourt." All students stopped and some even removed their helmets, Adrien including.

Alec Cataldi, an annoying host from the TV station, was filming a new series called 'Fame to Fail' which was about how different people who made a name for themselves in the world before it ended up crashing and burning. And his current victim? Armand.

"Isn't it true that you tried starting a fitness program all on your own?" He put his arm around the moustache man. "Only for it all to go downhill in only a few months due to the you're mindless budgeting kills?" Well, credit to Alec for doing his research on the person he's making fun of; but that is still a low blow.

"Is it true that you just walked into private property?" Monsieur D'Argencourt wacked the bald man's hand off him before fully facing him. "How did you even get a pass to enter the school?"

For non-members of the school to get pass the gate, they must have a school pass. That pass has a barcode that is sent to them via email. All they must do is scan the barcode in front of the scanner at the school entrance and they can entre. This pass is only valid for so long.

"The principle allowed us after we told him that we'd like to interview one of the teachers," the host stated in a matter-of-fact way.

"Well, I'm sure after informing him of this, it shall be revoked instantly your insolent scoundrel!" He then pointed his sabre towards the school exit. "I believe you should make haste before things become more severe," and he turned his back on the man.

Alec simply put his hands up in mock surrender, a mischievous smirk crossing his face, challenging the teacher. "Are you really gonna threaten me with a camera recoding? I could sue you for that."

Spinning around, the angered man seemed to remember he was being filmed, but did not let that deter his actions in the slightest. "And are you aware that same recoding has also caught the faces of minors whose parents could also sue you?"

D'Argencourt then marched for the principal's office, leaving Alec to realize how many minors he'd just recorded. Guess I'll have to delete the footage.

Unbeknownst to all, a small dark butterfly, quietly fluttered over to the armed man, only reaching him once he was upon the first floor. And the camera followed him from the ground.

"Wait! What's that!?" Ah, so someone had seen it, but regrettably, it was too late.

Fear set into all theattendants as the purple insect became one with the sabre the fencing teacherheld in a tight grip. The symbol of a butterfly appearing upon his face as theskin around his eyes turned red. What was said between the victim and adult remainsunknown to others, but what did matter was the transformation before them. Purewhite fencing uniform, now replaced with black knight armour. The safe sabrenow a sharp sword.

"RUN!"

Nobody had to be told twice they scattered around the school. Futile. Some had been zapped by some sort of laser from the sword handle, causing them to kneel before the akuma as if he were royalty.

One of these servants were, unfortunately, Adrien. Even if he had seen akumas and the de-transformation for them, he's never seen one transform. The memory of the butterfly capturing it's pray had struck a paralysing fear within him. D'Argencourt's voice of accepting Hawkmoth's help had an unsettling edge to it. His feet refused to move, planted firmly in place like concrete. The last thing he remembers before his mind when blank was the ground suddenly becoming close.

The sound of running echoed throughout the building rapidly declined with the sound of metal becoming clearer. Copies of Darkblade just outside of the school. There was only a slight difference, as the accent to the armour was coloured in neon green rather than blood red like the original.

They're the others that were here; he turned them into his minions. A certain hero concluded from their hiding place. And indeed, they were right. Someone was currently kneeling, and Darkblade knighting them had turned them into clones of himself.

"Let us to battle, knights! Part le fer!" The akuma had held his sword up towards town hall. "The time has come to take my kingdom back!"

Only for Cat Knight to ran and jumped over the army, landing before their leader. "Hey tin can!" He yelled out to the man; staff held just like a sabre. "The people had their say and they chose Bourgeois over you, D'Argencourt!"

The dark knight didn't seem pleased by this. "Thy peoples matter not to me. D'Argencourt was defeated, not Darkblade!" He then raised his own sword in an equivalent manner, "En garde!" And a fight soon commenced.

The clashing of a baton and sword echoed through the streets as the knight and cat faced off in a dual. Both with the aim to disarm the other. However, the dark squires, as Cat Knight dubbed them, stood still, and watched on, being both good and bad. The good part was how people were therefore safe; the bad part was that the lack of attention wouldn't get the attention of a certain female bug to help the fight.

Cat had completely forgotten about taking his baton out and messaging his partner, it would have reached her in or out of transformation as it was connected to her phone in some ways. If Cat Knight sent a message to Ladyluck then it would go to both her yoyo and civilian phone, the same if he were to send it to her civilian phone. As for if it were to appear on the phone of the sender, it would only say who they had intended to send it to and not the other identity.

If Cat sent Lady Ruby a message through his phone, then the message would only say it was sent to Lady Ruby and not her civilian self. They can also choose who sent the message when transformed, either their alter ego or civilian form. If they send it via hero accidently, they can just make the excuse of borrowing the hero's phone.

However, that didn't stop civilians from seeing and taking pictures of the army before them and posting them to social media. One weirdo even took a selfie. none the less, it did inform the police that did inform the mayor.

But those in the fight seemed far too invested within their current activity to even pay attention to their surroundings. One minute they were in front of the school, then the next, they were under the Eiffel tower; and now they were brawling it out on Lock Bridge. The dark squires had cleared up all traffic in the area as to not interrupt the fight.

It didn't seem that the blonde knight hadn't learnt anything about fencing, as he didn't realize the teacher was performing a simple bait and attack trick. Darkblade had stopped where he was with his hands spread out. Despite being sceptical about what his opponent was planning to do, Cat had lunged at him. But instead of doing a Parry to stop the attack he moved his sword behind him and twisted it with the good knight's staff, stopping him from his attack and bushing the green eyes hero away, disarming him.

"Seriously?" The blonde boy hissed sitting up "How did I not see that coming?"

You tell me, you just saw that trick. Plagg telepathically answering his rhetorical question.

"Take him!"

At the command of their leader, the sound of a war cry echoed through the air steaming from the dark squires as they charged towards the young teen. Luckily, he was able to jump up and avoid getting trampled on. Sadly, he ended up being cornered upon the bridge railing, surrounded by the clones of the original akuma.

Doesn't look like I'll be able to get out of this, unless... His thoughts trailed off as the knights grew closer. Not like I can't swim. And he decided to put his plan into motion. Jumping up onto the bridge railing for the entire army to see, the hero spread his hand out in a way that mimicked that of Darkblade and fell backwards into the Seine water with a big splosh.

This had caught the army off guard as they hadn't anticipated the use of suicide to escape certain death. However, that feeling of shock was over as soon as it came, they had a gaol to achieve and that meant no distractions.

"Nary a minute to be wasted!" The akuma's voice rang through the air "City Hall awaits us!" and they had once again continued their journey. Unaware of the young boy who had just resurfaced beneath the bridge.

City Hall, huh? He thought to Plagg. That's their destination.

Let them go first, you need to inform Lady Rug and dry up. Kwami of destruction or not, Plagg cared about the well-being of his owner. Detransform then transform, that should get rid of the water.

Reluctantly, the child followed his instructions.

__________________________________________________

{Earlier, at Caffeine High outside city hall}

The two girls, Marinette and Lila, sat at a stony café on a silver table and matching chairs. The café was called 'Caffeine High' which neither had been too. The shop was a white with the logo above; glass door with red lining; windows covering the front; and tables outside with red and white umbrellas.

"Thanks for paying for me Marinette! I can be so forgetful at times," Lila took a sip from her mint chocolate mocha.

The blunette took a sip of her own vanilla Frappuccino, not being a huge fan of bitter things. "No problem, Lila. Besides, I know what it's like to be forgetful sometimes anyway."

Lila takes a bite out of her caramel apple scones, "so how is your relationship with Adrien right now anyway?"

Marinette taps her chin, "well, you already know that we've been talking for a bit. Either Nino or Marc are there, both, or just me and Adrien."

"Yeah, but how much do you know about him personally?" Her emerald eyes not leaving her drink as she stirred it with the straw.

"Well, I know his favourite colour is green, a-and that he likes quiche," I feel like I'm being interrogated.

"Marinette, that info was in a magazine a year ago", the Italian stated. "It was an interview about getting to know him, watched it myself as well".

The ponytailed girl to rub the back of her neck, "actually, I was never interested in models and only knew who he was because of his father". It would be a lie to say she bought every Gabriel fashion magazine ever.

"Really? Well, you have a lot to learn!" Lila smiled despite the surprise she had at the information a second before. "He might think you're uninterested", she remarked.

That caused the Chinese to sit right up "Really!?"

"Really, you need to know what you can about them in order to get their attention", the red and black clothed girl picked up her mango iced smoothie. "I had to do the same thing to get my ex's attention before we started sating and it worked!"

"But you shouldn't change yourself to please someone else," Marinette pointed out. "Are your sure he treated you right? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"Oh, don't worry. I didn't change myself or anything, I just used what I knew to do start conversations and hang out where I knew he'd like," she took a sip and placed the glass back down.

"So, I should do the same thing with Adrien?"

"You with my Adrikins?! Don't make me laugh!" We all know who said that.

Turing around, the two girls realize that both Chloe and Sabrina were present, meaning that they obviously heard how Marinette had a crush on Adrien. Dang it!

"What are you two doing here?" Lila asked.

"To see my daddy of course", the blonde calmly examined her nails. "I obviously tell him important things in person, such as becoming class representative".

Sabrina however, had her own inquiries. "But that's beside the point. After all, Dupain-Cheng was just talking about going after Adrien, correct?"

Oh God no! Worry overcame Marinette at that. There's no way Chloe'll keep quiet about this!

"Well, I'm not too surprised, Adrien already has many girls and boys after him", the cola looking girl raised her eyes to the duo before her. "And as much as I'd love to destroy your chances immediately and tell him...."

Kill me now! Marinette covered her face.

"...I'll be keeping quiet", wait what?

The distressed girl peaked out at that. What? It seemed as though the other girls had mirrored her confusion. Even Sabrina.

"Don't get me wrong, I still wanna see you suffer", She's still a wicked witch. "But I'll defiantly get more enjoyment seeing you continuously fail to make him fall for you. Adrien has exquisite taste and will probably turn your peasant germs down", the bob cut girl let out a small chuckle at the insult.

Before anyone could say anything, the sound of metal rattled through the streets. Turning to the opposite direction of city hall, the girls came face to face with an army of knights clad in black.

"What the hell!?" Lila gasped.

"Is that an akuma!?" Marinette stood up immediately, knocking her chair back.

"Who cares!? I'm getting out of here!" Chloe started to run in the direction of city hall, the rest of the teens following behind her.

Security opened the doors before slamming shut at equal volume, catching all present staff off guard. Though they didn't tell the panting girls to leave, obvious fear plastered their faces. Besides, one of them were the mayor's daughter who'd spoken up.

"Th-there's an akuma! Outside!" Now that got their attention.

The girls were led by a staff member to an underground bunker below the building, supplied by some blankets and water bottle. Someone had found a video of Darkblade announcing his goal, initiating a lockdown on the building. When Mayor Andre Bourgeois came and hugged his daughter, Marinette finally realized something.

"Lila's missing!"

"What? There was someone else with you?"

However, before anyone could volunteer to go look for their friend, a member of security pulling up live feed from the front of the hall of the akuma army. Despite the lack of physical audience four DarkSquires still blew their trumpets.

Another DarkSquire step up and spoke, "o-ye, o-ye! DarkBlade shalt speak now! Listen or be imprisoned!"

Then, the supposed DarkBlade came up, holding his blazing sword proud. "Henceforth, my flag shalt fly over thy kingdom! Bourgeois, pathetic knave, come hither and do battle!"

Mayor Bourgeois grabbed the microphone from the small security room. No doubt the girls would have haver to sign an NDA to keep quiet about it as it wasn't common knowledge.

"Bold of you to challenge me after upsetting my daughter! If you want an audience with me, you'll have to schedule an appointment", nobody saw he small smile on Chloe's face.

Too bad Darkblade didn't seem to take this reasonable deal to well though, "Agh! Bow down to Darkblade and feel the wrath of my sword!"

"Part le fer! Part le fer! Aagghh!" The DarkSquires yelled out, only to be intervened by another dark knight.

"Is heavy metal all you peasants know?" Cat Knight has finally recharged from the previous battle and came to fight.

"I see the enemy knight has survived his fall! But no more, part le fer!" However, right before the two swords could clash, a red string wrapped itself around the feline, lifting right into the air.

"Aaaggghhh- Oof!" Cat knight's screams were cut off by colliding into the roof of city hall. He rubbed his face and turned to see his partner, Lady Ruby.

"What are you doing?" He demanded.

"Saving your sorry excuse of a life, your welcome by the way!" The red bug exclaimed.

"I had it handled!" The cat threw at her.

"And how exactly did you have it?" Ruby sarcastically questioned.

"I have you know that I take fencing on the side! So, if anyone should be fighting that akuma, it's me!" He didn't care for revealing a minor detail about himself.

"Oh, then how are you gonna get the akuma away from him then?" The heroine raised her eyebrow at him. "And we both already know it's his sword, so don't play dumb".

"Well excuse me pri-" CRASH

Too caught up in their argument, they failed to notice the catapults that had apparently appeared out of nowhere, tracks leading from the road. The squires were using them to fling themselves towards the first floor.

"What the hell are they doing?" questioned the blond hero as another squire flew across the hall.

"They have a flag idiot! They're probably trying to do something with it!" The brunette pointed at the red flag a squire held as another squire then hit the edge of the roof, which she simply kicked away.

"It'll probably turn all of Paris into its minions", this time, DarkBlade himself flew up, landing safely behind the heroes.

Cat Knight lifted his baton up, "then I guess it's time to tango!"

"Cursed, colourful acrobats!" Of course, the dark knight was enraged, squires landing next to him.

Cat once again went to battle Darkblade in a one-on-one match. Lady Ruby fighting off one of the other squires, making her way to the one with the flag. Just like before, there were no interruptions due to the heroine's efforts. A faint butterfly shaped light did appear in front of his face during butterfly, he didn't seem fazed by it. Hawkmoth was communicating with him, but he ignored it. If only Cat knew what he said.

During the battle, Darkblade had put his arms out, just like the special trick he taught the class today. I'm not falling for that again, Cat though. And indeed, he didn't. Instead, he swung his staff from a different angle. And this time he had the upper hand. Twisting his own sword with that of Dark blade's and throwing it into the air.

In the blink of an eye, the red hero jumped, barely missing the sword being lunged in her direction, yoyo grabbing the black sword from the air before colliding it upon the hard cold tiles. It split it in half and released the akuma that Lady Ruby proceeded to purified, while also reverting Darkblade back to Armand D'Argencourt, and the object back to a normal fencing sabre.

This time, Cat could actually help restore things back to how they once were, as he had to destroy the spell on the DarkSquires. The mind control spell, and the transformation spell.

"Miraculous miracle", and with the synchronize call of the cure, any damage or magical impact the akuma made had been reverted. After escorting the victims back to the ground our heroes had once again disappeared from the scene. And in their place were their civilian selves.

The doors of city hall had opened up with a few limos arriving. A single ambulance had appeared, though it seemed as though all the DarkSquires will be taken for a check-up. It was at this moment that Lila had reunited with the girls.

"And where exactly where you are hiding?" Chloe's sass came just as fast as it had vanished. "Safely hiding under a rock?"

"Very funny", Lila resorted, "I have you know that the knights captured me when we were running away", that caught the attention.

"Are you okay?" The blue haired girl gasped.

"Yep, thankfully LadyRuby rescued me. She really is amazing", smiling and placing a comforting hand on her best friend seemed to reassure her.

A doctor came up to them with Mayor Bourgeois. "Excuse me girls, I understand that you have had your own plans, but I still need to give you all a quick check up. Mayor Bourgeois has already offered to have you all escorted himself".

"It won't take too long, will it? My mother will be worried if I come home late", Lila fretted.

"Don't worry, it should only take a few minutes", the doctor reassured before leading us inside.

While being escorted to a private room for the check-up, Marinette couldn't help but overhear a conversation between some of the staff members.

"Did you guys hear about the interview tonight?" A brunette man asked.

"You mean the one with the mayor and head of the head of police about these magical attacks?" A blonde woman inquired.

"I heard there's a chance that Lady Ruby and Cat Knight may appear, but it hasn't been confirmed", a woman with a red bun added in.

The Chinese girl turned to her bestie as they sat down, "do you know about the interview about the attacks?"

"Of course I have", Lila confirmed. "What about it?"

"I know that the heroes aren't confirmed to appear....", the shy girl twiddled her thumbs. "But I hope they do, then maybe we can get more information on everything!"

"Don't worry Mari, I have a feeling they will", Lila smiled. "Or at least Lady Ruby will".

That seemed to reassure her.

__________________________________________________

{News station, interview room- 20:30}

"Good evening, everyone, welcome to prime time. I'm your host, Nadija Chamack". a woman with a smart yet simple attire showed up on the screen. "I'm here today with our guests, Mayor Andre Bourgeois and lieutenant officer Roger Raincomprix", The camera zoomed out to reveal the two men who did a small wave towards the camera.

Nadija's had a short sleeved, periwinkle, tucked in button blouse; an indigo, knee length pencil skirt; a pair of black heels; a black smartwatch on her left wrist; a black tie around her neck; and a pair of onyx, teardrop, dangly earrings. She also wore some crimson red lipstick.

MayorBourgeois wore a simple navy smart suit with his sash on, along with a blacksmartwatch on his right wrist. Officer Raincomprix just wore his policeuniform, complimented by his own black smartwatch on his right wrist.

"Let's get down to business, shall we?" The reporter said. "As everyone knows, there's a new terrorist in Paris. Do you have any plans on how to deal with them?"

"That'd be hard without knowing what's going on" The sound of a teen male from the door stopped whatever the two men were going to say. The camera turned towards it to reveal the two heroes of Paris themselves.

"LadyRuby? Cat Knight?" The woman with pink hair asked bewildered, with no way to contact them, they weren't sure if they would show up and thus there was no mention of them, just asking them publicly. "What are you two doing here?"

"Well, considering we have more insight to the situation then others" The female of the two spoke as they walked over and sat beside officer Roger. "One of which is the source of their power."

"What might that be?"

"Their miraculous", the dark cat sat up. "He somehow got his hands on a miraculous, the butterfly pin of transmission, and is using it to akumaitize people." The screen then showed a picture of Stoneheart.

"And how exactly is this done?"

"They send out small butterflies, an akuma, towards anyone who feels any sort of negative emotion", the screen then turned to the Françoise Dupont first floor where Ivan was standing outside the headmaster's office; face blurred out. The picture then enlarged a few times to reveal a black-purple butterfly. "And that's it!"

The pink haired woman eyebrows narrowed "you said that they're sent to those who feel negative emotion, how does he feel them? And don't the two of you also have a miraculous?"

"Yes, each one has their own individual power. As for how Hawkmoth can feel the negative emotions, I'm afraid I don't know" LadyRuby responded. "But we can confirm how the butterflies possess, or akumaitize, the victims."

"And how do these, akumas, akumaitize people?" Nadija seemed to be a bit weirded out from the seemingly childish terms she was using.

Cat Knight sat up, "The akuma attaches itself to any inanimate object the victim has on hand. it doesn't seem to matter what, just as long as it's small and the victim is in contact with it." The screen then showed a video of the akuma landing on the crumpled-up paper in Ivan's hand and turning it purple. "And that's what happens".

"I see, thank you for the information, both of you. "The heroes smiled at Nadija before she turned towards the two men. "With this newfound information, how do you plan to prevent any future akumatizations?"

Mayor Bourgeois spoke up first. "Well, since the cause is from that of negative emotions, it would be best for everyone to have some sort of mental health class to help keep their emotions in check", the screen behind showed a building design, thank God they gave the mayor a quick clue into the mental side.

"This is the plan for a new mental health care hospital to help the people of Paris. This will include yoga classes, therapy and many more facilities to help the people of Paris take more care of their mental state. For those who are unable to come in person, we will set up an app to allow them to join classes virtually. As for students, we will have an instructor come to them, whether in person or virtually, to talk to them through about anything negative they have on their mental health".

"I see, a lot of thought was put into this. But how did you know about how Hawkmoth targets those with negative emotions?" It was a valid question.

The white-haired man just smiled, "After questioning the previous victims, it has come to our attention that there was a reoccurring pattern in the incidents. After talking to my secretary, we both decided, mental health is of the highest priority!"

"Ah, understandable", the female leaned forward. "Well then, I believe it's now time to know what the police have planned", she turned to the police officer.

"We have an app set up that people can activate in the case of an akuma attack, this app will also state where the warning had been posted. The police will leave for that area right away" Officer Roger adjusted his cap. "And just because the victim is free, doesn't mean they're in a good condition, both mentally and physically. This was proven by the first victim who had ended up passing out from the amount of energy taken from him when he was akumaitized. Thus, we will also be guarding the victim and helping the hospital when this accurses".

"It seems as though neither of you wasted any time planning ways to deal with this person", the praise caused them to men to gleam.

"This is a terrorist who has come, and someone whom I declare as Paris' number 1 enemy" The mayor's declaration had caused gasps to gross through the studio and at homes.

The camera man then gave Nadija the signal to wrap everything up. "Well, it looks like that's all the time we have this evening", a bright smile plastered over her face. "Say bye to our lovely guests, Mayor Andre Bourgeois, lieutenant officer Roger Raincomprix and Paris' hero duo, Lady Ruby Cat Knight!"

Everyone waved at the camera before the camera operator gave the signal that they were off the air. And before anyone could say anything, Lady Ruby sprinted out of the room yelling "bug out!"

Chapter Text

__________________________________________________

{12/9/2040, Wednesday, Inside Françoise Dupont - 11:00}

"Have you heard about the new statue unveiling on Friday?" Asked Lila as they collected their things after another history class with Monsieur D'Argencourt.

"You mean the one revealing the new Lady Ruby and Cat Knight statue?" Marinette asked earning a nod. "Tickets to see the unveiling in person sold out in two hours".

"They started making it right after the first akuma attack when they first showed up", the Italian beamed.

"Apparently, it's also made form coloured marble", Lila mentioned. "Lady Ruby is red with black, while Cat Knight is black with green".

"And I know just who it was designed by", the bluentte beamed, "It was by someone only 2 years older than us!"

"Wow, that's amazing!" Lila's smile then faltered and she frowned. "Sadly, I couldn't get a ticket in time, so I can't attend".

"Oh, that's unfortunate". the blunette frowned. She was to attend with her parents who were going to be selling some marble themed cookies, cakes, macrons, and other pastries. Then an idea popped up in her head.

"Hey Lila", said girl stopped and turned around to see the ponytail girl run up to her. "My parents will be selling some cookies and macrons at the event today. Since you can't attend today, I could get you a box for Monday?"

"Really? You're the best Marinette!" the Asian-French blushed at the praise.

"Is there anything you're allergic to or dislike?"

"I'm not a fan of oatmeal, but I doubt you're selling that. As for allergies, I have none", the brunette brushed a strand of hair away. "Though I would love it if you got the Lady Ruby treats, she is my favourite after all".

"Don't worry, I'll set aside a box for you right after school on Friday!"

__________________________________________________

{14/9/2040, Friday, Place des Vosges - 18:30}

"Hello everyone, this is Nadija Chamak here, bringing you a new exclusive. Recently, Paris had gained a pair of heroes, LadyRuby, and Cat Knight. And today the mayor of Paris is unveiling a special statue, dedicated to our two heroes."

The two days flew by, and several stalls had been set up around the currently clothed statue. The members of Françoise Dupont's newspaper club had also come to film the event. The interviewer being Alya Cesaire, a new girl a year ahead of Marinette.

It's amazing the number of items that was made within a couple of weeks, but then again, most of it was just a red or black marble pattern to match the statue. There were a few items that were ladybug or cat themed, such as plushies and pastries. But most weren't that special. Though the biggest award goes the people who made the statue, I'm no expert in art but that must have been a tough feat.

Adrien's eyes drifted over to a pair of blue haired teens, already in the park, behind a stall full of numerous delicious pastries. Thankfully, his father gave him some money to buy a few things. He was about to call them when Laurent stood before him. Wasn't he unable to get a ticket?

"You can talk to your crush when school's up again, right now you're hanging with the guys", the blond blushed at the black-haired boy's words.

"C-crush!?"

"Don't worry about it Adrien", Nino put a hand on his best friend's shoulder. "It's just a rumour going around that the two of you are dating."

"But neither of us like each other, so why would there be a rumour?" The blond questioned.

"It's cause she's the only girl you talk to that isn't Chloe or friends with her", Laurent Lafitte wore a pair of mint jeans with golden leaf stitching; a pair of white high tops; a mint green tank top with a white leaf on; a white and gold belt bag; a golden watch on his right wrist and a pair of golden earrings with mint green gems.

"Chloe isn't... bad...", trailing off did nothing to change the mindset of his schoolmates of his childhood friend.

"Don't worry dude, we know you two don't actually like each other like that", the headphones boy reassured.

"How can you be so sure he doesn't like her?", Laurent questioned. "Adrien said he's been sheltered from a lot of things. so, he may like her but not realise it".

"Laurent's got a point you know", Nathaniel, an artist classmate of theirs agreed. He had run into them on the way and just stayed.

"Well then, let's put it this way", Nino turned to Adrien and looked him deep in the eye with his own golden ones. "How do you feel about her?"

"How do I feel? Well...", the model paused for a few seconds to think. "She's pretty has a great smile and she's really sweet. Though there are times I'm wary I'll overstep her boundaries and ruin our friendship", he admitted honestly.

"See! That proves you like her!" Kim grinned. Where did he come from?

"It does?" Now Adrien was surprised while Nino's mouth was agape.

Laurent nods, "as someone who's been in a relationship before, trust me when I say that's a sign you have a crush".

"Now hold on a second dudes!" The DJ broke out of his shocked state. "Adrien hasn't even know Marinette for that long, is it really possible to get a crush in three weeks?"

The vine boy pats the Moroccan boy's shoulder. "Don't worry, you and Adrien are still gonna stay besties, even after he gets a girlfriend".

"That's not what I-", he was cut off by Ivan. Where does everyone keep spawning from?

"Hold on a second guys, even though a crush doesn't need friendship to appear", said boy looked over at his new girlfriend who was getting some drinks. "Friendship is needed for an actual relationship to bloom."

"So, I have a crush on Marinette... but what do I do?" Adrien was entirely convinced of his friends' theory, causing his bestie to sigh in defeat.

"We can talk about that when they're not nearby with no risk of them hearing us", Kim then pointed at Laurent. "What I wanna know is, why are you here?"

"Yeah, now that you mention it, you said you wouldn't be able to make it dude. So, what are you doing here now?" Max raised an eyebrow, he's Kim's bff so it isn't strange for him to be here.

"Just running a quick errand for my mum, she needs me to get some pasta sauce for dinner", the black-haired boy shrugged his shoulders. "Speaking of which, I should be going. Au revoir", and he moved past them to finish his task.

"Must suck that he couldn't get a ticket in time", Max sighed as people started to fill in the park.

"Well, I heard that Marinette was bringing Lila some treats, so why not ask her if she can get some for Laurent?" Kim suggested.

"You dude's sure?" Nino questioned, "Those would be free treats. And none of us are exactly friends with her either".

"Chill dude, it'll just be a few Cat Knight treats", the jock reassured. "And we'll ask if it can just be some leftovers, she won't mind".

"Why Cat Knight?" Adrien asked.

"He's his favourite hero", Max clarified

"I'm not exactly sure there'll be any leftovers though dude. The crowed is big", Nino tried to get the group to back down one last time.

"But you never know unless you ask!" Kim stated in a matter-of-fact way.

Nino just sighed in defeat as they made their way over to the blunette with their request. Luckily, the parents of said blunette were there and very understanding, but they did emphasize that they would only give any treats that were left over, if any. After purchasing their food of choice, the boys went over to the statue. Ivan left to reunite with Mylene.

A cloth covered the main attraction of the event, the only visible piece being its pedestal. Next to it, stood four figures. The Mayor, Chloe, Sabrina and the 17-year-old Theo Barbot.

"And here he is", the cameraman focused on Theo, cutting out anyone unnecessary. "Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the sculptor behind the entire project, Theo Barbor. And yes, despite having the appearance of an adult, he's only 17!" The teen rubbed the back of his neck as his cheeks became pink. Of course, he had help from people with more experience, but the beam in his eyes showed just how excited he was.

Theo wore a dark white t-shirt with a ladybug on the front; a pair of black cropped jeans; a pair of red flip flops; a black fanny pack; and a black smartwatch on his left wrist. A lollipop in his mouth. Despite having the appearance of an adult, the man was indeed a minor.

A few questions later a woman strutting in red, and a boy clad in black, came in. Landing from the sky above, to the statue below. Lady Ruby and Cat Knight. The crowd chanted their hero's name at the sight of them.

"This just in! LadyRuby and Cat Knight have just appeared for the unveiling! Let's go their opinion on all this!" The News crew rushed over to the two heroes who were posing for the several pictures being taken of them.

"LadyRuby! Cat Knight! It's great to see you two here! What are your thoughts on the event today?"

"Well, I don't know about the cat, but I'm flattered at having such a big honour", the lady fluttered her eyes, looking flushed at the praise this statue brought.

"I'm simply delighted to have such hard work dedicated towards me", the knight placed his hand on his chest. "Making two statues must have been terribly difficult".

"I won't lie about that", the duo's head turned towards Theo who greeted the two. "It's such an honour to have the two of you here".

"Like wise good sir", Cat bowed.

"And with that, I believe it's time to reveal your hard work Monsieur Barbot", Mayor Bourgeois clapped his hands, calling the attention of everyone to himself. "Back on the 3rd of September Paris had its first villain attack, and with that attack we gained two new gradian angels. It's only proper for Paris to pay homage to those who protect us from evil!" And with that, the cloth was pulled from the podium. Revealing the two statues standing side by side.

Theo, Lady Ruby, Cat Knight, and Andre all stood next to the pedestal as the flashes of phones took pictures of the new attraction. The heroes continuously changing their posture every 10 seconds. After a while of such the event started to end.

"Excuse me, Lady Ruby?" Theo turned to the red woman who in turn looked at him. "I was wondering what you thought of the statue, I-I put in a lot of effort into yours".

"I think you did a fantastic job on it. I especially love the usage of my battle pose", she then took her yo-yo to check the time. "Oh, look at the time! I need to go meet up with my boyfriend "Bug out!", And with that she zipped off, leaving a distressed Theo behind.

"Man, which must suck", Cat put an arm over the older male, causing him to slouch. "You just made your move, but she's already taken".

"I just... wanted to express my adoration for her", the tan male looked down at a picture of the red heroine on his phone. "Let her know that everything I had went into her statue. I'm sure if she took a little time to get to know me, she would see how much we have in common. Our devotion to the things we love-"

"Yeah, but she's a hero" Cat shrugged at he let the taller boy go. "Sorry to break it to you, but she's way out of your league", Can't have people know I have a partner who'll date civilians. "Speaking of love, I've got a date with my girlfriend I gotta get to. Cat you later!" And Cat Knight bounced away leaving a Theo with a broken heart.

Head down, phone away, the teen went over to a nearby train station to head home, the encounter with both heroes playing in his mind. Sure, he knew there was no way he'd be able to date LadyRuby, but Cat Knight didn't need to be so mean about it. He just found out she was take-!

Wait a second! The sculptor froze at the bottom of the steps. Both LadyRuby and Cat Knight are dating someone, and they had to meet up with them right after the sculptor unveiling. Then that must mean... the rummers are true!

Despair overtook the boy as he fled to the bathroom. Of course, the two heroes were together! It made perfect sense! The teen thought, but that didn't mean it hurt any less! Especially the bluntness of Cat Knight's words. I wonder if I would've had a chance with LadyRuby if I were Cat Knight?

Those were his finale thoughts before his vision blurred.

__________________________________________________

{Inside the Louvre- 19:00}

Of course, there were still visitors inside the most famous museum, granted, there weren't too many due to the statue revelation in the park. But there was enough for a certain plan to be put in place. Especially when it includes tarnishing the reputation of one of Paris's new heroes.

A boy clads in black leather armour struts down the walls of art, lollipop in mouth, catching the eye of all that were present. Some even took their phones out to record his appearance. Purrfect. With all the attention on him, he leapt at the Mona Lisa, snatching it from its post and sprinting off with the portrait.

"What the hell!?"

"Was that really Cat Knight!?"

"No way right!?"

The disbelieving yells of the civilians chasing him to the outside caused the human Cat to stop in his tracks. He extended his pole to bring him up and out of the public reach, but not too far that they couldn't see or hear him.

"Oh, I assure you I indeed am your beloved Cat knight!" The Mona Lisa was held up with his spare hand for all to see. "And this beauty now belongs to me!" And with those words he promptly made a dramatic exit which included falling backwards onto the roof of a nearby building before fleeing. In the view of all those present.

These videos quickly made their way to ITV news where Najia Chamack proceeded to break the news to all. "And in the big astonishing news, there's been a spectacular theft at the Louvre. Amateur video showed without a shadow of a doubt that the thief is none other than the famous hero, Cat Knight."

The screen then changed to an ask page on the Company website. "Now we'll take a look at what you viewers think of this situation", she then turned to look at her phone. "This is what happens when you give new people fame, they crave more from it, including money!" Many were the same, speaking of how he could do something so criminal after getting a statue in his honour. Some speculating LadyRuby could be the same. Missing a few of the kinder ones.

However, a different site had a different and more open-minded opinion on the matter. "Considering there's a villain who can turn people into monsters, couldn't the Cat Knight thief be a fake?" The voice of Alya Cesaire came up on Marinette's phone as she manned the front of the bakery, Adrien sitting idly at a table munching on some chocolate brownies.

"That does seem possible, but who'd hate a hero enough to want to hurt them?" The bluentte wondered before raising her head to look at the blond. Due to the late evening, there weren't many people here, so they were free to speak as such.

The scene of Cat knight stealing played in the model's mind again. "It's possible, Cat Knight does wear black and the theft in broad daylight. While these heroes are new, they have been saving up from several attacks, each of which involve someone transformed. Someone may have been upset over the heroes outshining them, happens with models."

The sound of the bell caused the two to look over at Kamar entering the establishment. "Sup?"

"Hey Kamar, we were just discussing the news of Cat Knight becoming a thief", Marinette greeted. "Alya on the MiracleBlog said it might be an akuma. What about you?"

"Well, it does make the most logical sense. If he wanted to steal stuff after getting famous then he'd be stealthier", the Muslim's eyes glazed over the treats. Alhamdulillah (praise be to Allah) they don't use alcohol.

"Too bad only Françoise Dupont knows about the blog", the green-eyed boy seemed downhearted for a second before a realization came to him as he fiddled with his phone. "That is unless I post the link to the video!"

That post did seem to turn the opinion of the majority to a more positive one. But of course, there's always those against them. Now majority of the asks consisted of who the possible akuma is and why they would have a vendetta against Cat Knight. The most popular being someone who the hero may have accidently offended.

__________________________________________________

{On the Eiffel tower}

LadyRuby looked down at her phone while watching the footage from the Eiffel tower. What the hell did that mangy ally cat do!? Now my reputation's gonna be ruined too! Ugh! She grits her teeth at the destruction in trust that had befallen her. Since the two are partners, if the public loose favour for one hero, they're most likely to lose favour for the other too.

Well, he's still your partner so you need to help him out of this. The voice of Tikki instructed her.

I know, I know!

She texted the blond where she was, and thankfully there wasn't anyone nearby, so the imposter is unlikely to know where she was. Ruby wasn't an idiot; it was obvious that the entire heist was done on order to draw attention to themself. And while she may not like her partner, she could tell that, just like her, he cared an awful lot for hir reputation.

A few minutes pass and the man in question came to their meeting place with his usual mischievous smirk. "What up Lady?"

The brunette took a defensive position with daggers in her eyes. "First, answer me this. What was one of my default hero names I said when we met?"

Though annoyed, he understood why she was asking this. "Maiden Garnet, but you wanted to sound more high class", he answered nonchalantly.

"Correct", she let out a sigh, but the glare didn't disappear. "Now who on earth did you annoy in order to get them to akumatize you!?" Finger jabbing into his chest.

"Hey, don't blame me for someone getting upset at my awesomeness!" He retorted. "And how should I know? People get mad at the dumbest things!"

"Well then, who did you talk to? Anyone with a lollipop cause that's what this person had in his mouth!" She then waved the footage of the copycat in his face. "Unless you had one."

"As if! The were no lollipops at the event and I had to go straight- to my girlfriend!" The green-eyed hero covered stopped the near slip up. "The only way someone would get one is if they brought one from outside the event."

"Well then, I can think of one person we both talked too", hand on hip the heroine looked up something on her phone. "Theo Barbor", she held up an article with a picture of a said person outside a warehouse.

"But why would he wanna turn into me? If anything, his vendetta should be against you!" Cat asked.

"And why's that?" An accusing tone in her voice with a hand on her hip. "Because he has a crush on me?"

"Exactly! If anything, he should be tarnishing you when he found out you were taken!" His reasoning just caused the red girl to pinch her nose.

"You idiot. Have you not heard the rummers that we could be dating!?" I swear I'm the only one with a brain.

"You mean he believes that?" Ew! I prefer gentle and beautiful woman over this dwarf!

"Considering we both had a significant other to meet up with after the statue unveiling? Yes", the exasperation was definite in the royal one as she went back to her yoyo. "The warehouse in this article is where he spends a lot of his time, so he must be there. And since you're the one he's disguised as you can go in first!"

"Make me do all the dirty work? Huh?" His smile came back but the annoyance was plain to see.

"The akuma is obviously in his lollipop stick, so to get close enough we'll have to lower his guard. Besides, what if he has the same powers as you?"

Highly unlikely he'll have the exact same power, but he may have a minor version that can cause damage rather than straight up destroy. Plagg informed his owner, who relayed this the girl.

__________________________________________________

{Theo Barbot's studio}

Upon reaching the studio the pair separated. Cat knight entered the building while LadyRuby flew up in the air, her tulle skirt flowing behind her. The feline hero found a letter in an envelope being held by a lucky cat sat upon a box.

"Cat's in the bag?" Once those words left his mouth the box burst open to instantly chain the knight up.

No problem. "Cataclysm!" he yelled out, only for a piece of cardboard to hit his hand. The one who placed it there? Copycat.

The fake had his right hand on his hip next to his staff, identical to every detail. The left hand held another, Cat Knight looked down at his waist and noticed his own was gone, meaning it was his. He's quick.

Gee, you think you would've learnt... to take your time...

Dang it! Plagg was still unable to stay awake for long after the use of his power.

Tapping his chin as he observed the original a condescending smirk graced Theo's face, lollipop stick still in his mouth. "I don't get what Ladybug sees in you. A fool who so easily falls into my trap." He's not wrong, plus this man is a prodigy for a reason.

"Maybe because she doesn't see anything in me?" The real deadpanned. "It was purely coincidental that we both had a date after your statue reveal".

"Lies! You're obviously some obsessive dude who tries to control his partner's every move!" Yeah, this guy isn't listening to reason.

The staff that belonged to the real Cat rang, but of course only the fake could answer it. "Which one should I pick up? My one or my one?" He waved the second one in his right hand before opening the left. "LadyRuby, hurry up. I've caught the impostor at Théo Barbot's workshop!"

"I know", came a close by reply. Both Cats tuned to see the lady in red make a graceful appearance, the fake stuck in a daze. "I came by and saw him chained up. Well done kitty!"

She then looked down at her real partner. a gasp escaped her lips as she placed her hand there. "He really looks like you!"

"I know, impressive, isn't it?" The copy smiled.

He didn't even make a pun. What an idiot. She thought as she put her hand on the akuma's face, slowly caressing his cheek as his face became lovesick. Eyes closed as the boy leaned in when suddenly, she snatched the lollipop stick straight from his mouth and crushed it, causing a black mist to be released.

With a thud, Copycat collapsed, replaced with the sculpture Theo Barbot. Just as I thought. No need to say who thought that as said lady searched the teen for the key to release the knight after wiping her hand.

"Ugh! That was gross! Pretending to be in love with him!" Disgust evident as she unlocked the chains.

"You're telling me! I had to watch it all unfold!" Exclaimed the blond as he rubbed his wrists. "Anyway, considering he did ruin my rep, you'll have called the police about him", a beeping sound came from his ring causing him to run behind some big canvases as he detranformed. Only to remerge once Ruby was done with the call.

__________________________________________________

{15/9/2040, Sunday, Adrien's bedroom - 10:00}

Adrien was watching the video on the MiracleBlog covering the latest akuma, Copycat they dubbed him. Due to the victim being a minor their identity remained a secret, though it was clear who it was. Sirens surrounding a building is noticeable, and after a simple google search, poof, the akuma is Theo Barbot. This obviously caused quite the stir as he had been the one to create the statue in the two heroes' honour. Thankfully, the idea of stress and the fact he's a minor helped see him in a better light.

This was something both ITV news and Alya were portraying, however, while the official news hid the name of the victim's identity, Alya didn't. It was understandable as she herself was a minor and obviously new to being a reporter that she was doing this. But Adrien didn't perceive it as such, with his name and face everywhere he didn't see it as a big deal to say the name of others on the news. They just didn't want that.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as a knock came from his door.

"Come in!" He called, and in stepped Nino, Kim and his father, Gabriel Agreste, with a trolly full of drinks and snacks.

Gabriel wore a simple peppermint inspired summer suit from his Candyland summer line. While there was no blazer, the sleeves on the shirt were full and baggy. Buttons looking exactly like the sweet it was inspired by. Pristine hair slicked back in a taper fade, adjusting his red tie, the fashion king smiled at his son.

"Your friends are here for the project, I asked the chef to make some snacks up for you all", he then let out a chuckle. "And don't worry, there's some sugary snacks too".

"Thanks dad! You're the best!" Adrien jumped into his father's arms before turning to his friends beaming. "Come on! You can place your bags on the bed!"

Seeing his son so happy brought joy to the old man. He left the trolly by the table before leaving the room with a smile to give the boys some space. After his wife became paralyzed during summer, he decided to give Adrien a bit more freedom to help him cope. Yes, he had Chloe, Sabrina, Felix, and Zoe, but two of them behave rather... brash, while the other two lived outside of France. So, seeing him make more friends was a huge relief. He sat down in his office chair with a box of Tom and Sabine pastries on his desk Adrien had bought for him.

Don't worry Emilie, I'll take care of our hope.

Meanwhile, the boys were having the time of their lives. Of course, they did a bit of studying and wrote down a draft on what they were to do. But that soon descended into a chatting chaos with wrappers everywhere. Soon the topic of the previous day came up.

"I still wanna know what drove him to hate the heroes, or Cat Knight in less than an hour", the capped boy wondered. "They might have said something really offensive".

Kim rolled his eyes. "Well, I heard that he had a crush on LadyRuby and wanted to become Cat Knight to get close to her", he held up his phone to a discussion on the copycat motive. "Apparently, both heroes had a date after the statue unveiling so he assumed the rummers on the two dating was true. But it was just a coincidence!"

The model frowned at the idea in sympathy. "He must have been heartbroken. Even if it turned out they weren't together".

Nino gave his best bro a smile and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Hawkmoth's the one to blame for everything, he took advantage of someone's weak state".

"But I do wonder how LadyRuby and Cat Knight being a couple even started. I mean neither of them seem to have any interest in the other!" Kim bit down on his chocolate bar, frustratingly confused.

"Well, they are partners, so people are bound to think they're an item. Even I thought they were", the model took a sip of his Fanta.

"Considering they both already confirmed they have someone else the rummers should die down soon. Unlick another set...", it was obvious what the beefy boy was insinuating. The rummers about Adrien and Marinette dating.

This wasn't anything new to the celebrity, he's had rummers about his love life spread around before. Speculations about him dating Chloe, Sabrina, Zoe; there was even a rummer about him dating Aroura from ITV when she signed a contract to model the summer line last year. But this wasn't some strangers on the internet making speculations, these were his friends helping him to learn what a crush is.

Nino was the only one not pushing him to ask Marinette out but instead get to know her better, his reasoning being that you shouldn't rush things as doing so could lead to a disaster, and a strained friendship.

The other boys, on the other hand, were handing out a lot of free relationship advise. Girls, according to Kim, often played hard to get. To break down their walls you had to keep pushing to get through. Of course, Adrien was a bit taken aback by the notion, but Ivan reassured him that it was false, and a gentle approach was definitely better. However, it would take a while to work, and a lot longer if the blond doesn't push forward.

At the end of the day, Adrien decided to go with both, he'll push to have time with Marinette but would still have to be okay if she really can't. There's also her friend Lila who's been hoping for them to get together. He also caught Lila using sign language with someone, she's versatile in the art of communication.

Chapter Text

__________________________________________________

{30/9/2040, Sunday, ITV Station - 9:00}

A crowed surrounded the entrance to the ITV building; cheers ringing around as the two final contestants to the weather girl contests arrived. The two girls were Aurore Beauréal, blowing kisses and waving at the crowd, parasol out and opened. And Mireille Caquet giving gentle waves. Posters and merch were held up to show who from the 16-year-olds someone preferred.

Aurore wore a sky-blue tank top with the sun emoji🌞; a white cheerleader skirt with sky blue on top; a white belt that normally held her parasol; a pair of white laced up flats; a sky-blue smartwatch on her left wrist with a citrine gemstone bracelet; a sky-blue headband; a sky-blue purse with gold accent and sun emoji keychain. She wore some neutral pink eyeshadow, cat eyeliner and clear nail polish.

Mireille wore a full sleeved, arctic blue choker top; an arctic blue skirt silk screened with white stalagmites and stalactites; a pair of white gladiator sandals; a short zirconia necklace; smartwatch with a matching strap on her right wrist; a matching pair of stud earrings; and a white purse with arctic blue accent.

Even as they entered the building, or the doors closed the cheering didn't stop. A staff member soon came to guide everyone to the entrance a few minutes later. Obviously to ensure the two girls would get to their stations without any paparazzi bombarding them. Once the crowed was seated the camera started rolling and Alec waltzed on set.

"Welcome to the finals of our KIDZ+ competition! When today, one lucky winner will be announced as our brand new KIDZ+ weather girl!" The man didn't seem to realize how both girls' genuine smiles tensed at his arrival.

"We started off with 5000 contestants at the beginning of summer. But with the help of our audience at home, we whittled our talent down to just these two amazing young ladies! So, let's welcome our fantastic finalists!" He jazzed his hands to one side then the other, "To my right, Aurore Beauréal, and on my left, Mireille Caquet! Who will be the lucky winner? After a presentation from each you'll be able to vote! Text 1 for Aurore and 2 for Mireille. And remember, standard text messaging rates apply."

__________________________________________________

{Meanwhile, Dupain-Cheng House}

"Come on, Manon, give that back!"

Despite the TV on in order to watch the live performance of her cousin's classmates, Marinette was running around trying to stop Manon Chamack from making a mess. Said five-year-old currently had a sketch of a bee themed beanie the teen had been working on.

"But I wanna be a fashion designer too!" She dove under the table to get away from her babysitter. Causing Marinette to bump her nose against it.

The tiny child had her hair in high pigtails, inspired by Marinette's old look, with a pair of lilac ribbons. Her cloths consisted of an indigo overall dress with bright yellow flowers and a pale blue t-shirt beneath. Her yellow and white gladiator sandals lay at the shoe rack at the entrance of the Dupain-Cheng house.

"Ugh... Why did I agree to do this again?" She groaned while rubbing her nose.

Manon Chamack, the five-year-old daughter of Nadija Chamack, Marinette's Godmother. While this wasn't the first time she'd babysat the girl, it never got easy. Well, at least I know what to expect when I have kids.

Only for a second later, the demon child to come out with a rather guilty expression, torn paper in hand. The bee beanie design.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" She cried.

The bluenette's mouth hang open at the sight of the ripped-up paper. The scream she so desperately wanted to rip out her throat was swallowed down by the sight of Manon's baby-doll eyes. "I-it's alright Manon, I'll just draw up another one. But please don't touch it."

"I won't!" The small child replied, though the elder girl defiantly knew that was a lie.

"How about you watch the presentations, then we can play with the plushies" That brought a smile to Manon's face, and she went to sit on the sofa.

I guess this was a design fail. It's not the right weather for beanies anyway. Marinette mused as she went to put the paper in the nearly full bin. I should really throw this out.

"I'm pretty sure everyone loves the aurora borealis; I was actually named after them! But do you remember the ones we saw on the last week of the summer holidays?" Aroura's voice came from the TV, and Marinette had a hunch on what she was about to explain. The Parisian lights. And she had witnessed everything in real time.

The Parisian lights happened during the late evening, during a rather horrific incident. An old man, Wang Fu according to the newspapers, was the victim. He'd gotten into a car accident right in front of the bakery. Someone had pushed him in the pathway of an oncoming car before fleeing the scene with an octagonal shaped box. While everyone's eyes were on the victim, the culprit tripped and lost the box. It was at that moment; several lights had come into the sky and covered the entirety of Paris. Wang Fu is still in the hospital, his condition is stable, but his box has yet to be found.

"Considering how we have superhero's roaming around the city it's possible that they have some sort of link to one another. They gain their powers from their miraculous, correct? And so does Hawkmoth. Who's to say there's aren't any other miraculous out there?"

Now that was a rather interesting theory, and when recalling the event, there was a red light and a green one too. "I'm gonna put the bin bag away Manon, so I'll be outside for a couple of minutes".

The TV screen showed the two heroes of Paris, LadyRuby and Cat Knight, at the statue unveiling.

LadyRuby's suit was red halter spandex with a black corset covered in onyx with gold stitching, a black layered tulle skirt that was longer in the back, an onyx belt with subtle gold, and matching ankle stiletto boots. A pair of black lace gloves with thin gold bands and rubies, matching choker. A red mask that with black over her eyes giving a makeup look. A pair of blue wings complete with a ladybug shell over them. And a ruby crown in her brown hair with subtle gold and blue. The crown was a circular shape, and her brown waist length hair had slight curls at the edges.

Cat knight on the other hand, had more armour, with a black leather spandex below, he had armoured calf high boots with tiny emeralds and matching armour on his elbows, hands, and shoulders. A bright green line went up his chest with a scar look to it with a metal chocker around his neck with an emerald paw print. His armour belt had an emerald paw print in the centre. A black mask making his emerald eyes pop. His tail was a leather belt and his cat ears in his smooth hair were partially covered with his knight mask, looking subtly like a crown with an emerald paw in the centre top. His hair was gold like a daffodil being swept to the side, a hint of green on the tips.

"Okay!" She didn't even turn around.

Marinette dragged the bag down the stairs and out to the alleyway next to their bakery. The same one the box was lost in but never found. Just a bunch of rubbish, but no red octagonal box. Unlocking the giant bin to dump the bag inside, a small hole caused a piece of paper to fall out and roll under the bin.

Bending down to grab it, the French Asian's right hand brushed against something hard, a subtle pink light shining from it. Is that Wang Fu's missing box? But bringing it out, she was holding a giant, metal lotus flower.

It had three rows of five pristine pink petals, a yellow centre, and a vibrant green lily pad on the bottom. Apart from all the dirt, it was in surprisingly good condition. Why would someone throw this away? After throwing away the paper that got away, Marinette took the lotus back to her house to clean up.

"Mari, what's that?" The 5-year-old pointed at the flower in hand as the teen closed the door.

"It's a metal flower I found near the bin", that caused disgust to cover Manon's face and Marinette to giggle.

Aroura's presentation has ended, and Mireille's is halfway through when Marinette notices a strange symbol on the back of her right hand. A circle made out of several lines all a pale pink colour.

(A/N: The right one)

What is this? A tattoo? I didn't have it this morning. Rubbing the mark under running water and soap did nothing to erase its existence. Why isn't it going away? Oh no! Mum's gonna kill me if she sees I have a tattoo! As a last resort to hide it, Marinette put on a black fingerless glove. Hopefully, it goes away with time.

~Ding Dong~

The ringing of the doorbell brought the blunette out of her worry. Opening the door, she came face to face with Marc and Alya. Marc's new bff.... after her's of course.

"Hey Marinette!"

"Sup girl?"

"Hey you two, what's up?" She moved to the side to let them in. Knowing how Manon is, she'd run out the door in an instant.

"Well, I'm pretty sure Marc already told you, but I run the MiracleBlog for the heroes in Paris", Alya paused for a second. "So, I was wondering if you saw anything during the Parisian lights. They did happen outside the Bakery after all".

Well, isn't that Ironic, Aroura was just covering it. "I'm afraid I don't know what the cause was, but I can give you a copy of my drawing of it, if that helps."

"Yes please!" The auburn-haired girl gleamed.

Due to how sudden and quick the lights were, there were no video or picture records of it, that the public are aware of. Privately, the cameras outside the bakery and on her balcony caught everything. However, her parents made her promise never to tell or show them to anyone. That's why Marinette's drawing of the lights is accurate, she used the camera footage. It was used as inspiration for a dress.

Although... now that she thinks about it ...the pink light stopped immediately. Marinette had been bringing in the sign for the night before grabbing the first aid kit from behind the counter and coming to help, though it was more of someone else helping since she was used to receiving first aid. She went back to her room to get a copy of the footage for the police, only to find she left the trapdoor to the balcony open. Fantastic

Heading to her room, Marinette took out her folder of random drawings that were not part of her fashion. She photocopied the picture for an Aroura, a few times... but someone else needs it so that's one off her hands.

"Who are you?" Manon's voice greeted the blunette as she came down the stairs.

"I'm a mythical unicorn from the world of Reespa, disguised as a totally fabulous human girl!" The auburn hair girl flipped her hair at herself compliment. "I grant magical wishes, but only to little monkeys who behave!"

"No, you're not!" The child giggles at Alya' before her face grew curious. "Are you?"

"That's Manon, her mother is a friend of mine. So, I or Marc babysit her from time to time", she handed to copy over to the blogger.

"Must be tough, I should know since I babysit my sisters too."

"Sisters? As in multiple?"

"They're five-year-old twins", Alya just shrugged.

"That's the same age as the little nugget here", Marc rubbed said nugget's head.

"I'm not a nugget!" This caused the teens to laugh.

"Hey, is that the KIDZ+ weather girl competition?" Alya pointed to the television that was now showing a countdown at only ten seconds. "Quick! We gotta vote!"

They didn't need to be told twice, as the three took out their phones and voted for their desired weather girl. And once the countdown was complete, the vote ration was shown on screen where Alec's voice rang from.

__________________________________________________

{ITV Station}

"This is the moment we've been waiting for! The viewers at home have made their decision, and the new KIDZ+ weather girl is..."

Mireille's 83% left Aroura in the dust with only 27%.

"Mireille!" And the crowed grows wild.

Aroura was understandably furious, sure she and Mireille are friends, best friends in fact, and they both knew that only one of them could win this contest. But that didn't mean it didn't hurt any less too loose a position she was so close to. Seeing Mireille hug her newly received trophy only fuelled the jealousy she felt.

"Man, she crushed you, eh?" And a certain host just had to rub it in, "better luck next time!"

"Ughh...", she stormed off but not without hearing another jab.

"What's the big deal? You only lost by half a million votes!"

__________________________________________________

{Dupain-Cheng House}

"Well, that was unnecessary," Marinette couldn't help but comment on how Alec tried to 'calm' Aroura down.

"Unnecessaries' an understatement! That man's plain rude!" Alya had her fist in the air, if she were at the station she'd be throwing hands with that man.

"That mean attitude's the entire reason he's such a popular host. Whenever someone loses, he pokes fun at them and points out their insecurities", Marc pointed out. "Dangerous to have in a city with a magical terrorist".

"Sad but true", the blue haired girl sighed, she set down a tray of lemon cupcakes for everyone on the coffee table.

"By the way Mari, why are you wearing that glove?" Of course, her cousin would be the one to point that out.

"I was just... uh... trying a new style! Yeah!"

"Uh huh", yeah no, he's not buying it.

"Well, I really need to get all this written down and, on my blog,", Alya interrupted what would have probably ended up as an interrogation. "By the way, did you know Adrien Agreste is at the park doing a photoshoot?"

"Yep, they ordered some of our baked goods to snack on between breaks", the Asian-French eyebrows rose. "Don't tell me you know about my crush too!"

"Well, it is something the entire school knows about, and Marc here told me", the glasses girl giggles at the look of betrayal from both blunettes, both for two distinctly different reasons. "He also told me you do fashion in your spar time, so are you gonna enter the beginner designer contest?"

"Marinette's gonna enter a fashion contest?" Manon perked up.

"It's still undecided, but I don't think I will", the ponytailed girl rubbed the back of her neck. "The theme is birds and Victorian fashion fit for winter, and I don't really have anything that looks good with those combinations".

"Then why not go out and get some inspiration from a famous fashion designer?" Alya suggested.

"I can't copy a famous fashion designer!" Marinette exclaimed. Manon and Marc just looked like they'd seen worse.

"You won't be copying it; you'll be getting inspiration! It's like looking at how different people write articles and using that to help structure your own!" She grabbed the hand of the female bluenette's and the tiny human. "To the park!"

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" The female blunette dig her feet into the ground. "I still need to get their order before I leave".

"I'm guessing uncle and auntie are still making it downstairs?"

"They should be done by now; I'll grab them then we can leave".

__________________________________________________

{Place des Vosges}

"Bravo! That's it! Give me the smile when your mom brings in spaghetti!"

There as the centre of the park was Adrien Agreste, leaning against the fountain casting a dreamy look at the sky. He wore black polo, pair of black jeans, maroon belt, a pair of maroon loafers and a maroon watch. An Italian man held a camera with his body upside down while raving on about spaghetti. They passed him and went over to the manager with the food.

"No, no, no! The boy has eaten too much spaghetti!" Someone saves Adrien.

"Alright people, take 20!" An African woman answered the prayers.

She wore a mint green pencil dress, white cropped blazer and 1-inch heels. Her hair was a creamy dark chocolate brown with a small braid on the left, her professional eyes a gentle gold. Mrs Sade Owusu, Adrien's personal manager who normally oversaw all his shoots. Marinette and Marc have seen her before, but due to the phenomenon known as social anxiety, the two would never actually spoke to her till now.

"Hey Marinette, Marc! And the Alya of the MicacleBlog?" Adrien came over to them upon noticing their presence.

"I'm glad to see my presence is well known", the ever so confident queen clarified rousing a giggle from the model.

"Who're you?" A voice asked from down below.

"Uh... hi?" Adrien gave Manon an awkward wave. How to you talk to kids?

"This is Manon, her mother and mine are friends. I'm babysitting her", Marinette explained, trying to ignore the look the photographer was giving the child. Oh no, it wasn't that look, but he did seem to be deep in thought before coming over.

"You are there!" Does this man have to yell? "I need this little girl to help bring life to the set! To pose with Mr. Adrien!" He talking about the 5-year-old?

Before Marinette could say anything to his request, the entire park was surrounded in ice. A cage of ice even blocked them in their tracks!

"What the what!?"

"Is this ice?"

"Akuma!"

There, in all her frosty glory, was a teenage girl dresses in black and ice white hovering above the merry go round. An open parasol in her hands. Aurore Beauréal, the runner up in the weather girl contest.

"Please don't tell me I jinxed it", Marc muttered.

With grace and pose she descended down to the ground and strutted out the park. Judging by the use of her power, she didn't aim to kill anyone, just trap them.

"Hey Ice Queen, what's with all the terrorizing?" Good thing one of the heroes were right there "Why don't you pick on someone your own temperature?" Cat Knight held onto the park fence while leaning away.

"My name is not Ice Queen! It's Stormy Weather!" Okay Elsa.

"Listen. I'm feline more generous than usual today. So, cool down and we'll call it quits, 'kay?" Wrong move, Aroura had been in the spotlight long enough to not give a flying flop when someone was hitting on her. As present as she seen the knight flying several blocks away.

"Waaaaaahhh- ooff!" That is so gonna leave a mark on his face.

"I thought cats always landed on their feet", a snobbish voice teased. Getting his face off the concrete green eyes found blue ones.

"I had it covered old lady", he glared.

"Excuse me, I am a minor you old man!"

"Well, I'm a minor too you prissy princess!"

Any more insults they planned to throw at each other was stopped by the sky darkening. "We should be expecting lightning storms like right NOW!" And now they both flew away from the girl they were supposed to get closer too. Well, to be fair she also had to get closer to them. "Black ice!" But not now.

Getting to their feet the two heroes grabbed their weapons in a hurry to defend themselves from the tennis ball sized hail. It may still be small, but it'll still hurt.

"Ugh! Why the hell is her power bad weather!?" There was a piece a little too close to her face for comfort.

"Don't you watch the news?" The cat wacked away several while spinning his baton in a rapid motion, fighting Darkknight had done some good. "The akuma's obviously the runner up from the weather girl contest!"

"I know that much you mangy cat!" She tried to copy his method whit her yoyo. "But isn't her entire thing sunshine and rainbows? Agh!" One of the attacks had scratcher her left cheek. That girl's gonna pay for this!

Now that she takes a second to think, the hail attack is the only thing she did, but it's starting to fade. "Where is that girl? Doesn't she need to get close to us to get our miraculous?"

That triggered a the braincells in the boy's head to start using the mitochondria every being is known to have. "That girl's no idiot. She's probably setting up some sort of trap for us".

Right on cue, all working screens in the area turned on, revealing a broadcast from none other than Stormy Weather from the ITV news station. "Hello, viewers! Here's the latest forecast for the first day of summer. Looks like Mother Nature had a change of plans. There will never be summer, autumn or spring ever again!"

"We both know that's a trap, right?" The cat put his staff away once the hail cleared.

"Not like we have a choice, the akuma's obviously in her parasol and we need to destroy it", LadyRuby had a hand on her hip. "Besides, I need to pay her back for damaging my beautiful face", she pointed at the scar where a bit of blood seeped out.

"Really? Cause I think you should thank her. I mean you look way better than you did before", he dodged a yoyo swing she sent his way.

Upon arriving at said building they were greeted by broken stairs, at least until the main newsroom where today's competition was held. Fortunately for Ruby, she could just fly up the shattered debris. Cat on the other hand had to parkour his way up using his staff and the left-over stairs stuck on the walls.

"Would you hurry it up already? We don't have all day!" The red heroine held the back of her tulle skirt with her right hand.

"Well excuse me princess! But not all of us have the power to fly!" The black clad hero pulled himself up another level.

"This just proved that I am the superior hero", she scoffed.

"Oh please, have you seen how many people have the hots for me?" They reached their target floor.

"Can't be anywhere near as many people who wish to wed me!" the bug flipped her silky brown curls.

"I thought you said you were a minor, don't tell me you were lying so you could get my attention", a grin plastered itself upon the feline's lips.

"Ew! Why would I wanna date someone like you", disgusts evident as the ladybird pointed her gloved finger at him then herself. "I have you know that I have a wonderful boyfriend waiting for my arrival!"

For a brief moment a look of offence crossed the blonde's face. "Well, I also have a girlfriend myself. so, let's deal with the ice queen already!"

The room where the weather girl challenge was held is right behind these closed metal doors. The screens on either side revealing Stormy Weather were still currently inside, ranting away at her hatred for summer.

"In Stormy Weather's world...", a loud bag echoed throughout the empty studio as the hero's came face to face with nothing. "It's Winter Wonderland...", Stormy Weather was never there, it was just a recoding.

"FOREVER!"

In less than a second, the lights on the ceiling shattered, glass scattering the floor the teenage heroes stood on. The sound of heals running across the floor alerted them to their target leaving them behind.

"Frosty the Snowgirl's getting away!" Due to having similar traits to their animals, the cat hero was still able to see in the dark. He grabbed the red arm of his partner and charged forward in the direction of the pigtailed girl.

"Hey! Slow down, would you?" Nearly tripping over her heels, the brunette struggled to keep up with his footspeed, used to flying and not running in heels. "Some of us don't have night vision!"

"This just proved that I am the superior hero", he retorted back, recalling her previous statement over his lack of flight.

The snow girl leads them up the fire exit, which oddly enough, still had its stairs in one piece. Ascending the stairs only lead them higher up to the roof where, while LadyRuby could now see clearly the sight was still dark. The entirety of Paris was covered in a blanket or black clouds, a whirlwind now forming upon the roof if the ITV News building.

"There's no way out! Party's over, fools!" The flying frost yelled out.

Clearly whatever plan she had wasn't the great. Okay, she created an environment which prevents LadyRuby from flying safely, but that's about it. Cat Knight can't fly in the first place. Did akuma's get a lower IQ or something? Aroura herself is known to be rather cautious and intelligent. Oh well, that gives a plus to our heroes.

"Lucky Charm!" When in doubt, spawn in a random item. And what is this random item you may ask? It is but a bath towel!

"Great. So, we're about to be obliterated, but... At least we'll be dry", the man was not impressed.

"Just hold your whiskers", it's not like I control what item comes out from my lucky charm. She wondered annoyed as she wrapped the towel around her arm. It was also around this time that more hail began to rain down from the sky, occupying our heroes with defending themselves. Thankfully, this time it seemed to be a bit more on the normal side.

Wanting to be useful, especially after that Copycat akuma, Cat Knight decided to take the lead and scan his surroundings. It wasn't like he came here often, the last time he did was for that interview back during Darkblade. Though it wasn't any different to how it once was then. What stood out to him most were the giant signs and a HVAC.

Hold on a second! His eyes darted to the towel around LadyRuby's arm. That's it!

"Oi Lady!" He whispers yelled to his partner.

"What do you want? Can't you see that I'm busy?" She wasn't as quiet.

"Just listen to me and get a hold of Coldilocks' leg or something!" He ran towards one of the giant signs. "And get ready to just to the HVAC fan!" Right when he was a few steps away he raised his hand high.

"Cataclysm!" Sliding, rather smoothly I must admit, he disintegrated the support for the billboard, leaving it to fall down upon the enemy. If his plan was to crush the girl he failed as her powers were combat based, allowing her to easily blast a lightning hole through the tick metal. Ironically, when it had fallen to the floor, it revealed she had destroyed her own face, causing her to become even more enraged.

She didn't have time to counter anything though, as she was immediately yanked down by some unknown force.

Surprisingly, LadyRuby had listened to her partner and tied her yoyo around Stormy Weather's right leg. It was at the same time as the billboard collapsing, so the pigtailed girl hadn't even felt it. It was at that moment that the bug realised her partner's plan, which she hated to admit, was cleaver for someone of his status. Sliding under a crane pipe and hopping onto the HVAC, she opened the towel above the fan to drag the akuma down with her right heel out. The moment the two passed the black heel scared the others pristine white face but kept a tight hold on the parasol.

The teen celebrity's parasol didn't stay in her grip however, as the crane was still in the way. Thanks to the angle of the crane and her own descending speed it flew all the way to the claws of Cat.

"Time to get rid of you!" And he broke the parasol in two, releasing the purple mist from within and turning Stormy Weather back into Aurore Beauréal.

With the grace of a fairy, Ruby descended down onto the roof. Strutting over to the girl they had just cleansed; they both see her in a looking up in a daze. A red mark on her right cheek in the shape of a heel, a bit of blood seeping out.

"Well, shall we?" She raised the towel up.

"We shall!" Cat took out a green gem.

"Miraculous miracle!" Simultaneously, several black cats destroyed the ice, and ladybugs repaired all the ruined buildings caused by the akuma. Unfortunately, it didn't undo non-magical injuries so the scars on the two teen girls faces remained.

The rapid sound adult footsteps diverted the duo's attention to the roof entrance, a group of shivering news reporters being led by Nadjia Chamack.

"It looks like LadyRuby and Cat Knight have saved Paris once again!" She commented. As they stepped closer, they noticed the swelling on the victim's face. "My goodness! What happed to her?"

Ruby's red lips formed a regretful smile, "unfortunately when trying to get the parasol away from her, I ended up hitting her face", she then pointed to her left cheek where there was only a thin but obvious, red line. "But it looks like the two of us match!"

The beep from the earrings and ring stopped broke a curse from under the blonde hero's breath as he didn't even get a chance to show off his skill. "Cat you all later!" He bowed before both her and LadyRuby dipping out.

__________________________________________________

{Place des Vosges}

With the cage of ice finally gone the model team and other were able to gain access to some warmth. Hot coffee and water were passed around, even to Marc, Alya Manon and Marinette, whose parents had on come out from the bakery with some hot chocolate to help warm everyone up. The summer weather wasn't too hot, cooling down to make space for autumn, so it wouldn't help too much. Ambulance passed, presumably heading for the ITV news station where the victim was left.

"I love hot coco!" Manon's cute voice squeaked out, the brown liquid restoring warmth throughout her body.

"So do I Manon", Marinette gave the little girl next to her a head pat with a gentle smile, but that smile was short lived at the sight of the photographer approaching her.

"So?" He stretched.

"So what?" Though she knew exactly what he meant.

"So, will you let me have this little girl on set with Mr Adrien?"

Adrien, who was sitting on the bench across from Marinette, just shook his head in disappointment. "Vincint, is that even legal?"

"Vincint!" Before anyone could reply to an angry Mrs Sade Owusu stormed over. "This is highly inappropriate behaviour! That child isn't just a minor but practically a baby!"

"I-I just thought-"

"Just thought what? This is a professional setting, not an informal gathering. If you want another model to help, bring life to the set, ask for one of them!" She took a deep breath and a sip from her coffee mug. "I'll let it slide just this once since you're new. But if I see you doing this again, I will be reporting you to Mr Agreste. Clear?"

"Crystal!" The photographer, Vincent, stood straight.

"Good, not get back to the set!" Vincent didn't need to be told twice as he scurried back to the set. Sade Sighed, facing the teenagers with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry about that, he should know better. Especially since having a minor as a model without their guardian's consent is just asking for a lawsuit".

"It's okay, thank you for that actually", truthfully, Marinette didn't know if she could turn the guy down. Obviously, she had to as she wasn't Manon's mother, but that didn't mean it was easy to turn others down. As Mrs Sade left to go back to the set the teen couldn't help but worry. I wonder how Lila's doing after the akuma?

She couldn't exactly call her right now, due to her current responsibility, so she sent a quick text to her bff as to how well she was holding up after the attack. It didn't take long for her to get a reply, affixed with an image.

-Lila-

I got a bit of a cold since the akuma did freeze me when I was on my way home.

I even ended up with an ugly scar on my face!

==========

An image of her face with a plaster over said scar was underneath causing the bluenette to gasp grabbing the attention of the others.

"What's wrong Mari?" Marc asked.

"It's Lila, she got a scar on her face and a cold from the akuma attack", she turned her phone to show the image.

"Man, that sucks. I know we're only cold, but that doesn't mean it'll affect us all the same way, considering we had each other to keep warm", Alya sympathised.

"She also wants to take part in the modelling contest Gabriel Agreste's is hosting", Marinette sighed.

Adrien gave her a reassuring smile, "don't worry, the scar seems small, and the contest isn't for a while. So, I'm sure she can still attend".

Marinette gave him a gentle smile and texted Lila back.

-You-

You should get some rest immediately!

Also, the scar does NOT make you look ugly.

btw Adrien says it shouldn't affect your chances at the modelling contest.

==========

-Lila-

You're with Adrien right now?

==========

-You-

He was modelling at the park outside my house.

The same one the Statue of the Paris heroes are placed in.

==========

-Lila-

I wish you told me you were gonna be spending time with him.

I would have come help you.

Am I not your bff?

==========

-You-

Of course you're my bff!

I was just dropping off some pastries they had ordered for catering.

The akuma attacked when we dropped them off.

I can't spend time with him because I'm babysitting my mother's friend's daughter.

==========

-Lila-

Of course!

I'm gonna get some rest.

I should be back at school by Wednesday.

ttyl!

==========

Putting her phone down Marinette wondered if she should gift her a box of pastries and hot chocolate when Wednesday came. But right now, she picked up a still cold Manona who giggles=d.

"We should get inside and warm you right up", she gave the 5-year-old a squeeze.

Chapter Text

__________________________________________________

{08/10/2040, Monday, Collège Françoise Dupont - 13:00}

"Alright, everybody looks at the camera. Hahaha, they're perfect! Say spaghetti!"

Remember the crazy Italian cameraman who kept raving on about spaghetti? Yeah, he's back. This time not for Gabriel Agreste, but for headmaster of Marinette's school. He was taking pictures of every class for both the yearbook and for the school website. This is a school for the nepo babies.

"Spaghetti!" Came the sound of Monsieur D'Argencourt's class.

But on another note, Lila was back at school again. Well, she had returned to school on Wednesday, but an akuma attack on that same day caused her to get a few minor injuries. Her mother, a diplomat and very protective, had her stay at home for the rest of the week. Though she did confirm that Lila would certainly show up to attend picture day.

"Thanks again for the cinnamon rolls and coffee Marinette!" Lila beamed. Marinette had made do on her self-made promise and brought Lila a small box of caramel apple cinnamon buns and a pumpkin spice latte she herself had made.

It is October now and the autumn weather had started to pick up, not just the seasonal treats. The brunette had a black cardigan, a pair of black ankle boots and knee-high socks. The blunette now wore a full sleeved jacket and full-length jeans, a glove still on her right hand.

"It's no problem, Lila, I mean you deserve something nice after going through all those injuries. Speaking of which, how are they now?" The two were sitting on the steps of the school, ready for their class's turn after Mendeleiev's, which were being sorted out right now.

"Oh, I've mostly healed, but I still have a bit of a bruise above my left elbow", the Italian girl shrugged her left sleeve off to reveal a purple small purple bruise.

"Oh, that must hurt", the ponytail girl placed a hand over her mouth.

A sad smile made its way to Lila's face. "It does still hurt a bit, but I'll live. And today's picture day, I can't miss it!"

"Maybe you should go to the nurse's office?" The duo turned around to see it was Nino who had spoken and Adrien next to him full of concern.

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that. I already had it treated and now I just have to wait for it to heal", waving her hand dismissively Lila tugged her cardigan sleeve back on.

Nino had replaced his top with a black hoodie with a pair of red eyes and a sharp tooth smile, and Adrien now wore a green full sleeved hoodie under his polo.

"I hope it heals in time for the model contest, it's the same day as the fashion winter fashion line", the blonde sat on the step behind the two girls between them, and Nino behind Marinette on his left.

"Is it really that strict? I mean can't bruises be covered up with makeup?" The DJ questioned before his eyes widen. "Not that getting hurt isn't a bad thing!"

"Don't worry, we know what you mean", the girl in blue reassured.

"It isn't too bad if it's a small bruise, like you said, they can be covered up with makeup", Adrien clarified. "But that can take up time, and sometimes something that fit you comfortably when you were fine, can feel like hell when you're hurt".

"That ever happen to you dude?" Inquired the glasses boy.

That did have Adrien pondering for a moment, "I think I can remember one time where I wore shoes that were pretty comfy that ended up hurting me. I cut the back of my foot, and the shoe was digging into it".

"Well, I'll be sure to keep that in mind", Lila placed a reassuring hand on the boy's arm. "I already filled out the form, got my mother's permission and submitted it, so I'll definitely attend".

"Are you entering the novice model contest too Lila?" Another one of their classmates squeaked up. Up on Lila's right were Rose Lavillant, her girlfriend Juleka Couffaine, and Mylène Haprèle.

Rose Lavillant, the British girly girl was the one who spoke. She wore a pink, sleeveless denim mini dress with a pair of what buttons, a white full sleeved shirt underneath, a white belt, a pair of pink ballerina flats with a pink bow and a pair of white tights. A pink smartwatch was on her left wrist along with pink and white pearl bracelets, a pink rose in her hair, a pair of rose gold rose earrings, and a pink day-bag with white angel wings. She also wore pink tinted lip balm.

Juleka, tallest girl in class, had a black, off shoulder jumper silk screened with purple claw scars, a black tank underneath, a pair of black jeans, a pair of black chelsea boots with a purple lace. A pair of black lace fingerless gloves, the right having a silver mirror on the back, a black smartwatch with skulls on her left wrist, a black choker, and a black purse with a tiger paw. She wore black eyeliner, mascara, and purple nail polish.

Mylene had worn a similar outfit she did previously, but with the addition of a tawny brown hoodie and combat boots.

"Why yes I am Rose", the smile on the emerald eyed girl's face didn't leave. "Are you also competing?"

"Oh no, I'm not. But Juleka will!" Now that caught the quadruple's attention.

Juleka was a rather quiet person, keeping to herself and out of the spotlight. Despite being a member of the drama club along with Mylene, she never even took a minor acting role. In fact, the only difference between her a Marinette, excluding their aesthetic and race, was that Marinette was Chloe's main target, and Juleka was just an afterthought.

"It's undecided", the brown eye girl rubbed her forearms. "I mean, something always goes wrong whenever someone tries to take a picture of me".

"What do you mean by that?" Adrien, spoke but even Lila was confused.

"I'm jinxed", the tall girl sighed. "Ever since I was little, every time someone takes a photo of me, something always goes very wrong", she took out her phone and showed a few examples of said jinx. A pigeon blocked her face on what looks like a date with Rose, last year's class photo where Max's hand blocked out her face, and one where a dog seemed to have jumped out at Juleka and a boy looking similar to her.

"No, Juleka, I'm telling you, you're not jinxed!" The tiny pink one placed her hands over her heart "This time it's gonna work out, I can feel it, right here!"

"I'm with Rose on this one Juleka", Mylene placed a comforting hand on Juleka's back.

"Well, I do hope your curse lifts up", Lila comforted. "After all, models always need to have their pictures looking their best!"

"That's sweet of you Lila", the actual model praised. "I hope you get to win, and even if you don't, hopefully you'll be part of the half my father will allow to stay on. Then we can work together!"

"Oh Adrien!" She bashfully brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "I'd love to have a friend to work with, it'd be so much fun!"

"Thank you, kids, you've been wonderful", the sound of Vincents voice called the group out of their conversation as the other class left. "Ok, time to flash your pearly whites, guys! You kids take a seat in the front bench", he gestures for Max, Alix, Rose, Marinette, and Mylène. "Quickly please, I've got many other classes to shoot".

"Look Sabrina, they're up front in the baby seats! Go on rugrats, don't forget to take your thumbs out of your mouths!" Oh God just when you thought life was a bit more peaceful. When was the last time we heard this girl? Dark Knight?

Chloe now wore a lemon-yellow cable stitched wool dress, nude tights, and a pair of white Victorian boots with black on the bottom and laces. She had the same makeup and watch from before. A pair of onyx cat earrings, a matching hair comb, a black channel belt and a black choker.

Sabrina on the other hand wore turquoise hoodie, a white dress, a pair of black ankle boots, a pair of white socks, a black belt, and a black headband. She also adorned a silver pin on the left side of her chest that looked like a flower. A Gabriel original their victim remembered seeing in a magazine.

Marinette simply rolled her eyes as the disaster duo laughed.

"Well, next row! Hmmm...", he scanned the class before pointing out to Nathaniel, Lila, Sabrina, Kamar, and Chloe "You, you, you and you go stand on the rear bench, please."

"Wait just one minute!" Of course, the devil couldn't handle this. "I'm supposed to be in the middle row, right next to Adrien. Preferably the centre", she pulled on the boy's arm to have him stand right next to her. "Look, we're the same size!"

Yeah no. You are both not the same size.

"Nah, go stand in the back row, behind the rest", Vincent has gained some respect from me.

"How dare you, put me behind the rest?" Whatever Regina. "Do you know who my father is?"

"Is he a photographer?" Obvious sarcasm that brought a gasp out of Chloe from not being recognised.

"NO! He's-"

"Bummer, I could really use an assistant. Now hurry up and take your place, or I'll put you up front with the babies!" Now Marinette is gaining some respect for the man. Thank God this man doesn't take a thing from the queen bee.

Not even bothering to hide her frustration at the iron spine of the adult Italian, Chloe growled under her breath and stood on the platform in the last row. This Left Kim, Nino, Adrien, and Ivan to stand in the middle row in that order.

Wait...

"Uh, excuse me sir", Rose lifted her hand to catch adult's attention. "You forgot Juleka", the goth girl was looking at her reflection in her glove mirror.

Yep, we were missing someone.

"Huh? Ah sorry, my bad!" He scanned the students already positioned and pointed at Adrien. "Go stand in the middle row, next to that blonde haired boy", this put her a little off the centre but still visible for all to see.

While the overall wearing man was just supposed to take a picture, he was a perfectionist wo took immense pride in his work. So of course he wouldn't take a picture just like that. Why else would this only be the third class this late into the school day?

"No, this isn't right! Something's not working here!"

And of course, the wicked blonde of the west believes she's in the right, "uhh, course it's not working! I'm in the wrong spot!"

The man pointed at Ivan. "You, move over here, will ya? Let's see..." Ivan was a rather big boy who lacked Mylene's gentleness. Thus, his heavy aura seemed to unbalance the picture despite how many places he was moved to.

"Excuse me, but do we have a problem?" Denis Damoclès, the headmaster asked a but annoyed. And could you blame him? He was here since this morning, as he was in each class photo.

"It doesn't matter where I put him, it throws the whole picture out of whack!" Ah, the struggles of a perfectionist.

"My spot is unacceptable!" Chloe couldn't stay quiet and started to push Max who was standing next to Adrien and right in front of her. Of course he was pushing her back.

"Ms. Bourgeois, behave yourself!" Caline chastised.

"This isn't gym class, you know Chlo!" Even Adrien was getting irritated at her consistent need to stand next to him. They have a lifetime of albums where they were next to each other.

Vincent decided to ignore the angry Pomeranian in the class and continue on with his job. "You, over here, you here, and you here", after swapping some of the students around he finally grinned in satisfaction. "There, perfect!"

The new set up went like this, from the class's right to their left in the first row: Max, Marinette, Mylene, Alix and Rose. The last row went: Nathaniel, Lila, Kamar, Sabrina, Laurent, and Chloe. And the middle row went: Nino, Adrien, Juleka Kim and Ivan. Of course, this perfect set up was bound to upset certain people.

"Uh, no! It isn't! It's not perfect at all! I'm totally not next to Adrien!" Which just boosted Marinette's respect for the photographer. In fact, she herself was right in front of Adrien with Lila and Kamar right behind him. Juleka, photo jinx, was even in the centre.

"Please Chloé, we still have sixteen classes to photograph!" it was one of the rare times in which the head would scold the girl. "Go ahead Vincent."

"Okay everyone, say spaghetti!" Everyone smiled.

"Spaghetti!" Only for their smiles to drop with the man's.

"Oh, I don't believe this!" The flash on his camera indicated the camera was dying. "I'm sorry, I have to go fetch another battery. Nobody moves!"

But of course, there would be one to never listen, in this case it was Juleka and Sabrina who had both gone to the bathroom while everyone else talked. Unfortunately, they had gone without informing anyone else, even the teacher. If they had, a future disaster could have been avoided.

Within the girl's bathroom, Juleka sat in one of the stalls, looking at herself in her miniature mirror with her hair out of her face. After a bit of self-deprecation, she finally got up to leave. However, when she turned the bathroom door, it wouldn't budge, as the teenage witch had left a chair under the door handle.

Obviously, it wasn't on the toilet stall because have you seen those handles? Not only do they slide but they're on the inside! A strong push and you'd be out without a problem. Now they only question is where the chair came from, but that can easily be answered. There were some foldable chairs along the wall, it was easier to access for students and teachers who couldn't stand during assembly.

When the quiet Sabrina returned, Vincint had also returned with a new cell for his camera. The only one to notice was Chloe, who went straight to Juleka's old spot.

"How'd you get here?" Adrien had noticed the obvious grip Chloe had his arm in. Rose even noticed when she turned intending to her girlfriend.

"Urgh, who cares? At last, I'm in the right spot!" A spot she had stolen. Couldn't she have just taken the spot when Juleka was in the bathroom and not move? I mean would Juleka even say or do anything against her?

"We're back in business!" He caught the rest of the class's attention as they ready themselves for the picture. " I want you to flash your best smiles! Because it's the last time we are doing this!"

"But WAIT!" The pixie girl waved her arm in an attempt to get the attention of the photographer, but it fell on deaths ears. Yes, her teacher and class, minus Chloe, had given her a surprised look, but headmaster Damoclès and the photographer didn't bat an eye.

"Thanks kids!" In fact, it seemed as though Vincint preferred the genuine shocked looks as opposed to the forced fake smiles he's accustomed to.

"Wait!" Rose got up in a clear distressed voice. "Please sir, we have to redo the photo!"

"Who's that?" Vincent seemed a bit offended as that his photography was being questioned.

"Because Juleka's not in it!"

"Jule-who?" A student was missing. Well obviously, he wouldn't notice as she wasn't someone he saw often.

"Juleka! The tall one with the purple streaks!" She moved her arms around, one mimicking hair covering her left eye and the other up as high as she could reach.

"She's right. Where'd she goes?" Nathaniel wondered aloud.

"I think she headed to the bathroom?" Kamar was probably the only one who saw her.

"Uh, Denis Damoclès", oh God please shut her up! "Don't we need to be heading off to lunch?" Then retake it after lunch, it isn't rocket science Ms. Bourgeois? "And aren't you paying the photographer by the hour?"

"Why yes!" Cheap forking man! "No time to retake, class move along, hurry up!"

Not wanting to stand for this injustice, Rose immediately headed for the toilet to find her love. And what did she find? One of the foldable chairs blocking the toilet door. Obviously, the time from when it was placed to now was less than a minute, otherwise someone else would have found and removed the chair. But those few seconds had removed Juleka from her one single hope of a real, properly done picture of herself.

The goth girl was crouched down on the floor with her face in her arms, soft sniffles coming from her mouth.

Rose threw her arms around her, rubbing Juleka's back in slow motion, "poor sweet Jewl!"

A single brown eye peeked out from her arms, "I missed the photo. Didn't I?"

"Yeah", it would do no good to lie when the answer was obvious. "Another one of Chloé's mean tricks!"

"Why should I expect it to be any different?" The oak eye vanished again. "Nobody ever hears me. Or sees me. I'm invisible. Even in photos."

"Don't say that Juleka!" The girly girl gasped, "it's not true!"

"Forget it!" She immediately stood up causing the smaller to stumble back. "As long as I exist there will never be a day in which I get to stay in the picture!"

"No, wait Juleka!" The short girl stood up, ready to help her lover as she reached her hand out.

"Really Rose, forget it", but she didn't want it. "Forget me!" And with that she left the school grounds. Her longer legs leaving Rose in the dust to unable to even see her.

Digging into her pocket, the pixie girl took out a phone. It was in a pink case with a pair of glittery angel wings and halo. She hurriedly scanned through her contacts till she found the one she was looking for. It only took a couple of rings before the receiver picked up.

"Luka! It's an emergency!" The panic sent a wave of alarm to the boy on the other end. "Juleka's missing!"

"What do you mean Juleka's missing?" The boy questioned, though the obvious rustle in the back meant he was on the move. "What happened to my sister?!"

__________________________________________________

{Collège Françoise Dupont, cafeteria - 12:45}

Meanwhile, the chatter around the cafeteria gave a rather lively atmosphere compared to the misery that had just unfolded.

"Poor Juleka," Mylene sat down with Nathaniel, Ivan, and Alix. "She missed out on the picture just because Chloe wanted to be next to Adrien."

"Well, that's Chloe for you, if she doesn't get her way easy, she'll force her way through. No matter what the consequences are on others," Alix stabbed her fork into her lamb.

Alix Kubdel wore a black hoodie with green sleeves, hood, and 'A' in front, and black sweatpants. Black roller skates with green snake pattern accent, matching fingerless gloves, matching smartwatch on her right wrist, a black beanie and a black satchel with green accent.

Nathaniel Kurtzberg drank his carton of chocolate milk, "I don't think I've ever seen a good picture of her, one time she got wet when a bucket of water was dumped on her!"

Nathaniel wore a apple red and white striped t-shirt, red cropped denim jacket with almond brown buttons, and red jeans with some maple leaved stitching in a pale gold colour going a few inches up the right ankle. Brown belt bag, brown work boots, black tie, bronze stud earrings, and a brown knapsack with gold accent. For makeup he just had some black eyeliner.

"I remember that", Ivan swallowed his sandwich. "The art club were bringing in a bucket of water to clean up some spilled paint when someone slipped, and it spilled over the railing. Thankfully, it was still clean with zero bleach".

"If it wasn't she would've ended up with burns, or become blind," Mylene worried. "I had a cousin who had bleach poured on her arm and got a big chemical burn from it!"

Their conversation was cut short by a frantic looking Rose came running in, making a beeline for the table of four.

"Where's the fire Rose?" The roller blade teen inquired.

"Juleka's missing!" They dropped their food, "she got upset after being left out of the picture and ran off!"

Nathaniel heaved signed at this, "no offense, but how do you know she just doesn't want to be left alone?"

"Because before she left, she-she-", taking a shaky breath in an attempt to calm down, Rose got the words out. "She told me to forget about her!"

The rainbow haired girl got up with a gasp, "this photo jinx must have really hit her! She's never been this upset!"

"I don't think it's just this. It may have been a buildup of the pictures never tuning out right," the big boy packed away his remaining lunch. "When something bad continuously happens. no matter how small, your bound to get really upset over it. The fact that it's small is a huge factor, as you may feel inclined to keep how you feel to yourself."

The group gave Ivan the bug eyes. "What?"

"How do you know all that?" The red head asked.

"It's advice my therapist gave me," the boy in black rubbed the back of his neck. "Can we not talk about this right now?"

"Sure, right now we need to find Juleka," his girlfriend came to the rescue, she then addressed the pink pixie. "Do you have any idea where she could have gone?"

"I told Luka about how she's missing so he's gonna check their home, though I'm pretty sure she didn't go there," Rose rubbed her right arm. "She does tend to go to the Museum, park or Siene when she wants some alone time, along with some other places."

"Alright, text us the locations," the pinkette took charge of the situation. "Ivan and Mylene, check the Siene. Rose, check the park. Nathaniel, go inform the teachers. I'll check the museum."

Each of her friends nodded at her orders before separating. Nathaniel informed Bustier, who then called the girl's mother, confirming that Juleka had not gone home. Ivan and Mylene walked across the entire Siene from opposite directions, an exhausting task, but no goth girl in sight. Despite having gone to the museum several times, knowing the area inside out, Alix couldn't find a single spot of her Couffaine classmate.

It wasn't till Rose reached the Place des Vosges that she suddenly remembered how there was a magical butterfly man in the city as she found a rather eccentricity dresses girl twirling around.

"AKUMA!" The scream ripped from the back of her throat triggered surrounding pedestrians flight response to book it out of there. Well, as out as you can when you're outside.

Everyone believed the akuma had yet to use her powers, as there was a lack of any obvious physical damage. Though, people find themselves suddenly tripping over a pair of bright pinkish red heels they weren't wearing them before.

Turns out the akuma had indeed used her power, a bright glowing ray. However, instead of causing the victims to lose their agency like DarkBlade, they just turned into exact physical copies of her. However, what stood out to Rose the most, was where the beam came from. The back of the right hand where a silver design sat, similar to the mirror in possession of...

"Juleka!" Hands snapped right to her mouth from behind the tree she hid, easy considering how small she is.

The akuma is Juleka! I need to tell everyone! Taking out her phone she hurriedly sent a text to the class group chat and Luka, informing them of the akuma and her suspicions. This is all Choe's fault!

__________________________________________________

{Collège Françoise Dupont, inside}

The headmaster of the school was walking back from enjoying a nice lunch with the photographer, unaware of the rapid information reaching the student body. That was until a teenager in a cross between what looked like a Lolita and old upper crust struts up to them.

"Hello!" Her voice was that of a mature woman, if it weren't for the information of the

The bearded man stepped back deeper into the school, ready to flee. "What? Who-who are you?"

That seemed to be the wrong answer, as her smile vanished into a furious frown "Nobody has ever noticed me! But those days are over! Because from now on, everybody will notice me because everyone will look like me!" She raised the back of her right hand at the elder. "Time to get a new look!"

In an instant, the adult men were replaced with identical copies of the female akuma before them. "Soon there will be nothing but Reflektas everywhere!"

The bright flash was noticed by the present students who were running around in an attempt to save their own appearance. Unfortunately for some, it was all in vain when she blocked the entrance.

"No need to panic! Who doesn't love an extreme makeover?" The girl's soothing voice promptly shifted to demanding. "Nobody leaves here! Soon all of Paris will look like me, including Miss Chloé Bourgeois!"

As she walked to the centre of the school a boy clads in black snuck past her in an attempt to destroy the barricade and free the students. Unfortunately for him, the akuma victim is the queen of stealth, hearing his foot taps a mile away. Right before the hero could even activate his power, his knightly ensemble changed to a fabulous lady.

"Much better!" The former Cat Knight turned around to face the doll. "I hate cats!"

Growling, the former cat raised his hand, "cataclysm!" Only for nothing to appear. "Huh? My ring!! My Miraculous! It's gone!" Plagg! Are you there?

A lilac butterfly light appeared over her face that soon gained a maniacal grin. "Don't worry, I'll take care of it!"

I'm still here kid.... She can probably undo the transformation.... but will only do so when she's secured both you... and Lady Ruby.

I didn't even use the power! How are you tired!?

Even with his super agility he stumbled away due to the choice of akuma footwear, though he did find he still had his staff. "Who invented these things?" Fortunately, he wasn't the akuma's main concern.

"WHERE IS CHLOE BOURGEOIS?!?"

Said girl was coming out from the locker room, oblivious to the consequential chaos she's in for.

"There you are at last!" Reflekta landed strutted over to the source of her misery, "Chloé Bourgeois!"

"Who are you?" Nice preservation instincts, take some notes from Sabrina who's still hiding.

Reflekta did not look pleased at this, "take a good look at me because I am your future face!"

"Augh! Gross!" Now she tries fleeing, only succeeding in a wardrobe change. "What in the? Do you realize how much my outfit cost!?" That's what you're concerned about? Your rich!

"You should be thanking me! You look a thousand times better like this!" I mean, where's the lie...? Okay, Chloe does slay. "Besides, you won't get rid of me by locking me in the bathroom this time!"

Her left hand lifted up to strike the blonde's face when a string wrapped around said wrist. Lady Ruby stood in her royal glory with an annoyed look on her face. Probably because this all happened during lunchtime, if the growl from her stomach says anything.

"Stop this now!"

"I'm sure you're going to love your new image, Lady Ruby!" A sinister smirk crossed Reflekta's features as she raised her right hand, "Cat Knight loves his."

Hungry or not, Ruby had enough common sense not to stay still. Unlocking her yoyo from the Lolita, she used it to shield herself from oncoming blows. "No use running, just like everyone else you'll look like me." the akuma spoke in confidence as she slowly walked towards the bug who continued to back up to the school centre. "But first, I'm gonna take your earrings as a trophy!"

"Time to face off!" The familiar voice of a cat called out with his staff raise high, "catch her!"

No idea how he got the idea, but it wasn't a bad one. All those already infected by Reflekta surrounded the akuma to fight back, charging at her. Adding in how they were already transformed, blasting them again wouldn't do anything other than what they want. Sadly, they weren't at efficient on heels as their enemy who easily jumped on their heads.

"You're no match for me Lady Ruby!" She landed at the entrance, "this will all be over soon for you!" And she'd gone.

The adrenaline from running and tumbling started to subside as everyone got up and stagger over to the ladybug.

"How are you gonna help us, Lady Ruby?"

"We want our bodies back!"

"Don't worry, I'll figure it out!" She seemed to forget she was just saved.

"You mean both of us will figure something out," and a Lolita sounding like a cat came forward, finally getting the hang of heels. "These shoes are killer on the feet!"

"Cat Kight?" Her eyes bugged out, allowing the Knight to drag her away from the others. "Cat Knight, is it - is it really you?"

"Uh, of course it is," he scored the same irritated face he always did. "Also, how are you able to fight in shoes like these all the time?"

"Ha!" She didn't bother hiding her amusement at the situation. "That's quite the look on you, isn't it?"

"How about a thank you for getting you out of that tight spot!" He growled.

"Thank you, madam!" She would not take him seriously.

"Ugh! Whatever!" He rolled his eyes, "and in case you've forgotten, we've got too de-akumatize Reflekta!"

"We?" She looked him up and down, "what are you gonna do? Throw your shoes at her?" Her eyes then landed on his right ring finger. "Did you lose your miraculous!?"

"I have you know it just disappeared when the akuma transformed me!" He kept stabbing his staff on her shoulder, "and by the way the victim's some goth chick named Juleka!"

"Why exactly was she an akuma anyway?" Though with the target's information she had an idea of where the akuma was.

"Because she didn't get to be in her class photo thanks to Chloé Bourgeois," he crossed his arms at the absurdity.

"Just because she was left out of a picture. Pathetic." This annoyed the bug whose stomach was already empty. "Anyway, I got a plan I need to hatch. Buh Bye!" She flew away, leaving the cat stranded agape atop the stairs.

__________________________________________________

{ITV news Station}

While Reflekta took to transforming the entire population of Paris, all the televisions around changed to show Lady Ruby on screen, standing with high authority.

"People of Paris! Reflekta is not invincible! You can help!" She put a hand on her hip and pointed at the screen. "All you have to do is put on a disguise! Then I'll be able to spot the real Reflekta and bring her down!"

Thankful there were some workers still present in the news station, and they helped Lady Ruby in her plan. Essentially telling the akuma where she was in an attempt to lure the real Reflekta out. She was basically copying Stormy Weather's strategy back when they fought, but in this case, there were multiple copies of said target. But who would willingly work with an akuma?

"Remember, put on a disguise!"

"And cut!" The cameraman called. "A classic plan Lady Ruby, luring the real one here."

"Thank you, sir," she beamed at the praise as she flew to the ceiling. "I don't think anyone else would think of it in such a dire situation. Especially since Cat Knight has already been caught."

"Well, I'll leave, don't want to get in the way of your plan!" And with a bit too much energy, the man sprinted out and to the hallway bathroom.

Just as expected, a nervous looking Reflekta walked into the room not even ten minutes later. Working on instinct, the heroine wrapped them within her yoyo. Jumping down to their level and snapping the mirror. But no mist came out.

"What!?"

"I'm sorry," that did not sound like a woman. "She promised she'd changed me back to my normal self if I tricked you."

"Mayor Bourgeois?" She didn't get a chance to process her shock when she was forced to fly away from an oncoming beam. Reflekta was right outside the door, her sinister smirk for all to see.

"Lucky charm!" Ruby through yoyo in the air as she hid behind a sofa, a polaroid camera fell into her hand. "Ew! This is so old fashioned!"

Don't they... cause a bright flash... of light?

Well duh! My grandmother said the flash blinded her... an idea came to the red girl's head at that. Like clockwork, she blocked the rays coming at her as she reached to deactivate the light switch. Using her enhanced sensory Roby located where her enemy was. When she stood before her she flashed the camera light from where her face would be, blinding the akuma. Once she was close enough, she grabbed her right hand in a tight grip, kicked the girl to the ground and dug her heel into the mirror. This time the mist did come out.

"Miraculous miracle!" The city was surrounded by a wave of ladybugs, before being followed by a mass of black cats. The Lolita Reflekta was now replaced by the gothic Juleka, dazed with a sharp pain in her hand.

"Could you take care of this girl, Monsieur Bourgeois?" Ruby fluttered her eyes at the mayor who readily agreed.

"Of course. But, could we please keep my captivity a secret," he called the ambulance to head for the station while Ruby begrudgingly left, upset she couldn't make any public statements without de-transforming.

__________________________________________________

{Collège Françoise Dupont, headmaster's office - 15:00}

The battle has ended, and the class photos have resumed. An angry pirate woman with a silver braid came storming into school, demanding answers for the reason behind her daughter's akumatization.

"So, you mean to tell me, my daughter was missing, and you didn't even bother looking for her!?" Anarka Couffaine, single mother of Juleka and Luka Couffaine.

"N-now Mademoiselle Couffaine, when y-you say it like that it makes it sounds... bad," but that what you did?

"That's because what you did was bad!" The queen- sorry, I mean pirate mother, slammed her fist on the desk. "I told you she has severe anxiety, and you do this!?"

A knock on the door momentarily saved the headmaster from the having a spoon shoved up his butt. And before you ask why a spoon, a knife would look too suspicious.

"Come in!" The cowering man squeaked.

"Sorry to bother you- ah, Mademoiselle Couffaine!", it was Madam Bustier. "I was going to inform you of this later, but I can tell you now. The photographer has been made aware of the missing student and says he can come back tomorrow and take a picture in the morning."

"Why that's outstanding news Caline!" Anarka smiled, "and I've told you, call me Anarka!"

"Oh, sorry!" The redhead covered her mouth, "anyway, since this is a single class it shouldn't take too long, so it'll come free of charge. I would just like to make sure Juleka can come to school in the morning."

"Ah, she's a bit on the groggy side....", she then frowned for a second, "and her right hand is fractured," the other two heard the murmur. "But she should be good enough to go back to school after tomorrow! I'd like to give her a day to rest!"

"Well, I'm glad, and I'm sorry for not keeping track of all my students", Caline frowned. "I'll inform the photographer."

Anarka's smile dropped a bit, "don't be sorry. After all, you're trying to fix the mistake made!" She glared at Damoclès who cowered under her stare.

Rose, who was in the hospital with Luka, had informed both of the Couffaine of what happened when she told them Juleka was missing. Honestly, if it weren't for a teacher like Caline, Anarka would have had her daughter switch schools.

Sensing the tension in the room the cyan eyed teacher clapped her hands, gathering the attention back to her. "Well, since that's all, I think it's best we all depart for the day. I'm sure Mad- I mean, Anarka would love to get back to her daughter."

"Yes, I would," both women left the room, but not before the mother shot the head one last nasty look before shutting the door.

And yes, they had a proper class photo, without any interference from the raging blonde of fire. And while Juleka has her hand in a cast, it was a perfect picture experience to her.

Chapter Text

__________________________________________________

{15/10/2040, Monday, Le Grand Paris Hotel - 8:00}

Caline Bustier's class stood on the ground floor of Le Grand Paris hotel, the same hotel Chloe's father owned, for a week of work experience. Standing before them was their teacher and Mayor Andre.

Caline had a few changes made to her outfit, a white double button blazer and a pair of white high heel ankle boots. Her bag slung over her shoulder.

"Thanks to the generosity of Monsieur Bourgeois, we're able to have our work experience field trip this week at the Grand Paris luxury hotel," she hands out a folded paper to each of her students. "Each of you will get hands-on experience with one of the many jobs here at the hotel. You'll be graded on your effort, which will affect whether you pass or fail the class," the last part was left with a pointed eye at Kim and Alix who looked sheepish.

"The papers have an outline of what your job entails," once she gave out the final student's paper, she went back to stand next to Andre. "I will now read out each of your assigned rolls," she took out a cyan clipboard with red flowers on the bottom left corner on the back. Sue her for liking physical paper over a phone.

"Adrien Agreste and Chloé Bourgeois, you will be assisting the receptionist with checking guests into the hotel." Gee, I wonder why its conveniently those two? The blonde girl wrapped her arms around the blonde boy, and I'm gonna be real here, they look like they could be siblings!

"Laurent Lafitte, Lê Chiến Kim and Ivan Bruel will be helping out the bellboys carry around the guest's luggage," Kim offered the dual haired boy a smile which Ivan returned. The jock has been trying to make it up to the dual hair boy after the Stoneheart incident and it seems to be going well.

"And according to the mayor, there will be one coming soon." As if on que, a pair of humans and a crocodile waltz through the doors, a massive amount of luggage hauled by the poor bellboy. Immediately, the five, yes even Chloe, went to their stations, Adrien and Chloe behind the counter, Ivan, Laurent, and Kim loading the luggage onto a cart with the thankful man.

"Hello there Monsieur Stone, my daughter is a huge fan of you!" The white-haired male nervously rubbed his hands together. "And I see you have a crocodile with you too."

Nobody seemed to notice the playful eyeroll from his daughter. Daddy didn't even know who he was and was nearly gonna remove his reservation before I told him how rich he is.

"Who isn't?" Okay, rude. "And why is there a gathering of children here? I thought outside parties weren't allowed here?"

"Oh no!" The chubby man waved his hands, "my daughter's class is working here for their work experience week. I hope it's not too much trouble".

The rockstar seemed to smile at that. "Now that's rock 'n roll! I don't mind seeing some young kids getting ahead in life!"

"Just remember to be nice to them!" Penny Rolling, Jagged's manager, nudged the man before smiling. "We booked your most luxurious suite."

"Of course,", he gestured to the two blondes behind the counter. "They shall take care of checking you in."

Chloe handed Adrien a piece of paper before typing on the computer, "may I have your ID and credit card?"

"Sure thing," Jagged handed over what was needed.

"Um Chlo?" The model whispered to his childhood friend, "what's this for?"

"It's a pet agreement form, whenever guests bring in a pet, they have to sign it," she stated matter of fact. Say what you will but she definitely knows how to run a hotel.

"Oh, then can I have you sign this Monsieur Stone?" Adrien handed the man the form and a pen.

"Of course, and please, call me Jagged!" He smiled and filled out the form, unaware of fang wandering off. "But no bubble baths for Fang, which dries his scales."

Marinette, a blonde young adult hiding behind the other counter. Nudging Lila, she pointed her eyes to the direction right as Fang crawled up to the man. A loud growl from the reptile and a yelp from the man brought more attention to them, as the stranger shot away from the reptile.

"Oh, no. Not him again!" An exasperated sigh left the rockstar's lips as he handed the sighed form and pen back to Adrien.

"Remember me, Mr. Stone? Vincent Aza!" And he shares the same name as the photographer that just earned my respect! "Just one photo to show everyone in the world that we're best buds!" He lifted up the camera he had around his neck. "Come on, please! I'm your biggest fan!"

"I know, you've been to my last 36 shows!" Oof, okay, maybe this stalker deserved to have Fang bite him. "But we are not friends!"

"There! Look into the lens!" Uncomfortable was an understatement for the look on Jagged's face. But here comes Penny to the rescue! As she snagged the camera right from the blonde's grasp and pulled him out by the back of his shirt.

"Why, that's rather unfortunate," yeah, no dip Mayor.

"I hope the security in here will stop him from arriving here again," an understandably irritated jagged demanded.

Andre gave Jagged a reassuring smile. "I'll make it better by banning him from the property. We value the safety of our guests!"

"Thank you, sir," a relived smile placed itself upon Jagged's face. After all that drama, the room keys for the trio were ready. After Penny came back, they left for the elevator, the bellboy and three students following behind with the guest's belongings.

"Next," Caline went back to reading the student rolls. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Kamar Akel and Juleka Couffaine," nobody noticed the shock on the rockstar's face when he heard the name 'Couffaine', his ear shutting down. Taking a quick glance at the class, the last thing he saw was the back of the girl with purple highlights, before the elevator doors closed.

"You three will be in charge of room service," she looked at Marinette and Kamar. "Please stay close to Juleka as her hand is still healing. She can still carry lighter things with her free hand, but still", she gained a nod from the two.

Chloe sent the trio a vicious smirk, she was going to have her father make them the gopher, but the idea of them getting their cloths dirty was better. I mean the amount of room service ordered was crazy. So why not have the two fashion disaster introverts have the one requiring them to talk to customers and run around?

"Sabrina Raincomprix, Mylène Haprèle and Nathaniel Kurtzberg, you two will be the gopher," and the other two introverts having this job, while Sabrina tended to her. "You two will be required to run small tasks, such as grabbing coffee for employees who can't move from their station or tending to the flowers." Well, that's unfortunate, Mylene loves plants.

"Rose Lavillant and Alix Kubdel, you will be helping the cleaners get rooms ready. Lila Rossi and Nino Lahiffe, you'll be helping the waiters in the restaurant."

Finishing off the list of the list Caline looked up at her students. "I encourage you to ask the staff for any questions you may have, as they have more experience than I do. No go off and work!" with the clap of her hands the remaining students left to their stations.

__________________________________________________

{Le Grand Paris Hotel - 9:30}

Juleka and Marinette were situated in the lobby at a table by the stairs, close enough to Chloe and Adrien to be informed of any orders, but far enough that they couldn't hear them. Guess whose idea that was. They couldn't even see them as they were on the other right side of the stairs, and the blondes and Sabrina on the left near the entrance.

Kamar had gone to the bathroom to redo her scarf as it had come loose, leaving her groupmates in still silence. Juleka looked around her purse for something, it was black briefcase purse with silver accent.

"Hey, Marinette?" Looks like someone decided to break the awkward tension.

"Yeah?" The blunette looked up from her phone.

"I... I wanted to, apologise, for never helping you... against Chloe and Sabrina." Brown eyes were cast downwards where her left fingers twiddled with a tube of lip balm.

The apology leaving the ponytail girl's mouth hanging open.

"After getting locked in the toilet and missing the class photo, it hit me how you've been dealing with this for way longer than just a few minutes like me," Juleka took a deep breath. "So, I wanted to say sorry, for never helping you."

Thawing herself out of her shock the Chinese French searched for words to say. "It's fine..."

What else could she say? Sure, she was upset nobody ever helped her against Chloe, but she was never friends with anyone to begin with. Marc was in a different class and Lila had only become her friend this year! And both would just have her move away from the queen bee as none of them were confrontational.

"Could we start over?" Chocolate eyes met bluebell ones, "as friends?"

"Sure, as friends." She took her hand out to Juleka who shook her hand in return.

"What happened over here?" Kamar's voice startled the two girls from their friendly exchange.

"Nothing!" The duo blurt out before looking at each other, giggling.

Kamar now wore a pale blue long hoodie with a bromeliad on the front, a pair of black sweatpants, and a pair of black socks hidden under a pair of black combat boots with blue laces. Her scarf, glove, purse, and watch were still the same.

"Well, I ran into one of the staff members, they gave me some paper and pencils," she placed said items on the table. "The guest count is a bit low today so our services might not be needed for a while."

Taking a piece of paper and pencil, the trio start doodling nonsense. Kamar drew a disfigured yet stiff Pomni from 'the amazing digital circus'. Juleka drew a morbid yet rough version of her own oc for 'Metaphor: ReFantazio'. And Marinette neatly drew a pair of shades, red, white, and blue like the French flag in the shape of two Eiffle towers.

Just because Marinette deemed her designs subpar at best, didn't mean she couldn't enjoy it. Besides, Chloe can't even see her from where she is. Though she'll have to wait till she gets home before attempting to make these eccentric shades. Even if she's scared of Chloe ruining her designs, she still wants to get a job a Gabriel's, and to do that she had to practice.

"Hey, wannabes!" She'd just added her name onto the side in gold when the obnoxious voice from the desk called. "You've got an order for room 3 on the second floor! Get to the kitchen!"

Quickly Marinette folded her paper into their purse, without checking if it was properly closed. Pushing the elevator door open, she and her group headed for the restaurant.

The hotel restaurant was on the third floor, right below the floor where the Bourgouise lived, and right above the floor the order came from.

"The order is from Jagged Stone," Lila stated, handing them a card with the recipient's name, order, and room number.

Students weren't permitted in the kitchen due to health and safety reasons. Unfortunately for Chloe, her father had some standards, despite spoiling her rotten.

"The dude's ordered an entire buffet!" Nino exclaimed after he places another plate on the trolly. "A bunch of different fish food and cake!"

A giggle behind them caught their attention, "there have been heavier orders before." It was a woman in a chef uniform, her nametag reading 'Head chef: Marlena Césaire'. A plate in her hand.

"Césaire?" Marinette questioned.

"My daughter goes to the same school as you, her name's Alya," the chef explains.

"Oh, I know her," how could she forget the owner of the MiracleBlog? "She's a year above us in the same class as my cousin Marc."

"Ah, well it's nice to meet you all," she places yet another plate on the trolly. "That's all, now you three better deliver it."

The three nodded and the baker girl decided to take the charge in pushing the heavy trolly. She grew up lifting bags of flour, so despite her small stature, she's quite strong. Upon arriving in the room Juleka knocked on the door and Penny opened it.

"Hello there girls," she gave them a warm smile. "I assume you're here to deliver our order?"

"Yes, we are." Kamar looked down at the note, "three plates of sushi, a lobster, an entire vanilla cake, and two servings of pasta with hot sauce."

"Thank you," she moved the door so they could wheel the food in. As they did, a piece of paper fell out of the blue girl's purse.

"What's this?" looking for a distraction from the Couffaine girl, the rockstar picked up the fallen paper, scanning through its context. "This is incredible! Hey, Penny, can I get me some shades like these?"

Shades? Marinette turned around to see Jagged sowing her sketch to the woman.

"Isn't that your design Marinette?" The Muslim pointed out.

"You designed this?" Jagged looked at the teen.

"Uh, yes? I like to design in my spare time," her voice barely came out as a whisper, but she was still heard.

"Incredible! So, you can make these shades for m- ow!" He was cut off by Penny jabbing him in the gut.

"Jagged, she's still in collage!" She sighed and handed Marinette back her sketch. "If you do have time to make the shades, do you think you could make them? You'll compensated of course."

"Me? Design for Jagged Stone?" Marinette is now statue-nette.

"I think you should try it," the voice of Juleka caused Jagged to yelp and fall to the floor.

"Is Monsieur Stone, okay?" The Arabian asked.

"The long travel probably has him out of it, but he'll be fine soon," Penny reassured.

Getting up wiping off the dust from his cloths, rather robotically, Jagged faced the tallest of the teens. "Is your mum, by any chance, Anarka Couffaine?"

That seemed to catch the goth off guard, "yes? But how do you know my mother?"

"We're... old acquaintances," the male adult rubbed the back of his neck. "If you want, you can come by anytime if you want. You can even bring your brother!"

"Really? Wait, how do you know I have a brother?"

"Oh, uh you know. A mutual friend told me!" Smooth dude, really smooth, even Penny seemed confused by this.

"Sure! I'd love to!" The Couffaine girl beamed.

"Now that's sorted out, what about Marinette's answer?" Kamar bought them back to Penny's earlier inquiry; she'd also finished placing all the plates on the table.

"Yes!" She may be out of her stupor, but Marinette wasn't computing a single thing coming out of her mouth before it was too late.

"Splendid! When it's finished, come by with your parents and we can work out a reasonable payment."

Due to the current state of the fashionista, Juleka had to drag her out with her good hand, while Kamar wheel the trolly out. It was only when outside with the door closed did this statue realize just what she'd agreed to.

"I just agreed to design shades for Jagged Stone!"

Kamar sighed, "have you even made shades like them before?"

"Not with the Eiffle tower, but I made a pair with flowers," Marinette spoke a bit quick. "That is if I have a frame on hand to use, making a frame way too hard."

The Muslim now had something in mind, "and can you transport the items easily?"

"I'll need to put them in a bag but yes. Why?"

"It doesn't take a genius to know Chloe will try and ruin your design, but the shades have to be done within a week and most of our time is spent here. Since we have a lot of free time and Jagged's already allowed Juleka to visit his room, if we explain the situation then maybe he'll let all of us stay there. Considering we have to stay together."

"What about room service orders?" Juleka was the one to answer that.

"We have a class group chat with Chloe in it," she took out her phone showing the discord chat. "The entire class may be there but there's nothing's stopping her from sending a DM to us specifically."

"That only leaves telling your parents to meet Mademoiselle Rolling when it's done so they can work out a proper payment," Kamar started to move the trolly towards the elevator.

"But what if they think I'm scamming them?" Money makes people evil.

Kamar pushed the button for them to descend, "keep the receipts for the items we own to make sure to prove their yours. And if we work with Jagged in the room, they'll know how much time you spent. Buy a pair of shades and keep a physical receipt."

"Alright", the Asian French took a deep breath in, then out. "Can you guys keep this a secret please?"

"Sure", Kamar nodded.

"Of course,", Juleka smiled.

They dropped off the trolly back at the restaurant before heading to the lobby where someone had used the left elevator. However, upon exiting the right elevator they were greeted by a lack of a bossy voice.

Moving past the stairs they find not bratty lemon in sight. Neither a golden boy nor ginger witch. Where did they go?

"Where do you think they went?" Marinette wondered as she looked out the window.

"There not hiding behind the desk that's for sure," Kamar stood up from under said place.

"Please don't tell me it's another akuma!" Juleka held her right hand to her chest, "my hand still hasn't healed!"

__________________________________________________

{Le Grand Paris Hotel, Lobby - Meanwhile}

What Juleka didn't know was how right she was. The second they were chased out the lobby by the class representative, a man clad in blue and black came waltzing through the door, a camera lens over his right eye.

Adrien's senses were tingling, he sent an immediate text to his father, if he didn't reply in 5 minutes then there was an akuma on the loose. Accompanied by a picture of said suspect. And if this wasn't an akuma? Then this is a weird place to come prancing around in a cosplay.

==========

-You-

Father!

If I don't text to in the next 5 minutes, then there's an akuma.

==========

"Oh, look what the cat dragged in," unfortunately, his best friend didn't share the same self-preservation instincts that he did. "Let me handle this, Adrien. Watch and learn," and she strutted over to the cameraman.

"Excuse me... Excuse me!" The stranger turned around to survey the heiress. "You can't be a guest at this hotel! My father only allows in the most important celebrities. Like me". Girl, you live here!

"Well then, I am Pixelator. Your number one fan", do I even need to tell you it worked?

"Moi? Oh, my, you're flattering me. Keep going," she flipped her hair at the obvious lie.

"A photo of you, sweet miss?"

==========

-You-

Avoid cam.

==========

The second Adrien sent that text both he and Sabrina, who was a second quicker than him, pushed Chloe out of the way. Regrettably, they only succeeded in getting themselves caught in the unconscious crossfire.

Their heads were pounding like suffering a hangover, as their limbs were tangled over the ivory white ground. Wait, white?

Sabrina got up a bit too fast, causing her head to spin, but it didn't stop her from realising just where they were. An infinity room!

"What just happened?" Chloe groggily rubbed her eyes.

"That akuma sent us here after he took a picture of us," Sabrina helped her bestie and Adrien stand up.

"So, we might have been like... digitized or something?" Adrein spun around in a panic.

"What do you mean, digitized?" Chloe demanded.

"I don't really know," he tried taking deep breaths, "but I don't think it's a good thing".

"Well, I can fix this. Leave it to me," the blonde took out her phone like it would actually do something. "Daddy?... Daddy??... DADDY?!"

"Don't worry," the blond model reassured. "I texted my father about this right before we were sent away, they'll tell the heroes to save us!"

"I also sent one to my father too," Sabrina smiled. "Though I only sent a picture of the akuma, since I wasn't fast enough."

And while they were the only ones here, they knew there were more victims coming.

__________________________________________________

{Le Grand Paris Hotel}

"Jagged Stone?"

Indeed, as the childhood trio has predicted Pixelator did indeed go around digitizing any person he came across. Be it other members of the class, guests, or employees, he sent them all to his little pixelated world. Wonder if they turned into pictures of something? Nah, probably not.

"Where is Jagged Stone?"

If anyone who'd seen the events of the early morning heard the razed camera looking around for the king of rock, then they would easily be able to piece together the identity of this akuma victim. And honestly? The man still deserves a restraining order.

Thankfully, Jagged was stuck in his room giving Fang a bath. He was having way too much fun to hear the constant horror movie screams from outside. Plus, the rooms are soundproof. The only good side of this is that security was able to inform the employees, allowing some lucky souls to escape through the fire exit. She's also informed her husband who was helping with the work experience of her daughter's class.

"What's going on outside?" Marinette, who was looking through the window, saw the hotel employees running out in a frenzy.

The trio walk out to a panting Nino, "you guys made it out too?"

"Made it out?" Kamra raised an eyebrow, "what do you mean?"

"Weren't you told about the camera akuma in the hotel?" The Moroccan French boy was surprised.

"We just got out of the elevator, but my guess is that you're talking about an akuma," Juleka wasn't even surprised, just disappointed.

"Yep, looks like you got lucky", Nino did shoot her a sympathetic look. "The guy's apparently looking for Jagged Stone, so it was probably the stalker from earlier".

Marinette's worried gaze shot around looking as though looking for someone, "where's Lila?"

"Huh? She's right over...", the DJ looked around to put the blunette's worries to rest, only to not see the Italian himself, "she must have gotten hit by the akuma on the way out!"

"Not to sound mean or anything, but we should leave," the goth panics. "That crazy fanboy won't be pleased with just Jagged after all!"

"We should all head home for the day, at least until the akuma is delt with," the ever calm and collected Arabian suggested. "If the akuma's after Jagged, who's here...." yeah, she didn't need to finish that.

"Well, see you guys later!" And everyone separated, heading back to their residence for shelter.

__________________________________________________

{Le Grand Paris Hotel, Jagged Stone's room}

Jagged had finished bathing Fang and both were situated on the bed. The funny looking reptile strumming his guitar and the beautiful crocodile having a well-deserved nap, being far too relaxed to do anything. Penny had gone to her own suit to enjoy a bit of relaxation and get some work done, mostly the former cause Lord knows she needs it.

So of course she didn't hear the breaking down of her employer's door.

"Hey there!" A man with pink hair walked right up to the foot of the bed, "time for your photoshoot!"

"How did you get in here?" I wonder if he looked up anything about the Parisian's latest bug infestation before coming. "I don't know about any photos. Fang, attack!" Fang is literally asleep.

"See you later, alligator," well that's rude! Fang's a crocodile!

"What?" Jagged felt around the bed right where Fang had been not even a second earlier. "Fang? Fang!" A moment of silence for the man who just lost his best friend.

"Who are you?" Having the severity of the situation now shoved in his face, Jagged stood up, backing himself up to the wall in an effort to create as much space as possible between him as the living camera.

"I am Pixelator, your biggest fan, Mr. Stone." More like his biggest stalker. "Can I call you Jagged?" He sat down on his knees before the man he continuously harassed.

The real victim was far too scared to answer.

"I want to immortalize you, Jagged! I'll be your one and only fan! You will belong to me for eternity!" Sounds like she just wants to control him, and I severely doubt these aren't his normal thoughts. "Look into the lens!"

Before Pixelator could even touch the button of his camera, a yoyo came gripping said arm and he was thrown across the room. The akuma form did prevent any massive damage from being done, but he did get a bit of a headache from it. Getting up the cameraman was faced to face with the red bug heroine, Lady Ruby.

"Lady Ruby?" The stalker seemed to be in a mix of anger and awe, "looks like I'll be able to have two idols to myself!" Is nobody safe from this man?

Ruby seemed to be equally disgusted at this akuma's existence, not wanting to get caught by whatever his camera did she spin her yoyo around and avoided his blasts. If Pixelator tried to capture Jagged, he'd loose. If Lady Ruby tried to save Jagged, she'd loose. The only way to win was if there was another interference.

Taking a risk, she'd soon regret, Ruby swung to grab Pixelator's arm once again. While she did succeed, Pixelator was able to zap her dominant arm, causing her grip on her weapon to disappear. In fact, it seems as though all feeling in her right hand had disappeared. On the bright side, now she knows she needs to fully be in the akuma's sight to turn into oblivion.

"Look into the- gah!" A staff came crashing down on the back of Pixelator's head, causing not only his camera to break, but his now blonde hair to stain red. The blue and black clothing replaced by the civilian attire, though he lay there paralyzed.

"Uh... I didn't kill him, did I?" Cat Knight somehow got here fast in spite of how new the akuma is.

"Well don't just stand there!" His partner yelled out at him, "Call the police and ambulance!" Grabbing her yoyo with her left hand took out a gem, Cat Knight doing the same.

"Miraculous miracle!" The ladybugs and black cat signalled the end of the battle, and physical restoration to all those affected via magic.

"Who are you people?" Oh yeah, forgot about him. "What just happened?" He didn't register the fact that Fang was back in front of him.

Ignoring the clear panic over the rockstar's face, Cat Knight ran over with a copy of Jagged's album from last year. "Can I have your autograph Monsieur Stone?"

"Who has time to think of an autograph at a time like this!?" Can you blame the man for being so confused?

~Knock, Knock~

There was knock from the suit door, indicating the arrival of the emergency units, yet none of the middle-aged man's limbs seemed to move. He may go on and on about living on the edge and walk around with a crocodile and girlboss at his side, but he's still human.

Strutting up to the door herself, Lady Ruby opened up the room to five people all cloaked in mint green hospital wear, and a pair of cops. The cops came over to the heroes and adults, whereas the doctors used a stretcher to carry the unconscious Vincent out of the room.

Considering how fast they got here, they were probably sent by Lieutenant Roger. Still doesn't explain how Cat Knight got here so fast, as he's a minor and probably in school. That is unless he lied about that.

"What's the status of the victim this time?" One of the police officers asked.

"He has a concussion and serious head injury, but we can easily fix him," a sigh of relief left the two heroes. They knew how bad their reputation would be affected had they really killed someone.

Getting the information, they wanted, and spotting reporter's outside, the duo decided to milk it for all it's worth. After all, this time they didn't use their powers.

"What happened here?" It was at that moment, that by some curse, Penny's relaxation time was ruined, "and why is Vincent Aza lying in Jagged's hotel room?"

The female officer raised her eyebrow, "do you know this man Mademoiselle...?"

"Rolling, Monsieur Stone's manager," she answered, confused yet calmly handing a copy of her business card. "And this man has been stalking Jagged Stone for a while now."

"Oh Lord!" The other officer groaned into their palms as the Vincent was carried out. "So, I'm guessing he was akumatized after you told him to stay away from Monsieur Stone?"

"Akumatized?"

"Did you not look into Paric before coming here?" The first officer asked.

"Bob Roth, our boss, lives here. And he never told us about any akumatized thing," ah, that explains it.

"I see," the second officer writes something down on a piece of paper. "We basically have an emotional magical terrorist going around, search up videos from ITV News about miraculous for more information. For now, I recommend having Monsieur Stone attend some therapy sessions."

__________________________________________________

{ Le Grand Paris Hotel,  Restaurant - 13:30 }

With the akuma gone, Madam Bustier's students were allowed to resume their work experience at the hotel. Right now, the class were eating a meal, free of charge, provided by the mayor's chefs. Rose, Lila, Marinette and Juleka all sat at a table next to the window. Rose had also apologised to Marinette about ignoring her blatant loneliness and agreed to begin again as friends.

"This had to be the quickest akuma to have been defeated!" Juleka exclaimed, fiddling with her pasta. She was glad to have left before her hands gained further damage, but upset her girlfriend got left behind.

"It may have been fast, but it was still scary!" Rose took a deep sip of her vegetable soup, the warmth somewhat loosening her joints, "being trapped in a white void that went on forever!"

"I'm just glad our heroes were able to get rid of that dreadful akuma!" Lila rubbed her shoulders and took a piece of her lobster ravioli. "I could be mistaken, but didn't Lady Ruby arrived at the scene before Cat Knight?"

Marinette swallows on of her chicken and roasted red pepper roll-ups, "she did, and with Pixelator distracted, Cat Knight smashed the camera." She had her backpack at her feet with the supplies needed to create the shades Jagged wanted along with a mini sewing kit.

Lila looked like she was about to say something when Rose squeaked up, "was the akuma really the stalker from earlier?"

"It was!" The goth hit her good hand on the table, making the items bounce. "Oops."

"It is true though," the blunette shook her head with a smile. "Apparently the heroes were both so annoyed by his harassment to Jagged that they caused some serious damage to the akuma!"

"Well, I'm sure they didn't like such a famous rockstar getting his privacy violated like that," the Italian fluttered her eyes.

"I wouldn't blame them if they caused serious damage to him," the ponytail's response seemed to please the brunette. "In fact, I'm pretty sure the guy will get sent to jail, he did stalk someone outside of akumatization after all."

Once everything was gone and lunchtime ended, the class went back to their respective stations. Chloe sent the trio of antisocial dark heads a nasty look, her father had informed her of Jagged's request to have them accompany him. Unfortunately, for her, Penny had kept a tight lid on the reason as they were minors. And since losing Jagged would be a huge loses and Chloe was still a fan of the man, Andre gave in.

Within the room the trio were left to their own minimal devises, Kamar was reading, Juleka was asking Jagged all about his travels, and you already know about Marinette. It seems as though the more the two talked, the more comfortable Jagged became around Juleka. But Marinette saw it, a sense of longing in his eyes, as though there was something he wished to desperately undo.

Before she could ask about that though, "Kamar?" Those same blue eyes became distracted by a small tear on the edge of Kamar's scarf, "What happened to your scarf?"

The Muslim looked down at where she pointes, "it got stuck on the door when leaving the restaurant."

"If you want, I can repair it for you?" She took out the mini sewing kit she had packed in her bag.

"You can stay in my room till its fixed," Penny offered after seeing the unsure look on the Muslim's face.

"I guess?" Kamar replied.

The woman opened up her room to let the girls inside. Removing her scarf, Kamar revealed her ebony hair in a messy bun. She took this opportunity to redo the pale blue scarf cap. The repair didn't take too long, just a few minutes, and the scarf was back on the Arabian's head.

"Hey Marinette?" Kamar's voice was soft.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"No problem!"

Chapter Text

__________________________________________________

{17/10/2040, Wednesday, Le Grand Paris Hotel, Jagged's Room - 15:00}

"Here's your shades Jagged", Marinette handed over the finished pair of shades to the man. Her class were still in the middle of their work expirience so Kamar and Juleka were with her too.

"These are incredible Marinette!" He struck a pose, hand on hip turned to the side with his other at his forehead. "Now I need an outfit to match these!"

"You make it sound like we're gonna ask her!" Penny whispers as she nudges Jagged at the look of bafflement the designer desplyed. "We'll be commisioning Gabrial Agreste for an outfit to match these, so don't worry!"

"Oh, of course!" Thank God!

"Hold on!" Jagged's halt casued Mrinette's heart to panic, "why's your name on the inside and mine outside?"

It's just that, she sighed in relief. "I want the fact I designed the shades to be a secret, but I added your name so everyone knows who it belongs to".

"Cleaver girl!" Jagged placed the shadees in a case he's bought.

"We'll talk with your parents about the proper payment. It should be done within an hour or less", Penny looked for the provided phone number and walked away with her back turned to the others.

"You know Marinette..." Juleka grabbed her attention as she placed Marinette's sketch book back in its box, "You should enroll for thr begginner designer contest!"

"Juleka's right", Kamar spoke up beofre Marinette could protest. "The enrollment for the contest ends on Sunday, so you have time to send a form in".

"A designer contest?" That excited the rockstar, "You'll ace that Marinette!"

"But I don't even have any designs!" The artist declared.

"Let's look through your sketch book and brainstorm!" The rocker made a grab for the book.

"Wait!" Too late.

Jagged went to take the book back out the box when it suddenly clammed down on his wrist, trapping his left had inside the box. "What! The box ate my hand!" The grown man started flailing his arm around in an attempt to release himself, Penny even turned at the noise.

"Jagged wait! I have the key!" The blue eyed girl held up a key attached to her belt keychain. The key was silver with a lotus engraving on one side and MDC on the other.

Jagged calmed dow at the mention of an out, while Penny wondered why she was the agent of a man baby. She siged and turned back around to continue her conversation with the bakers.

"I had the key and lock custom made after I made the box", Marinette unlocked the box, releasing Jagged's hand and taking out her book, a quiet click came a moment later.

Kamar was impressed, "you made the box yourself?"

"Yep, I had a lot of free time, and I wanted my designs safe. So I looked up a tutorial on how to make trap boxes", the blunette rubbed the back of her neck. "I ended up having to throw away a few faliures".

"That's so awsome!" Jeleka gasped.

"Thank you", Marinette place the rectangular box on the table and book in her lap.

The box was blue with silver on the edges and a lotus design around the keyhole, and black where the bottom and top would meet, and a pink lotus on the top in the far left corner. The book on the other hand was pink with black around all the edges and a strap that went around the entire book, keeping it closed.

The pages were full to the brim with several sketches, dresses, shirts skirts and accessories. Some had fur, others had embrodery, some were plain but had a dramatic silouettes that allowed them to stand out. But they needed it to be an accessory with a victorian feel and a brid theme.

"What about this one", Juleka pointed a durby hat. It had a thick band with a bow and a curve design over the top. The band had what looke like a squiggle on top.

"That design's still unfinished", Marinette informed her. "Plus it doesn't realy seem bird like to me".

"Not to me", the goth traced edges of hat with her finger. "The cureves look they could be feathers".

"I guess I could change them to feathers", the designer picked up a pencil, and made such change. "And I could make part of the bow a feather!"

"What bird are you gonna base it off of?" Kamar's question had the designer tapping her penil on her chin.

"I'll open the window so we can bird watch!" Jagged suggested, "Your work expirience should be over for the day soon, so maybe take a look around for inspiration?"

"I quite agree with the oaf", Penny had finished the conversation and Marinette's phone got a notification for the transfer of €500 to her bank account!? "If you have any places that give you inspiration, then go there!"

Another notification came, but this time from the class groupchat. It was Madam Bustier informing them they were to meet up in the lobby as work experience had ended for the day.

"Well, we better get going, goodbye!" Marinette smiled brightly.

__________________________________________________

{Trocadéro - 16:00}

Taking their advice to heart, Marinette went straight to Trocadero to find inspiration for what to do with her duby hat. She would have asked Lila if she wanted to come but the girl had called in sick today. She did send her a text to ask if she would like her to bring some pasteries to make her feel better, but Lila's mother was rather strickt about letting others into her home. Therefore, she'd just have to bring her the raspberry and almond cake tomarrow morning, if she came in. She can even take it home to share with her mother.

The first change she'd made was to change the feather patteren from just being stitching to atucal fabric sticking out. Now I need to think of a bird that'll look good with this.

The colour scheme made it seem like it belonged in a black and white film so she decided on a bird with a similar scheme. And after she'd add some sublt colouring to it to make the hat pop.

I could use a swan but they're used so often, and I wanna be original. Looking around her surroundings there weren't really any birds present, apart from some pigeons.

"Well, happy day, happy day! Splendid is the afternoon day. Ah, , you fancy one. Fantastic, dazzling performance", and the reason for that was a middle aged man feeding them all, a bird whistle around his neck.

"Scram, you winged rats!" An angry police lieutenant Roger came over to the pigeon feeder. "Mounsier Ramier? Why are you still feeding the pigeons!?" The ginger man was acting as though this was a personal crime committed against him.

"But, who's going to feed my poor pigeons lieutenant?"

"If everyone feeds them, they'll leave their waste everywhere!" Marinette could feel the officer spit on the poor man. "GET OUT!"

Mounsier Ramier got up with his head down, the bag of birdseeds spilling bit by bit with every step he took. It wasn't like it was illegal to feed pigeons in this area. Glancing down at the grey to white gradient of the tiny birds to their orange talons and striped wings, an idea struck.

The white and grey colour scheme was exactly what she needed. The Ribbon was changed to a grey with a purple hue, the brim of the bowler hat hiding it slightly. To make it stick out the squiggle was made a but longer and changed to be her full name in irridencent string. And last but not least, the bow. Half of it would be a normal bow with the other half being a feather, between the two parts would be orange beeds.

YES! She held up her design to admire her hard work, notes for what type of fabric and beeds to use along with spcae for measurements she'll take at home. She was so caught up in her admiration for her work that she didn't notice someone taking a picture of the sketch without her consent.

Getting up from her spot on the steps she left to go to a fabric shop on the way home for supplies. The one she ended up at was small but had just what she needed. Grey wool felt for the base of the hat, silk purple grey for the ribbon and an irredecent string. As for the orange beeds, she instead found some checkered-cut Kyanite that would still work wonderfully. She didn't find any grey fur felt but she fount a white one that she could dye.

Paying for her materials and placing them all in a tote bag she carried at all times she headed for the bus stop to head home. And while she was a bit of a nepo baby, what with her parents owning the best bakery in Paris, the price did still give her a mini panic attack. Guess I'm too used to upcycling cloths.

The bus ride was going rather smoothly, there weren't too many people on board or getting on. However, there were traffic control lights that said bus was stuck on for a while. A long while.

"Come on! Can't we go any faster?!" I still need to fill and submit the form!

"Sorry folks, we have a situation here", the driver's voice was a mix of fustration and bewilderment.

Taking a look outside the window everything seemed normal, but one check up on the ground had Marinette choking on her cerial bar. "Gah!" A few coughs and a drink of water later she was fine. Well this isn't weird at all.

"Pigeons have taken over Paris. This is just one of the many alarming situations giving authorities cause for major concern", The voice of Nadija rang out on the screan informing the masses of what they already know. "Yes, I've just been told that someone named Mr. Pigeon is making an announcement".

The sceane changed to the Eiffle tower where a spandex man stood in the center of the Pigeions. "Oh, dreary day, poor Parisians", Marinette will neither confirm nor deny having a heart attack over the man's attire. "Sorry to ruffle your feathers, but Paris now belongs to the pigeons! Flap flap!"

__________________________________________________

{On a random rooftop}

This is seriously so annoying! LadyRuby yelled mantally. She was in the middle of treating herself to an at home spa day. She'd just put the bath on when the report of all these pigeons interupted her NETFLIX binge from her phone. Curse emergency news broadcasts!

Now she was on the roof of a random house watching as pigeon planes flew through the sky while she could be laying in a bathtub.

"Birds of a feather, flock together!" The annoying voice of Chat Knight reminded her that she had more to deal with than just an evil bird man. Said annoyance was lounging like a frech girl on the very top edge of the roof.

"Do you have anything helpful to say?"

"You mean like how all the park keepers in Paris are vanishing without a trace?"

"Yeah, like that", she rolled her eyes as the cat climbed down to her level.

"Question is, how are we gonna find them?"

"Who said anything about us finding him?" Ruby smirked, "He'll find us".

"And how exactly do you suppose he'll do that?"

"With my genious plan of course!"

Said genious plan had to do with borrowing a park ranger uniform and having Cat Knight dress up in it. It goes without saying this was to attract the attention of the enamy.

"And why exactly couldn'y you dress up?"

"Because I just used my brain to come up with this plan!"

"As if this plan'll work!"

"It won't if you keep talking to me!"

Neither of them seemed to notice one of their accomplaces of their enamy has a front row lamp to the entire interaction. They flew off to their boss once they had the information they wanted, landing gracefully upon his arm.

"LadyRuby and Cat Knight?" How does he understand just what the pigeion is saying? Is that like his only power? "Job well done, buddy-boy. Pigeons will reign supreme! Power to the pigeons!" And he crated a platform of pigeons to carry him away.

As for the heroes, they were still arguing over who should be in the disguise. How Cat Knight got in the costume in the first place is a mystery. A bunch of pigeons simply make a ball around them to transport them did nothing to deter their attention from the other. They continued even when placed on the roof of Le Grand Paris Hotel or when a cage enclosed them. Even the voices of their helpers did nothing to reduce their bickering.

"You're already in thee costume!"

"Only because I look better than you!"

"Ahem?"

"What!?" They both yelled in sync facing their adversary, Mr Pigeon. "I believe you both only have two choices to make", now they take in the change in scenery.

"And what'll that be bird brain?" The one who should be eating them asked.

"You either give me your miraculous", a quick blow into his whistle and all the birds had their facing at the teens. "Or you face the wrath of my feathered friends", no need to ask what that meant.

Kitten! The bars!

"Cataclysm!"

Disintegrating the bars once trapping them in place with his right hand, and staff spinning in the other, Cat Knight led the way out. Ruby by his side with her yoyo twirling, both keeping the intent to look both cool and intimidating, if the slow walking had anything to say about it. Though it was obviously working as the grown man started to retreat back to the railing.

"Well, well. Looks like the pigeon's really a chicken," the dark knight chuckled.

"Me?" Who else Mr Chicken? "I'm not flying away. I'm just killing two birds with one stone", blowing his whistle once again, he summoned another barrage of pigeon in the shape of a sledge. "Merry Christmas!" He called out as he jumped down to his new pigeon vehicle.

The akuma once again blew his whistle orchestrating a bullet of pigeons to strike right where the heroes stood. Fortunately, they leaped away from their previous spot, a great amount of shattered glass brought as a result, injuring many of the birds. Those remaining uninjured flocked together once again to strike once again.

"Ah!" Thinking fast, the two sprinted for the rooftop entrance and bolted the door closed. Going so far as to intertwine their weapons with the door to keep the pigeons from bursting it open. A large dent in the metal door was forged from the impact.

They waited a few seconds for another attack, only to be met by still silence. Guess they have to be in sight for the birds to attack, after all, pigeons aren't the sharpest of creatures.

Releasing themselves and weapons of the door a beep came from Cat Knight's ring. "I've gotta get out of here before my secret identity's revealed!" Four minutes remained of his transformation.

"Yeah, you", seeing her opportunity to play his game Lady Ruby took it. "You wouldn't want to let the cat out of the bag now, would you?"

"Ha, ha. Very funny", he was not amused.

Rushing down to the lobby in an attempt to leave the duo found themselves with the mayor, his daughter and said daughter's best friend.

"Lady Ruby! Cat Knight!" Andre beamed at their arrival, before he could say anything else though, Chloe and Sabrina both ran up to their favourite hero of the duo. Chloe to the bug royalty and Sabrina to the feline knight.

"Lady Ruby! You're here to save me, aren't you?" The blonde heiress threw her arms around the spotted heroine who pulled a face.

"Do you have any leads on the akuma?" Sabrina grabbed the cat hero's hands as she pleaded. "My father, lieutenant Roger, is missing!"

"Of course we'll save him!" The beeping announced another minuet gone. "But before we do, I have an urgent need", he pulled his hand away and faced the mayor. "Do you have any camembert? Preferably runny".

"Urgent need? Camembert?" The adult male seemed to ponder the meaning for a moment before realization came forth. "I see! Head to the royal suite. There's paper in there, but perhaps you would prefer... a litter tray?"

"Uh...?" Wait, does he think I need to use the bathroom? "Oh, no need for litter a bathroom in a place this fancy is sure to meet my needs", he saluted the mayor as one of the workers lead him to one of the vacant rooms on the second floor, picking up his order on the way.

Once inside and the door locked shut, camembert in hand, Cat Knight allowed his transformation to be dropped. Green eyes turning blue and blonde hair to black, the removal of his fangs making him look more human. A small black catlike creature coming out from his now silver ring and landed on the bed.

"Oh, the exhaustion! My poor aching body! I can't move a muscle!" The tired voice the creature exulted sounded identical to the voice of the helper within Cat Knight's head.

"Oh, stop exaggerating!" The now civilian hero placed the plate before the creature and removed the lid.

The cat being promptly switched from exhausted to excitement at the stinky cheese, devouring it. "Ah, my gooeyness!"

"Hurry up, would you?" The boy tapped his foot impatiently as he stared down at what supposedly grants him his powers. "I can't have Lady Ruby stealing all my glory!"

__________________________________________________

{Le Grand Paris Hotel, Restaurant}

Meanwhile, Lady Ruby was being treated to some fine cuisine, courtesy of her self-proclaimed number 1 fan, Chloé Bourgeois. Sabrina also sat at their table but remained quiet, most likely anxious for her father's safety.

"This is simply wonderful Mademoiselle Chloe", the heroine spoke abashed. "You are simply so generous!"

"My you flatter me Lady Ruby, but of course it's the truth", the spoilt blonde did her signature hair flip at the end.

"As lovely as this is, I may not be able to enjoy this moment for long", a look of horror smashed across Chloe's face as Ruby frowns. "'I'll have to continue saving the city, before returning home for the night. And food like this deserves to be eaten on the day. I'm terribly sorry!"

"Then why don't you come by again?"

"I wish I could, but you see, my civilian life is very demanding", the blue-eyed heroine placed a woeful hand on her heart. "And with hero work, I barely have time to spend with my busy mother".

The mother comment seemed to do it for Chloe as she clapped her hands to summon a waiter. "Put all this food in a to go bag, Lady Ruby can take it with her and share the food with her mother!"

"Right away Mademoiselle!" And as if they were part of a cartoon, the man placed all the food in formal fashion within a bunch of takeaway boxes in seconds.

"Oh, Chloe this is far too gracious of you!" Lady Ruby's sapphire eyes shined as she took the bag.

"Anything for my favourite hero!" The nepo baby stuck her nose in the air before a gentle smile replaced her haughtiness. "I hope you get to spend more time with your mother".

"I hope so to!" The mother comment seems to work best on her.

"And what exactly are you girls doing here?" It was at that point that Cat Knight swaggered out the elevator door. "Having a tea party?"

"Jealous?" Ruby places the bag of food in her yoyo. How on earth did it fit in something so tiny? "If you must know, Chloe here was being a good host", she pointed to the big glass windows behind her. "And besides, we can see the pigeons rom this floor easily".

Cat knight peered out the window. "Odd, the pigeons are flying in the same direction".

"Exactly!" She stated as if she hadn't been showered in gifts. "Meaning we need to go follow them".

Sabrina stood up with a jolt, knocking her chair back. "You think my father is wherever the pigeons are going?"

"Probably, which means we'll be going now!" The feline hero sent a salute to the girls with a wink.

"Goodbye Chloe, Sabrina", the red clad girl sent a small wave and smile. "And thank you for the food!"

__________________________________________________

{Grand Palais}

"So that's where Mr. Pigeon's keeping the park keepers and officers he abducted?" Lady Ruby quirked an eyebrow. "This is where several people not only audition, but this is where the novice model contest is supposed to take place!"

"Wait, you mean the one Gabrial Agreste is hosting?" Cat Knight inquired. "How do you know about that?"

"Ugh! Do you live under a rock or something?" The girl was a mix of irritation and bewilderment. "Everyone knows this is where the contests will take place! The selected models of Gabrial Agreste's choosing will be making their debut in the upcoming winter fashion show!"

"Of course, I know about this is where the fashion show takes place!" He exclaimed offended. "I'm just surprised someone of such mediocracy is well versed in the hottest news!"

"Oh please!" The brunette flipped her luscious locks. "I have you know that I work for Gabrial as a high-class model!"

"Yeah right! The man must be blind if he's chosen someone like you to model for such high fashion!"

And offended gasp left Lady Ruby's mouth before gritting her teeth. "Whatever! Let's just get this over with so I don't have to see you anymore!"

The smirk on the blonde's lips revealed his pearly white fangs, clearly having come out of the argument victorious. His emerald eyes then landed on a pair of girls running up to them with their phones in their hands. Thankfully they seemed to have not heard the horrid conversation the two were just having.

The royal girl seemed to have noticed them as she waved in their direction with a big smile on her face. "If we're gonna destroy the akuma, then we need to use the element of surprise. After all, it's pretty obvious there's a trap in place here", after blowing a kiss in the direction of the two bloggers, Ruby flew up to the glass roof of the building.

Upon arriving at the top, it was evident that there was a plan in place. Several wires were placed around the room set to drop a net. And there were pigeons aligning the wall with their butts faced outwards. There were even a few patches of tar scattering the floor away from the entrance sight. Mr Pigeon stood atop a giant cage in which several park rangers and police officers lay trapped.

Opening the skylight Lady Ruby went into immediate action, wiring her yoyo around the unsuspecting man bird. A yelp escaped his lips as the bug proceeded to yank the man up and through the roof. With his hands tied the man could not call upon his pigeon friends for the change in plan. Cat Knight took that opportunity to punch the man in the chest, right where his bird whistle sat, knocking the air right out Monsieur Ramier.

Going over the side of the roof Lady Ruby laid the now civilian man down on the hard concrete ground. Cat Knight already informing the emergency line where the kidnapped victims were situated along with another call.

"Miraculous Miricle!" The cages, traps, broken areas and whatnot all either vanished or were as good as new.

The two teen girls rushed forward ready to interview the two about today's events. However, a van rolled up just as the hero's reached the ground themselves, a news van belonging to ITV. Professional reports blocking any chance the girls had to ask them about the attack. The young girls were able to get a few questions in, but majority of the attention was given to the adults. This meant they never noticed the calculating look the blonde one gave them.

It wasn't long till an ambulance came to take Monsieur Ramier and the kidnapped people to the hospital. They may not have been the akuma victim, but they were still victims in their own right. Flown into the air against their will and, if the bruising proved anything, dunked on the floor at a height Mr Pigeon deemed nonlethal.

__________________________________________________

{18/10/2040, Thursday, Le Grand Paris Hotel, Jagged's Room - 9:00}

Lila had come in for work experience today and Marinette was able to give her an entire raspberry and almond ricotta dessert cake for her. The brunette had been touched, along with supportive when told her best friend had submitted a form for the beginner designer contest.

"I'm sure you'll win Marinette!" She encouraged, "I've been to a few fashion shows while travelling the world, if you want my help, don't be afraid to ask!" And Lila was indeed impressed with the hat sketch she had made.

Right now, Marinette was showing off the finished to everyone in the room, who was pretty much everyone, minus her parents, who knew she was entering the contest.

"Steller design Marinette!" Jagged gave a thumbs up, "after the contest I'll have to commission one for myself!"

"Actually, if we ever do make any commissions in the future. It would be best to book them way in advance", Penny advised. "Marinette's still in school so it would allow her time to do both her schoolwork and fashion".

"I know", Jagged sighed dejectedly. "If the concert wasn't at the end of the month, I would have commissioned an outfit to fit these shades!"

"I'm sure the one Gabrial will make is better than anything I would have made!" The blunette was overwhelmed by the praise her mediocre skills her getting.

"Nonsense! Don't sell yourself short kid!" Jagged's tone took a serious turn. "When I first started out as a singer, nobody seemed to take any notice. But because I kept pushing through and improving, I became the king of rock!"

"Wow, look who can be inspirational when he wants to be", Penny teased. "Anyway, if you know the cost of the materials already, we can work out a cost for Jagged's own hat from there", she rubbed the back of her neck. "That is if he was serious", the rapid nod confirmed the commission.

"It's just like how kitty section's gonna enter that contest Bob Roth is hosting" Juleka spoke up. "Me, my brother Luka, and my girlfriend Rose, are in a band. And we're taking the opportunity to soar to new heights!"

"Marinette, you said you want to be a fashion designer, you need to take this opportunity if you want to succeed". Kamar took a turn. "If Jagged's ordering a commission, take it, it'll look good on your portfolio after all".

After some pondering with bluebell eyes moving around at the supportive faces, they finally took on a determined look. "Alright, if I have time, I'll accept a commission from Jagged".

A small cheer rang through the room. "Now, how about measuring Jagged's head so I can make him his very own derby hat!" She took out a small book of measurements and a measurement tape.

"It's best to wear it after the contest results are made", Penny warned. "If Jagged's seen wearing it beforehand Marinette could be accused of cheating"

"I didn't think about that, and I also want my identity hidden", Marinette mused.

"Then how about a different bird? Or a different hat?" Jagged started getting excited. "What about a phoenix fedora!?"

"That, I can do", the bluenette assured.

Chapter Text

{20/10/2040, Saturday, Bob Roth's records studio - 9:00}

"Mah Miraculous!"

Jagged was sang as he performed his latest song in one of the recording rooms of Bob Roth's Records. Guitar in hand as he played what was dedicated to Lady Ruby and Cat Knight, he only had lyrics down for the first verse, but he believes it should be done by the day of the concert.

At the final set of lyrics, the man skids on the floor with his knees, he then opens the door of the room and faced his boss. "So, what do you think of the newest single of my next album? Can you feel it, Bob? Isn't it killer?"

"Not bad, Jagged, not bad," that was an obvious lie as he took out an album cover of a perfume add DJ. "But if you really want to be making something killer, let's talk about this duet with Mr. XY."

"No way!" Rather gutsy refusal, considering XY is Roth's son. "He's not a rocker, he's a baby! I bet he doesn't even shave yet."

"Well, this baby just pushed you out of the number one sales spot!" Bob Roth is apparently forgetting that with his own son being number one, he doesn't need to worry about Jagged being second place.

"And? Doesn't make him a true musician like me," he put his right arm around Penny's shoulders. "Penny thinks everything I'm doing's rock star material. She thinks I'm killer."

"Penny might be your agent, but I'm your real boss," and are the father of number one meaning your son's probably part of the same record label. "Listen, bottom line is that Bob Roth Records cannot afford to be number two in sales! Or rep a number two rock star! Get real, Jagged!"

"You're going to have to modernize your music. Change the way you look. Get a whole new style!" Okay, so the issue is appealing to the public, and because Jagged is number two Roth thinks that his music sucks, not that XY could be better? How badly does he doubt his own son?

"I'm a genuine rock 'n' roller, Bob, not some pop star in diapers. I'm a real artist. Real talent! Even my hair is real," is XY's hair not real? "And that's what people love about me," he bends down to pet his crocodile. "Isn't that right, Fang?"

"There's a reason I paid to have all these new album covers made," he was referring to the various perfume adds he had plastered on the wall with Jagged's face on them.

"This artwork you came up with for my album is a waste of my time!" The rockstar took one of the posters and tore it up. "Seriously, Bob, what is this rubbish? It looks like a perfume ad!"

"And that's what people want these days!" The rich man started waving the new album cover in the rocker's face. "If your next album doesn't rate #1 on the charts, it'll be the last one you ever do with Bob Roth records!"

"I'd rather put out nothing at all than sing some pathetic duet with a baby-faced nobody!" Both men looked ready to throw down. "And this doesn't even match the Halloween theme of the circus creature album!"

Penny came between the two before a war could break out. "Monsieur Roth, Jagged and I had an idea. Its concept is modern, but it also respects Jagged's own...rugged style," she took out the pair of Eiffle sunglasses they had recently acquired. "The schoolgirl who made these glasses will be the one to design the cover of Jagged's new album."

"A schoolgirl?" Roth was baffled by the information, reaching his hand out to inspect the shades.

"She's the same age as the target audience," Penny placed the glasses away before Roth could take them. "We've already commissioned it from her yesterday, and she said she'd have it done by tomorrow."

"And why exactly won't you tell me who you commissioned?" The chubby man crossed his arms. "Besides, you can't just expect some random schoolgirl to do the work of a professional."

If the tick mark said anything, Penny herself was losing patience with this man but kept her smile steady. "As I said, she's a schoolgirl. And she's requested we keep her identity a secret," thus the reason Roth wasn't allowed to touch the glasses.

Roth opened his mouth to protest again when Fang finally had enough himself and growled. "Okay! But just think about that duet with Mr. XY!" The voice of the businessman faded into the distance as he fled the scene of the crocodile.

__________________________________________________

{Dupain-Cheng bakery, Marinette's bedroom- 12:00}

Kamar and Lila were spending time in Marinette's bedroom, while work experience week was now over, they decided to continue their assessment on the history of the fairytale Cinderella. They were currently taking a break to talk about whatever. A tray of baked goods provided fresh from the bakery sat in the middle of them.

Fluffy pink soda slices, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, three lemon mascarpone puddings and three caramel macchiato lattes in Irish coffee glasses. A jug of water was also present with three small simple glasses stacked up on each other, because you never know when you need to stay hydrated.

"So, the Jagged Stone asked you to make him a hat, a pair of shades and even the cover for his new album?!" Lila's eyes bugged out at the revelation.

"It's a really incredible feat, isn't it?" Kamar, who'd already known and present during all the interactions, acted normal.

"That's amazing Marinette!" Her baffled mouth had turned into a joyful smile. "I just wish you told me about it before today."

"Sorry! I didn't mean to keep it a secret from you!" The bluenette panicked. "And you liked talking about your adventures, so I don't want to sound like I'm taking the attention away from you..."

"Oh, it's fine, I don't want to seem like I'm taking up all the attention," Lila giggles as she takes a soda slice.

"I'm glad you're not upset," the designer smiled.

"So, could you show me your designs?" Lila asked.

"I can show you, my sketchbook!" Marinette took the box off her desk and opened it, compared to every pink thing else in her room it stood out like a sore thumb.

"Oh, you really are talented Marinette!" Lila skimmed through the designs with interest. "I hope you can make me an outfit one day!"

"Maybe I can take your measurements?" Another book with columns in them, on one page she wrote Lila's name on. "Then I can have an outfit prepared one day for you, like a birthday!"

"That's so kind of you Marinette!" Lila looked over at the Lady Ruby and Car Knight poster. "Of course, I am a big fan of the regal Lady Ruby!"

Something about the way Lila spoke rubbed Kamar the wrong way. "I think we've wasted enough time. We're nearly done with the similarity part so if we finish today, we can relax a few days before checking it over again."

"You've got a point," the girl in blue put the book and box away, "I have to finish the album cover by tomorrow afternoon."

"Mind if I come with you Mari?" Lila hopped.

"I'm sorry Lila, but Penny wants to meet with me in private," the baker's eyes went off to the side. "I can only bring one of my parents with me, that's all. Sorry."

"Oh, I see," viridian eyes downcast. "I just really wish I could be there to support you through your rise to fame, like you are mine."

Guilt stemmed through Marinette's skin, but before she could say anything the third girl in the room spoke up. "Marinette's dealing with a celebrity client who also through our class were random paparazzi. Going with only a trusted adult makes logical sense for both sides, as they don't even know you."

Kamar's voice was calm but held a sharp edge to it, causing the Italian to flinch. "I-I didn't mean to sound intrusive!" She backpaddles, "Mari's been so supportive of my dreams, so I just wish to support her!"

The Muslim simply hummed in response.

"Thank you, both of you," Marinette's calm voice cut through the tension as she placed an arm on both their shoulders. "Kamar's right, I can't even bring my cousin Marc when I visit him. And Lila, you've been so supportive of my crush with Adrien, I couldn't ask for a better best friend."

Both girls smiled at the bluenette, "Now, let's get back to work!"

__________________________________________________

{Le Grand Paris Hotel, Jagged's Room - 17:00}

"So, Monsieur XY, why and how are you the new number on king of rock?" Nadjia asked cheerily.

The sun was setting over Paris and ITV News was streaming a live interview with Xavier-Yves Roth, better known by his stage name of XY, the new king of rock. Jagged sat in his hotel room sofa with Fang in his lap, TV on with the interview. Now you may be asking why Jagged is watching someone he obviously hates during his free time, and that answer is rather simple. He has nothing better to do than to torture himself and watch a man baby on TV.

"Why am I number one? Simple. It's not about music, it's about technology." As you can already see, XY is a DJ. "This computer is programmed to produce music and lyrics people will like. It's guaranteed success." And not a particularly good one.

"You knocked Jagged Stone off the number one spot", the reporter would be lying if she said she was more of a XY fan than Jagged fan. "What do you think of him?"

"Bleah!" Nadija tried to keep her smiled on as the DJ threw his drink somewhere off camera. "Jagged Stone, the hero of rock 'n' roll? Try Ragged Stone. That guy's old school, a has-been. His guitar solo is so ten minutes ago."

"Me?" An offended gasp came from the middle-aged man. "Old-school? A has-been?!"

"He's had his career, but it's over now." Says the dude who needs AI to create something even remotely tolerable. "He'll never be number one, not while XY is here."

"Why, you little perfume ad!" If Fang wasn't in Jagged's lap he would have gone for the TV. A good thing as he's charged for any damage he'd cause to the hotel's property.

"My music is killer," that doesn't sound like something a man baby would say.

"He's stealing my catchphrases!" Dang, the perfume add can't even come up with his own iconic lines.

"Tonight, Mr. XY will be giving a very special one-time concert from the top of the Eiffel Tower." Keep it together Nadija, the interview just started and you've delt with worse. "To celebrate his album's success and thank his formidable fans."

"Hey Ragged, if you wanna know what today's music sounds like, come to my concert." The boy half Jagged's age leaned against the sofa like a French girl. "I'll reserve you a front-row seat, old man, you know-in case your hearing's going."

Knowing he might just go King Kong on the television, Jagged quickly turned it off. "He can't talk about me like that! This guy's an insult to rock...and me!" He grabbed his guitar from the floor next to him, strumming it as a way to vent off his frustration.

Jagged was far too deep into his frustrated strumming to notice the purple insect coming over to him. And while Fang did attempt to bite down on the bug, it gracefully evaded the living predator, landing down on the guitar. The emotions Jagged had felt seemingly heightened in that instant with them seeping into the crocodile.

"Guitar Villain, I am Hawk Moth." The voice was sinister, yet it held a type of hypnotic hold over his negative emotions, bringing them out. "I'm giving you and your vicious crocodile the power to show the whole world that you are the number one rocker! Just make sure you get me Lady Ruby and Cat Knight's Miraculous in return."

Jagged knew he should refuse; he knew that it was wrong! "Yeah! Let's rock!" But his body didn't obey him as purple engulfed his and Fang's body.

__________________________________________________

{Le Grand Paris Hotel, Lobby}

Bob Roth was having a small interview with a member of the ITV news station, as the father of the new king of Rock it was only necessary. Chloe was on the other side of the stairs having a conversation with Adrien, updating him about how Zoe was doing in America.

Obviously with two rather informative conversations going on, nobody would believe that a punk rock akuma with pink hair and a dragon would break through the ground floor ceiling. But that's exactly what happened.

"Rockin' Riff, baby!" The purple energy came out of the guitar was blasted at all those present, causing them all to stop what they were doing start dancing.

"Soon, there'll be nothing but Guitar Villain fans, the one and only rocker on Earth", he grinned manically as he calmly walked to the exit. "In fact, soon, there won't even be a Mr. XY! Rockin' Riff, baby!"

Upon entering the streets of Paris, Guitar villain, boring name by the way, was ranting about how annoying XY is, how much better her was and how he'll take his place back on the rock throne. He accompanied this by blasting purple energy to any and everyone around.

Each victim hit would dance at a vicious pace to the rock music. In hindsight, it didn't seem like such a bad thing, but if you've heard the story 'the girl with red shoes' knows how horrid it can be. No matter how exhausted anyone was, the second purple energy hit them they dropped whatever they did to dance.

"Hey, Jagged!" The voice of the knights of the cats jumped down from the sky "C'mon! Why don't you try to rock my world?"

"The name's Guitar Villain, pussycat." He turned the dial on his guitar before playing. "Awesome Solo!"

This time, an orange energy came from the end of the villain's guitar. Doing a backflip off the fountain the energy hit the spot Cat Knight once stood, shattering the fountain into pieces. So, there was indeed a straight up attack power.

"Come and join my fan club kitty!" The adult just kept blasting the sound at the cat, who just like the animal, was rather acrobatic. He was able to dodge without much harm to himself. The city on the other hand, there were even some injuries.

"Hold still you mangy cat!"

"I'd rather not have my eardrums burst!" The teen hopped upon a building to catch his breath for a second, letting his guard down. He didn't seem to realize the akum had a dragonic helper aiming his jaw right at him.

"Hiya!" Thankfully for him, his partner came in clutch, clamming the giant lizard's jaw shut with her yoyo, the sound causing Cat Knight to turn. "Pay attention you mangy cat!"

"See!" The voice of Guitar villain came from the stone pavement below "Even your partner agrees!"

"That's just cause both of you are jealous of my tale-! Gah!" The mangy cat hopped nearly fell from where he stood if he didn't hold onto the giant scaly tail.

"You're wasting my time!" The punk villain called to his partner. "Fang, keep them busy and away from me. I've got a concert to get to" And he turned and charged for the Eiffle tower.

Cat Knight was reigning his balance on the tale of the beast. He may be a miraculous acrobatic but that didn't mean plummeting to the ground didn't scare him. Ruby on the other hand was too preoccupied with wrangling the giant dragon to chance after the rocker either.

"The akuma's Jagged Stone!" The black armour hero clawed his way up to his partner slowly. "And the akuma's probably in the guitar!"

"And how do you know that?" Ruby yelled back as she tried to get Fang to move away from hitting a chimney.

"He came from the same hotel Jagged Stone was staying in!" He steadily crouched at the back of the beast, refusing to touch Ruby. "Plus, he kept raving on about how XY took his place as the number one rockstar!"

"So, then this dragon is his giant lizard he takes everywhere!?" Pulling the rope, she caused them to do a quick dive out of the way of a bridge. "Woah!"

"Hey watch it!" Iron claws dug into the scaly surface.

"Then do something to heeeeeelp!" Screams filled both of their lungs as the giant croc came in contact with the ITV news station building. They groaned as they woke from the impact seconds later.

It was at this moment the duo realized the building made entirely out of glass. Shards of which scattered around cutting civilians, the heroes and even impaling the dragon. While none hit any vital organs, there was an obvious loss of blood.

"That jerks gonna pay for what he did to my face!" Fortunately for them they only had a few scars, and the civilians were in too much distress to notice the look of horror and disgust that covered the heroes faces.

"You can thank the croc for the surgery later!" Cat Knight got up quick "Right now, we need to get to XY!"

"And how do you know where XY will be?" Ruby raised an eyebrow as she got up.

"I'm a fan! I even have a front row ticket to his show tonight!"

"I guess even ally cats can have nice things", the bug heroine lamented. "But I have front row seats to both XY and Jagged Stone concert peasant!"

"You liar!" Cat called out to her before his eyes landed on a cloak hung on the wall. "We need to hurry; the concert is in an hour!"

__________________________________________________

{Eiffle Tower- 19:00}

Several members of the XY Fanclub had gathered at the foot of the Eiffle tower in order to hear what new music he'd come up with. The destruction from earlier had done nothing to deter the public from getting in some entertainment. Anyway, they paid for this so sue them for wanting to get their money's worth.

A stage had been set up and the curtains had been drawn, revealing a pale pink background with faint yellow lights and soft shines. It looked like something out of a perfume add. And in the centre of all this, was the brat, the baby, the knock off, Xavier-Yves Roth, waving to the crowd!

"Rockin' Riff, baby!" But there's still a villain attack going on and XY is his target, especially his fans. Ignoring the scream of terror, guitar villain hit the audience with a purple beam, bending them all to a life of dancing.

""I found you at last, XY!" He walked over to the blonde teen who cowered in fear under his DJ table which he promptly kicked. "Ready for the show?"

"Dude, are you Jagged Stone?" XY tried to back away further, but his bones felt like jelly.

"Was Jagged Stone. Now I'm Guitar Villain!" He lifted the blonde by the collar. "Don't worry, you're not gonna become one of my fans. You don't deserve it!" It was then XY's eyes noticed the rope in his capturer's other hand. "I've got something special in store for you. Something with a little rock 'n' roll!"

"NOOOO-! Oof!" XY's screams turned to coughs when he was yanked out of the pink haired man's grasp and into the arms of a woman in red.

"L-Lady Ruby?" Wide bluebell eyes gazed at the angel before him.

"At your service Monsieur!" She gently placed the DJ back on the ground. "Lucky charm!" Ladybugs stemmed from her yoyo to form a bottle of hair spray, what?

"Hey Ragged! Cataclysm!" Cat Kngit, not wanting to be left out from the admiration of XY, charged forward.

"Awesome sole!" Of course, the akuma wasn't going to go down without a fight, playing orange energy the other. However, instead of simply forcing him back, the cataclysm acted as a counter to the energy. Destroying it.

Wait! The red heroine's eyes widen as an idea came into play. As Cat Kngit and Guitar Villain were locked in a wave of combat, Ruby sprayed the jellyfish hair, making it freeze over the guitarist's face.

"I can't see!" A single kick was all it took to break the guitar out of his hands in two. "Hey! Where's my guitar?"

You already know how this goes. Broken guitar reverted Guitar villain back to a tired Jagged Stone. The miraculous miracles from both repaired damage and broke everyone out of their dancing hypnosis. Ambulance and police already called in order to help them all.

Unfortunately for the heroes, their power being used meant they had to leave the scene immediately.

__________________________________________________

{21/10/2040, Sunday, Dupain-Cheng bakery, Marinette's bedroom 9:00}

Marinette was cleaning up her room, finalizing the project had taken longer than they anticipated. They did get it done before the akuma attack, but she had yet to clean up her room. Her parents had let them take some of the leftover snacks and fresh lattes to warm them on the way home. They may be a bakery, but they still sold coffee.

And it seems the universe is out to make the teen's life miserable when a pen rolls underneath her worn desk to another dimension. Why me? Trust me girl I ask myself the same thing every waking day.

Reaching under the desk to find that ninja pen, her hand felt a circular metal item as well. DeJa'Vu much? Pulling the item out it turns out to be a necklace, a grey circle with five mice.

I don't remember this, but it sure is beautiful. Marinette marvelled at the necklace in the mirror, placing it at her collarbone but not exactly on. Her smile then turned to a frown, locking the necklace away in her jewellery box. But it wouldn't suit someone like me.

After a short pity party, she took out her drawing tablet which she had been drawing Jagged's new album cover on. The lighting and shading were the main thing she needed to complete, but it shouldn't take too long. She even changed her top to Jagged Stone hoodie to get in the mood more. It was purple with black JS on the front with pale purple, giving it a glowing effect.

It took a couple of hours to finish but it was done by the time the meeting was to take place. Deciding to reward herself with a sweet treat she went down to the living room where her mother sat, some jasmine silver needle tea in a glass teacup.

"Hello there sweetie, ready to head to the hotel?" Sabine asked.

"I have the design ready, but I wanna have a snack first before leaving", seeing her mother with tea made her want some. Preparing her own cup, she prepared to poor the kettle water in. Marinette believed it was still warm as her mother was drinking it.

Regrettably, it seems the child had forgotten her clumsy tendencies, as her hand slipped, causing the warm water to splash on her right gloved hand. "Ouch!"

"Marinette! Are you alright?" Sabine shot up from her seat at the yelp from her daughter.

"The water wasn't too hot, just sting a little!" She hissed out as her mother removed the glove. Her eyes widen at the mark on full display. Oh no! "U-uh... m-mama, I'm so-sorry! I do-don't know how it hap-happened!"

"It's not your fault my little boa bun!" Sabine turned the hand over, inspecting the entire frame. "Accidents happen."

Huh? "Mama, don't you see anything? Any marks on my hand?"

"I don't see any burns. But just in case I'll put some ointment on it", she moved to their medicine cabinet and took out a small pot and started to apply the cream onto Marinette's hand.

How can mama not see the mark? And if she can't, does that mean nobody else can either?

__________________________________________________

{Le Grand Paris Hotel, Jagged's Room - 13:00}

"Oh, yeah. This is it! You did it, girl!" Jagged was looking over the physical version of the design Marinette had printed "I can almost smell the leather and sweat just radiating off this design!"

"I'm glad you like it so much Jagged." The Chinese French beamed. "I was thinking of making a scented sticker for the cover too... but it's harder to make than I thought."

"Don't beat yourself up about it Marinette!", Penny placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I want it. I got to have it. It's-", Jagged was cut out of his praise when the hotel door swung open.

"Jagged! You need to update your style!" Bob Roth stormed in; his angry eyes failed to notice Penny shoving the two women into the bathroom.

"Well too bad, I want the design!" Jagged held up the paper for the man to see. "It's authentic. It's original. It's... so Jagged." And he hugged it.

"No, you can't! It's not what the public-" It was Jagged's turn to cut the demander off.

"Fine, then I'm outta here!" That took Roth back, with the popularity Jagged had built up, he could indeed separate from the company. "Even if I'm not number one I'll still be happy with my music! In fact, I'll start my own record company!"

Bob Roth stormed off and out of the room, not please by this. After a few seconds Penny opened the bathroom door. "Sorry about that."

"It wasn't your fault, you did try to protect my daughter's identity", Sabine thanked. "I'm just glad she won't have to interact with such a greedy man!"

Peeny smiled as Jagged pipped up. "You and me both Lady!"

Marinette just giggled.

Chapter Text

{23/10/2040, Tuesday, Collège Françoise Dupont, Computer classroom 12:30}

Madame Brown sat at the front as the class types away at their computers, placing the HTML codes to make a basic website. The class remined quite as, a few had finished writing down whatever it was they had to.

Adrien leaned forward on his elbow, hand in his palm, bored. He plugged his headphones as he scrolled through the MiracleBlog by Alya and the Guardian Animal Blog by Aurore. Both of them were friends and even showed up in the other's blog along with trading theories about what could happen. They both had their own individual video about the possible connection between the miraculous and the Parisian lights.

I wonder if there's something else that's yet to be discovered about the miraculous. The model wondered. In anime there have been times where heroes realize there was a huge thing in the past connected to the current events. Maybe I should talk about it at lunch with Nino.

~Ring~

The bell for lunch caused a clatter of chairs to roll around, USBs being removed and other personal belongings being put away. Adrien, Lila, Marinette and Nino met up with Alya and Marc outside the classroom for lunch. The baker girl had a small box under her right arm.

Alya wore an orange cardigan over a white Jagged Stone t-shirt, and a pair of sheer black leggings. Marc added a red hoodie to his fit. Everything else in their outfits were the same.

"Hey Mari, what's in the box?" Nino asked as his bestie's stomach grumbled.

"It's a new pumpkin vanilla pudding my parents are working on", she opened the box to show six pots full of orange and white creamy texture. "They gave me some so I could ask you guys to taste test them".

"I can't wait!" The blonde made a move to take one when the bluenette slammed the box closed.

"Nuh uh Agreste!" She waved a finger at him mischievously. "You can taste test them after we eat lunch".

It was as they entered the cafeteria and sat at one of the vacant tables in the corner, that Adrien decided to speak up about his earlier curiosity. "Hey guys, do you think there's anything relating to the miraculous in history?"

"What do you mean by the Adrien?" Marc bit into his sandwich.

"You know how like in anime something in the past is linked to what's happening in the story?" Green eyes shone in excitement. "What is something happened in real life that's linked to the miraculous?"

Everyone at the table was silent at that, mulling it over. Lila looked to be the most thoughtful of the group with the look of confusion that overtook her features. Her voice uncharacteristically mute.

"Normally I'd think something like that is stupid", Alya mulled over the facts, then reached into her belt bag for her phone and began typing. "But with magical animal heroes in our city, you may be right Agreste".

"Then maybe you should ask Alix for help", Marinette spoke up. "Her father runs the Egyptian part of the Louvre, and her brother even works there too".

"Our history work also has to do with Egypt, so even if it is a bust, we'll have some information to look back on", Nino was obviously referring to the ancient Egypt history book they each had to purchase.

"I just texted Aurore!" Lila choked on her lasagne as Alya's voice snapped her out of focus. "She said she's up to visit the Louvre after school today".

"Great then let's ask Alix after school and see if she can show us around!" Nino bumped his fist in the air.

"Um, actually..." Marinette rubbed the back of her head. "I have to help my parents at the bakery after school."

"Oh yeah, there's a giant order for a wedding cake, right?" Marc remembered the text Marinette sent him about it. "I also have to finish off some homework for geography, so I can't come either."

"The rest of you can still go of course", the blue girl reassures. "Just tell me about any leads you find tomorrow, okay?"

"Of course I will bestie!" Lila spoke up for the first time this lunch.

"You'll see anything and everything on my blog, so you better keep your eyes out!" Alya didn't seem to notice the lovestruck look a certain Moroccan boy was giving her.

__________________________________________________

{Louvre Museum 16:00}

The group of four stepped off the bus and into the Louvre, paintings lining the walls. They had asked Alix in class if she could help them out, but she had a doctor's appointment after school.

Aurore swapped her tank top for a blue top with a smiling sun, a pair of white converses and a pair of white crewneck socks with yellow on the edge. A blue backpack with yellow accent on her back with a sun keychain.

"I wonder if there really is a history about the miraculous in the museum", she wondered.

"Well, I don't know about you guys", Lila's pace quickened slightly. "But I think we should start with the Egyptian exhibit."

Adrien raised an eyebrow at the suggestion, "what makes you so sure we'll find something in there specifically?"

The girl in red shrugged her shoulders innocently, "call it a hunch".

The female celebrity placed a hand on her chin, "ancient Egypt does have its fair share of supernatural events, so it is possible."

The Martinique Creole-French girl eyed the giant Egyptian black cat statues that welcomed them, "do you guys think Cat Knight might have been a prominent figure in ancient Egypt?"

"It's a possibility, I'll make note of it", Aurore took out her phone a sky-blue case with clouds and a smiley sun pop socket.

Alya took out her own Cat Knight one with a ladybug pop socket when someone knocked into her from behind, "hey!" Causing her to crash onto the floor. Or she would have if Nino wasn't standing in the way to catch her fall.

"Uh..." Nice one Nino!

"Oh, uh, thanks!" Alya quietly squeaked out shooting back to where she stood. Here eyes then fell to the man who bumped into her.

The man was gathering his papers along with a pendant off the floor. "It's not broken!" He sighed out in relief.

"Uh, I'm okay too, thanks for asking." The sarcasm was obvious.

The brown-haired man turned around sheepishly, "I'm sorry." His eyes rested on the red-faced DJ. "Hey, you're in the same grade as Alix, right? Nino?"

"Yeah, you're her older brother, Jalil", he shook his hand. "I've seen you drop her off or pick her up at school sometimes."

Jalil smiles, "I recognise Aurore and Adrien from TV, but who are the other three? The other new students? And isn't Aurore in an upper class?"

Alya shook her head. "I'm a new student in Aurore's class, but Lila's a part od Alix's".

The Italian gave a polite smile. "We're here to look for leads to any history Lady Ruby and Cat Knight may have had."

The smile on the older boy's face changed to childlike excitement, "really now? Then you may like the discovery I made!" His eyes perked up at the sight of something behind the teens. "Dad!"

Jalil ran over to a moustache man, Alim Kubdel, the father of both him and Alix. He wasn't as well seen by the kids apart from scheduled museum trips due to his busy work.

"I wonder what type of discovery he made?" Nino looked over at the two.

"Remember what Aurore said earlier? About how ancient Egypt had several supernatural events?" Adrien reminded them.

"You mean he might have also had the same idea as you?" Alya's eyes widen as she caught on, "he may have also discovered something!"

"Guess you were right about checking Egypt, Lila," Aurore praised. "With your permission, we'll be sure to mention you."

"Oh, I'd love if you did that", the girl smiled and quickly added on. "I was thinking the hieroglyphics might have something! After all they are really small and took years to decrypt."

"Then let's ask him and get an interview!" Alya dragged Aurore by the arm, causing the rest to follow after.

"Hey!" The stumbling girl yanker her arm back and the auburn hair girl had the decency to look sheepish.

"I'm telling you, father, it's right there in the hieroglyphics." The two men saw the group right at their side, and while the elder man sighed disapprovingly, the younger gave the cameras a shy wave. He then led them all over to an ancient Egyptian papyrus up on the wall.

"There, as you know, the one with the sceptre is Tutankhamun, the first. And there, opposite is Nefertiti, his princess. There are exactly one hundred mummies beside them. She died several years before him, and the sun god Ra took her as his goddess."

"Yes, I know all that." Alim made himself slightly present up on camera. "I'm the director of this exhibition, remember?"

"Then you also know that Tutankhamun wanted to bring his princess back to life, by offering the sun god a new wife." He stiffly pointed at a certain part of the papyrus. "You two may want to enlarge at this specific place."

The two did so, the three others looking over at their phones to see themselves. At that spot where Jalil pointed at, was an Egyptian woman dressed in black spots with a yoyo like item.

"Hold up!" Nino's eyes widen.

"Is that?" Adrien couldn't believe it.

"That's Lady Ruby!" Lila's voice was a bit above a gasp.

"That's correct!" The two turned their cameras back to normal to show Jalil again. "As you both already deduced, the Parisian lights may have something to do with the heroes. Well, I've deduced that they definitely existed over ten thousand years ago!"

Alya looked like she'd stuck gold. "I guess Lila's hunch really was right, smart girl. Deducing it was in the hieroglyphics". She quickly showed the Italian on screen.

Lila ticked a strand of hair behind her ear, "it was nothing Alya, I just admire Lady Ruby so much!" Aurore gave her a small show as well.

"And she was as heroic back then as she is now!" The focus reverted back to the bob hair man. "Like I said, Tutankhamun wanted to bring his wife back to life, but never succeeded. Why do you think that is?"

Adrien shot his hand up, the two girls going back a bit to allow the others to appear in the video. "Lady Ruby stopped him!"

"Exactly!" The young man was moving more laxed compared to the beginning. "But I also believe that had he not been stopped, Tutankhamun would have succeeded!"

"This seemed to illustrate the ritual he devised. Nobody has ever fully deciphered the hieroglyphics, but I have!" He moved over to a sceptre within a glass case. "It's a magic chant that needs to be recited in order to complete the ritual! All you need is Tutankhamun's sceptre!"

"Alright, I think that's enough!" The figure of Alim Kubdel blocked the bloggers cameras, leading to them turning them off. ""

"Come on, dad!" Jalil spoke eagerly "What if Tutankhamun had found out how to bring people back to life?"

"Listen, Jalil! That's enough!" The voice of the father made the children step back "Get your head out of those papyrus scrolls and focus on the real world! This one!" He waked the papers out of his own sin's hands and stormed off.

"Jalil..." The dejected male looked over at his feet, his sister's auburn upper classmate picking up the fallen papers. "I believe you".

He gave him a soft smile. "That's nice of you to say, but you don't need to lie."

"She's not lying!" Nino spoke up. "I mean magic exist, so why no reanimation?"

"Yeah! In fact, I was the one who suggested about the miraculous being in history in the first place". Adrien backed up.

"I did believe the Egyptian exhibit had something", Lila smiled

"We all believe you", Aurore showed her phone. "We were recording your discovery for that fact."

Alya handed the papers over to the museum worker, "and when we publish our videos, everyone will know your genius!"

The brunette man took the papers with a sad smile, but there was definitely something else that was bothering him. "Thanks", he walked off sluggishly.

Adrien gave a quizzical look, "I wonder what else is bothering him".

"My guess is that it's to do with his father", all eyes turned to the DJ. "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yep", the pigtail girl quipped. "And I see what you mean, his father did just yell at him."

"But that's his father, right?" Adrien had the look of a confused child. "So he'll have to come around and apologise eventually!"

"Not everyone has the same family life Adrien", Lila placed a hand on his shoulder. "Both you and me are examples of that Adrien. Your mother is gone, and my parents are divorced."

"Someone's blunt", Alya couldn't help but comment. "But yeah, obviously we can't deduce anything on one interaction, but just keep that in mind."

Nino pats Adrien on the shoulder. "I need to head to the bathroom, be right back", and another person walks off.

Alya and Aurore took a few more pictures of the exhibit for their blogs. Along with writing down some questions down for what they would want to ask Jalil later. They even added some other possible theories and different historical events to look into.

"Thoth, give me time!"

"Look out!"

It was in that sudden moment Nino pushed all four of his friends out of the way, Aurore unfortunately hitting her head on one of the black cat stands. In their place was Nino trapped in a syrupy orange bubble.

"Are you guys alright?" His voice and actions were immensely slow, as though in a dramatic movie moment.

They're confusion was overridden by a buff looking pharaoh.

"OMG!" Alya squeaked as she and her classmate stream the scene. "Coming to you live, Miracleblog viewers, I'm at the scene even before Lady Ruby or Cat Knight!"

Aurore leaned on Adrein who had his arm around her shoulder and the other on her phone. "That means that this akuma just appeared," her hands shaky after the hit, so he was helping her film.

"This is insane!" The model muttered looking around. Hopefully, Lila escaped.

as the Egyptian akuma snatched up both the papyrus and sceptre. This of course led to the museum automatically locking down. Said items were floating at his side, leaving his hands free to be snatched by a yoyo.

"You know that's considered stealing," she had slid under the bars before the came down.

The sapphire eyes of the Pharoh held the recognition of an enemy as he laid eyes on the lady in red. "Lady Ruby," he spat out in disgust. "You should know, I'm taking back what rightfully belongs to me."

"Maybe if you were the real Pharaoh, which you're not!" She pulled on the string in an attempt to bring the akuma forward, however, she only succeeded in bring her face to the wall.

"Look at Ladybug go! If I'm dreaming, don't wake me up!" Alya was far too gone in dreamland.

"I know the akuma is Jalil," Aurore attempted to sit up straighter. "But I wonder why he thinks he's the Pharoh?"

"Maybe the mind of the pharaoh went into him?" Adrien moved his arm from Aurore's shoulders to her waist.

"So now Jalil's not only akumatized, but possessed by Tutankhamun?"

"Ladybug waved at me! No way!" The two blondes turned to see Alya not even aware of the intellectual conversation they were having.

Ruby was actually gesturing for them to leave as she was once again thrown against a wall, this time leaving an impact. This is different to Stoneheart!

Of course, I know that, Tiki!

You had space to move then but now you don't! You need to get him outside where you can fight better!

Just shut up and let me concentrate! I don't need help from people who keep secrets from me!

"Sekhmet, give me your strength!" The Pharoh's face changed, the change giving him the strength to bend metal bars and be waked in the head.

"How nice of you to hold the door open for me!" The one doing the waking was of course Cat Knight, who didn't seem to be pleased at the lack of reaction from the enemy.

In fact, the akuma simply held him up like a potato sack and stuffed him in an empty coffin. "Enjoy your coffin!"

"This is hecka crazy! Keep your eyes peeled!" Alya looked over at the blondes next to her, their faces suddenly paling. "Why are you guys- What!"

The pharaoh was looming over them, but his eyes remined solely on the Martinique Creole-French girl. "Your face. Fate has placed you on my path." He placed his hands on her face casing discomfort as he studies her. "Come with me!" He slings her over his shoulder, ignoring the other members present.

"Aly- ah!" The pigtailed girl tried to reach out but couldn't get far with her throbbing head. Falling back into Adrien's arms.

"Hey! Hands off the threads. I can walk myself!" Nice to see where her priorities are. And the side of her jumper did indeed get torn as she was dragged through the bars.

"Hiding behind an innocent bystander!" The golden faced man noticed the voice came from the golden-haired civilian. "You're weak, Pharaoh!"

"I'm way more powerful than you could ever be," as if to rove a point, he bent the bars back to normal, trapping them within. He back and Alya facing them as he walked away.

"And don't forget! All the latest behind-the-scenes are on my blog!" The wink she sent them told them all they needed to know as the other turned her phone off.

The snapping of coffin breaking open froze them in place. "That Alya is one brave chick." false alarm, it's just Cat Knight.

"Just get us out of here Cat Knight!" Ruby demanded, holding the side of her ribs. While obviously not broken, it did hurt.

"Cataclysm!" The heroes stepped through, civilians following after. Excluding Nino, he's still trapped in a time bubble thing.

"Alya's got a livestream on her blog!" Adrein informed the heroes as he and Aurore sat on a bench. "You can find out where the akuma is from there!"

Lady Ruby flipper her yoyo open to look for said stream. "Hi, everyone! Alya here, liveblogging from the shoulder of the terrifying villain! Huge scoop to come, stay tuned!" They were still inside the museum.

"Well, that's super far," sarcasm dripped from the male hero's voice. "I need to head to the bathroom quickly, I'll catch up in a second." He stepped into a gender natural bathroom and a single second later, he popped out. "Okay, ready!"

__________________________________________________

{Outside Louvre Museum}

"On to the next phase. Anubis, bring me mummies!" The golden face looked more cat like, with eyes blasting beams everywhere. Civilians tried to run away for shelter but were still hit. These people were turned into living mummies. "Soon, we'll be together again, my Nefertiti! My long-lost love!"

"This is gonna be one major scoop!" Alya's voice held enthusiasm, but if one were to actually look at her face, they could see the fear as she started to piece together what might be happening. "Uh, excuse me, Pharaoh, but, uh, what exactly is going on here?"

"I'm going to carry out the secret spell to bring Nefertiti back!" He placed the teen down on the ground but kept her right wrist in an iron grip.

"Ahh, hmmm. Gotcha!" So, he is trying to resurrect Nefertiti, but why am I here? "You're talking about the spell on the papyrus, right?"

"Correct! The one hundred mummies and the offering!"

"Offering. What offering?" She doesn't remember that, but she remembers that Jalil never went into detail on the spell.

"To persuade the sun god Ra to give me back my sweet princess, I must give him something in return. A pure soul!"

"Dude, that's hard to come by." A nervous laugh escaped her lips when she remembered movie logic.

"But I've already found her!" Pharoh placed his left hand under the glasses girl's chin and turned her gaze towards the sacrifice in the papyrus. "You look so much like her!"

"Say what?!" So, I'm a sacrifice!?

"And this time, Lady Ruby won't stop me!"

Up on the roof of the glass pyramid, the royal duo looked down upon the mummy apocalypse around the ground.

"You fought this guy before?" The knight questioned.

"I'm a teenager idiot! Of course not!" She crossed her arms at the stupidity of her partner. "Turns out, the miraculous have existed for ages!"

"What!?" This information baffled him, "How come I never knew about this?"

"Ask your Kwamii, not me!" She shot back, "and I only found out about this myself today!"

"Oh, sacred Ra, god of the sun, I Pharaoh, offer to thee a pure soul! The sacrifice for the return of Nefertiti!" The deep voice from the ground brough their focus back. "I bow to you and present this gift with my mummies! In company, we pray to you the safe return of princess Nefertiti! Awaken, Nefertiti! Awaken! Awaken, Nefertiti! Awaken!"

"Awaken, Nefertiti... Awaken...," as though they were all part of a cult, the mummies chanted the spell alongside their leader.

"Lady Ruby!" Alya was being carried slowly to the top of the Louvre, the gentleness was not so much for her, but to keep her beauty intact. Make believe gods are so superficial.

"We've gotta save her before he completes the ritual, or Alya will be gone, forever!" The blonde spoke up.

"The miracle can undo magical deaths!" The brunette pointed out.

"Only if you win!"

"And I will win!" She stood up. "Hold back the mummies while I take on the Pharaoh." She jumped down without waiting for a response.

The cat scowled at the red blur, "what a jerk!" And headed for the mummies as he landed on a lamppost. "Hey there, you bunch of bandages! What do you say we wrap this up!"

"Cat Knight!"

"Seize him!"

All mummies who'd taken their turn passing Alya around went after the hero in black. He kicked and punched many of these mummies, undead or not, with bodies they were easy to knock unconscious. Several bruises littering their bandaged bodies, the tapes ripping and red patches forming.

Pharoh keeping an eye in him. The sacrifice was being hulled higher up the pyramid. Lady Ruby was his main enemy, but the black clad hero was just as much as an adversary. Speaking of, where is she?

"Wait, this looks," a pressure formed around his neck. "Like a trap!"

Knowledgeable he may be, but with the consistent clutching of his pendant prior to the akumatization, Ruby knew exactly where the akuma was. Plus, it was the only obvious item the akuma had on hand. The pendant hadn't even changed in the akumatized state, the broken chain making it easy to snatch and break on the concrete ground.

The black clad hero knocked back another group of mummies before sweeping over to the pyramid top and swept the victim into his arms. Placing her gently next to the now civilian Pharoh. A pair of miracle cures later and the mummies were turned into injured humans. Some worse than others.

Alya kept the stream going on the two heroes as the ambulance pulled up, alerted via her stream. "So, Lady Ruby, are you really five thousand years old? And what about Cat Knight?"

The blue-eyed girl made her eyes flutter at the attention, "Oh I'm not. The Lady Ruby in the papyrus and me are two different people!"

That surprised the blogger, and the cat continued, "the miraculous have been around for ages! In fact, they're supposed to be used for good. Unlike that butterfly man!"

The paramedics were in the background, tending to the injured civilians who were once mummies. "I may have been hard on them, but I had no choice, I was outnumbered and needed to stop them long enough to get to you."

"I guess that's understandable... oh!" She placed her phone away abruptly and ran over to one of the doctors. "Excuse me? One of my friends go injured inside the Egyptian exhibit."

Upset at the lack of attention they were getting and the lack of media, the two heroes leapt away in a huff. The area was cleared off due to the number of victims in the area, police present to prevent any reporters from giving the innocent a tough time.

"Wait, my pendant!" Jalil attempted to leave the grasp of the medics to look for said item.

"This?" A man came over with it, the name Juliette Kubdel engraved on the back.

"Yeah...", with his pendant securely in his pocket, he shut his eyes, allowing his exhaustion to take him.

__________________________________________________

{24/10/2040, Wednesday, Collège Françoise Dupont- 7:30}

The blue haired cousins ran up the stairs to the four victims of yesterday's akuma attack.

"Are you guys, okay?"

"We saw the live stream yesterday!" The female one had a box under her arms. "My mama called the ambulance and police after seeing it!"

Aurore placed a hand on her head. "My head does still hurt from the bruising, but it's subsided a bit now. Adrien helped me." The other blond smiled.

"I was survived being sacrifice material," Alya announced proudly.

"Well, I'm sure you were excellent sacrificial material", Nino made some finger guns as the group stared at him awkwardly, Alya blushing. "I- I was stuck in a bubble."

"So was I!" Lila yelped. "I'm just glad Lady Ruby saved the day."

"Her and Cat Knight both did an amazing job", Marc agreed.

Lila then pointed at the box under her best friend's arm, "what's that you're carrying Mari?"

"Oh, this?" She held the box up. "I thought I'd get you all some treats to cheer you all up, I hope you all like them." The box opened to reveal several mini pumpkin pies.

"These look delicious!" A grumble came from the male blonde, visibly drooling.

"Uh... we'll eat them when lunch comes around", Marinette nervously chuckled.

Realising how carnivorous he looked, a sheepish smile crossed Adrien's lips. Nino nudged him in a well natured manor before they head inside the school.

Chapter Text

__________________________________________________

{25/10/2040, Thursday, Collège Françoise Dupont, Science lab- 15:30}

It was the last lesson of the day and Alya was busy goofing off, she had cut out the faces of the two heroes from a picture. It's small, but she had to know who the heroes were by any means necessary. She went through all the kids in her class, looking at their faces through the pictures to see who looked the closest to them. When she got to Aurore the girl pointed at the front, picture still up Alya faces a scowling Mademoiselle Mendeleiev.

"Alya Césaire," hurriedly,as though it would influence the teacher's perception, the auburn hair girl hid the pictures away. "I would prefer if you would pay attention to the lesson and leave your sleuthing to a after school hours."

"Sorry Mademoiselle Mendeleiev," she sheepishly replied, she's sure she heard a class member giggle.

Before the scientist could say anything, the final bell for the school rang. Almost as though to save Alya from further humiliation. "I'll let you off this time, but I better not catch you doing this again."

"Yes Mademoiselle."

The teacher nodded before addressing the entire room, "class dismissed."

Like a rocket, the students packed away their items at lightning pace. Alya had reconveyed with Nino and Lila in the locker room. The other members of their small group had work to do and therefore headed straight home.

"What are you doing with those pictures?" Nino pointed at Alya who was looking at him a Lila through them.

"I'm using them to find out who Lady Ruby and Cat Knight are!"

"She nearly got in trouble for it in class," Alya gasped at the betrayal.

"Well, I'm sure you'll find them out eventually." Lila tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she stared through the hole, almost as though she were having her picture taken.

"You bet I will!" Alya put the pictures away in a file. When she raised her eyes, they landed on the bratty voice of a demanding heiress.

"Really Sabrina, my group is the worst!" Something fell out from her locker, "they say I have to do my part of the project myself!"

Golden eyes landed on the fallen item before it was scooped up by the bob haired servant. But that second was enough to see that item. A red yoyo with black spots. Chloé's Lady Ruby?

"Hey Alya, so what leads do you have on the heroes?" Nino smile grew into concerned at the silence from the normally chatty blogger. "Alya?"

No reply from the question came but she did grab her friends' arms. "Come with me, I need your help!" And bolted out the school.

"Hey!"

"Woah!"

At the school gates Alya's eyes tracked the blonde as she strutted over to her limousine, leaving behind Sabrina who waved goodbye.

"Alya, mind telling us what's going on?" The Moroccan boy questioned.

"I think I've just sniffed out who the real Lady Ruby is!"

"What!?"

__________________________________________________

{Césairehousehold, Alya's room- 15:30}

With the two friends sat on her bed Alya went to her computer to bring up all the evidence she had accumulated thus far.

"Now that we're here, mind explaining what you said earlier?" There was a hint of offence from the Italian's voice.

"Yeah, what do you mean you think Chloe is Lady Ruby?" Nino agreed. "She's too self-absorbed to think of anyone but herself, much less save the world. You are cray-cray, lady!"

"I am so not!" Alya spun around offended.

"You need to have your head examined." Nino turned his finders around at his head, imitating the crazy gesture. "If she's a superhero, then I'm the Wizard of Oz. Plus, they both have completely different hair colours and races."

"That's probably because of magic, I mean if nearly all damage can be undone, then why not changing your appearance?" She turned back to the screen, "you'll see!"

"I agree with Nino!" Lila's turned away with a huffed and blinked her eyes, as though trying to stop herself from crying. "Lady Ruby is someone I deeply admire! To think that someone like Chloe could be her!" Her shoulders slumped and she hugged herself. "She's even the reason why Juleka got akumatized in the first place!"

Nino placed a comforting arm around the shaking brunette.

"You mean Reflekta? I have a theory as to why she did," the blogger put up an image of an akuma. "Akuma's are caused by negative emotions, the more people upset, the more akumas will appear, and the more times Lady Ruby saves the day and gets praised!"

Lila looked up in shock, "you mean?"

"That she's causing akumas in purpose?" Nino finished.

"I don't have anything concrete, but knowing Chloe, it's a definite possibility." She stood from her chair, "and I need your help to expose her!"

The emerald eyed girl looked away nervous, "I don't think I feel safe doing this, I mean with all Chloe's done!"

"Oh yeah, Marinette's her main target and she's your best friend," Alya placed a gentle hand on the trembling shoulder. "She's really lucky to have a friend like you. So don't worry, you won't have to do anything you don't want to. That means you too," the last part was addressed to the male in the room.

"I'll help!" He nodded determinedly sitting up straight but keeping an arm around Lila.

The auburn hair girl removed her own hand and crossed her arms. "here's the plan."

__________________________________________________

{26/10/2040, Friday, Collège Françoise Dupont, Locker room- 7:30}

"Hey there! Hi!" The voice of their target was heard from behind the door locker room. "You look totally fab! Uh, no, not you. Hey, it's still a week from Halloween, you know?" And now in here and before her locker by herself, no orange bob in sight.

The Martinique Creole-French girl faced her partner in crim, "now don't mess up your lines!" And pushed him towards the target.

He stopped himself from smashing into the locker door, but once with the suspect is brain started to slow down. "Oh, uh... Lady Ruby! Look over there!"

The blonde looked behind her locker door to raise an eyebrow at her classmate, "Uh, what kind of lame joke is this?"

"Uh, well, that was..." Don't mess up! Don't mess up! Don't mess up! "Did you see Lady Ruby yesterday? Isn't she amazing? I wonder who she really is."

"Uh... up too late DJ-Ing, washout?" She moved away from her locker, confused as to why one of her classmates were engaging in such a casual conversation with her. "Obviously you didn't get your beauty sleep."

With her body no longer covering the locker, Alya was n a clear view to take a picture. Regrettably, she didn't seem to be paying attention to the golden light framed mirror stuck to the door. Once she had taken the picture her right wrist was grasped, and she was pushed to the ground.

"Chloé! Alya's looking in your locker!" Shoot! I completely forgot about Sabrina! I thought she wasn't in today!

"Uh... that's a lie! I so was not!" Sabrina took Alya's other hand and brought both behind her back with her left hand, her right took Alya's phone. "Hey! Give it back!"

Chloe took the unlocked phone from her strong best friend and looked through the galleries. "Who's the little liar now?" She held it up to show the gold inside of a locker with the words Chloé Bourgeois in black cursives. "Let's see what the headmaster thinks of this."

__________________________________________________

{Collège Françoise Dupont, Headmaster's office}

"She's guilty of invasion of privacy! I have proof!" The phone hit the desk with a bang, causing the screen to crack.

"You broke my phone!" Alya sat in on the principle's left, pointing at the accuser, Nino had gone off scot-free as Chloe deemed him far too irrelevant. "And seriously!? All I did was take a measly photo!"

"I'm sorry, Chloé." I really don't wanna deal with this, principal Denis thought exhausted. "But there's no school policy on invasion of privacy."

"Then... then breaking and entering!" Chloe didn't seem to realise the cross look that crossed her lacky's face.

No rules against an invasion of privacy? Sabrina looked through the rules on her tablet, and indeed there was no such rule. I'll need to talk to father about this, an invasion of privacy is serious business.

"I didn't break into her locker! It was open!" On top of that the student ID of an individual is needed to open up their locker.

"And nothing was stolen then?" Please let this end! The newest Knight Owl figurine is coming out for delivery in a few minutes!

"Only my very soul!" The dramatics had been reraised to level 100 to sell the distress as she sobs on her friend's shoulder. Not that anyone really believe it as the heiress is a shameless show-off. "My locker is my secret garden! He who enters uninvited burglarizes my inner being, steals my life force!"

"Right." My head hurts "An hour of detention for you, Alya."

"Are my ears failing me?" Well, her tears certainly dried up quickly. "Did I hear you're giving one miserable hour of detention to a... a heinous criminal? Sabrina!"

Sabrina stepped forward and carefully placed her tablet on the desk for all to see, pointing at the rule. "The school rules clearly state that any student guilty of theft should be suspended for one full week."

"Yes, but she's hardly stole anything." Alya smiled at the principle's words, she should know not to celebrate too quickly.

Chloe took out her new phone, "I'm not sure that my father would share your point of view."

"Uh, well, now, Chloé, let's not bother your father, I mean, the honourable Mayor with a minor locker situation..." The power imbalance was visible as the blonde called her father. With a cough the elderly man turned to the victim, "what I mean is, you're suspended for a week, Alya."

"What?!" The Martinique Creole-French shot out from her seat, slamming her fists down on the desk. "That is so unfair! I am so gonna protest this on the school blog!"

The sight of Chloe still on her phone caused him to sigh, "the school blog is hereby suspended as well."

Letting out an aggravated growl Alya grabbed her belongings and stormed out from the office. She's no superhero, she's super-psycho! She ran all the way out and to a Library nearby. Her only thought of how unfair the situation was, all from the sheer amount of nastiness spewing from the golden devil.

__________________________________________________

{Collège Françoise Dupont, Science lab- 7:30}

The members of Mendeleiev class filed into the lab for tutor, mentally preparing themselves for the mental assault of maths in their first period. Marc looked around the class for his best friend but to no avail.

"Psst! Katrine!" A South American girl turned her head to him, "do you know where Alya is?"

"You haven't heard?" She sat on the table next to his, so her voice wasn't too audible.

Katrine Luis, and a proud member of the debate club, and class representative kept tabs on all her classmates.

Katrine had dark skin, brown eyes, and a wavy black ponytail a darker with blush pink streaks. She wore an arctic blue t-shirt with a blush pink cat paw, a pair of white jeans and pair of white trainers. A white cat bracelet on her right wrist and matching chocker, a blush pink smartwatch on her left wrist, a white and blush pink beanie with cat ears. A blush pink waist bag, and a blush pink backpack with a white cat charm.

"Heard what?"

"She's been suspended..."

"What!" He whooped his head to the front to make sure his whisper wasn't too loud. "What happened to her?"

The debater sat her bag up to cover her face, "the short story? Accused of breaking into Chloé's locker."

"Why would she do that?" The bluenette followed suit with his own bag, "as head strong as she is, she wouldn't do something like this."

"Apparently it's because she thought the brat was Lady Ruby."

"I'm sorry what!?" That moment he wasn't able to keep his voice down, but just as Mendeleiev turned to reprimand him, the screen at the front came to life. On the board was an auburn-haired girl dresses in black and white with a Wi-Fi symbol.

"I'm Lady Wi-Fi, revealer of the truth! For our first exposé, your principal would like to share a little tidbit with you." The video was obviously within the school principal office.

"Alya?" Marc gasped.

Alya spun a chair around to reveal the principle tied down to it. "So, Denis Damoclès, is it true you wrongly suspended a student named Alya today?"

The man had the decency to look ashamed, "uh... yes, it is."

"So, you were biased? Unfair? Totally unjust?!"

The teacher left the class in a hurry, most likely in order to check up on the principle.

He did not meet the akuma's eyes, "yes, I was."

"For my next scoop, I'll be taking you to meet the girl who's been hiding behind the Ladybug mask!" She swiped at her phone, creating a pink stop icon on the principle, freezing him in place. "Stay connected!" And the feed ended.

With the teacher gone the class started to chatter about, all of them recognised the girl from her blog. The morning rumours obviously lead to an easy conclusion as to how she got akumatized. The members of Bustier's class were shooting said source some glares.

"Didn't Chloe cause Juleka to get akumatized as well?"

"Talk about self-centred!"

"I bet she's not even sorry!"

The chatter continued on for several minutes longer before the teacher re-entered. "Everyone, due to the akumatization of a student, all class will be dismissed for the day. However, there will be homework emailed for you to do in its stead."

Nobody needed to be told twice as they packed up their things and left the school. Of course these are nepo baby teenagers, meaning they're gonna be spending their money in various places. Especially those that skipped lunch this morning. Cough, Marinette, cough.

__________________________________________________

{Le Grand Paris Hotel- 18:00}

The sun had started to set in the autumn weather, the orange light illuminating the five-star hotel of the mayor. Cat Knight stood outside on the roof of the building over, using his staff to look into the room of Chloé Bourgeois. He wasn't worried about seeing anything unsightly as the balcony door was open.

Said rich girl was dressed in a Lady Ruby cosplay, yoyo included wig not. The yoyo ending up wrapped around her body, casing her body to fall to the floor, face first.

"Seriously?" He couldn't help but say aloud.

"I know right?" The voice of his partner altered him of her arrival.

"I may not like you, but even I can tell how different you two are," the rumours had spread all around school like wildfire.

"Exactly! I mean we're both completely different races even!" She waved her arms around, understandably offended. "She thought I would use magic to change my appearance!"

"You mean you don't? You normally look that ugly?" He closed his staff.

"How funny, coming from a mangy street cat!" She huffed, "I look perfect just the way I am, I won't change perfection." A smug smirk came up, "but you seem rather willing to change your look."

Blondy was taken aback, "I have you know I take my identity being secret very seriously!" He crossed his arms, "and it's only my hair!"

"Yeah right!" the knight opened his fangs to argue back.

"Well, well... So, my hunch was correct in window." Whatever response he had was cut off by a familiar voice coming from hologram that appeared above the hotel.

"You're lucky this time!" He readded his staff.

"Everyone thinks the girl beneath the Ladybug costume is a little angel. Think again, people! The real Ladybug is..." it was Lady Wi-Fi from within Chloe's room, the room owner had a paise sign over her, freezing her in a rather unflattering facial expression.

"Only because I'm right," Ruby fluttered her wings.

She ripped the mask off the blonde imposter. "Chloé Bourgeois, everyone!" And right on que, the real superhero duo broke in through the open balcony door.

"Who are you?" As predicted, the akuma victim became confused at the result given to her, looking between the two red girls for a moment before it clicked. "But I thought Chloe was Lady Ruby!"

"Sorry not sorry." Ruby's yoyo caught the blogger's left wrist pulling on it rather hard, "but next time, double-check your facts!"

"I do check my sources!" The camera icon was removed, stopping anyone from watching the fight. "And I'll find out who both of you are! Not just Lady Ruby!" And she disappeared just as the knight aimed to strike her, leaving him to break Chloe's phone.

"She can teleport?" Cat yelled annoyed.

"Well, we just need to find her!" Ruby ran out from the room and started opening each of the hotel rooms.

The occupied ones were easily opened by the guest staying there, but once with no resident stayed closed. There was suspicious case of missing phones though. The search came to a halt when they entered the restaurant, each of the tables contained a phone in the centre.

"What's up with all these phones?" Ruby's heels clicked on the floor as she walked.

"This feels like an ambush," and how right the knight was when something formed in the corner of their eyes, giving then enough time to didge a pink light.

"How's that for an ambush?" Ruby flew up, her head hitting the ceiling, smashing the security camera in her wake of defence.

"Yeah, yeah! I jinxed it!" Cat Knight took another swing at her, but once again all he came in contact with was air.

She was using her right hand only; her left wrist being held close. "Ha! You can't get me!" This time it was clear there was a certain condition to her powers, phones.

"You sure about that?" The bug heroine's heels land on the floor again, and she uses her yoyo to smash each of the phones, one by one. "If your powers work with phones, then all we need to do is destroy the cell tower."

"Of course!" Getting the idea the cat ran out from the room, heading towards the roof.

"Don't you da- gah!" Lady Wi-Fi's right leg was caught by Lady Ruby's yoyo, throwing her into the wall, creating a massive dent.

The akuma coughed as she pushed herself off the floor, if she didn't have her super endurance, she's sure her ribs would have been broken. If only I had a camera up right now! If she were thinking rationally, she's also aware of the possibility of not remembering this incident. Lady Wi-Fi created a camera but only lasted a second before disappearing.

"W-what?" The picture on her phone screen showed the lack of signal.

"Lucky charm!" Alya's eyes shot up to see Lady Ruby with a red hammer in hand.

Stringing the akuma in place, right hand over her stomach, Lady Ruby struts over to the miserable being. "This is for thinking I was someone as hated as Chloé Bourgeois."

She smashed the phone while it was still in Alya's hand over her stomach. The throw from earlier already making the pain far more painful that it would have been earlier.

De transformation and miracle cures later and everything went back to normal. Alya had no recollection as to what had occurred in the last moments under Hawkmoth's control, and with no cameras or witnesses, nobody else would know of the vile exchange.

Hawkmoth stood in his layer, mulling over the decisive moments he had with Lady Wi-Fi under his control. That's not what I expected of a heroine of righteousness. It was a good thing nobody else knew he could hear and see what his akuma did too. Of course, I would never stoop so low as to use such uncivilised methods, I still care for my family.

__________________________________________________

{27/10/2040, Saturday,   Dupain-Cheng bakery, Marinette's bedroom - 10:00}

Marinette sat in her room placing the final additions on the bowler hat for the contest. She really wanted it done far in advanced, she already finished and given the hat Jagged commissioned, so she was able to give her entire attention to the task.

"Finished!" She raised the finished product in the air.

"Good thing too," the trap door opened to reveal Marc. "It's nearly time to visit Alya in the hospital."

"It is?" The ponytail checked her watch. "It is!" her eyes bugged out of their sockets as she scrambled to put all her equipment and hat away.

"At least tell me you have her present ready!" The writer sat at the desk, waiting for his cousin to finish.

"It's on the desk!" Indeed, next to the keyboard was a small box with a get well card next to it.

"Maybe you should check your giant calendar to make sure there's nothing else you've forgotten?" At the boy's suggestion, the girl pulled at a string on the roof, revealing a giant calendar for the entire month.

"Oh, next Wednesday evening mama's uncle is supposed to come to Paris for the contest in Friday evening!" hands thread through her blue strands, messing them up.

"You mean for the World's Greatest Chef contest?" Marc continued to speak as Marinette went to change behind her divider. "I thought that was Sunday! I have a dentist appointment on Friday!"

"Yep!" pants and shirt on, the female cousin stumbled out to pull her accessories on.

"No! Dang it!" He looked up at the sky curing his fate.

"What's wrong?" she grabbed her purse, giving it a quick gloss over to ensure everything was in accounted for

"I thought it was next week!" He ruffled his hair in frustration.

"Guess that means you can't come huh?" Marinette took an orange box from her desk, her gift for Alya.

"Guess you'll have to ask someone else if they wanna join." Marc was not happy.

"I'll shoot Lila a text to see if she's available for tomorrow," she took out her phone to do so now while she remembered.

__________________________________________________

{Hôtel Dieu Hospital, - 10:30}

"Welcome to my humble abode!" Alya would have definitely bowed if she wasn't feeling like she was going through her lunar cycle.

"I see you're much better," Nino joked as the teens walked into the room, placing their gifts on the bedside table.

"It'll take more than a few broken bones to stop me!" She snapped with her left hand. "But on a serious note, I thought I'd end up much worse. Most akuma's are able to avoid getting injured."

Marinette put a hand under her chin, "from what Juleka told me, her serious wounds, her fractured hand, was right when she was deakumatized."

"So, you only get seriously hurt if it's when you get deakumatized?" Adrien suggested.

"It's a possibility..." Alya trailed off. "Oh, I wish I had my phone so I could blog all this!"

"Don't worry, we can still record everything once you're out," the blonde reassured taking her phone out. "For now, I'll take not of it all."

"Thanks girl," the patient's mind then wandered off. "You know, I don't remember everything from when I was akumatized but remember some things."

"Really?" The Italian seemed rather worried by this, "what do you remember?"

"Nothing too horrible, but I do remember how adamant I was with Chloe being Lady Ruby," Nobody noticed just how relieved Lila looked at that. "You were right about her," Alya sighed with her head down, ashamed. "Lady Ruby is a true source of good. It was stupid of me to think otherwise about her. Sorry."

"Oh Alya!" The brunette placed a hand on her heart, "there's no need to apologise. I'm only glad you were able to see reason!"

The Martinique Creole-French girl turned to Nino. "And sorry for getting you caught up in everything too."

"It's no biggie," the DJ rubbed the back of his neck. "I just wish I could have helped more."

The auburn girl shook her head, "I drag you in. Besides if you had come along then we could have been accused of ganging up on a single person and gotten a worse punishment."

Marc decided to change to conversation from the frustrating blonde, "so when do you think you'll be discharged?"

"I should be allowed to leave tomorrow since the injuries aren't too serious, but I won't be returning to school till next term. I need the rest of next week to heal after all."

"Being stuck at home must be hell on earth!" Adrien exclaimed as though his friend was sentenced to prison.

"Dude, she just gonna be on home rest. She's not on house arrest," Nino chuckled.

"I know, I know! But..." Adrien tried to find the words, this was about Alya, not him. "I've just been home schooled for so long that being stuck in one place seems constrictive."

"It's alright Adrien!" Lila placed a hand on his arm, "Alya isn't alone, and neither are you, you have your friends."

Aurore turned to the blogger with a grin, "we'll stop by with copies of our class notes at the end of the week."

"Thanks girl! You and Marc are lifesavers!" The last thing she wanted when she returned was to be so behind, she needed extra tutoring.

"Yeah, you're gonna need it," the mischievous smirk on the male bluenette's face spelled trouble.

"Why...?" Something in the back of her head told her she knew why, but she just couldn't put her finger on it.

"Because Mademoiselle Mendeleiev gonna have you take the science quiz online." Boom!

"No!" One would think there was a werewolf with how she howled. "Not the science quiz!" She'd completely forgot about it with everything that had happened, and if she didn't complete it by the time school came back around, she'd have to stay back and do it then.

They could reassure their schoolmate that the quiz wasn't that bad... but they didn't feel like it.

Chapter Text

__________________________________________________

{01/11/2040, Thursday, Collège Françoise Dupont, Theatre - 11:30}

"Agent Smith, it's too dangerous! We must evacuate!"

The members of Caline Bustier's class were in the middle of performing a play during their drama class. Said play was written by Nino and Rose last year for a project and now their acting it out. Adrien was playing the male lead Officer Jones, and Mylene the overall protagonist and female lead, agent Smith.

"You're suggesting we run, Officer Jones? After it devoured my family, my friends, even my beloved dog, Sniffles? Never!" The two were crouched on stage behind a desk with holding a water gun each. "I won't run! I no longer fear it, I'm going to face it, then I'll- Waaaaah!"

"Cut!" The exasperated lead director rubbed his temple in exhaustion. He had a camera he had brought from home out in order to film everything.

Ivan, who was playing a monster, took his mask off. "Sorry Mylène," he seemed guilty for something that obviously wasn't his fault.

"Mylène! That's like, the tenth take, and we're only on the first scene!" Rose, the co-director, pat Nino on the back to help him calm down.

"Fourteenth actually," Alix held up Rose's other hand that held the black and white board. "But who's counting?"

Nino just groaned in annoyance, he may be a DJ, but Nino's real goal was to be a movie director. The class had just started to rehearse last week as the previous classes were used to vote and assign roles or were disturbed by an akuma.

"I'm... sorry," the rainbow haired teen looked down apologetically. "I'm gonna do better on the next take, I promise."

"How about we all take a break for now?" The drama and teacher Mylene's father, Monsieur Fred Haprèle, suggested. "Anyone want some tea? We have plenty to choose from"

He passed around a paper with a tally of different flavour teas on it. The maths teacher, Madam Vera Morozov, was a fan of flavoured tea and with the chilly weather, had been able to convince to head to provide some for the school, it helped that a certain heiress loved them too.

"You're playing a hero from the special forces." Nino couldn't keep his frustration down. "You're not supposed to get all freaked out!"

"Monsieur Lahiffe!" Oh no, now he's done it. "You should not be speaking like that to your fellow classmate! Just like you wish to be a director, Mylene wishes to be an actress! I chose the roles based on your future goals to gain experience."

Truth be told, if he didn't do it this way, he would have chosen Rose to be the director and Nino co-director, after all, Rose already was the lead singer of a band name kitty... something? Whatever! Point was that Rose was far more patient that Nino was. But as Nino wanted to pursue filming, as informed by Madam Bustier, he decided to make him the director.

"Sorry Monsieur Haprèle," he hung his head low in shame.

"Good, but I'm not the one you should be apologising to? Am I?" His eyes pointed towards the lead actress.

"I'm sorry Mylene," he turned to her.

"I- it's fine! And I'm sorry too, about delaying the progress." She continued before he could be interrupted. "It's just that... the monster mask Ivan's wearing is so... so realistic and scary!"

"Just big ol' me, Mylène. Nothing to be scared of!" Ivan put his fingers through the eye holes of his pink mask.

"Mylene, you have nothing to apologise for," her father then took the paper after everyone placed their choice. "I'm going to go get some tea for everyone, behave till I get back!" He shot a single warning glare at everyone before exiting the theatre.

"You ask me, he doesn't even need a mask!" Unfortunately, peace was not long lived as the laugh of the two terrors sounded through the hall.

"What a bratty snob!" Marinette muttered under her breath. She Nathanial and Alix were in charge of the backgrounds and backdrops, along with repairing any salvageable costumes. The school may be for the rich, but they still have a budget.

Rose walked over to Mylene, "is there anything that'll make you feel better?"

"My happy song, it always makes me feel better..." taking a deep breath in, a soft song left the actress' mount "Smelly wolf, smelly wolf, stinky breath and slimy-- Ahh!" And she's scared again when she bumped into Adrien.

"And the Oscar for best pathetic scaredy-cat afraid of its own shadow goes to... Mylène!" Chloe laughed at the scared girl.

Shooting his childhood friend a glare, Adrein put an arm around Mylene's shoulders. "Chloé, seriously?"

"Yeah, so what?" the condescending tone in her voice must have done it as Mylene ran out of the theatre, tears trailing down her cheeks.

"Mylene, wait!" Ivan ran after his girlfriend, not wanting to leave her in her sorrow.

Mylene was curled up on a bench outside the locker room when Ivan found her. "Um... don't listen to those bozos," she looked up at him. "Easy to judge when they're not in front of the camera. You're doing awesome. Come back! I promise I'll roar more quietly."

Mylene's mouth stayed shut.

Wondering what to do now, the big boy pulled out a black pin with a pair of bones in an X. "Here. It's from my favourite band, the Zombie Skull Crushers."

"Wow..." touched by Ivan's kindness, she placed the pin in her beanie. "Uh, that's, uh... really sweet of you, Ivan. But... they're right. I can't act to save my life... Excuse me!" The tears came again, stronger, and this time she headed into the bathroom, preventing Ivan from following her.

__________________________________________________

{Collège Françoise Dupont, theatre - Meanwhile}

"Epic, Chloé! Just epic! What are we supposed to do now without our leading actress?" Nino had forgone all self-preservation instincts and was ready to throw hand with the queen bee.

"Who needs her, anyway? She was totally lame!" Chloe got right up in Nino's face; a thick tension brewed in the air as neither would back down.

"You're lame!" Thank you, Ivan, but make sure to slam the door in Chloe's face next time. "Mylène's crying her eyes out on the bathroom thanks to you!"

"Me, lame?" Whether she actually said that or was making fun of Mylene's name nobody will ever know.

"Hey, hey! Everyone chill out!" Adrien was going to break the fight before it began. "Fighting isn't gonna bring Mylène back!"

"How about we wait till she comes back?" Lila suggested, just like Ivan, she was one of the side characters. "For now, how about we have someone take Mylene's part?"

"I'll do it of course!" Everyone wide eyed at the blonde girl's suggestions.

"Chloe, you haven't even read the script!" Adrien breathed exasperated.

"Of course I have! The first scene anyway." She then clung onto Adrien's arm. "I can even tell you that it ends with a kiss between Agent Smith and Officer Jones!"

The image of the two blondes kissing was an image nobody wanted in their minds, but the curse was unavoidable.

"You wrote that?!" Kim exclaimed; he was also a background actor.

"Hold up!" Nino went through the script with Rose and that kiss scene was indeed there.

"But that was part of the old version!" Rose stated confused. "It seemed rather forced so we changed it to the end of the final act!"

"Don't tell me we submitted the wrong one!" The Moroccan boy dragged his hand down his face. "How did we get the best grade?"

"Oh, who cares when you already passed?" The blonde girl flipped her hair, "we've got to film this thing, right?"

Max looked down at his phone and sighed, "she's right, performing this play contributes to our overall grade." He was in charge of planning and ensuring everyone was on schedule.

He had a green short sleeved polo with black on the edges over a darker green long-sleeved shirt, a brown belt bag, a pair of mustard pants, white socks, and a pair of black oxfords. A yellow smartwatch on his right wrist, and a pair of black frame glasses.

Everyone sighed at this, with the akuma attacks they really couldn't afford any drawbacks. They all went back to resume their positions.

Marinette stood up, "I'll go check on Mylene, I won't force her back, but I don't want her dream to suffer."

"I'll go with you." Juleka jogged up to the bluenette and they both left, but not before they heard a condescending voice.

"Trying to save the day, aren't you? Good luck finding the filthy hole that scaredy-cat's hiding in!"

"Horrificator, take 15", Rose claimed.

While they were gone the scene was redone from the top.

"And action!" Nino followed.

And now for the kiss...

"I'm not scared of that Horrificator thingy," nice acting Chloe. "Officer Whatever-your-name-is, now kiss me!"

"CUT!!!" The yell came from the entrance the two darks returned from.

"Marinette, Juleka, what gives?" Lead director Nino's stress resurfaced "We're in the middle of a shoot, and I'm the director, FYI. I say cut, no one else. Comprende?"

"Mylène's supposed to be the star of this movie," Marinette pointed out.

Juleka then informed, "Mylene even said she'll rejoin the class after a few minutes alone, she's still upset but knows we're all counting on her."

"Plus, do we even need to do the kiss?" Kamar asked. "You and Rose both said that agent Smith was not supposed to be now! Sniffles just got munched on, remember?"

Rose responded before Nino could, "this is the script that was submitted to Monsieur Haprèle so I'm afraid that we gave to follow it."

Max then turned his laptop to show a calendar, "we still need to at least get the first act done by the end of the day. With our progress, we're gonna need all the lessons we can get."

"Then let's just make Agent Smith a nurse instead!" Where did Chloe get this idea from? "That'll fix everything."

"Um, I'm sorry. How, exactly?" Kim, helping with sound effects, asked confused.

"I don't know, but I'm sure I'd look amazing in a uniform," the image in my head begs to differ, now I need to go find a bathroom to vomit in.

"Oh, come on! We're not gonna rewrite this script again!" Nino yelled.

"We shouldn't even have to!" Rose's high-pitched voice called, "we already put a lot of work into it!"

"Nobody cares about you two or your lousy grade!" Sabrina pitched in.

"What?!" Both directors were outraged now.

"Everybody calm down!" Lila's order had taken everyone aback, she was normally rather polite, never raising her voice. "This movie's a team effort!" She turned to Chloe. "Your nurse idea's perfect, Chloé!"

There's no way she'll- "Of course it's a perfect idea. Because it's mine!" She actually believed her!?

The Chinese French couldn't help but blurt out, "But, we don't have a nurse uniform." Erupting a dramatic gasp from her bully.

"I think you and your assistant should go down to the nurse's office and try out some uniforms." If the smile on Lila's face contained a hint of mischief, nobody noticed.

"Hmm..." Chloe thought for a second before pointing at some of the class members. "Kim, Max, come with me! You've just been promoted to wardrobe and bodyguard." I can understand Kim, but why Max? Is it just because he's Kim's bff?

The moment they left the room Nino went on another frustrated tirade. "Nice going, Mademoiselle side character! Now we have no lead again!"

"Yeah, but now we've just gotten rid of Chloé!" The Italian beamed. "And she's not the only one who's read through the script, I have to!"

"Really?" Her best friend asked.

"Of course, Mylene isn't the only one who wishes to be an actress," she held up the script. "I'm playing different minor roles, so I took the liberty of looking through the entire play to see what to expect."

"So, you know what you're supposed to do?" Nino placed his hands on his hips.

"Absolutely! Mylene was always so shy with her father being the one who chose her as the lead," she smiles. "I thought it'd be best to learn her parts, so she has someone to rely one. She couldn't just refuse the main role chosen by her own father!"

"Alright people! Get into position!" Following their irritated leader's orders they all got ready.

Kamar, in charge of sound effects, went ahead and gave Lila Mylene's discarded water gun. "You know this is only temporary right? As soon as Mylène comes back, she'll have her old role back."

"Oh, I know that" she waved the Arabian off, "I wouldn't dream of taking away something from another, especially when they deserve it."

Kamar walked off feeling uneasy, while Marinette came to Lila's side. "You get to kiss Adrien, totally unbelievable..."

That raised a giggle from the brunette's throat, "jealous?"

"Kind of?" The confusion over Lila's face called for an elaboration. "I guess I just don't see kissing in plays and stuff as real, like actors in movie." She swears there was a frown on Lila's mouth, maybe she was imagining it?

"Ready to roll?" Nino round up the actors on stage with his camera ready.

"Hey Marinette!" Laurent came over with a brown blazer with a rip at the edge of the right sleave, "the sleaves need to be mended."

The bluenette took it from him and took out the sewing kit provided, Laurent sitting right next to her. A magnifying glass poking out of his pocket.

"Horrificator, take 16!" Rose held up the cinema thing I still don't know the name of. "Action!"

"I'm not scared of that monster, officer Jones!" Lila's acting was indeed incredible, there was a bit too much movement, but she was confident, nonetheless as she reached her arms around Adrien's shoulders. Their lips were getting closer, and their eyes closed...

"CUT!!!" And golden Godzilla makes a return. "I knew it!" Her little damsel at her side.

"What did I say about other people saying cut?!" The energy seemed to leave Nino as he just sat down on the wooden floor defeated.

"Well played, Rossi! All that speech about working together, then you stab me right in the back!" The more she spat the closer she stomped up to the cowering brunette.

Adrien put himself between them. "Now hold on just a-!" a scream rang through everyone's ears. "Did you guys hear that?"

Another scream range through, "I definitely heard that. We better scope this out!" Marinette placed the items away and ran out.

"If this is another one of your silly ploys to get me out of the way, you can forget it! Besides, I- hey!" Having her eyes closed the entire time, the blonde heiress didn't realise that everyone else had already left, so she had to follow after them.

__________________________________________________

{Collège Françoise Dupont, Hallway}

For some reason, Nino still had his camera out, filming everything. If I had to guess, he was going to send this to Alya and Aurora. I mean what else would he do with it? Upload it on YouTube like this was a scripted film?

"Hey! Anybody here? Kim! Max! Where are you guys!" Adrien's distressed voice was crystal clear on recording.

The lens panned over the different members of the class looking around for any clues, calling for their friends, before stopping over the blue ponytail of Marinette. At her feet were a pair of glasses and a white wool armband, surrounded by pink goo.

"Guys!" She picked up the items from the floor, "I think there's an akuma attack!"

Adrien gasped at what the blue-eyed girl held, "that's Kim's and Max's!"

On que, everyone starts panicking.

"They vanished!" Nathaniel held onto Alix's arm.

"Or they're playing a sick joke on us?" Chloe, shut up.

"I don't think so, I found them over here." She pointed over at the slime.

Sabrina took out a pen and began poking the goo. "It's rock hard."

Alix shrugged her vacant shoulder, "I guess with akuma attacks, this type of situation is plausible."

"We should go to principal Damocles' office and tell him what's going on!" The bluenette grew irritated by the camera wielding boy "Nino, come on! Stop filming!"

"Not a chance! This is just getting good!" He zoomed in on the top of the entrance of the school and roof. "Also, I don't think we have any chance of escape."

Indeed, both the school doors and open ceiling were covered in goo, the lack of dripping proving it had already solidified.

"This just means we have no time to waste!" Marinette was already running in the direction of the office. With everyone else following after her, nobody noticed a certain student slip away.

__________________________________________________

{Collège Françoise Dupont, Headmaster's office}

"Mr. Damocles? Sir?" Ivan called out as the door opened, only to be greeted by an empty office. Pink goo on the outside of the windows.

"Even Principal Damocles is nowhere to be found!" Rose wept into her girlfriend's arms as they entered the room.

"Anyone seen Agent Smith?" Smith? Who dat Nino? "I mean, Lila. And what about Laurent?" Ah.

Looking around the room, neither the familiar brunette nor black haired boy were present. Running out the room, Marinette practically flew down the stairs, tripping on the last step leaving a bump. There, in the same place she had found the armband and glasses, was a ladybird pen.

Marinette held it up, "this is Lila's ladybird pen!" she climbed back up the class and showed it to them all.

"Quick, check the windows!" Now Chloe was taking this seriously, as she gave out an order that everyone agreed with.

"Crazy!" Except Juleka.

Alix tried to open one window while the duo of terror tried the other. "We're trapped! I'm going to call Daddy!" Chloe and several other took out their phone to call their family.

Nino was not one of them, "dudes, you know phones never work in horror movies."

"No bars," Ivan gasped.

"No coverage!" Nathaniel exclaimed.

"Told you so! Boo-yah!" Marinette, Adrein, Sabrina, and Kamar, all shot him a glare. Not the time!

"Is everything okay?" The voice of a familiar woman in red broke the panic, as outside the office, was Lady Ruby.

"Ladybug in my movie? This is legit!" Nino ran up to the woman who blew a kiss at the camera.

"Looks like I'm not the only one in the area, huh?" The male voice of a feline knight alerted to the presence of Cat Knight, who struts right next to Lady Ruby.

"Double legit!" Nino panned the camera over to the man who winked at the camera.

"How did you both get into the school?" Adrien was the one to ask the important question.

"I used my cataclysm of course, unfortunately I'll the entrance seemed to be clogged again." True to his word it indeed was, the model nodded as a sign he understood.

"Shall we take a stroll, my lady?" Cat Knight led Lady Ruby away from the group and to the library doors.

"We both know there's no way you couldn't have gotten in, meaning you were already in here to begin with!" He pointed an accusatory finger at her, "so either you're a student or an old lady teacher."

"Excuse me! I am a teenager!" It was her turn to poke him in the chest. "And what about you? I was in the hall the entire time, and I know for a fact you never used your cataclysm to enter!"

"Guess that means we both attend the same school," neither of the heroes were pleased by this information.

"Don't mind me, finding the missing peeps and solving this crazy mystery with Cat Knight and Lady Ruby!" The voice of Nino gaining closer to them alerted them to play friendly. "This movie's gonna be so swank!"

"Stay together, right behind us!" Ruby flapped her wings as she glided over the air.

"We'll keep you guys safe!" Cat Knight reassured. "Now where did these kidnapping incidents start?"

__________________________________________________

{Collège Françoise Dupont, Theatre}

"There!" Ruby pointed towards a magnifying glass on the floor of the stage.

"That's one of the props Laurent had!" Marinette exclaimed.

"That's weird! There's no pink slime here." Adrien wondered as he came forward.

"Yes, there is." Nathaniel bent down at the left curtains where some runny goo lay, granted, a much smaller amount.

The fact that the goo hadn't solidified should have set off alarm bells, but regrettably, it did not. At least not until an enormous monster came out from behind the stage. It faded from pink to purple with three yellow eyes and blue tips in it's...hair? It grabbed both Nathanial and Adrien with its tail, holding them both in the air.

"Everybody run!"

Screams echoed through the room as every free student, par one, fled the room at the heroin's words. The one who didn't flee? Juleka. She just stood there as the akuma roared in her face.

"So awesome," she mumbles under her breath. Her eyebrow rose when the monster decreased slightly in size.

Sensing a threat from the black hair girl, they decided to spit at her, a familiar goo coming out instead of spit. It would have hit the goth girl had Lady Ruby not pulled her out of the room. But not before said teen noticed something interesting in the monster's hair.

"Eww!" The voice of disgust caught the monster's attention to an equal look of disgust from the knight. "What's your name, Drool-lator?"

Tired of being teased, and incapable of throwing their own insults at the boy, the creature spat out slime at the annoyingly agile hero. Well, he is a cat. He stood before the class doors before facing the horrifying thing. "Cats aren't afraid of clammy toads like you!" And locked the door, uniting with the class.

"Thanks for leaving me back there!" He couldn't be bothered to play nice after being left alone with an akuma like that.

"I was getting the class to safety," f0or once that wasn't a lie, refer to exhibit Juleka. "Anyway, we better hurry up and find out where that akuma's hiding!"

"Actually..." eyes and camera turned to the goth, "I think I know where it is, and what gives it power."

"Where? What?" Kamar fearfully demanded.

"When I didn't run away, the akuma shrunk a little, and when everyone screamed, it grew." The goth turned her hair to the banging doors, "I think fear gives it energy."

"And the akuma?" Rose hung onto her girlfriend in concern.

"There's a black pin in its... head? Hair?" She shook her head, "point is, that pin seemed like the only thing the akuma had on hand!"

"What did the pin look like?" Alix questioned.

"Black with a white X, I think? I didn't get a good look," Juleka recalled.

"An X?" Ivan's voice popped up like the answer to a puzzle.

"Yeah, why?" The goth asked.

"I gave Mylene a pin like that, it has bones in an X shape, like in a pirate flag!" Ivan voice rose, "that means the akuma's Mylene!"

"Probably thanks to Chloe," Marinette rolled her eyes before finally taking a look around. "Where is Chloe anyway? Or Sabrina for the matter?"

"Heeelp! Help!" They had no time to dwell on them for long, not that they would, with Nathaniel's screams of pain coursing through their ears. The theatre door thudding open, releasing the Horificator monster.

"Is now a good time to ask where the rest of the school is!?" Nino, I was just wondering the same thing.

The student scatter in an attempt to avoid the slime beast, Rose making sure Juleka was tightly in her grasp. Ivan and Alix ended up tripping when they collided in the panic, giving the horror time to reach. But as her three big eyes zeroed in on Ivan, there was a hint of gentleness within them. Her blue tongue gave the duel haired boy a lick, swiped up Alix, and left. The akuma may have been his girlfriend, but Ivan still held a look of disgust from the slime trail.

Leaving the others alone, Horificator turned her attention to the two heroes, both of who's faces looked close to sickness. Ignoring the offense, the akuma puffs her chest out, preparing for something. Opening her mouth, a geyser of slime rushed out at them. In the midst of dodging, the members of Bustier's class hid in the suspiciously empty science room, just in time for the fresh slime to spread across the outside walls.

Once the clime blast subsided, the creature's eyes started to droop, their attack having taken a lot out of them. Casting a glance at the heroic duo, refusing to touch the circle of slime from below the stairs, she ran down to the cellar. What school has a cellar that isn't locked? Unless it doubles as an akuma shelter.

It took some time, but the duo finally got out of their predicament.

"This is the grossest akuma I have ever delt with!" Cat Knight complained, throwing his fist in the air.

"Ugh!" Lady Ruby stomped her heal on the floor. "Considering the favouritism this scaredy cat gets, you'd think her akuma would have better manners!"

The door to the science room opens, the slime still has yet to set and was still runny. The heroes whipped their heads to see the survivors of the class they had been accompanying the entire time. Specifically, the Moroccan camera boy.

"Did you guys hear anything?" Ruby shoots her partner a glare.

"No," Rose's words brought sighs of relief. "The slime was too thick to listen through. Why?"

"We were having a private discussion," Ruby explained. "It'd be bad if anyone outside found out anything personal."

"I see," Rose understood. "But look at what we found!"

Adrien came forwards with two items, one was a headband, and the others was a fancy hair comb. "Chloe and Sabrina probably hid here, only to be taken by the akuma."

"Probably thought they were safer on their own than with the heroes," Kamar remarked.

"Well on the bright side, we know where the akuma is!" The blonde hero leads them towards the cellar door.

"I'm so amped!" Nino exclaimed with his camera up.

"Turn your amp down to about 4, will ya?" Adrien made a lowering gesture.

"My bad..." he rubbed his neck sheepishly before they descended.

For such a messy akuma, the stairs and hallway were surprisingly clean. Which brought a bit of a surprise when they stumbled upon a bunch of pink slime eggs.

"Anybody in here?" Ruby called.

A reply came from one of the pods further away, "Lady Ruby, it's me, Chloé Bourgeois!"

Cat Knight spoke before the bug could, "don't worry! We'll get you out of there!"

"Well, hurry it up already!" Rude, maybe they should save you last! An irritated look formed on Marinette's face.

"Is everyone here? Mr. Damocles? Alix? Nathaniel?" One by one a reply was met as the class called the names of those they knew.

"Just try and calm down," the red hero commanded. "we'll find a way to get you out of there!"

"Gah!" The feline hero nearly dodged the ball of slime aimed at him, yellow eyes boring down at him "Are you kidding me!?"

To make matters worse, the area was now closed off with more slime! On the bright side, at least for Lady Ruby, Horificator seems far too occupied with Cat Knight to bother with her.

"Lucky charm!" And from the magical ladybirds fell guitar strings! "What am I supposed to do with this?"

The item had the rest of the class thinking about what type of strange solution they could use. The bluenette tapped her chin with her finger. Guitar, music... "Mylène's song!"

"That's it. Enough is enough. Cataclysm!"

The sudden burst caught them off guard, the idea, confused, but the golden boy caught on. "Mylene sings to calm her nerves!" He turns to Ivan, "you know the song best, right?"

"Of course I do! But are you sure?" Ivan was understandably sceptical at the plan.

The poles above Horificator stabbed the floor around her, trapping her in a metal cage.

The bluenette and blonde passed object they found around to be used as makeshift instruments. "What other ideas do we have?"

Nothing did come to mind. Stealing his resolve, the duel haired boy helped set up some of the items as an unstable drum set. "Okay, we're all going to sing!"

"Oh, I can't!" Lady Ruby waved her arms, "I don't know the song, so I'd mess it up!"

"Singing? So that's your plan?" The Cat hero teased.

"We're gonna sing Mylene's special song!" Ivan declared.

Cat flinched at the beefy boy, "well don't let me hold you back."

Taking in a deep breath, Ivan readied his drumsticks. "Okay everyone! 1, 2, 3, 4! Smelly wolf, smelly wolf, trapped in the stinky hut..." he started and a moment after his friends joined.

"Smelly wolf, smelly wolf, I'm gonna kick your..."
"Smelly wolf, smelly wolf, stinky breath and slimy drool,"
"Smelly wolf, smelly wolf, you are just silly!"

As the group continued to sing their confidence rose, leading to a lack of fear. The messy yet comforting music echoed through the room and into the akuma's hearing. The longer it went on, the smaller it became, bravery replacing the fear that gave her strength.

Once she was around the size of an average teddy bear, she escaped her metal enclosure, seeking solace as she jumps within the arms of her love. The black pin in clear view for all to see. Breaking it and casting the miracles, Mylene returned to them and the rest of the school free.

Nino's camera zoomed in on the two love birds as the boy placed a small peck on the girl's forehead.

__________________________________________________

{Hôtel Dieu Hospital - 16:30}

Mylene sat in her hospital bed, tired. Compared to most akuma take downs, hers was less violent. Ivan was telling her about how Marinette deduced how her song was the solution, and how she and Adrien assembled a bunch of things to play it for her.

"It's kind of embarrassing, knowing everyone heard my song...," the rainbow hair girl blushed.

"Well don't worry, the was too thick for anyone to hear through," her boyfriend reassured.

"What even happened while I was gone?" Fred' mind started to wonder, "Don't tell me Nino got mad at you again. If so, I'm placing him to co-director and Rose as head!"

"Oh no! It wasn't him dad!" Mylene hurried to defend her classmate.

The worried father took a few deep breaths to calm down, "then why did you get akumatized?"

Mylene looked away with her mouth shut, "it was Chloe," so Ivan answered for her.

"I- Ivan!" But her protest was ignored as Ivan reiterated the events that led up to the akumatization.

"I see...," the actor let out a deep sigh at this, there was no way to punish the one responsible for his daughter's suffering. "I understand why you don't want to tell me this, but it's hurting you Mylene, so please, tell me pf these things next time."

"Okay dad," the girl smiled, glad her dad wasn't upset with her.

"On that note, I'll need to re-print the script again," that surprised the teen couple. "Rose and Nino had submitted two versions of their play, the old one and the final one. The one you were using was the old one. I guess I didn't notice with how busy I've been practicing for my miming gig."

"So, there won't be a kiss until the end?" Mylene hopped.

"If you wish, we can erase the kiss all together," he smiled. "Yes, in the real world, you can't alter the scripts you play. But seeing as this is a class and not a money-making film, I'd say we can get rid of it. I'll announce as such in the next drama class."

Chapter Text

__________________________________________________

{02/11/2040, Friday, Dupain-Cheng House, Livingroom- 17:30}

Marinette smiled nervously as she sat on the small chair, her mother and great uncle sat on the sofa. Her great uncle, Wang Cheng, was to compete in a cooking contest taking place at Le grand Paris hotel. The half Chinese girl had never met him in person before today, but her mother does speak highly of him, specifically his famed soup.

She also found out he knew a bit of French when they picked him up yesterday evening, but it's rather broken.

Right now, they were awaiting Lila's arrival. She had gone home to change to something more presentable after school. She was told not to wear something too fancy, more casual get together type of outfit. They offered to pick her up from her place, but Lila told her she'd rather come to them.

Sabine wore a full-length white apron dress with plum blossom flowers scattered across with pink lining, a pink jumper and a pair of pink wedges. A plum blossom hairpin with a tassel sat in her hair, a pair of matching earrings, and a pink watch on her left wrist.

Marinette herself wore a black long sleeve shirt, an azure, low-thigh shirt dress with a white collar, and on the edges and white buttons, and a black shirt underneath. A black belt strapped around her waist, a pair of black tights, and a pair of white booties with black laces and edges. Her hair was down with her watch on her wrist and her purse around her body.

A knock on the door alerted to the arrival of her companion. Shooting up from the seat, the bluenette hurriedly opened the door to reveal a rather dressed up brunette.

Lila wore a ruby red cable wool dress that ended at her mid-thigh, a pair of black low thigh boots, a black belt cinching her waist. Her normal earrings were replaced by a pair of gold framed ruby hearts, a matching necklace, clip in her hair, and a bracelet with her watch. A heart shaped purse in across her body and her lips a bright red.

"Hi Lila!"

"Hi Mari!" She greeted before looking into the living room. "Hello Madam Cheng, Monsieur Cheng."

"Hello Lila," Sabine greeted in French, while Wang Cheng bowed his head, arms up in front. "Now that we're all here, let's all go to the hotel."

They went outside and jumped into the bakery car, Tom Dupain, Marinette's father, was left running the bakery for them.

__________________________________________________

{Le Grand Paris Hotel, Lobby- 18:00}

"Since our World's Greatest Chef contest kicked off, the best culinary masters from around the globe have been blowing our minds with their gastronomic creations." Alec, the most annoying man alive, was the host for today's contest and currently filming the greeting of Andre with Wang Cheng.

"Cheng Shifu, I am delighted and honoured to have you here on our final show," he led the chef and his entourage inside. "Where you will have the chance to defeat all of the chefs who have competed thus far."

"Only one will be awarded the title of World's Greatest Chef. The winner's dish will become the new Mayor's Special on the Grand Paris Restaurant menu!" Sabine and Wang Cheng stood before the camera. "Tell us Cheng Shifu, what dish will you be honouring our panel with today?"

Sabine whispered the translation into her uncle's ear who then replied in broken French, "My dish, Celestial soup."

"Wow! We've heard so much about your legendary Celestial Soup, but today we'll actually get to taste it!" He put his filthy hand on chef Cheng's shoulder as the broadcasting ended.

"Would you like me to come with you uncle?" Sabine asked.

"No, thank you Sabine, cooking needs no words" He declined before following head chef Marlena Césaire to the kitchen.

"Marinette, Lila!" The familiar voice of two fencers greeted them.

"Adrein? Laurent? I didn't know you'd be here!" Marinette gasped in surprise, making sure she was presentable.

"I asked Laurent of he wanted to join me. I'm one of the celebrity judges for the contest, along with Chloe...," he sighed. He did ask Nino, but he had to babysit his younger brother.

Adrien wore a white polo, a black blazer with green feather embroidery, a pair of black slacks, and a pair of black oxfords. A brown leather chocker, a matching belt bag, a pair of emerald earrings, and a matching ring.

Laurent wore a pair of dark grey jeans, a white button up, a grey denim jacket with lime vine embroidery and a pair of light grey combat boots. A pair of black fingerless gloves, a black choker with a leaf and earrings. His black hair was restyled, looking similar to Adrien but more left side swept, out of his golden eyes.

"Well, I do hope you can spend some time with us while we wait for the food," Lila flashed a bright smile.

"Of course, and it'd be awesome to be able to practice my Chinese, especially with a Shifu," Adrien leaned against the stair railing.

The smile on the brunette's face remained, albeit confused, "Shifu?"

"That means Master in Chinese," the blue-eyed mother explained. "I'm gonna head to the bathroom children, I'll be back in a bit. It's nice to meet you Adrien" And she walked off with a slight wave.

Marinette decided it was time to make a move on her crush, "I heard you had an extended photoshoot at the Seine yesterday evening."

"Yeah, I did, how do you know about that?" He had only texted Nino about it during a break to rant.

"I was... in the area! Yeah!" Lame excuse, you can't tell him that you were admiring him from afar! He'll ask why, I'll then have to explain I was following Lila's advice! Then he'll ask why, figure out I have a crush on him and my happy ending of three kids and a hamster with Adrien will be over!

"Really, that was early evening but were you alright on your own?" The Asian breathed a silent sigh of relief at the change in perspective.

"I'm sure Mari was alright Adrien!" Lila answered for her, "she wouldn't want you to worry about her like that so much, she's a sting girl after all." Lila smiled at Marinette for a second before turning to Adrien at the end.

"Well look who it is! My favourite person, Marinette Dupain-Cheng." The sarcastic voice of the rich parasite startled both girls and boys. "I mean, seriously? Does your great-uncle really expect to win the contest with a SOUP!? It's not even a main dish! Please! Doesn't he know how to make sushi like everyone else?"

Wow, racist much? The blue haired girl's eyebrows furrowed.

Chloe was wearing a peasant dress, no that is actually what the dress is called, ironic considering she's rich but they are the new trend. Anyway, she wore a bumblebee yellow mid-thigh dress with a white tulle layer over the skirt, a black corset belt, and a pair of black heels. She had a pair of silver feather earrings, a feather hair comb, a black choker, and a gold onyx bracelet with her watch.

"Japanese people make sushi Chloé," Adrein tried to keep the irritation out of his voice.

"Cheng Shifu is Chinese!" Laurent emphasised the race.

"Besides, he's not like everyone else," the blue girl stated proudly. "My Great Uncle is the best chef in the world. His soup is legendary!"

The Italina covered her mouth, "with the number of visitors this hotel gets, you'd think you'd have some idea about different customs."

"Well, I despise soup!" Chloe stated a matter of fact. "And since I'm on the jury. Your uncle will not be getting my vote, for sure."

"Oh yeah? Well, he doesn't need your vote to win!" Marinette didn't know where this confidence came from, but oh lord was she ready to throw hands with this blonde bozo. "There are other judges with much better taste than yours."

"Ugh!" Chloe was annoyed by the fire her victim was usually without. Guess insulting her family's a sore spot for her.

"Huh, silly me, you don't have any taste!" Yas queen! Slay! "I mean, look at what you're wearing."

"Ew! Don't talk about me like that." The blonde heiress stomped away, but not before iterating a final threat. "You've made a big mistake!"

"Wow, you really stood up for Cheng Shifu," Adrien patted the bluenette on the back. "He would've appreciated that."

Lila was opened her mouth to say something when another voice cut her off, "I'm sure he would be."

Turning to their attention, Sabine was walking out from the toilet door.

"Mama! You heard all of that?" the daughter looked mortified.

"There's no need to look so upset dear, you defended your family, someone you haven't even met before today," the bob hair woman pats her daughter's head. "I'm very proud of you my little bao bun."

"Mama!" The teen's friends giggled at the nickname while the receiver groaned.

"How adorable Mari!" Lila teased, "Though, I didn't know your great uncle was famous this famous or had a legendary soup."

"Did I forget to tell you?" The blue haired teen blinked, "well, his celestial soup is a famous soup he created back in China! It's pretty popular there. And since entering this competition, he vowed to only make it during if he got to the final."

The model could feel the drool building up, "and if he does pass, the soup will be part of the hotel menu!"

The black-haired boy shot the blue teen a teasing wink, "guess you'd make an amazing wife one day."

The receiver turned red at that comment, sending a glance in the direction of the model.

"Wow, your family's incredible!" Lila gave a wide closed eye smile, "I hope I can taste some of the soup too!"

"Yeah, but he doesn't seem to like me to much", the mother frowned at her daughter's words. "He tore up the flowers I gave him yesterday."

"Oh Marinette!" The mother gave her daughter a big hug. "Uncle isn't just a chef, he's an artist! He told me he was going to add flowers in his Celestial Soup. He said he improvises on faithful things that come his way. The flowers he mentioned were the ones you gave him!"

"So... you think he actually likes me?"

"Of course, dear!"

"No offence," Laurent quipped, "but is it safe to put flowers in a soup, and shouldn't recipe already be complete?"

"None taken, not everyone's a cook" Sabine smiled letting go of Marinette. "There are edible flowers, just like the one Marinette got. My uncle will just be cleaning them like how some vegetables are. As for the recipe, as famous as it is, uncle always felt like something was missing."

__________________________________________________

{Le Grand Paris Hotel, kitchen}

Cheng Shifu was dramatic, as all artists are when culminating their creations. Each part of the soup had to be perfect for the final contest. He had just placed them all in their own individual bowl when a girl came through the door. She was dressed in yellow and looked to be the same age as his great niece. Maybe she's Marinette's friends?

"Mr. Cheng, Marinette's looking for you outside." Lowing the heat of hi soup to keep it warm, the chef left the kitchen to see what Marinette needed. However, looking around the restaurant, he found neither of the familiar blue haired girls.

He returned to the kitchen to see the blonde hair girl looking over his soup. "Marinette wasn't there-"

"No speak Japanese. See ya," well that was odd. Maybe she wanted sneak peek at celestial soup?

__________________________________________________

{Le Grand Paris Hotel, Restaurant}

"As usual, our panel of gourmets is made up of Monsieur André Bourgeois, the mayor of Paris and owner of this luxury hotel," said man gave a polite wave.

"His daughter Chloé and teen model Adrien Agreste, representing the younger generation!" One smiled at the camera while the other did a dramatic wave.

"Hot rockstar Jagged Stone and his killer crocodile Fang!" The human waved and the croc... smiled?

"And the professional opinions from head chef of this very hotel, Marlena Césaire! Harsh food critic, Monsieur Gordan Ramsey! And culinary university professor, Monsieur Daniel Adam!" These are the real judges.

"And last but not least, yours truly -- Alec!" Oh my God! This waste of space is getting free food! At least Chloe's a teen, this is a whole grown adult. "It's time to determine the fate of Cheng Shifu's famous Celestial Soup. Let's get tasting!"

Each of the judges, par one, gave the soup a try, but instead of smiles and moans of delight, they spat and gagged the soup out. Causing the chef and his guests to gasp.

"What is this!?" It's food you grown man!

"Uh, I don't think this soup would fare well with our guests! I'll give it a 3/10." The mayor held up a paper plate with his rating on it.

"Seeing as it's seemed pretty unappetizing, maybe I'll pass on the tasting, but I'll still give it a zero!" The blonde brat held up her score.

Adrein glanced over at his crush's family, but knew he had to be honest, "It' not the best out there... so a 4/10?"

"Ech!" Jagged wasn't so nice, "it's like kissing to singer from the Zombeats! Negative zero."

"I'm sorry, but it's inedible. I give it 1/10." Marlena's polite voice was overshadowed by much harsher one.

"How did a disgrace like you make it this far!?" Gordan freaking Ramsey, akuma or not, was dishing out insults. "There's so much oil the USA is trying to invade the bowl! ZERO!" it was then that Sabine thought it a good idea to take her uncle back to the kitchen.

"Hold on a second!" Monsieur Adam seemed apprehensive to give a score. "As a culinary professor I've seen incidents like this occur before. A legendary soup that tastes this horrid?"

Adrein moved over to the brown eyed professor, "What do you mean?"

"Isn't it obvious?" The elder redhead stood up, "I believe Cheng Shifu's soup was tainted by a third party!"

Gasps resonated through the camera, someone's eyes widening in horror, as Alec brought his mic up, a smirk playing on his lips. "Professor Daniel Adam, are you saying that Cheng Shifu is a victim of sabotage?"

"Indeed, I am," he adjusted his tie, "as a university professor, I have had many students who've had their food tainted in a jealous attempt to ruin the other's career."

"In this hotel?!" Andre was a mix of rage and shock, "are you saying someone in this very hotel, one of my workers, is a saboteur!?"

"A possibility, but not certainty," the Adam was calm in the face of all of this. "All that is certain, is that they're in the hotel at this very moment."

"Excuse me? Professor?" Marinette finally spoke up, "not that I don't believe you, but what motive would someone have to do this to my great uncle?"

Adam's face kept its stern look but had a hint of gentleness when addressing the teen. "There are many motives for such a deed, as I mentioned, jealously is one," the gentleness disappeared when he faced the bald man. "Entertainment is another."

"Hold on a second professor!" Alec shouted outraged, "are you accusing me, the host, of sabotaging the food?!"

"I'm merely stating a possible motive", all eyes shifted between Alec and the calm professor. "After all, everyone in France knows just how cruel of a host you can be, Monsieur Cataldi."

It looked like a fight was about to break out when the judges, minus Chloe, clutched their stomach, moaning in pain. The unaffected coming to their side.

"My guts are killing me," Jagged hit his fist against the table in pain.

"I'm feeling quite uncomfortable..." that was all Andre got out before his and the other's eyes turned a bright yellow colour, the pain suddenly gone with them being still as a statue.

"Bwahaha!" The maniacal laugh caught the attention of those who weren't seemingly possessed. "You have eaten my soup, you become my servants!"

"At your command, master." The zombie voices of the supposed minions sent chills down everyone's spine.

"Grab the girl!" He pointed at the young Bourgeois girl who was frantically looking around for an escape.

This proved to be futile as she was in the middle of the possessed, Adrien and Jagged already keeping her on a tight leash, "let, go of me!"

The maniacal chef ignored the others, his focus solely on the blonde brat before him. "Kung Food will make new soup called Brat Soup!"

She struggled within the grasp of the two, "but I don't like soup!"

Alya, Marinette and Sabine were both near the door, ready to make an escape, "Get out! Hurry! Get out while you still can!" When the cameraman decided to be loud and ruin it, like they weren't already leaving.

"Not polite to leave table without permission," the akuma reached into his bag and took out some giant metal pots. "Cut off all exits!" He gave them to the free members of his army before the civilians fled.

By the time the three got to the lobby, and left through the door, a viscous orangey gold liquid covered the entire building.

"What is that?" Alya asked looking down at it.

Sabine was the one to touch it, "caramel?"

A food based akuma? The blue girl wondered. "Is it uncle?"

"I'm afraid so," the mother stood up distraught. "Neither of us noticed until it was too late. Apparently, he noticed that someone had tampered with his soup right when he placed them in the bowls."

"How? Who-," not realising they were still being filmed, the teen spoke her accusations out loud. "Chloe! So, she did do something to great uncle!"

__________________________________________________

{Le Grand Paris Hotel, Lobby}

"Cat Knight?"

"Lady Ruby?"

Ruby frowns as she steals a glance from the entrance, "don't tell me some ally cat like you got in here!"

That brought out growl from the male, "I could say the same thing to you miss waitress!"

"I am not a waitress!" The buggy girl yelled at the accusation. "I have you know that I was invited here by one of the judges!"

"And so was I!" He moved over to the elevator, nose in the air.

As much as they hate to admit it, with the information of the school the other attended, it was possible for them to have those type of connections.

"I thought men were supposed to be strong," the toxic masculine comment same from the struggle of opening the elevator.

"It's jammed, you idiotic lady!" Remarked the cat, obviously peeved by the remark made at his strength.

"Ladybug! Cat Noir!" The akuma voice came from a projector behind them, revealing he was on the roof with Chloe behind him, Adrien holding her by the rope. "You soon have privilege to be ingredients in Kung Food's soup. But first - you taste my special of the day!"

"Seafood appetizers," the doors opened to reveal Jagged Stone and Fang inside, the human equipped with a sward fish.

The human set his sights on the knight, exchanging in a form of one-on-one fencing, while the bug proceeded to tie the crocodile. As the only threat the crocodile produced was its teeth, the take down was uneventful. There were, for some reason, ropes under the reception desk. If one were to take a guess, it was probably to help tie down akuma's. Ruby used one to tie the scaly creature up, mouth feet and all, before shoving him into a closet.

Keeping the door open, Cat Knight was able to push the adult back and into the closet too, followed by the active lock and a table. Even with his powers, the takedown seemed rather one sided, most likely due to his fencing practice. But he still wasn't the best, ha had to be if he wanted to get better than the one on everyone's mind.

"Looks like a food fight is coming our way," the brown hair heroine commented.

With the ground floor beat, essentially the tutorial fight, the two headed up to the first floor for the real first level. Now you may be asking, why don't they just go up to the roof? Well, the answer to that my dear reader, is because the elevator short circuited. But hey, look on the bright side, at least the doors have opened up, so they aren't trapped.

"Royal hotpot?" The voice of Alec questioned, with a chicken leg the size of a bat.

"Don't forget its giant string of smoked sausages!" Andre with a sausage string followed up.

Once again, it was a one-v-one fight, Lady Ruby against the mayor, with Cat Knight against Baldi's basics. This fight was a bit harder than the previous one, the Alec jumping in the air and the mayor keeping his distance just like Ruby.

Relying on the mega ego within the Bourgeois, Ruby challenged the rich man to a battle of skill, unbeknownst to the chandelier above him where his sausages got stuck. And since weapon was close to indestructible, when pulling on it, it brought the entire thing down on him, trapping him below.

Cat Knight had a simpler minded method, kicking the meat on the bone out of his opponent's hands and trapping him in a bathroom. He placed his staff in front of the door before moving a couch in front of it. A full-on couch. Granted, he did have to drag it, but still! How much strength do the miraculous grant!?

Anyway, with these opponents done, the duo set off to the second floor. Of course, following the logic of what they just encountered, there should be two waiting for them there. Of course, that does mean that the math isn't mating but who cares?

Well, they're gonna realise how bad their maths is when they stumble upon four people in the restaurant floor. Gordan Ramsey, Marlena Césaire and Professor Danile Adam. The culinary trio within the restaurant right before the final boss, how fitting. They were all equipped with only the best, Daniel Adam, a cheese gun, Marlena, a candy cane bow, and arrows, and Gordan Ramsey, a shield made from the tears of children! Just kidding, he had cake grenades, lava cake to be specific.

"3 against 2? That hardly seems fair!" The blonde hero wined at the extra member.

Marlena held a candy cane arrow up, "watch the spectacular demonstration of the famous thousand flying canes!"

The professor pointed his gun at the heroes, "Our guests seem to have a few tricks up their sleeve. But how will they fare against the blinding stinging cheese!"

Ramsey stayed silent as he simply flung the cake at the duo, "lava cake? More like lame cake!" Never mind, false alarm, he's still throwing insults. And it seems as though that was the que for all of them to start flinging their food at the duo.

Cat Knight was a bit too slow in his dodging this time around, as one of the cheese bombs not only hit him in the chest but let out a foul stench. "Ow, he's right," he rubbed his eyes as he grunts. "The cheese really does sting your eyes."

"Stay away from me stink eye!" Ruby fluttered to the ceiling.

"Excuse me! I am in pain!" The cat yelled, nearly sending a cheese bomb in his partner's direction.

Said partner shielded her eyes from the green stink, "watch it!"

No reply came from the cat, but the smirk definitely said it wasn't an accident.

With all three being long distant fighters with no experience, it did lead to a bit of difficulty for the unscared hero. Especially so when one of the cakes landed in her wings, rendering them useless as she fell in the middle of foodies. Thankfully, Ramsey was far too preoccupied with the knight to pay the lady any mind.

Ducking below the attacks really makes it come out of a cartoon, a candy cane stuck in the gun hole. This caused it to explode, knocking back all three grownups into the wall. The bug no longer unscathed with the smell of old cheese radiating off her, wing covered in gooey goodness.

"I thought girls were supposed to look and smell beautiful," the sexist insult was obviously revenge for red one's earlier.

"Oh, shut up! Un like your weakness, this can be solved by a miracle" She then gave her armoured partner a gloss over, "you on the other hand, are hopeless. Unlike the perfection of Adrien Agreste!"

The swooning Lady Ruby did not notice it, but Cat Knight narrowed his eyes at the comment. "Let's jet get to the final serving!" Clearly, he had some sort of vendetta against the blonde, jealousy? Model rival? Who knows?

Ignoring the elevator, it didn't go to the roof, the duo ran up the stairs to come face to face with their current adversary.

"Oh, no no no no noooo! Ah!"

That did have to wait though as Chloe, now covered in grease and moist, was falling to the boiling orange liquid below. The knight got there faster, using his super agility to catch the heiress right when she was dropped.

"Cat Knight?" Once she registered her safety, Chloe's panicked expression morphed into one of frustration. "What took you so long!? Just wait until I tell everyone you-"

"Oops," even Lady Ruby deemed letting go of the blonde to be warranted.

"Oh no! My Brat Soup will be so flavourless!" Kung Food reached into his bag, taking out a giant pizza sword. "Nobody will stop me from finishing my Brat Soup!"

"Get back Chloé!" The heroine didn't need to tell the civilian twice, as she sprinted towards the exit.

"I take care of you two myself! AGH!" With a battle cry the chef swung his large sword at the two heroes. Cat Kngit, second best at fencing, was alarmed to find himself pushed back this time.

"Luck charm!" Sensing the danger, the handicapped bug activated her power. "A skipping rope?" Not understanding the meaning, she scanned the man to see where exactly the akuma could be. The bag is something he owns, but he took it off during the competition, the only other item is... her eyes lay on the still pristine chef hat upon his head.

"Cat, the akuma must be in the hat!" She yanked her yoyo around the giant sword. Thanks to its indestructibility it wasn't cut, but she was the one slung over to the building over. Yeah, if they want to get rid of him, they will need to do it as soon as possible, meaning the cataclysm should be saved for the hat.

Gripping onto the pool diving board with her yoyo, she flung forward, the man and boy locked in combat. Although Cat was teetering to the edge of the pool. Yoyo keeping a tight grip on the ladder, Lady Ruby used her skipping rope to trap the giant sword a second time.

"Cataclysm!" Taking the opening the feline hero yanked the hat, turning it into dust, removing the akuma. Cat signed at the sight of the drained chef, "I hate to admit it, but this guy was definitely stronger than the others."

"Let's just cast the miracles already!" disgust was the only thing on Ruby's face, "I need to get cleaned!"

__________________________________________________

{03/11/2040, Saturday, Le Grand Paris Hotel, Restaurant- 18:00}

The cameras were checked after Cheng Shifu was sent to the hospital, lo and behold, Chloe was seen pouring some items into the prepared soup. Thus, she was herby kicked off the jury, something even her father pushed her to do, surprisingly. So, the following day, when Cheng Shifu had been discharged, the jury had given him a second chance.

"Ah, and it will soon be the Mayor's Special on the restaurant menu of my prestigious hotel!" At least the owner of the hotel knew what good food was.

"Rock n' Roll! I can't wait to get home and write a song about soup!" I would question this but it's Jagged Stone.

"Professor Danile?" The man looked to see the two blue haired woman, the elder one speaking. "Thank you for believing in my uncle."

"Thank you very much Professor," the younger beamed.

He smiled at them "no need to thank me Madam, it's just my area of expertise."

"Cheng Shifu's delicious Celestial Soup has received the highest marks of all, making him the final winner!" Alec placed an arm around the chef.

"Thank you, but no longer Celestial Soup. Now called: Marinette Soup!" The camera panned to the blue bug-eyed girl.

Alec gestured for the girl to step closer, "come over here and stand alongside your great uncle, the World's Greatest Chef!"

A small nudge from her mother, and an encouraging smile from Adrien, was all it took for the teen to step forward. Cheng Shifu gave her a smile, and for once, Marinette returned it with pure joy. Now nervousness in sight.

And yes, she, her mother and friends did have some Celestial Marinette Soup. And Adrien may or may not have had seconds.

Chapter Text

__________________________________________________

{02/11/2040, Friday, Place des Vosges- 11:00}

Marinette and Marc were talking with Aurore and Alya, though it was mainly Marinette with Marc remaining silent. They were asking questions about the akuma from yesterday. They had already gone through most of the class, minus Mylene who was still at home. And Alya still had a fractured bones in her right hand.

"From the video Nino sent me, you seem to take charge during the situation before the heroes arrived. That's pretty dependable of you."

Marinette blushed but noticed the confused look on Aurore who asked, "what video?"

"Nino was filming the akuma attack and sent me a copy of it," the auburn girl raised an eyebrow. "I thought he sent you a copy too."

"No, he didn't", the blonde girl scowled.

"Maybe he forgot? I can send you a copy of mine," that satisfied the celebrity.

A small giggle escaped the lips of the two blue head cousin's, the girl's eyes shifting to a certain Moroccan boy staring from behind a tree.

"FYI, Alya's never gonna fall in love with a statue." A yelp of surprised left Nino's mouth at Adrien's words.

"Shhh! You know I'm no good with the ladies, especially this one all of a sudden!" The whisper yell just made him look suspicious. "I mean, dude, do I go up to her and crack her a joke? Shoot her a compliment? Invite her to the zoo? Play it serious?"

"Nino, you're way over-thinking this. And invite her to the zoo, you serious?" Okay, what other idea do you have sir?

Nino sent his bestie a deadpan look, "didn't you just tell me you invite Marinette to the zoo this Sunday?"

Adrien gave his neck a small rub, "they have a new panther exhibit there. I thought it'd be a good place to relax before the contest" Then an idea struck, "what if we made it a double date? Me and Marinette with you and Alya!"

Joy radiated from Nino's smile, "really? You sure Marinette won't mind?"

"I'll go ask her right now, then you can ask Alya," without a word, the model student strolled right over to the blue haired girl. And while Nino didn't know what was said, the smile on the female blueberry's face said it all.

__________________________________________________

{Dupain-Cheng Bakery, Outside- 15:30}

After informing Lila of when to meat and what to wear for the contest, Marinette invited Alya to try some baked goods at her house. This worked out well for the reporter as she had been meaning to get some treats for her family. Marc was picked up by his parents after school and Aurore went to the TV station.

"If my sister doesn't come home on time I can't come to the hotel- oof!" Her rant about her lack of appearance was interrupted by colliding into the chest of her under classmate, Nino. Adrien by his side.

"Oh, so sorry." No response came from the DJ, so the blonde nudged him, "right, Nino?"

"Sorry," Marinette internally sighed and hopped she wasn't as bad.

"So, are you both free on Sunday?" Adrien asked as though he didn't already know Marinette's answer.

"Yeah?" Alya replied unsure, but her rosy cheeks gave away her nervousness. She didn't even notice Marinette hadn't replied.

"We'll me and Nino are planning to go to the zoo on Sunday, wanna come with?"

"Uh, they-they got a new panther." The statue speaks!

"You mean the panther exhibit? My dad told me about that, he works at the zoo," Nino may or may not have internally cursed at that. "But sure, we'll come."

"Cool. Say, ten o'clock? Nino, sound good?" Too deep in statue mode the DJ could only nod "Cool, ten o'clock Sunday then. See ya then!"

"Uh yeah...", Alya spaced out as the boys walked off.

"Uh, Earth to Alya? You do realize that Nino just asked you out, right?" Marinette poking her shoulder seemed to snap the Martinique Creole-French out.

"Holly molly! What if I mess this up!? You got help me girl! Please!" She started shaking the smaller girl in her panic.

"Calm down and stop shaking me!" The sudden stillness took her a second to get her bearings. "Thank you. I can come to your house to help you prepare on Saturday, I'm busy this evening with the chef contest."

"Thanks girl," she smiled at her. "Guess we better be fast; you'll want to spend as much time with your great uncle as possible while he's here."

__________________________________________________

{04/11/2040, Sunday, Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes Zoo- 10:00}

The day of the date came, and while it was nearly cancelled from the akuma on Friday, both Adrien and Marinette reassured their friends that they were completely fine. In fact, this would be a wonderful way to relax after all the drama, they even planned to have a small picnic together.

Marinette wore an azure peplum top, with flutter sleaves over a black full sleaved t-shirt, a pair of slim black jeans and a pair of black combat boots. Purse and watch with a picnic basket in hand, containing mini pumpkin cheesecake bites and boudin creole. The latter of which was provided by Alya's mother.

Alya wore a wraparound knee length fire orange dress underneath a brown leather jacket, black tights and a pair of brown Lita boot. Her belt bag was exchanged for black purse, a pair of gold stud earing shining through her hair. She sat next to Marinette on the bench waiting for the boys, anxiously playing with the edge of her dress.

"Don't worry Alya, you'll be fine," the blunette placed a hand on her friend's. "Ah, there they- oh never mind," she had mistaken a blob of blonde hair from behind a bush for Adrien, in reality it was just Kim. Next to him was his best friend Max next to him.

"Hey, Marinette! And..." Kim waved at the two girls, the second girl's name on the tip of his tongue.

"Alya of the MiracleBlog?" Max finished his friend's thought.

"Yep, and you two are?"

"I'm Max, the meathead's Kim," said meathead gave the smaller a playful nudge.

"What are you two doing?" Marinette asked, "here to see the new panther exhibit?"

"Sure am!" The jock struck a pose, "I wanna see who's get the bigger guns!"

The boy in green shook his head, "do you want to come with us?"

"Sorry but no, we're waiting for Nino and Adrien", Alya gestured to the picnic basket on Marinette's side.

"Oh ho, ho!" The look on Kim's face made Alya want to punch him. "Will there be another school couple around?"

"Kim..." there was a sharp edge to the auburn girl's voice, "did you know my sister's a boxer?"

"No? I mean I did just meet you," oh sweet naïve Kim.

Before Alya could continue on her threat the smart one tugged on his friend's arm, "come one banana head, we don't want to interrupt their date." And successfully pulled the large boy away.

It was only a few minutes later that the two boys showed up. Nino wore a black hoodie with a green outline of a turtle, a pair of dark grey jeans, and a pair of green trainers. His headphones sat around his neck with a green beanie on his head.

Adrien wore a green t-shirt, long brown leather jacket with a belt, a pair of dark jeans, and a pair of brown work boots. He also had a picnic basket in hand, containing shawarma, paper cutlery and fruit slices. The former was provided by Nino himself.

"Hey girls," Nino stiffly waved his hand while the other took a dramatic bow. "Were you waiting long?"

"Hey boys," Marinette giggled as Alya smiled. "We weren't here long, though I think we weren't the only ones to have the idea to come here today."

Alya elaborated, "we just saw Max and Kim, they came by to check out the panther exhibit too."

"Well, I think we should check out some of the others first. We walked by the exhibit earlier and there were tons of people crowded round." Nino suggested, "the panther must be more popular than I thought."

"So, what should we see first? Any suggestions?" The blue ponytail asked.

"Oh! How about the peacocks!?" Adrien squeaked.

Alya couldn't help but give an amused smile, "aren't you allergic to feathers Agreste?"

"Yeah, but they should be behind a protective glass, right?"

"Actually, they're behind a wire fence," Adrien's face fell at that. "But if you don't get too close it might be okay," now the smile was back.

"Then let's get going!" Grabbing Marinette's free hand Adrien hopped into a brisk jog, clearly exited for the animal. That left Alya and Nino alone, needing to speed walk in order to keep up. While they didn't hold hands, they did walk side by side, slightly shifting closer to the other one.

Reaching the peacocks revealed they were indeed behind wired fences, in the centre were both female and male peacocks. Someone may have momentarily forgotten about their feather allergy and gape at the glory of these feather eye birds.

"Someone's excited," a giggling from his companion brought the boy back to reality.

A sheepish smile crossed Adrien's face, "they were my mother's favourite birds." The grin turned sad as his eyes gaze away, Marinettes own eyes became upset. It's times like this it's easy to forget Adrien only lost his mother three months ago.

"You okay dude?" It was then the other couple had caught up, the male of which sensing something going on with his best friend.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just some reminiscing," Adrien waved his hand dismissively.

The Moroccan opened his mouth to say something when a high-pitched voice cut him off. "Adrien? Marinette? Nino?" Turning to the direction of the voice revealed it was their classmate, Rose. She was accompanied by Juleka and a boy slightly older than them.

"Hey Rose, Juleka and..." Adrien trailed off at the sight of the other boy. He had seen him drop Juleka off but couldn't quite place his name.

"Luka, Kitty section's lead guitarist," he proudly stated. "Who is currently third wheeling his sister and future sister-in-law," that earned him an elbow to the rib by said sister.

"Actually, we're scoping out inspiration for the song for Bob Roth's independent singing contest," Juleka clarified.

Luka wore a turquoise Jagged Stone hoodie, a pair of jeans with rips at the edges and a pair of combat boots. "I recognise Adrien from all the adds," He then faced Alya. "I'm guessing you're the MiricleBlogger? Alya?"

"Yep, that's me," she confidently replied. "So, what do the rest of you do?"

"Well, I'm the lead singer and Juleka plays bass guitar," the pixie grained a thoughtful expression. "Though it would be great to have a drummer or a keyboard player too."

"Why don't you ask Ivan?" Marinette suggested, "I don't know how good he is with instruments, but he wrote a song to confess to Mylene."

"I think I remember him mentioning something about having classes on how to play the drums," Nino rubbed his chin in thought. "But how did you know he confessed to Mylene with a song dudette?"

Said girl moved a strand of hair out of her face, "Me and my cousin Marc were the ones who encouraged him to do so."

"Oh, since when were you a love expert?" Alya teased.

"Hey! I just said it wasn't just me!" Everyone laughed at the blue head's pout before she joined in herself.

"But seriously though, that was nice of you to do Marinette," Rose praised. "And we'll talk to Ivan next time we see him."

"I'll shoot a text to him right now, so we don't forget," the purple hair girl typed down on her phone.

"Ivan's the really buff guy you were working with on that group project for French, right?" Luke asked, "I think mum will definitely take a shine to him."

__________________________________________________

{Meanwhile, Panther Exhibit}

The panther exhibit was surrounded by several members of the public. Some were artist, looking for inspiration for their next piece, some were animal enthusiast, wanting a closer look at the wild animal. And others were there just because. An example of the very latter would be a pair of schoolboys, Max and Kim.

A man stood within the exhibit wearing the zoo uniform of grey cargo pants and a pale blue pole. The nametag on his top reading Otis Cesaire, "Look what daddy brought you. Only the finest for my baby." He threw a piece of meat at the black cat.

"Whoa! Look at the size of that piece of meat it's eating!" Kim exclaimed.

"Typical diet for a feline species requiring the strength to run at speeds in excess of 60 miles per hour," Max pointed out that part to his best friend in the pamphlet.

"Seriously? That's so cool!" The jock cheered. "But even I know cheetahs can run nearly 130 miles per hour!"

"That's because you're an animal enthusiast Kim," the glasses boy rolled his eyes. "And don't think I didn't see you eyeing the panther plush from the gift shop," the betrayal was strong.

"Hah! Only 60 miles? I could beat that in my sleep!" The arrogant voice of a beefed out male adult voiced.

"Impossible!" The blonde teen called outraged, "no human being could compete with a panther!"

"And what would you know kid?" The stranger turned to the teen, "I'm the number 1 runner in my university track team!"

"Sorry sir, but you can't possibly compare yourself to my panther!" The voice of the zookeeper attempted to brake off any further arguments.

"No need to compare. I'm obviously the better looking one!" And the attempt was unsuccessful as the university student shook his hips mockingly. "Hey, kitty, kitty. How about a little race with me, huh? Last one's a rotten egg!" How old is this man?

"Let's do the maths than shall we?" The teen with glasses held up his phone. "With a 6 feet-per-second win behind you and 45 degrees to the north-east... I don't think you'd be a rotten egg. You'd be lunch." Oof!

"My friend's right you jerk!" the bigger boy rubbed Max's hair.

"Sir, please leave. You're disturbing the public peace," Otis politely asked as he rubbed the panther's head causing her to purr.

"Aww, stressed out, are we, Miss Panthie?" He laughed at his own insult, "you're talking about a wild animal, dude."

The people around also had enough of this pestering, an artist standing next to him tapped the man on his shoulder. "Sir, I believe you were asked to leave."

Finally taking note of all the glares he was receiving the man clicked his tongue, "fine, I'll leave that poor widdle kitty alone with its angwy babysitter! Ha, ha, ha!"

As he walked away Kim couldn't help but seethe with rage. Was this how I treated Ivan? Was this how everyone I ever teased felt? "I need to use the bathroom, be right back," without waiting for an answer he ran off.

Max knew Kim since they were in diapers, and that boy was most certainly not okay. But what he also knew it that Kim needed to physically vent his frustration out before talking about it. The one time he had ignored it led to rather unfavourable circumstances for the both of them, which included a trip to the doctor.

To distract himself for the time being, he turned his attention back to the zookeeper, "you handled that interaction rather formidably sir."

"Thanks kid, you'd be surprised by how many idiots you run into in the zoo, some thinking they know more than the professionals," he gave another piece of meat to the big cat. "Your friend seemed rather passionate about defending Clover here."

Max couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, "Clover?"

"That's the name of this girl here, pretty gentle for such an animal so high up the food chain, right?" Said animal was purring into the hand of her keeper. The Malian French boy couldn't help but let out a quite chuckle at the sight.

__________________________________________________

{Meanwhile, Picnic area- 12:30}

The double date members walked into one of the giant tents at the zoo, ready to chow down on their meals. Adrien and Marinette leaving the baskets with the other couple to order some sparkling blackberry mocktail for the group. Returning with their drinks, Alya and Nino had spread the food out along with a plate for each of them.

"I can't wait to see the panther exhibit!" Marinette exclaimed.

"Same here, my dad's the one tending to her," Alya grinned.

Nino took a bite of his food, "I guess you might have seen the panther already?"

"No actually... I don't hate animals, and I do have a blog on them, but I'm just not a huge fan of them," she rubbed the back of her neck.

"That's cool, I mean it's not like you hate them," Nino smiled. "Plus, you're still a great reporter."

Adrien and Marinette gave each other a look that basically said THE SHIP IT SAILING! Which went by unnoticed from the other couple. Though when the thoughts came to their own possible relationship, they're eyes diverted away. I wonder if our relationship will go anywhere?

They didn't have much time to ponder on those thoughts as the sound of yelling rang through the air. It was pretty obvious what this was, the war cry of an akuma attack. But this set of screams were accompanied via the sound of elephants, roars, and thundering vibrations upon the ground.

"Get out of here!" A zookeeper burst through the tent, "The animals are all on the loose!"

"An animal aku- DAD!" Dashing out with urgency, ignoring the screams of protest from her friends.

"Alya wait!" The DJ himself equally worried for the safety for the one he loves followed after her.

"Nino! Alya!" Marinette called out, "Wai- Whoa!" nearly getting trampled on by the wildlife if it weren't for the blonde boy.

"It's too dangerous on your own!" Adrein gripped her wrist tightly, pulling her out of the way from getting essentially killed.

"Gah!" Unfortunately, the adrenaline in him caused a severe overestimation on his strength, causing them to both fall back into an empty glass cage.

Pushing them both up to a sitting position Adrien looked over at the girl in his arms, "you're not hurt, are you?"

"I should be asking you that," the blue hear girl stood up before helping the boy to his feet, "you took the most damage from the fall."

"We can worry about that later, right now we need to- huh?" Green eyes widen at the sight of a panther shutting the cage door on them. "What the heck?"

Jogging up to the door, giving it a few rough unsuccessful pushes in an attempt to pry it open. A scanner on the side alerted her of the auto-lock in place, meaning any further actions wouldn't work. And no, breaking the glass wouldn't work either, these are cages used to keep wild animals in place made with tempered glass, the strongest type of glass around.

"Seems like we're stuck in here," she sighed in defeat. "I just hope both Nino and Alya are alright."

"They will be," Adrien locked his fingers with her own, sending down a reassuring smile. "Lady Ruby and Cat Knight will rescue us all and save us."

Marinette gave a small smile of her own as they sat back down on the ground, leaning against one another for comfort. "Anything crazy happen on set recently?"

"Not that I can think of the top of my head," a few seconds of background noises passed. "There was a makeup malfunction, back when mother was around," his head dipped to the side, but he could feel the comforting squish from this cellmate.

"A new intern knocked over a bottle of foundation, it broke and spilled all over her dress. The intern apologised, and mum, she wasn't even mad," a fond smile made its way to his face. "She laughed at it and said she could waah it out herself later."

A small giggle escaped the ponytail girl, "that reminds me of the time I opened a bag of flour the wrong way and it got everywhere!"

"Everywhere?"

"Everywhere."

__________________________________________________

{Dupain-Cheng Bakery, Inside}

"Help! Rescue me! Please!" A university student begged, falling to his knees as he entered the famous bakery. The call of an akuma attack left only a few people present, excluding the owners.

Tom came to the man's side, helping his to his feet and to a table, "it's okay, son. Come this way. Easy."

A moment later the heroic duo came bursting through the door, causing the civilians' jaws to drop. "Oh, you're... you're, you're Lady Ruby and Cat Knight!"

"Yes, we are Madam," the brunette flashed a smile and hair flip. "Do you mind taking care of that man, he's the one the akuma's after."

"Also, we're gonna need a few things to help catch the victim," the knight pushed himself in front. "Air freshener, and some pastries, some with meat and some with berries."

"Of course, Lady Ruby. Tom, could you take the man into the living room please?" As the men walked over to the back, Sabine took out a blue spray bottle and two medium sized pastry boxes. She filled one with raspberry tarts and the other with mini fish pies. "Don't worry about the payment, but may I ask what you need them for?"

"The akuma's an animal shapeshifter, so using food may deter their pursuit, you know, since animals have big appetites," the knight smiled as he took the items from the woman. "And we'll need to hide our scent from them too" the other customers having left for safety.

"Thank you so much for this madam!" Ruby waved as she dragged the cat outside with her, Sabine locking the door before retreating to the back. "There is no way you needed all that stuff, the spay? Okay. But the food?"

"Oh, shut up! Chloe gave you enough food to host a ball when the pigeon was out," he took out one of the fish pies and placed the boxes in his staff. "And technically we do need this, since the person akumatized is normally a panther, I'll just be taking the leftovers."

Rolling her eyes at the boy's stupidity, the girl's eyes landed on an abandoned double decker bus. It was definitely not parked on purpose, as it was smack dap in the middle of two lanes. "If he can shapeshift small enough to be free of my yoyo, he can probably shift into an animal as big as an elephant. Trapping him in the bus would be our best bet."

"Then we'll need to lock all the windows than, good thing the victims an idiot," with the door already open Cat Knight strutted in to create the cage.

It only took less than a minute for everything but a window in the back to be closed. They left that open to lure the akuma in. The knight placed the pie on the driver's seat, squished to release a stronger fish smell. Ruby took the spray to mask their scent, making sure both floors were covered in the same smell of ocean summer breeze.

With a twitch of his ears, Cat Knight took a quick glace over the back window. Low and behold, a panther was sniffing the air, a gleam of hunger in their eyes at the realization that food was nearby. But what can you do when you haven't eaten anything since morning? And this specific panther had a wool wristband on his right wrist.

The panther was engulfed in a purple mist and in its place flew a tiny ladybug. And just as they planned, he flew right in through the window to the pie, not taking a single notice to the teens hidden beneath the seats. Though the sight of a crushed pie seemed to anger him as he turned into a bear and let out a ferocious growl, clawing the remains of the treat in his paw, stuffing his mouth full. That did nothing to quench the hunger within him.

Unaware of the methods the heroes use in which they deem effective in securing their victory. A staff came crashing down right on the bears head, knocking him out. With the victim out cold, the heroes were in the clear to extract the akuma item, breaking it and reversing all damage that had been done. Excluding the physical ones such as the injured Kim. Yes, Lê Chiến Kim was the victim of this akumatization. I don't think I need to tell you readers what his motives were for this.

"I'll call the hospital, if anything, he injured himself when trying to attack us," Ruby spoke, typing on her weapon.

"I knew this guy was an idiot, but I didn't think he was this dumb, he didn't even take a look around to see if this was a trap!" The exasperated blonde opened the door to leave, the rampant animals had left the populus more panicked than usual, with several severe injuries and a few casualties.

"Please, this boy has a crush on Chloé Bourgeois of all people!" She shut her bug phone and placed it back on her belt, "anyway, I have some answers from someone I need to get."

__________________________________________________

{Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes Zoo- 16:00}

After all the excitement from the zoo the couples were relocated into the tent, they were in seconds ago. Their food just as they left it. The Martinique Creole-French girl leaning on the lanky arms of the capped boy.

"Ooh la, la!" Which by the law of friendship, they needed to be embarrassed, clearly Adrien's intentions.

"Oh, can it Agreste!" He rolled a 1, "at least I can hug my significant other."

"What even happened for you two to get so close?" Marinette wondered.

"After running off, Lady Ruby locked us up together in the same cage. Before we could even get to Alya's father," Nino explained.

"Thankfully he had his phone on hand, and I was able to call him to know he was okay," that explained the look of relief on her face. "It turns out we have tons in common, so we clicked easily when we were able to talk one on one."

"I guess being able to talk without people spying on every move you do lets you bond much easier," realising what he said Nino backtracked. "I mean having you both also helped us be comfortable being with each other!"

"Don't worry, we understand what you mean," the blonde reassured the DJ, finishing off his lunch, now dinner.

Mid way through chewing her food, the blunette's phone buzzed a sudden call, sending her into a coughing fit. Adrien, who sat next to her, pat her back in an attempt to help. Once the fit was over, Marinette picked up her phone, revealing the caller ID was Lila.

"Hey Lila, what's up?"

"Hey Mari! I was in the zoo earlier and I think I saw you and Adrien together?"

"Oh yeah... we were on a double date with Alya and Nino," said couple poked their heads up at the mention of their names.

"You had a date with Adrien, and you didn't tell me? Why not? I could have helped you! I'm your best friend!" Ther was a small gasp for air on the other side, as though she was trying to stop herself from crying.

"Oh! I didn't mean to!" The guilty look on Marinette's face made Alya raise a brow. "Adrien asked me a few days ago when the panther exhibit was new, and we invited Alya and Nino to help set them up. They're a couple now!"

However, the blunette's joy was short lived, "you should still tell me about these things beforehand Marinette. As your best friends, I need to be there to support you!"

Blue eyes trailing to the side trying to find a way to diveret the conversation her mind set on something. "Hold on, Lila, if you saw us, then that means you were at the zoo when the animals ran rampant! Are you okay?"

"Oh, I'm fine!" That seemed to work, "just a little dizzy and stressed, I'm planning on having a walk soon to help relax, but..." the pause gave way to an unsure request. "I think I skipped lunch, but after all that happened, I don't think I'm too hungry. And I don't have dinner ready for me and my mama either, she's been super stressed at the embassy lately, so I was hoping to get something to cheer her up."

That's not good. "If you want you can stop by the bakery in about an hour and I can give you some meat pies."

"Really? Oh, thank you Mari!" That seemed to get her off the interrogation, "I don't mind if it's a mix of different ones, and my mother is a fan of chocolate peppermint cheesecake."

"Sure, I'll test my parent to set aside a box of both for you. Bye!" With the conversation done and over she placed her phone back in her purse.

"Lila called you for an order?" Nino asked.

"That, and she saw me and Adrien together, so she wanted to know if we were on a date..." her voice became rather quiet towards the end.

"Then that means she was here when the akuma struck," Alya started to put things away into the basket. "Under normal circumstances I'd be egging for an interview over what she saw, but I'd rather go home with my dad. There he is now!"

She waved to a chubby man who waved back. "Well, I better see get going, se you all later!"

Chapter Text

__________________________________________________

{05/11/2040, Monday, Dupain-Cheng bakery, Marinette's bedroom- 13:00}

"What if I trip? What if the hat's ripped? What if they don't even deem, I'm worthy of ever stepping into the world of fashion!?"

The day of the beginner designer competition was today at . The winner of the contest would have their design worn by Adrein Agreste at the winter fashion show on Friday evening. This contest was open to everyone within the teenage bracket. The item was an accessory based on birds that fit with the Victorian era of England.

"Marinette, for the last time, calm down!" And Marc was close to losing his patience with his cousin's insistent rambles. "And stop pacing so much, take a seat!" She did just that.

He, Juleka and Kamar were also invited over to help Marinette prepare for her big day. It wasn't' much of an issue considering it was half term, plus they were coming themselves to support their friend. Lila was also invited but was helping her mother out with a few things at home, but she'd be there in time for the contest.

"Marinette, there are plenty of other people in the contest. They won't single out one contestant, even if they don't win." Kamar meant well, but her words could use some tact, made obvious by the side eyes.

"What Kamar means is that, even if you don't win today's contest, you still have a chance at fashion in the future," Juleka placed a hand on the blunette's shoulder. "And it starts by getting your work, out there!"

Blue eyes peered over at the goth, then the Muslim, then the boy, before finally taking a deep breath in and out. "You're right."

"I know I am," that set off a small relief of giggles. "Anyway, shouldn't you change now? Don't wanna show up late."

At that the blue girl looked down to see she was still in her pyjamas the entire time. Far from the presentable clothing that someone claiming to be a fashion designer should be wearing when debuting their work. Thankfully, the cloths she chose were already ironed and hung behind the divider.

She put on a white blouse with lotus buttons tucked into black straight pants, small black corset belt with silver hardware, black socks, and an unzipped navy oversized cardigan with lotuses and pale blue wind shaped lines on the edges and along the sleeves. It was an old hoodie she'd found at a charity shop with Juleka, who had also insisted she wear one of her original designs. The shirt was one she had repaired for some time.

She exchanged her normal purse for a black bucket with silver hardware purse the previous night. Her watch lay atop her grey hatbox in which her offering for the contest sat, her oxford booties sat on a stool, though she couldn't wear them inside the house, so she had to hold them for now.

"Like the look?" She made a ta-da pose as she stepped out, shoes and box in the air.

"Is that the sweater you bought from the charity shop?" Juleka pointed.

"Yep, spruced it up a bit too."

"No offence Marinette, but are you still gonna have your hair up?" Kamar got up and took the hairbrush the sat on the vanity, "It doesn't suit the look."

"What do you think I should do with it then? I always have it up."

"Then let it down," letting the hair free form the band, the Arabian started threading the brush through.

Marc started to rummage through the black and gold jewellery box that once belonged to his aunt. "You have some other accessories around here that would also fit," many of which were also picked up second hand.

"And while we're at it, why not add some makeup?" Juleka made a move for the minimal makeup on hand.

By the time they were done Marinette felt like the person in the mirror was a completely different person. Kamar had straightened out her hair and pulled it back with a black bow, a small braid cascading down the right of her face with a black ribbon. A black beaded choker with an oval alexandrite in a silver frame, fitting over the shirt, under the collar flap. Bluebell eyes now had a cat eye look, lips were now a blush pink, and nails covered in a navy glittery polish protected with a clear coat.

"So, what do you think?" Marc bit his lip.

Nothing was spoken as the blue girl's gaze locked onto her reflection for the following seconds till a tiny sniff broke it. This only aided to spike their anxiety further. But the power of the introvert left them grasping at what to say as the source placed her face in her hands.

"I look amazing," the small whisper relived themselves of the stress. "I look really amazing!"

"Tell us that in advance next time, had us worried," Kamar handed over a tissue.

"We'll have to redo your makeup when you're done crying though," Juleka nudged.

"This is getting too mushy for my toxic masculinity," Marc ruined the moment,

"Oh please, nothing about you is masculine you noodle arm," the fashionista gave him a light push.

"Marinette!" Tome called from the living room. "We're ready to head out now, make sure you and the rest of your friends are ready before we leave."

"Coming!" One by one the teens climbed down the ladder. Once Marinette reached the bottom her parents mouth hung agape.

"Oh, bao bun!" The mother exclaimed, "you look beautiful!"

The father engulfed his wife and daughter into a hug, "you finally gonna starts wearing your designs outside?"

"You bet!" Everything's going to be just fine!

__________________________________________________

{Grand Palais - 14:00}

"Good afternoon, Paris, I'm Nadija Chamak, here to cover the exclusive news on Gabriel Agreste's beginner fashion contest!"

Several members of the public, including ITV news were present and gathered for the today's event. There were several seats lined up inside, similar to a fashion show.

"Excuse me?" Tom walked up to a member of staff "My daughter is here is a participant for the contest."

She took out her tablet, "name and participation number?"

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng, participation number 08932," the teen spoke confidently.

A few taps on the tablet and she smiled, "keep this lanyard with you, your family will have to stay seated, but you can go backstage to prepare."

Taking the lanyard and bidding both her parents and friends goodbye, she headed backstage. The Navy hat box under her right arm with a small tote bag under the other. She was greeted by a woman with a dark bun and red streak and glasses.

"Mademoiselle Marinette Dupain-Cheng?" She was rather stiff.

"Yes."

"Follow me please, I'll lead you to where the participants are," she started walking without an answer, casing the blue girl to sprint for a second.

"My name is Nathalie Sancoeur, and I shall be overlooking all the participants to ensure that there's no foul play at hand." They stopped at a small trailer with 08932 on it, "this will be where you wait for your design to be showcases, when it's your turn someone will knock on your door to summon you. Good day." And she left as quickly as she came.

Well, she seems busy. Hopping to get everything prepared and meat up with Lila before the contest, Marinette opened the door to the trailer.

It was a pristine white with dark grey edges, it contained several empty shelves as though it were made to hold several clothing pieces inside. The only place where there were no shelves was the front, what stood there was a small square seat and table. Next to the table was a small room which lead to a toilet, and next to that was a small vent high up.

Placing down her item down on the table she took out the context of the bag. A pink and blue marble tumble filled with salted caramel hot chocolate, a water bottle, and a box of Nutella-stuffed snowball cookies. Some comfort snacks to keep her nerves and hunger down. Looking at the items now, however, she didn't feel like swallowing anything. Maybe a walk around will help me out.

Leaving the items in place, the blue girl left, intending to find her friend through the rubble of strangers. She was so close to the exit when the obnoxious laughter of a familiar blonde prompted her to turn around.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Marionette Stupid-Wrong!"

"Couldn't you even bother to choose words that rhyme with my last name?" Marinette had grown tired of these consistent fights.

"Sounds the same to me," I really can't tell if she's being racist or saying Marinette's never right. I'll just go with both.

Chloe stood there, in white pin tuck, a lemon-yellow A-line skirt, black corset belt with gold hardware and black thigh high heel boots. There was a black tie around her collar with a yellow octogen heliodor, black onyx bracelets and dangly earrings. Her nails painted pitch black with golden sparkly feathers painted across in different angles.

The blunette just shook her head, "what do you want this time, Chloe? I doubt the daughter of style queen wouldn't want to make sure everything is utterly exceptional."

"You little!" One thing they seemingly had in common, bringing up their family was a weak point. Crossing her arms the blonde raised her nose in the air, "I'm just here to tell you to drop out of the contest now and save yourself the embarrassment."

"And why on earth should I listen to you?" The Chinese French mimicked the heiress's posture, challenging her.

The scowl turned into a smirk, "Sabrina?"

As if by magic, the servant girl appeared from behind her lady, a yellow hexagonal hatbox in hand. Lifting the lid of the box, Chloe took out a derby hat. Derby hat that looked exactly like her own!

"That's... That's!" That's my design! The only difference was where the checkered cut kyanite was, there were orange beads.

"I think you mean it's my design," venom dripping from her scarlet lips.

Stealing her composure to retaliate, "I have proof that it's mine!"

"You think that matters baker girl?" She placed the hat back in the box, sending the orange hair girl away.

"I'm the daughter of style queen, childhood friends with Adrien Agreste and the Goddaughter of Gabriel Agreste, the Parisian king of fashion." She strides towards the shorter girl. "I hold all the cards which makes me the puppet master, and you the puppet." By now her face was an inch away from the Asian's. "Who do you think they'll believe more?"

Stepping back in disbelief, the baker turned away in a failed attempt to hide her distress. Fleeing from the backstage exit and back to her trailer. Slamming the door behind, the tears already falling from her eyes, she hung her face in her hands.

Chloe always won, she's the one with the connections! She's the one with all the confidence! If I go out there, they'll think I plagiarised her design! She peeked out at the box on the table, she picked the hat out of the box, only to throw it in a fit of distressed rage. I should have never entered this contest. Heck! I should have never even thought about being a fashion designer!

Realising what she did, gasping she picked the hat up, dusting it off, fortunately it was unharmed. She fell back, landing on the chair, curling up around herself. In the empty white room. The eyeliner and mascara running down her face like a horror movie monster, as she silently cried to herself. Uncaring to the time that passed by.

"Marionette, I am Hawkmoth."

What? Who? Saphire eyes shot up at the voice in her head in alarm. Hawkmoth?!

"You were tormented your entire life by a single girl, preventing you from reaching your dreams. And when you finally take a step out into the light, she shatters all hope. Playing you like a puppet."

Is he talking about Chloe? And how does he know all this?

"I am giving you the power to not only make your dreams a reality, but to switch roles. All I ask in return are the miraculin possessed my Lady Ruby and Cat Knight."

Don't say yes. Don't say yes. Don't say yes! DON'T SAY YES!

"Do we have a deal?"

"Yes Hawkmoth!"

__________________________________________________

{Grand Palais, Frontstage - 14:20}

Adrien stood within the contest halls, staring at the snake bracelet he found hidden behind a bin. Obviously, he was present at a contest being hosted by his father. Though he wasn't a judge like with the World's greatest Chef contest, mainly due to how he isn't an expert in fashion. But his father had other members of his company helping create an unbiased opinion.

Natalie had informed him that Marinette had arrived, but not to go up to her to prevent any rumours of favouritism. Apparently, it was different from Chloe whose mother was also a high figure in the fashion industry. Since Marinette had no affiliation outside of him, people may accuse her of terrible things. But why would people do horrible things like that? Marinette's a wonderful person. It never made sense to him, but he listened.

He wore a tuxedo top with basil green buttons tucked into black dress pants, a pair of black dress boots. A black double buckle belt and a black jerkin jacket with green buttons unbuttoned.

He was looking through the crowed of strangers, hoping to find a familiar face from anyone. And no, Sabrina and Chloe do NOT count. He stood in on the way to the bathrooms so his friends should be able to see him. He was far too deep in his analysis that he didn't sense the presence coming from behind till his sight shut.

"Guess who!"

"Lila?"

"Correct!" She removed her hand from his face.

"Hey Lila!" Facing his friend, he placed the bracelet in his pocket. I'll just put in the lost and found later.

Lila wore a red A-line dress over a black sheer top, a pair of black leather slouch boots, a black lace-up belt with gold hardware. Her hair was pulled back into a braid with a red headband with crystals scattered around. A black envelope side bag with gold hardware, a black tassel necklace and matching earrings. Her lips painted jam red and nails the same colour but with a tiny diamond at the bottom centre.

"You look rather handsome, if I do say so myself," the brunette winked.

"Thanks, you look great yourself." Giggling in reply, "Are you here on your own?"

"Afraid so," she sighed. "I was hoping you'd let me spend time with you before the show starts up."

"I thought you were coming with Marinette?"

"That was the plan, but I had to help my mother with some stuff in the morning." She waved her hand dismissively, "my seat number is right next to our friends, so I'll find them easier when the contest starts." A frown took over her lips, "is that a, no? Do you not like hanging out with me?"

"No! Of course not!" He held his hand up in surrender, "I'd love to hang out with you!"

She smiled and hugged his left arm, "thank you!"

"Ladies, gentlemen, and people, please take your seats. The beginner designer contest will be starting in 5 minutes." Well, that hangout was short lived.

"Looks like we'll have to take a raincheck on that hangout," Adrien removed himself from the Italian's grasp.

"Oh, before you leave Adrien," Lila reached into her purse, taking out a phone in a red glittery case. "Mind if we exchange numbers?"

"Sure, I don't see why not," he took out his touch screen flip-phone for the rich, allowing Lila to place her number in, and he placed his in hers.

After the exchange he left to one of the VIP seats near the judges. Natalie typing on her tablet, no doubt getting the video call set up with his father. He hasn't taken a step out of the house since mother died. Unfortunate but Adrien wasn't about to criticise his father's method of mourning. It wasn't like he had completely removed himself from Adrien's life, trying to be there every breakfast and dinner.

"Alright everyone, get ready for Gabriel Agreste's Beginner designer contest! I'm your host Keith Sanders!" A man in a pink and black block colour suit and bowtie walked down the runway.

That's weird, I thought he was supposed to wear a grey suit. The other judges and Natalie were also just as confused by his attire.

"Now how about we start with our first contestant, Mademoiselle Chloe Bourgeois!"

"What?" Adrien peered over at Natalie, "Chloe isn't the first contestant!"

There was no time to correct the mistake made as Chloe strutted down the runway, confidence in every step. Her plagiarised piece on her head. A camera at the end of the catwalk showing the design on the big screen right above the catwalk entrance.

"As you can see here this grey wool felt derby had been based off pigeons, just like a certain akuma that attacked us the other day! The main hint being the fabric feather, half a bow, half a feather! Divided by a row of tiny orange beads! A sleek silk ribbon hidden right behind them! There's even some embroidery in iridescent string!"

Too absorbed in the envious stared she was getting; Chloe didn't realise the Keith had taken the hat right off her head. "And what does the embroidery say?" He ran up to the camera with the hat upside-down, allowing everyone to behold the iridescent truth. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, who is also participant 08932 in this very contest!"

Loud gasp erupted through the entire hall at the notion of what this man was illuding to. "Well, Mademoiselle Chloe Bourgeois," the man stared down at the blonde, "Why is the name of another participant on your entry?"

"I- sh-she-," scrambling for any excuse she could think of was futile. Even her father was appalled by this stunt. I didn't think her proof was a signature on he designs! That lousy semester messed up big time!

"Not only that, but Marinette submitted this same design for the contest! Something you knew! So, you threatened her to drop out of the contest, claiming you had far better connections within the industry!"

Right when it looked like he was about to pounce on the teen, the mic man seemed to zone out. In that moment, his suit turned from black and pink block to a fancy grey.

"W-what happened?" His head darted around, trying to make sense of what and where he was, "Did the contest already start?"

"Akuma!" Aurore sprung out of her seat, phone in hand. "There must be an akuma and they possessed the MC!"

"And judging by what happened, the akuma its Marinette!" Alya, who sat next to Aurore, got her camera ready, "Obviously a result of Chloe threatening her!" If she took a second look as the pepper spray in her bag that was nobody's business, Alya's a young girl.

"I did nothing! I'm being set up-!"

"I'm the daughter of style queen, childhood friends with Adrien Agreste and the Goddaughter of Gabriel Agreste, the Parisian king of fashion. I hold all the cards which makes me the puppet master, and you the puppet. Who do you think they'll believe more?"

Chloe's voice rang out through the entire room, but it wasn't coming from the real girl. It was coming from the projector, replaying the interaction the duo has not even an hour ago.

"What vendetta do you have against Marinette!?" Juleka cried.

"She's never done anything to you!" Kamar yelled out.

"You've been bullying her since day one and for what!?" Marc stomped his feet, ready to punch the blonde. Neither his aunt nor his uncle holding him back, too busy stewing in their fury.

Fearing the rath that would be done to her, Chloe began to run back. Only to be trapped by a member of security. A woman in a professional block black and pink suit. The woman used zip ties to keep the girl in place.

"Unhand me right n-OW!" And if the ties were too tight, it was just a precaution.

Adrien decided to get up and do something, "where is Marinette?"

"She might be in her trailer," Natalie grabbed Adrien's arm.

"Wait!" Adrien struggled within the woman's grip, "Natalie I have to find her!"

"I know she's your friend, but if you stay here, you'll be getting in the hero's way!" Not waiting for a reply, Natalie dragged Adrien right outside, Gorilla following close behind.

Other people taking it as their own que to high tale it out the building, but when Natalie tried to open the door, it wouldn't budge. "What's going on? Gorilla, try with me!" But neither of them could open the door.

"Look! On the screen" Someone pointed, and it was now showing several of the cars were piled over in front. And it wasn't just the front exit, the screen flicked to each exit, a pile of cars blocking each of them. As for the windows, the lower ones had the same treatment, whereas the higher ones were covered with duct tape.

"We're trapped!"

"Trapped? We can't be trapped with an akuma!"

"How did she even get this done?"

"Where's Lady Ruby and Cat Knight!?"

As if on que, the two heroes appeared before the audience, Ruby flying down from the right of the second floor, and Cat back flipping from the left hallway.

"We hear your call, Paris!"

"And we're here to save the day!"

The crowed moved from the door to surround the heroes, some even climbed up onto the catwalk. Personal space people! All voices coming from different directions, expressing their relief at the hero's' appearance, and wanting to understand what was going on.

"My daughter was the victim this time thanks to that spoilt brat!" Tom bellowed, pointing at the Chloe... who was no longer there. "Where is she anyway?"

"Don't worry about it Monsieur," Cat Knight reassured. "For now, why don't you sit back and- Gah!"

The knight was snatched from his placed and thrown to the ground face down by the older male, "Hey! What gives?"

Angling his eyes, he realized the white and blue cloths of the Dupain were now black and pink. Tom's body was pushing down the boy's body and left arm, one hand had pushed his face down again, whereas the other had his right arm in a tight grip. The same arm with the hand that held his miraculous, the man was aware of this and moving his arm up to grab is.

The movement was so sudden, taking everyone off guard, that Tom had the ring firmly within his fingers. Sabine, his wife, was the first to move, kicking him off the cat and off the catwalk.

"Oh Tom!" Sabine kneeled at her husband's side, who's cloths turned back to normal.

Ruby looked over at the man with wide eyes. Both she and Cat Knight, who was nursing his face, were thinking the same thing. Do NOT mess with Marinette's parents. Even with their super enhanced abilities, the strength the man used still hurt like a ton of bricks.

Shaking herself out of her stupor the royal looked around, "does anyone have any idea where she could be?"

"I may have an idea," a member of staff typed on her tablet. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, participant number 08932. There should be a trailer at the back with her participation number on it."

"Thank you, Mademoiselle," she addressed everyone again. "Please stay here. No offence, but with the ability to control others, your presence may only aid the akuma." And she gained affirmative nods in return.

Backstage was scattered with several rows of trailers, all of which were most likely unoccupied. How could they tell? Because all the supposed participants were scattered all around. Stepping in, the emergency metal door to the front half locked down, obviously done to keep the staff and teens from leaving.

Though that didn't answer everything, "why is everyone out and not in their trailers?"

An African girl spoke up, "none of our lanyard's work."

"But why are you all outside your trailers?" The blonde inquired, "I can understand a few, but this looks like nearly everyone."

An Irish boy answered this time, "we all got an email on our phone, telling us to come gather for something and were all sent a video." He showed the duo his phone, revealing it to be the security footage of Chloe threatening Marinette.

Ruby rubbed her chin next to the boy, "so even the other participants know?"

How did she pull this all off so fast? She seemed too deep in thought she didn't notice the hand coming up to her ear. She did feel a tickle and move to itch it, when her fingers came in contact with another set. Like lightning the boy's hand pulled at her earing, trying to rip it out.

This time she reacted to the harm, twisting the Irish boy's wrist and kicking him in the groin, his cloths turning back to normal. Her hands go up to her left ear where her miraculous was. This was a far more dangerous akuma, while Marinette wasn't straight up violent, she was smart.

Taking to the sky, uh, ceiling, the bug heroine flew out of the reach of the civilians. Thankfully, the only people that she can possess are those without powers. Is there some sort of block because of the miraculous?

Cat Knight, while he couldn't fly, used his agility to hop on top of a nearby trailer, out of reach from the civilians. "The trailer we're looking for is 08932, where is it?"

Leaping from trailer to trailer the duo looked at each the door numbers, unfortunately, the number colour was similar to the door, landing them in several vulnerable positions, all of which included an attempt at the miraculous. They were all far too close too. By the time they reached their destination, quite a few of the puppets had some sort of sprain or hospital worthy injury.

"THAT'S IT! CATACLYSM!" Not waiting for his partner's input, the entire trailer turned to dust beneath the cat's fingers. Unfortunately, he was jumped by another civilian before he could see the akuma.

The girl inside was dressed in as a jester in pink and black colour block, strings attached to her back, ending at a wooden X in the air. The part that stood out most, apart from the wood, was the white smiling mask with feathers coming out from the side and gold detailing, the eyeholes bottomless black.

"GET OVER HERE!" With the boy out of the way, the bug trapped the girl in a spiral of yoyo string. Landing down in the face of the enemy, she stole the mask right off, revealing the akuma's akin to be pure black.

"Wow, you seriously are ug-!" Can you tell Marinette's most hated trope is when someone's monologing and the enemy doesn't attack?

This was an opportunity truly taken, as this puppet successfully tugged Ruby's left earring, the mask falling to the floor. One problem, the earing wouldn't come off.

"Stop pulling on my ear!" The girl in red cried, stomping her heels down on the feet of her assailant. They stepped back in self-preservation for their tows, leading to a bit of a tango. Leading the dance, Ruby guided the puppet, so they were the one to step on the discarded porcelain, releasing the evil energy.

__________________________________________________

{???}

"My word, what an interesting show. This is the closest a puppet of mine has been to capturing the miraculous. Controlling those outside to silently trap those within, commanding the security members to deactivate the lanyards before tying them up!"

The man went over to a chart and wrote down the name Marinette Dupain-Cheng with her akuma name Marionette next to it.

"Neither of the heroes would have stood a chance if her powers were much more... intense. Though I won't crush someone of such talent to get it, specially not someone so young. I'll just have to wait and bid my time."

__________________________________________________

{06/11/2040, Tuesday, Grand Palais - 18:30}

"And in first place is participant 08932, Mademoiselle Marinette Dupain-Cheng and her pigeon derby hat!"

The applause rang throughout for the entire world to see, the girl who had her design stolen, was the winner to that contest. She stood between an Irish boy and African girl at the end of the catwalk, both of whom were third and second place, respectively.

As you all probably predicted, the perpetrator for said crime had been disqualified from the contest. While the prospect of blacklisting Chloe was thrown around, it was ultimately dismissed for two reasons. One, her powerful parents. Two, she is still a minor.

"Now allow us to present your prize! As everyone already knows, these three with have their work displayed in Gabriel Agreste's winter fashion show, Adrien Agreste modelling first place!"

Three staff members produced three boxes of assorted colours for the winners, the teens accepted them with grace. "They shall also gain front row seats to said show, a gift set provided from the fashion icon himself, and even a summer internship to hone their skills in! Now let's hear one final round of applause for winners! Good evening and good night!"

As the final lapse of celebration died down the public started to file out, the victors separating off to their supporters.

The first ones to congratulate the teen were her parents, engulfing her in their arms full of praise.

"Congratulations bao bun!"

"We're so proud of you."

Marc hugged his cousin once his aunt and uncle let go, "you go first place!"

Juleka joined in the hug, "Totally deserved."

Lila was last, "I have to have you design an outfit for me!"

Kamar stood back but did give the blunette a pat on the back, "congratulations."

"Hey Marinette!" Alya walked over to them, "congratulations girl!"

"You definitely deserved the win," Aurore grinned.

"Thank you, thank you everyone!" dews full of joy fell from her eyes, the akumatization had her believe she wouldn't be allowed to compete. And winning was just a bigger punch towards the devil who's messed with her life.

__________________________________________________

{Dupain-Cheng bakery, Marinette's bedroom - 19:30}

Marinette sat on her chaise lounge in her pyjamas, her prize box lay open next to her. It was gold with a pale blue ribbon, a butterfly bow at the top and a tag in the shape of the Gabriel logo with a number 1 and Marinette's name at the back. Within was a certificate of congratulations of winning the contest, a €2K gift card for Gabriel Agreste originals, front row tickets for her and her parents for the winter fashion show, a document for her summer internship, and a sketch book in the shape of the Gabriel logo with matching stationary.

My designs impressed pro fashion designers! I can't believe it! And I get to free front row tickets to a Gabriel Agreste Fashion show! This is the best day of my life! Then, the sudden realisation that every fashionista understands ran through her head. I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR!

Springing her wardrobe open, she threw several dresses over her shoulder in a journey to find the best one. Too casual. Too fancy. Too long. Too short. I need to repair this one. She finally found a cold shoulder dress she had altered during summer. It was placed next to the dresses and shirt she was upcycling with the intentions of giving her friends. I wonder if that mouse necklace would suit this.

Making her way through the obstacle course of dresses and to her jewellery box, she dug out the necklace. Picking it up already made it obvious that it didn't fit with the theme, but it did seem like a nice casual thing to wear. Since I'm gonna be more courageous from now on, I should wear more of my own designs. Even if I don't know when I had this.

Placing the necklace around her neck, the last thing she expected was a glowing light to come out from it.

__________________________________________________

{Dupain-Cheng Bakery, Marinette's bedroom - 16:30}

"Pew, finally done," Marinette wiped the sweat away from her forehead.

The pearls for her dress tomorrow added and accessories chosen. She even found a fancy bag that should give Mullo and her things enough space. She already placed some cheddar cookies in a zip-lock bag for Mullo to munch on.

Speaking of the kwami, she's been rather silent since the akumatization yesterday. "Blue?"

"Hm?"

"Can you, pull up those pictures again?"

She placed the dress away, "the ones about the Parisian lights? Why?"

"There's something I wanna show you." She sat on her human's shoulder, Marinette typing away before pulling up the article.

Mullo flew over to a picture of the victim, "this person, is the guardian."