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Chapter Text

“A new student! Yes! Finally, Adrien and I aren’t the newbies anymore!” Alya whispered.

In spite of Marinette’s current state of mind, Alya’s whisper was enough to make her smile just a bit. She subtly wiped her eyes and watched curiously as a slender girl wearing jeans and a dark orange t-shirt entered the room and crossed to stand beside Madame Bustier. Lila gave the class a shy smile, clasping her hands behind her back, as Madame Bustier rested a hand on her shoulder.

“Lila has recently moved to Paris with her parents. She comes from Italy,” Madame Bustier continued. “I hope that everyone here will make her feel welcome. Class, please say hello to her.”

“Hello Lila,” Marinette said in unison with everyone else.

‘She looks nice,’ Adrien thought. He was still overflowing with grief, longing and loss, but Lila’s arrival had provided them both with a temporary distraction and Marinette found herself eager to run with it. Anything to avoid thinking about the one thing she and Adrien really didn’t want to be thinking about.

‘Yeah, she does. I love her shoes,’ Marinette thought back, admiring Lila’s chic heels. She wondered if Lila was at all into fashion. Italy had so many cool designers and it would be amazing to be able to find out details from someone who had experienced it firsthand.

“Lila, would you like to tell the class something about yourself?” Madame Bustier asked.

“Well, we moved here because my mamma works for the embassy,” Lila said in lightly accented French. “She has a really important job and they basically begged her to move here. She didn’t want to come because she was afraid that it would hurt my education, but I knew that it was really important for her career.” She smiled at the class. “So I hope you’ll all help me keep my grades up!”

“Of course. I’m sure you’ll be caught up in no time,” Madame Bustier said. She glanced around at the class before nodding. “Okay, I think we’ll have sit you right up there next to Nathaniel.”

“Oh,” Lila said. “Well, I was really hoping that I could sit closer to the front. I have a problem with seeing sometimes. My eyes aren’t what they should be. The second row would really be better for me. Maybe I could sit there?” And she pointed right at Marinette’s spot.

“What?” Marinette said, startled. Her immediate thought, as Adrien tensed beside her, was that Lila was playing a prank, but Lila looked very serious. Madame Bustier seemed surprised by the request too, but, much to Marinette’s dismay, their teacher didn’t look like she was going to say no. Well, of course she wouldn’t. Madame Bustier was too nice to say no to a new student…

“You wouldn’t mind, right?” Lila continued, smiling and turning back to Madame Bustier. “It’s just, it would really help me see the board better.”

Adrien cleared his throat, squeezing Marinette’s hand, and said, “Actually, Madame Bustier, if Lila has trouble seeing, wouldn’t it be better if she sits in the front row so she’s closer to the board?”

“You’re right, Adrien,” Madame Bustier said, and looked at the four students sitting in the front row. “Nino, Alya, Chloé, Sabrina. Would one of you be willing to sacrifice your seat for Lila’s sake?”

Chloé immediately folded her arms over her chest and looked like she was more likely to start dancing atop the desks than she was to move. Nino and Alya both exchanged reluctant looks too; Marinette knew that neither of them wanted to move because then they wouldn’t be able to sit next to each other. Finally, Sabrina stood up and began packing together her things. She took her backpack and climbed the stairs to sit down next to Nathaniel.

“Thank you, Sabrina,” Madame Bustier said. “Please take a seat, Lila.”

‘I could’ve moved,’ Marinette thought, feeling a bit bad. She was the class president, after all. It probably didn’t look very good for her to keep her own seat while forcing Sabrina to move.

Adrien shook his head slightly. ‘If Lila has vision problems, it really is better for her to sit in the front row. It makes no sense for her to sit in the second row. Besides, you didn’t want to and I didn’t want you to either,’ he thought.

‘Thanks for speaking up,’ she thought. In a way, she was a little proud of him. At one time, Adrien never would’ve done such a thing.

He shot her a tiny smile as Lila walked over and sat down beside Chloé. Truth be told, neither girl seemed very happy about the arrangement. Marinette hoped that Chloé wouldn’t be mean about it. She was sure that Chloé was disapponted about not being able to sit next to Sabrina, but that didn’t make it okay for Chloé to take those feelings out on Lila.

“Okay, class. We’re going to start with English this morning. Lila, if you’re having any trouble following me along, please let me know,” Madame Bustier said, walking over to her desk.

Marinette obediently got her English book, but her thoughts weren’t on the work. Instead she found herself sketching a small picture of Tikki in the corner of her notebook, and that just made her think of the conversation she and Adrien had been having before Lila came in. She hoped that whoever got the Ladybug miraculous would occasionally visit the Dupain-Cheng bakery to pick up cookies for Tikki.

Maybe Tikki would even pop up to visit her? But no. That was probably against the rules. Master Fu had made it pretty clear that she and Adrien wouldn’t be seeing Tikki or Plagg again, and really that was probably for the best: it would be much harder to let go otherwise. It was going to be bad enough having to see the new Ladybug and Chat Noir running around the city…

“Marinette, are you okay?” Madame Bustier asked suddenly.

Startled, Marinette looked up. “What?” Her voice came out raspy.

‘You’re crying,’ Adrien thought, ducking his head so that no one would see the tears in his eyes either.

“Class, read through page twelve. We’ll be reading it out loud when I come back. Marinette, come with me,” Madame Bustier said, looking at Marinette with obvious concern.

Reluctantly, Marinette got to her feet and followed Madame Bustier to the door. She stepped out into the empty hallway. Madame Bustier followed, sliding the door shut behind them. Marinette didn’t look up at her teacher, instead staring down at the ground and willing herself to stop crying. School wasn’t the place for it, not if she didn’t want people paying too much attention to her and Adrien.

“Marinette, what’s wrong?” Madame Bustier asked, her voice soft and compassionate. Aside from Adrien, she was the first person who had asked Marinette that since Marinette had lost her miraculous, and the question hit harder than Marinette had anticipated.

“N-nothing,” she stammered, but it came out soft and quivery.

“Do you need a hug?” Madame Bustier said. Marinette didn’t think before she nodded, and was immediately pulled into a hug.

‘Oh, that feels good,’ Adrien thought.

‘It really does. I wish you were getting a hug too,’ Marinette thought back. Grief was still a heavy weight on both their hearts, but Madame Bustier’s understanding hug was helping a little. It was a reminder that she and Adrien weren’t alone, even if no one else understood exactly what was going on.

“I hope you know that I’m here if you need to talk,” Madame Bustier said when they parted, looking at Marinette with obvious concern. “I know that sometimes it’s hard to talk to your parents or even your friends. Whatever you need to say, I’d listen without judgment.”

“Thanks, Madame Bustier,” Marinette said quietly. Unfortunately, she couldn’t share anything. Master Fu had explicitly warned her and Adrien against telling anyone that they were – had been Ladybug and Chat Noir. Both for their own safety and for the safety of their family and friend’s. Hawkmoth wouldn’t hesitate to come after them for details about the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculouses.

Madame Bustier smiled at her. “It’ll be okay, Marinette. Really. Nothing lasts forever.”

But this would, and so Marinette merely gave a tight smile and nodded. “Right.”

“Do you feel like you can go back in or do you want to go home?” Madame Bustier asked.

‘Please come back in,’ Adrien thought desperately.

Marinette sent a pulse of comfort and reassurance back at him even as she shook her head. “I’m okay. Really. Things just kind of… overwhelmed me for a moment there. That’s all.”

“If you’re sure.” Madame Bustier patted Marinette’s shoulder and then opened up the classroom door.

They were just in time to see Lila walking over to Marinette’s empty seat. “Do you mind if I sit here for a moment?” she asked with a disarming smile. “I’d just like to see if I can see any better from this seat.”

‘What the hell,’ Marinette thought.

‘Why is she so insistent on sitting in your seat?’ Adrien thought back, somewhere between annoyed and confused.

Lila just kept standing there, smiling at Adrien. It was obvious that she was not going to give up too easily. Madame Bustier shifted behind Marinette and pointedly cleared her throat.

‘I guess you should say yes,’ Marinette thought. She didn’t know why Lila was so focused on that particular seat either, but she didn’t want Adrien to get in trouble for being rude to a new classmate.

“Sure, Lila, that’s fine with me,” Adrien said with a tight smile. Neither of them were prepared for Lila to let out a gasp and actually stagger backwards, one hand pressed to her chest. She stared at Adrien with wide eyes, and Adrien stared back at her in growing confusion.

“Lila? What’s wrong?” Alya said, her eyebrows furrowed.

“Adrien just said my words,” Lila gasped. “We’re soulmates!”

Chapter Text

“What?” Adrien blurted out.

“What?!” Marinette exclaimed at the same time, but Adrien was pretty sure that no one else heard her over the general calamity that broke out when Lila announced that they were soulmates. He cringed as all of their classmates started talking at once.

“This is amazing!” Alya said, her eyes lighting up.

“Congratulations Adrien!” Mylène said.

“And you too, Lila,” Ivan added.

“It must have been fate that brought you together,” Rose gushed, grabbing Juleka’s arm. Juleka was smiling as she patted Rose’s hand.

“Oh my god! That is so cool!” Nino said excitedly, grabbing Adrien’s arm. “Dude, you found your soulmate!”

“What?” Adrien said again, confused. “No, I already found -” He just barely stopped himself from saying that Marinette was his soulmate, not some girl he didn’t even know.

“Alright, everyone, calm down,” Madame Bustier called out, but no one paid any attention.

“Can you feel anything?” Sabrina was asking Lila excitedly.

“I can’t believe our class has three soulmated pairs!” Alya squealed, grinning over at Nino.

“Hey! All of you shut up right now!”

“Chloé,” Madame Bustier said disapprovingly into the silence. “We don’t tell people to shut up.”

Naturally, Chloé ignored that in favor of frowning at Lila. “You’re not Adrien’s soulmate,” she said firmly.

“What?” Lila blinked, looking shocked by the statement.

“Chloé, you can’t possibly know that,” Alix said, and Chloé’s jaw tightened, her eyes flashing in a very familiar way that spoke of trouble. Adrien decided he’d better speak up before Chloé got mad.

“Actually, Chloé is right. I’m sorry, Lila. I might have said your words, but you didn’t say mine. And I don’t feel anything from you. I’m afraid that we’re not soulmates.” He pasted on his best apologetic smile.

“But… that can’t be right. I feel something towards you,” Lila said, clasping both hands to her chest.

‘What a lying brat’, Marinette thought. She came up behind Adrien, her arms folded across her chest. Adrien could feel the annoyance and frustration rolling off of her waves, not that he could blame her. He wouldn’t have been very thrilled if some guy had walked in and started saying that Marinette was his soulmate. He needed to diffuse the situation and quickly.

“What are your words, then?” Alya said, staring at Adrien.

He recoiled slightly. “What – I’m not telling you that!” He didn’t think anyone besides Chloé had been within earshot when he and Marinette first met. But if Adrien had learned one thing in life, it was that the walls had ears. The only people who knew about the words on his chest were his father, Marinette, Chloé, and Plagg. Plus a couple of doctors. That was it. Adrien was adamant it would stay that way. The last thing they needed was more people pretending to be his soulmate!

“Alya, that’s really private information,” Marinette said, frowning.

Alya winced. “Sorry. It’s just – Adrien, come on. What possible reason could Lila have to be making this up?” she asked reasonably. “Doesn’t it make more sense that you’ve been blocked? They can do that, you know. Put blocks in place before you even find your bond.”

“That’s actually true,” Max spoke up. “I read about this research study done on this girl. Her parents had blocks put into her when she was a baby and she had no idea. When she met her soulmate, she didn’t even know.”

“I’m not blocked, and Lila didn’t say my words,” Adrien said, exasperated. Though he had to admit, that did sound like something Gabriel Agreste might do…

Rose gave a quiet gasp. “Oh, have you felt something but you’re afraid to admit it because of your father?” she asked, staring at Adrien sadly. “Or because of your fans?”

“I’m not – that’s not – n-no!” Adrien stammered, unsettled that she had so accurately guessed his reasons for keeping his actual soulmate a secret. And that was a mistake.

“Oh, Adrien,” Alya said, looking at him sympathetically. Behind him, Marinette groaned and covered her face with her hands.

‘Adrien, you idiot, tell them it’s not true!’ she thought.

‘I’m trying! They don’t believe me!’ he thought back.

“If Adrien says he and Lila aren’t soulmates, we should believe him,” Marinette spoke up.

But rather than be a point in Adrien’s favor, all of their classmates exchanged significant looks while Lila just stood there looking increasingly sad and confused. Adrien wasn’t sure what was going on, and he could tell from Marinette’s uncertainty that she wasn’t sure either. He grew increasingly uncomfortable as the pointed silence dragged on, until finally Madame Bustier cleared her throat.

“Alright, everyone. As exciting as this… potential… development is, we do need to keep going,” she said. “Lila, please take your seat.”

“Madame Bustier, the second row really is better for me. Are you sure I can’t sit here?” Lila asked, not moving.

The thought of Lila sitting next to him made Adrien feel a bit ill. He had no idea what the hell was going on, but he didn’t want to be separated from Marinette. He just wasn’t sure how to communicate that in a way that wouldn’t make him look like an asshole, considering he had just renounced Lila as his soulmate. Likewise, it wouldn’t look great if the class president refused to move for a student.

Chloé scoffed. “I doubt the second row is better, but fine. Adrien and Marinette can move here. Nathaniel can sit beside Ivan and I’ll sit beside Sabrina,” she declared, standing up.

Adrien looked at her in surprised gratitude. ‘I love Chloé so much right now.’

‘I can’t believe she’s willing to move for us,’ Marinette thought, stunned. ‘Chloe never moves for other people. Ever.’

Lila’s eyes widened. “But – but then that leaves me without a seatmate. I won’t have anyone to help me catch up!”

“Fine,” Chloé said coolly. “I’m sure Nathaniel wouldn’t mind moving to sit beside you. Right?” she demanded, spinning around and staring pointedly at Nathaniel.

“Uh – s-sure?” Nathaniel said, paling a little under the force of Chloé’s stare.

“I don’t think everyone needs to move around just to accommodate me,” Lila said quickly. “Surely it’s best if I just sit beside Adrien, right?”

Chloé’s eyes narrowed.

‘Oooh,’ Marinette thought, and, barely a second after that, Marinette’s understanding washed over Adrien and he realized what was going on. His level of dismay increased.

‘Lila is a fan of mine,’ he thought.

‘She’s totally a fan of yours,’ Marinette thought back, setting her jaw. ‘That’s why she’s claiming to be your soulmate and why she’s so insistent about sitting next to you.’

Adrien fought the urge to shudder. Normally, he didn’t mind having fans. In a way, it was a little flattering to know that girls found him so attractive. But sometimes it could get downright scary. This was exactly why his father had always warned him against letting his words become public knowledge. Some of his fans could get a little too friendly. Though admittedly, this was the first time anyone had gone this far.

“You know what, you’re right,” Chloé said suddenly.

“Chloé?” Sabrina said uncertainly.

Chloé flipped her ponytail over her shoulder. “Clearly Lila should have the best person in class helping her out.”

Lila broke out into a smile. “Exactly!”

“Someone who is reliable, has good grades, and a known track record for helping,” Chloé went on, a steely glint to her smile.

“That’s exactly what I need,” Lila said, nodding.

“Great! I’m glad that you agree. Adrikins, you can come sit next to me. Marinette, you don’t mind being Lila’s seatmate, right?” Chloé asked sweetly.

Marinette choked on a laugh. “Not at all.”

“Wh-what?” Lila said. “Wait, no! That’s not –”

“It just makes sense. Adrien is so busy with his modeling job. He doesn’t always get to sit through every class,” Chloé interrupted her. “Marinette, on the other hand, is always here. Plus, she’s the class president. It makes the most sense for her to help you get settled. Right, Madame Bustier?”

“That’s a good solution, Chloé,” Madame Bustier said, nodding. “Adrien, please move your things.”

“Sure,” Adrien said. He would rather have stayed where he was, but sitting next to Chloé was a lot better than sitting beside Lila. The only crappy thing was now Marinette had to sit next to her.

‘It’s fine. She’s not my fan,’ Marinette thought, helping him to gather his things. ‘I bet she won’t want to sit here long anyway.’

Adrien suspected that she was right judging by the enormous pout on Lila’s face as she slammed her backpack down next to Marinette. Chloé, on the other hand, had a smug smile on her face as she sat back down at her normal place. Adrien took a seat next to her and took out his book and pen. Madame Bustier walked back up to the front of the room to resume class.

“Thanks,” Adrien whispered to Chloé.

“I don’t like sharing you with Dupain-Cheng, but I’ll be damned if anyone else gets a piece of you,” Chloé muttered back.

‘I never thought I’d be grateful for Chloé’s possessiveness,’ Marinette thought.

‘You and me both,’ Adrien thought back, hiding a smile.

They made it through the rest of the morning without incident, thankfully. Adrien preoccupied himself with taking peeks through Marinette’s eyes as she continued to draw in her notebook. She had moved on from pictures of Tikki and Plagg and into designing a dress loosely based on the Ladybug outfit. A dress, Adrien was sure, that would never actually be made.

When Madame Bustier dismissed them for lunch, Alya turned to Marinette and chuckled. “Looks like Kim is a candidate for the #marinettechallenge. You up for it?” She pointed to where Kim was snoozing away, drooling onto his math book.

“Not today,” Marinette said with a thin smile. “Adrien and I have lunch plans.” Adrien obediently stood up and walked over.

“Oh, okay,” Alya said with a faint frown.

‘That was weird,’ Marinette thought as she and Adrien left the class.

‘What was?’ Adrien thought.

‘Alya gave me a weird look,’ Marinette thought back.

‘Well, if I know Alya, she won’t stay quiet for long if something is bothering her,’ Adrien thought reasonably. ‘No sense in worrying about it… especially when there are pastries waiting for us!’

Marinette laughed out loud and, with a surge of fondness, thought back, ‘Oh, so that’s where your brain is. Come on, then. Race you to the bakery!’

Chapter Text

As it turned out, Marinette regretted going home for lunch that day. When she and Adrien returned to school, it was hard not to notice the buzz surrounding the new student. Lila Rossi was the topic of conversation for everyone, it seemed. She also didn’t fail to notice that several kids were watching her and Adrien. It was normal for Adrien to garner attention, but unusual for people to stare at Marinette too.

‘What’s going on?’ she thought to Adrien. The stares were making her a little uncomfortable.

‘I don’t know,’ Adrien thought back, equally puzzled. ‘Hey, there’s Nino and Nathaniel. Maybe they know. I’ll go ask.’ He slipped away from her, heading towards their classmates. Marinette watched his progress, and was fully intending to eavesdrop on the conversation. But no sooner had Adrien reached Nino and Nathaniel than two hands landed on Marinette’s shoulders and started shaking her.

Excitedly, Alya shouted, “Girl, you’ll never guess what just happened!”

“What?” Marinette said, laughing as she twisted around and out of Alya’s grip. Alya grabbed her hands instead, practically dancing in place.

“Lila promised me an interview for the Ladyblog!” Alya blurted out.

“That’s great!” Marinette said automatically, before she paused. “Wait. Why would Lila be doing an interview for the Ladyblog?” And why on earth would that information make Alya so excited?

“Because she’s best friends with Ladybug, of course!” Alya said.

“She’s what?!” Marinette exclaimed, pulling her hands out of Alya’s grip. Across the yard, Adrien’s head unwittingly turned towards them before he remembered himself and turned back to what Nathaniel was saying. But that didn’t stop his shock from rolling across the bond, echoing Marinette’s own sentiments.

Alya nodded enthusiastically. “Lila says she’s been here for about two weeks, even though she just started school today. She and her parents were busy getting things settled.”

“And she met Ladybug during that time?” Marinette said.

“Yup! Lila told me all about it. Can you believe that Ladybug saved her on her very first day in Paris?”

“Uh…” Marinette said, who definitely did not remember saving Lila Rossi. She wracked her brain trying to think of any such situations, but drew a blank.

‘I don’t remember that either,’ Adrien thought.

“And then Lila said she and Ladybug got to talking and they have so much in common that they became instant best friends,” Alya continued. “Gosh, Lila is so lucky!”

Marinette shook her head. “But Alya, how could Lila and Ladybug have talked? Wouldn’t Ladybug’s miraculous have been running out of time after an akuma attack?”

“Oh, it wasn’t an akuma attack. Lila said Ladybug pulled her out of the way of a speeding car. She said she was so upset by what almost happened that Ladybug stuck around to comfort her, and that’s why they had the time to talk.” Alya sighed wistfully. “I wish Ladybug would save me like that. The only time I ever see her is during akuma battles, and she and Chat Noir always have to leave right…”

“But - are you – are you sure that’s really how it happened?” Marinette said. She hadn’t pulled anyone out from in front of a speeding car lately, and she definitely hadn’t met Lila Rossi before today. But why would Lila lie to Alya? Especially about something was so easily proven false?

Of course, that wasn’t really the case now, was it? Alya couldn’t exactly ask Ladybug about whether or not Ladybug knew Lila. But Alya didn’t know that, and so Lila wouldn’t know that either.

“Well, Lila gave me a few more details, but she wanted to save the full story for when I did the interview,” Alya said. “See?” She thrust her phone in front of Marinette’s nose, so close that all Marinette could see was a blur of letters before Alya yanked her phone away again.

“That’s really –” Marinette started, but Alya cut her off.

“I just can’t wait to get her interview up on the blog. It’s really going to boost my ratings! Which I really need right now, because Ladybug and Chat Noir haven’t been seen for a while now. I keep waiting for them to go out on patrol and there’s no sign of them.”

Marinette’s throat got tight. “Maybe they’re trying to throw Hawkmoth off,” she said, very quietly. The Ladybug and Chat Noir that Alya knew of would never patrol again. She wondered if Alya would keep the Ladyblog going after the new Ladybug and Chat Noir came into effect. Probably. If anything, the swap would probably just drive Alya crazy and make her more determined to figure out what was going on.

“Maybe. Either way, Lila and I are meeting right after school so that she can do the interview,” Alya said happily. “You should come with me, Mari!”

“That’s okay, I have to help Maman in the bakery,” Marinette lied. “Adrien’s got a photoshoot, but then he and I might go get ice cream after. You and Nino are welcome to join us after you’re done your interview.”

“Oh… maybe,” Alya said vaguely, looking down at her phone. “Say, Marinette. You and Adrien are happy together, aren’t you?”

“Of course we are,” Marinette said. “Why?”

“No reason,” Alya said. “Did you hear that Lila knows a famous manga artist? She promised to introduce him to Nathaniel.”

“Wow,” Marinette said, raising her eyebrows. Being saved by Ladybug, being best friends with Ladybug, knowing a famous manga artist… Lila sure got around.

‘You’re not kidding,’ Adrien thought. He’d been half-listening to their conversation while also talking to Nino and Nathaniel. ‘Get this. Nino says that Lila told him that she knows all of the Hollywood directors. She said she would personally introduce Nino to Steven Besielberg.’

‘Seriously?’ Marinette thought in disbelief. ‘And Nino believes that?’

‘He seems to,’ Adrien thought.

As she listened to Alya prattle on about who else Lila claimed to know, Marinette’s skepticism deepened. She couldn’t believe that Alya was taking Lila’s word for all of this. Didn’t Alya realize how unlikely it was that a fourteen-year-old would know all these famous people? Marinette could buy the Ladybug thing, sort of, but famous actors, musicians, writers and artists was a stretch no matter who Lila’s mother was.

‘It just seems like it’s too much,’ Marinette thought. Adrien pushed a feeling back at her that could only be described as a mental shrug.

‘Well, technically Chloé and I know lots of famous people too,’ he thought. ‘My father has designed for a ton of movie stars. If I started going around talking about all of the people I’ve met, people might not think I was telling the truth even if I was.’

He had a point, much as Marinette was reluctant to admit it. Some kids were lucky that way. But that still didn’t explain why Lila was lying about Ladybug, or why she’d pretended that Adrien was her soulmate. Marinette knew for sure that those two things weren’t true, yet Lila had presented them as fact. She was even willing to go on the Ladyblog and lie about it.

“Alya, maybe you shouldn’t put Lila’s interview on your blog,” Marinette said suddenly, and Alya looked at her in surprise. “You have no way of verifying that what Lila says is true.”

“Really, Marinette?” Alya said, making a face. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous.”

“Jealous? What?” Marinette said, shocked.

“You know… because Lila and Adrien might be soulmates? I know you’re Adrien’s girlfriend, but you don’t need to be jealous,” Alya said.

Marinette wasn’t sure which part of that to address first. She shook her head. “First of all, Lila and Adrien are not soulmates. Second of all, I’m not jealous, believe me. I just think –” What? What did she think?

“What?” Alya said, narrowing her eyes.

‘It’s dangerous,’ Adrien thought, and Marinette gratefully went with it.

“It’s dangerous,” she repeated. “For Lila, right? Hawkmoth has shown he’ll stop at nothing to get the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous. If word gets out that Lila is friends with Ladybug, doesn’t that put Lila in danger? Wouldn’t that make her a target for Hawkmoth?”

“Oh,” Alya said after a moment, the corners of her mouth tugging down. “I guess… but Lila seems okay with taking that risk. She told me she really wanted to do the interview. She said the public deserved to know how cool Ladybug is, and I don’t disagree.”

“But if Lila’s new to Paris, she might not fully understand the dangers,” Marinette pointed out. “You should tell her and give her the chance to make an informed decision.”

“I guess.” Alya’s frown deepened momentarily before she brightened. “But I bet Lila will want to do it anyway.” She smiled at Marinette before heading back towards the school – specifically, towards where Lila was surrounded by Aurore, Marc, Sabrina, Rose, and Kim.

“This is not going to end well,” Marinette muttered.

Chapter Text

Not long after they returned to class, Adrien got the text from his bodyguard that it was time for him to go to the photoshoot. He regretfully packed up his things and, when Madame Mendeliev came in to start science, slipped out before the lesson could start. Marinette and Nino waved as he left; Adrien waved back, wishing that he could stay. The weight of what was sure to be a boring afternoon settled heavily on his shoulders as he headed for the car waiting just outside the gates.

“Hello,” he greeted his boyguard as he opened the door.

The Gorilla merely grunted, as always. Adrien sighed and climbed inside, setting his bag down beside him. It was moments like this where the weight of Plagg’s absence was heaviest. He didn’t know what he would’ve done without Marinette’s presence in the back of his head. She was the only thing making this situation bearable: losing Plagg and not having Marinette would’ve driven Adrien crazy.

She registered those thoughts, of course: even without the miraculous, their bond was still deepening at an accelerated rate. Adrien grinned to himself as he felt her embarrassment, followed by a soft pulse of affection that warmed him from head to toe. That was, if he was being honest, his favorite part about having a soulmate. He loved that there were no shields between them, and so he could feel the full force of whatever Marinette felt.

‘So you don’t regret it, then?’ Marinette thought, and Adrien could tell that this was something that she’d been idly thinking about ever since they’d left Master Fu’s. He knew immediately what she meant.

Most soulmates put up their own rudimentary shields when they first met. Children like Rose and Juleka, or people who couldn’t create their own shields for whatever reason, usually had someone else create blocks for them. There were specialized services out there just for that. Neither Adrien nor Marinette knew how to construct shields, so what they technically should have done upon finding out that they were soulmates was told their parents and been instructed on how to do that. Then, if they still couldn’t, blocks would have been put up.

Of course, in Adrien’s case, Gabriel probably wouldn’t have trusted him to create adequete shields and so would have insisted on the use of blocks anyway. His father was controlling like that. But from what Adrien knew, most people used shields that they had built and thus could modify themselves if they chose to. It was pretty rare to find someone who had blocked or shielded a bond fully, but it did happen sometimes.

He supposed that’s what Master Fu would’ve wanted them to do. Had he and Marinette had shields in place, they could’ve hidden the information about their miraculouses behind those shields. It would’ve been difficult and probably pretty awkward at times, and might have even required a full shield eventually. The thought was enough to make him shudder, and Marinette reached out comfortingly.

She was so good. Too good. So soft and sweet and gentle that from the moment that they’d met Adrien had never had any hesitation about letting Marinette into his mind. He hadn’t wanted to hide anything from her. Maybe that made him weird - few people were comfortable with someone else having unfettered access to their minds, particularly when that someone else was still a stranger – but it was just how he felt.

‘That doesn’t make you weird, Adrien. I’m okay with not having any shields too,’ Marinette thought, ready to jump to his defence as always. Adrien smiled.

‘Or it makes us both weird,’ he thought.

Marinette paused, and then he felt her smile too before she thought, ‘Okay, I’ll give you that one. But either way, this works for us. It really sucks that we don’t get to be Ladybug and Chat Noir anymore because of it, but I wouldn’t change anything.’

‘I wouldn’t either. I don’t want any shields or blocks between us,’ Adrien thought back, staring out the window. Frankly, at this point, he wasn’t even sure if a shield or block could be created to block their bond. And if it could, within another year or two it probably wouldn’t be possible. He was looking forward to that day, because then he’d be able to tell his father and Gabriel wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.

‘Me either,’ Marinette thought, pushing more affection and comfort his way until Adrien was drifting on it. Pushing his own feelings back towards Marinette created a feedback loop that both of them thoroughly enjoyed until the car got to its destination and Madame Mendeliev snapped at Marinette to pay attention.

“Ah, Adrien,” Nathalie said as Adrien opened the door. “You’ll be modeling with Jeanne today.”

“Okay,” Adrien said. He liked Jeanne. She didn’t try to cozy up to him the way some of the other models did. He got out of the car and followed Nathalie inside, where he was put through the full wardrobe and make-up regiment. Today was a formal shoot, which meant he was wearing a dark grey tuxedo with a black lapel, white shirt, and blue tie.

Jeanne joined him on set wearing a blue gown that was so tight she was clearly having difficulty walking in it. She tottered awkwardly over to Adrien and he laughed as he stuck out an arm to help her balance. She gave him a mock glare, her lips twitching with humor, before taking his arm.

“I swear, this dress couldn’t get any tighter if it tried,” she said.

Adrien gave the gown a critical look, feeling Marinette peek through his eyes. The beautifully decorated gown was very form-fitting, with a small trail that would slide behind her as she walked. She had a pale blue shawl which had been carefully set over her elbows before falling almost to the ground. He wasn’t a designer, of course, but he knew enough about photography to know that his father was probably all about the contrast between the tight dress and the loose shawl.

‘That should really have a slit in it,’ Marinette thought.

“No slit?” Adrien said.

“There is one, but for the first part of the shoot they’ve sewn in shut,” Jeanne replied. “Sorry, Adrien. Most of this is going to be on you. At least until they cut the slit.”

“I’m fine with that. I don’t want you to fall and hurt yourself,” Adrien said. At Marinette’s mental request, he glanced down at Jeanne’s shoes and was unsurprised to see that they were four-inch stiletto heels.

‘Your father creates amazing stuff, but it’s not very practical,’ Marinette thought.

‘Not even a little bit,’ Adrien thought back. He was suddenly very glad that he was a boy.

“Alright, you two, let’s make some magic!” Vincent shouted, walking towards them. “Let’s have you both in front of that wall over there, yes?”

“Ugh, moving,” Jeanne whispered, and Adrien couldn’t help a grin.

It took a bit of effort but finally they were both where Vincent wanted them to be. Per Vincent’s direction, Adrien stepped behind Jeanne and leaned over her, resting his chin on her shoulder and his hands atop of hers. They both cast coy looks at the camera. Vincent practically squealed in delight and started snapping photos, occasionally pausing to give them different directions.

‘School’s over,’ Marinette thought. ‘There goes Alya and Lila.’

Adrien had to remind himself not to frown on the outside. ‘Are you jealous, My Lady?’ he thought.

‘No. Yes? Maybe a little? Alya’s allowed to have other friends. I’m just not sure Lila is the right choice for a friend,’ Marinette thought back. ‘I’m really curious to see what this interview contains.’

‘You and me both,’ Adrien thought. Chat Noir was Ladybug’s best friend, thank you very much.

‘Yes, you are,’ Marinette thought with some amusement; she was smiling.

“Adrien!” Vincent exclaimed, and Adrien snapped to attention. “I need a serious look, not a smile!”

“Sorry,” Adrien said quickly, trying to school his expression.

‘Oops, sorry,’ Marinette thought.

‘It’s not your fault. That’s just the effect you have me,’ Adrien thought, stepping away from Jeanne. He dutifully took her hand and tried to pretend like they were dancing and he had just spun her out. Though how Jeanne would dance in her dress, he had no clue.

‘Flatterer,’ Marinette though, sighing. ‘I guess I’ll go help in the bakery.’

‘Cheer up, Mari. Things will be better tomorrow. It’s only Monday; I bet it’s going to be a great week,’ Adrien thought. He had no idea how wrong he was.

Chapter Text

"I'm telling you, it was so amazing," Lila gushed, looking off into the distance. "There is nothing like the moment when the sun starts to set over the ocean in Hawaii. It's nothing short of magical."

"It sounds amazing," Rose said, her eyes dreamy. "I'd love to visit Hawaii someday."

"Maybe I can take you! My father owns stock in a private airplane company, you know," Lila said importantly.

Marinette tried not to grind her teeth as she stared down at her math book. She was pretty sure that this wasn't what Madame Bustier had meant when she gave the class time to work on their homework. Supposedly, Rose and Mylène had sat down where Alya and Nino usually sat in order to help Lila out. But all the three of them had been doing for the past fifteen minutes was talking. Well, that wasn't quite true: Lila had been doing 99% of the talking, leaving Rose and Mylène to be appropiately awed by the stories that Lila was spinning.

Because Marinette was pretty sure that's what Lila was doing.

"Oh my gosh, that would be incredible!" Rose exclaimed, clasping her hands together.

"I'd love to come too," Mylène piped up. "I don't like heights, but the way you talk about the scenery... I don't think I could miss it."

"Of course you can come," Lila said with a smile. "Of course, some parts of Hawaii can be dangerous. My brother almost drowned in the ocean."

"I didn't know you had a brother," Rose said.

"He stayed with my aunt in the United States. He didn't want to come to Paris," Lila replied.

'Or maybe she just doesn't have a brother,' Marinette thought sourly.

'You don't know that,' Adrien thought back, glancing up at her from where he was seated beside Chloé. Adrien was the only one working. Chloé was working on filing her nails.

'I know that Lila has lied about being friends with Ladybug and being your soulmate. I also know she's full of more stories than an anthology,' Marinette thought, trying to pretend that she couldn't hear Rose and Mylène lapping up all the details about a brother that may or may not have actually existed. She wondered what Lila would do if Marinette asked to see a picture of her brother. Probably panic and dig up some random photo on the internet. It was tempting...

'Mari,' Adrien mentally chided. 'Don't antagonize her.'

"That's terrible!" Mylène said, pulling Marinette's attention away from Adrien. "And you swam into the ocean and pulled him out all by yourself?"

Lila nodded. "It was terrifying, but he's my brother. I just couldn't let him die," she said. "That's how I got my hearing problem."

Marinette's head snapped around so fast her neck ached, and before she could stop herself she blurted out, "Wait, I thought you had a problem with your eyesight."

Rose and Mylène both looked at Marinette in surprise, while Lila blinked. "What?"

"The first day of class, you said you had a problem with your eyes that meant you had to sit near the front," Marinette said, staring Lila down. She knew that everyone else assumed Lila wore contact lenses. Marinette was pretty sure there was absolutely nothing wrong with Lila's eyes, but she couldn't exactly prove that Lila didn't wear contacts. This, however, was pretty telling.

Lila gave a slightly shrill laugh. "Well, of course I have an eye problem. But I also have a hearing problem too," she said quickly.

"Then wouldn't it have been better for you to sit in the front row, where you're closer to Madame Bustier?" Marinette said pointedly.

"I sat here because - because of the acoustics, of course!" Lila said.

"The acoustics," Marinette repeated flatly.

"That makes sense," Rose piped up. "Luka is always saying that a room's acoustics have to be just right. It has to do with the way sound bounces off the walls."

"Exactly!" Lila said, nodding. "That's exactly right, Rose." She sighed. "It's really hard having so many problems at the age of fourteen."

Marinette had to bite her tongue to keep from saying something that would be very impolite. She was now 100% sure that there was nothing wrong with Lila Rossi except for an addiction to lying. But rather than say that, she just gathered her schoolwork together, picked up her backpack, and walked down the steps. She wasn't even sure that Mylène, Rose or Lila noticed that she was going, which was fine with Marinette. Adrien was already scooting over on his bench, pressing himself up against Chloé in order to leave enough room for Marinette to squeeze herself in at the end.

"You've got to give her credit. She's great at lying," Chloé said, finally looking up from her nails and smirking at Marinette.

"You were listening?" Marinette said.

Chloé shrugged. "Pretty hard not to. I actually thought you had her there for a moment. Too bad she's quick at thinking on her feet."

"Too quick if you ask me," Marinette muttered. "It's pretty bad when you can't even keep your lies straight."

"Maybe she really does have a hearing problem," Adrien said.

Marinette and Chloé exchanged looks of disbelief. Then Chloé shook her head. "Adrikins, you are so lucky you've got Dupain-Cheng. You would get eaten alive otherwise."

"Hey!" Adrien protested. "Just because I like to give people the benefit of the doubt -"

"It's gone way beyond that now, Adrien, really," Chloé said, her playful smile vanishing. "Come on now. Even you must be able to see that Lila Rossi is nothing but a liar. I'd bet a lot of money that not a single truthful word has come out of that girl's mouth since she came to Collège Françoise Dupont."

Adrien sighed. "Does it really matter?" he asked, looking down at the desk. He didn't like conflict, Marinette knew, though she wasn't sure if that was just the way that Adrien was or if it was a byproduct of growing up with an overbearing, controlling father like Gabriel. Or a combination of both. Either way, he was uncomfortable at the thought of confronting Lila. Marinette took his hand, lacing their fingers together, and mentally pushed comfort his way.

"It might matter more than you think," Chloé said darkly, casting a glare over her shoulder. Marinette followed Chloé's gaze and was dismayed to see that Sabrina had sat down in Marinette's spot. No wonder Chloé was annoyed.

"Oh hey," Adrien said suddenly. "They're unveiling that statue of Ladybug and Chat Noir today."

"I forgot about that," Marinette said, biting her lip. Adrien's sorrow hit her on a deep level, making her ache. The city was paying homage to two heroes who technically no longer existed. She knew that the city was expecting Ladybug and Chat Noir to be there tonight. Adrien had created a fake email and sent a message to the mayor's office informing them that the heroes wouldn't be there, but they had no way of knowing whether the message had been received or believed.

"Just in time!" Alya exclaimed, nearly scaring Marinette out of her wits.

"Al-Alya!" she stuttered in surprise. Alya leaned over her, grinnng.

"I was gonna post the interview after Lila did it, but I've been waiting for the moment when I'll get maximum traffic and tonight is the night," Alya said proudly. "People will want to know all about Ladybug and Chat Noir and they'll come right to the source. First thing they'll see is the interview with Lila."

"Maybe you can ask Ladybug to give you a soundbite about Lila today," Chloé said innocently. Adrien choked.

"That's... actually a really good idea," Alya said as Marinette facepalmed. "I think I'll do that. It would be the perfect finishing point to Lila's interview. Hey Marinette, what time are you going? I'll drop by the bakery to pick you up."

"Um... I wasn't sure I was going," Marinette said.

"You have to come!" Alya exclaimed. "This is like your first time seeing Ladybug, right?"

Marinette hesitated. 'I don't really want to go, but how can I say no?' she thought. Seeing the statue would be painful, but so was the hopeful excitement in Alya's eyes.

'Maybe it's better if you go. You might be able to make Alya feel better when Ladybug doesn't come,' Adrien thought.

He had a point. If Alya got too upset, she'd be at risk of being akumatized. "Okay, sure," she said finally. "But I won't bother going home first. The five of us can walk over together after school."

"Five?" Alya repeated.

"You, me, Nino, Adrien and Chloé," Marinette said.

"What?!" Chloé squeaked.

"Uh, sure," Alya said, shrugging. "The five of us." She retreated back up the steps towards Nino and Alix.

"I did not agree to that," Chloé hissed.

"You'll survive," Adrien said without even looking at her, and Marinette had to cough to hide a laugh.

Chapter Text

When school was done, Adrien walked to the small park with his friends rather than going to his piano lesson like he was supposed to. Alya was bubbling over with excitement, Nino was amused at Alya’s antics, Chloé was sulking, and Marinette was somewhere between melancholy and wistfulness. Adrien took her hand, lacing their fingers together, and held it tightly as they reached the park and looked at the crowd of people, the stage, and the statue that was covered by a cloth.

“What a big crowd,” Adrien said softly, a little unnerved by how many people had turned up.

“Of course it is! Ladybug and Chat Noir are Paris’s heroes. Everyone should be here,” Alya said, putting her hands on her hips and surveying the group. “I’m disappointed, actually. I thought there’d be way more people.”

“If there were more people, your chances of getting a good picture would be a lot lower,” Nino pointed out.

Alya considered that, then nodded. “You’re right. I’m going to go ask the artist if I can get a sneak peek. Coming?”

“Sure,” Nino said, following her.

“Okay, what the hell is going on?” Chloé demanded, rounding on Adrien and Marinette the instant Alya and Nino were out of earshot. “How do you – I mean, you’re here…” She looked at them meaningfully. “Everyone is waiting for Ladybug and Chat Noir to show up. Shouldn’t you be… you know?” She gestured.

Adrien sighed, realizing that he should’ve realized this moment was coming. “Chloé… we need to talk.” He let go of Marinette’s hand and grabbed Chloé’s elbow, steering her further away from the crowd. Chloé went with it, but only because she was burning with curiosity.

“Adrikins, what is it?” she asked, her smile fading away into something more serious as she got a good look at his face.

“Marinette and I aren’t Ladybug and Chat Noir anymore,” Adrien confessed quietly.

“WHAT?!” Chloé shrieked.

‘Oh yeah, that didn’t grab attention at all,’ Marinette thought as several heads turned in their direction. Adrien winced, fighting the urge to hide behind Chloé. He didn’t really want a bunch of pictures of him getting out on the internet. Luckily, the ferocity of Chloé’s glare when she realized that people were staring was enough to discourage interest and people turned away.

“Our miraculous got taken away,” Adrien whispered, leaning in towards her.

“But… why?” Chloé said, her eyes wide.

“Because we were soulmates,” Adrien replied.

‘And because she knew,’ Marinette thought. ‘You might as well tell her the whole truth.’

“And because you knew,” Adrien repeated out loud.

Chloé’s expression fell. “You lost your miraculous because of me?” she said, sounding a bit horrified. “Adrien, I – I’m sorry.”

“Not just because of you,” Adrien said, taking a little pleasure in Marinette’s shock over Chloé’s apology. No matter what Marinette and everyone else thought, Chloé Bourgeois did have a heart. It might be misguided, and a little darker than most, but it was still there. Apologies were extraordinarily rare, but Chloé always meant them.

“I don’t understand,” Chloé said.

“I told you that no one was supposed to know our identities. I wasn’t kidding,” Adrien said grimly. He supposed it couldn’t hurt much to tell Chloé about the guardian now, so he added, “There’s a guardian, I guess, who takes care of all the miraculous. When he found out that Marinette and I knew about each other, and that we were already soulmates, he took our miraculous away.”

Chloé stared at him. “Seriously? That’s ridiculous. Utterly ridiculous.”

‘Damn straight,’ Marinette thought.

“You’re not wrong,” Adrien said, shaking his head. “But we didn’t get a say in it. He thought that us being soulmates was a liability.”

“Then he’s also stupid,” Chloé declared. “Because you two were amazing superheroes.”

Adrien flushed. “Chloé…”

“What? It’s the truth! You two saved Paris like two dozen times.” Chloé huffed, putting her hands on her hips. “And what does this guardian know, anyway? If he’s so great, and his job is to take care of the miraculous, then why does Hawkmoth even have one?”

‘That’s… an excellent question,’ Marinette thought. She was standing with Alya and Nino, but she now turned towards Adrien and Chloé like she couldn’t help herself.

“I don’t know,” Adrien said out loud.

“You never asked?” Chloé said.

“Well… no… I guess… we never thought about it?” Adrien said lamely.

“You never…” Chloé rolled her eyes. “Honestly, you two!”

“In our defence, we only found out that there was a guardian just as he took our miraculous away. We were a little preoccupied,” Adrien snapped, a little embarrassed that he had never thought to ask Plagg how Hawkmoth had gotten a miraculous in the first place. But hiding the fact that he and Marinette were soulmates had always taken priority over everything else.

“Right,” Chloé said, her ire draining away to be replaced with sympathy. “So… what now? Is he going to choose a new Ladybug and Chat Noir?”

“We think so,” Adrien said. “I mean… Hawkmoth hasn’t stopped. Someone still has to protect the city.”

“Right.” Chloé nodded, her expression closed-off so that Adrien couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

‘Maybe she’ll be happy. She can like Ladybug again without having to worry about the fact that it’s me behind the mask,’ Marinette thought in an attempt at being light-hearted.

‘I actually don’t believe that’s true,’ Adrien thought back. ‘What Chloé liked about Ladybug wasn’t the miraculous. It was you. Your strength, your compassion, your kindness, your willingness to protect people no matter who they are or what they’ve done. Those qualities aren’t from the miraculous. That’s all you, Marinette.’

Even from across the park, Adrien could see the way Marinette’s cheeks reddened. She was radiating embarrassment, but Adrien could feel some pleasure in there too. He poured his sincerity back, wanting her to know that he meant every word. She was the incredible one, the one who had kept Paris safe all these weeks, and Master Fu would never be able to find a Ladybug as good as she had been.

‘Oh, Adrien,’ Marinette thought, now tinged with sorrow. ‘You were a fantastic Chat Noir too. You know that, right? I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did without you at my side.’

‘I know,’ Adrien thought. He wasn’t sure he wholly believed it, but he knew that Marinette believed it and somehow that was almost better.

“You know, if you two really want to hide the soulmate thing, you need to work on not openly staring at each other for several minutes,” Chloé said right in Adrien’s ear.

He jumped. “Wh-what?”

“The gushy, lovestruck staring?” Chloé said dryly. “It’s pretty obvious.”

“We’re dating. I’m allowed to stare at Marinette,” Adrien objected.

“It’s truly a marvel to me that no one has figured you two out yet,” Chloé said.

Adrien made a face at her. Their reasons for keeping their soulmate status a secret were still valid, or at least Adrien thought they were. If word got back to Gabriel that Adrien had found his soulmate, Adrien couldn’t be sure how his father or his fans would react. He didn’t want Marinette to end up hurt just because she had the misfortune of being Adrien Agreste’s soulmate.

‘It’s not misfortunate!’ Marinette thought indignantly. ‘I love you and I love being your soulmate.’

“Oh god, he’s getting even mushier,” Chloé muttered under her breath.

This time, Adrien just ignored her as he started walking towards Marinette. The instant he was close enough, he swept her into a hug and a kiss that made her knees weak – he knew because he was the one who had to steady her.

“What’s this about?” Nino said somewhere behind them.

“Don’t ask,” Chloé said wearily. “Break it up, you two. The ceremony about to start.”

“But Ladybug isn’t here yet!” Alya exclaimed. Her sentiments were echoed by a young man that Adrien vaguely recognized.

“We need to wait for Ladybug to get here first,” the man said stubbornly.

“Théo, perhaps if we start, Ladybug and Chat Noir will arrive,” Mayor Bourgeois said. “The crowd is getting restless.”

Théo frowned. “Mayor Bourgeois, I really want Ladybug to see what I’ve done. Please wait another few minutes,” he pleaded.

‘I feel awful,’ Marinette thought, biting her lip.

‘I know. Me too,’ Adrien thought back, hugging her tightly. Maybe they should’ve found costumes to wear. Plenty of stores were selling Ladybug and Chat Noir costumes. Even if it meant there was a chance someone might recognize them, or that they would be called out as fakes when they couldn’t perform any of their usual miraculous tricks, it would’ve been the kind thing to do.

“I really don’t think we can. We’re already ten minutes past the starting point,” Mayor Bourgeois said.

“But they said they would be here!” Théo exclaimed. He looked pretty upset. Automatically, Adrien scanned the sky for butterflies. But it wasn’t like he and Marinette would be able to do anything even if Théo did get akumatized. Nothing but feel awful because it was all their fault.

“We can’t wait,” Mayor Bourgeois said firmly, and Théo’s hands clenched into fists.

Chapter Text

Marinette’s heartbeat quickened as she saw the anger flash across Théo’s face. She wanted so badly to say something to diffuse the situation, but she had no idea what to say. It wasn’t like she could apologize for Ladybug’s absence. That risked drawing a lot of awkward attention. And it was hard when Alya looked just as disappointed as Théo did. She was letting everyone down…

Just as Théo opened his mouth to respond, Chloé pointedly cleared her throat and drawled, “Daddy, didn’t you tell me that your office got a message from Ladybug that said she and Chat Noir weren’t coming?”

Mayor Bourgeois looked a little surprised by Chloé’s interruption, but he recovered quickly and said, “Uh – I do believe we got a message, but I couldn’t be sure that it was actually from Ladybug.”

“Based on the fact that they haven’t shown up yet, I’d say that message was real,” Chloé said. She pinned Théo with a pointed look. “I’m sure that they would have been here if at all possible. Ladybug and Chat Noir aren’t the type of people to leave their fans hanging. But it would be a really shitty way to say thank you if someone got so upset over their absence, especially when they couldn’t help it, that he got akumatized.”

Théo blinked, then flushed. “I wasn’t going to get akumatized,” he said hastily, some of the tension draining away. “I was just –”

“Whatever. Ladybug and Chat Noir are probably off saving Paris. I bet you’ll get a handwritten thank you note later on or something like that,” Chloé said with a sniff. “In the meantime, you’re wasting everyone’s time. Can’t we get on with it?”

“Um… sure,” Théo said. “My apologies, Mayor Bourgeois.”

“Nothing to apologize for. It’s very difficult to get superheroes to adhere to a schedule,” Mayor Bourgeois said, all smiles now as he gripped Théo’s arm and led him on stage.

“Come on, Nino. If Ladybug isn’t going to show up, I can at least get some pictures of the statue being revealed. I need to scout out a good place while the mayor is talking,” Alya said.

“Maybe if we go right,” Nino said, grabbing her hand.

“Thank you, Chloé,” Marinette said, clasping a hand over her chest. Her heart was still racing. She could hardly believe that Chloé had actually diffused the situation rather than making it worse.

Chloé shrugged and inspected her nails. “He was being an idiot, and nothing I said was a lie,” she said. “Ladybug and Chat Noir would have been here if they could’ve, right?”

“Right,” Adrien said, so quietly that Marinette hugged him again.

“But all the same, you probably should write him a note or something like that. Unless you don’t care because akumas aren’t your problem anymore,” Chloé said.

“Chloé! Of course we still care,” Marinette said.

“Well, I’m just saying,” Chloé muttered, smirking.

Mayor Bourgeois started talking before Marinette could think up a good response, which was just as well because Chloé was, not that Marinette would ever admit it out loud, kind of right. Hawkmoth and his akumas were no longer hers and Adrien’s problem to deal with. Even if they wanted to, they couldn’t do anything about it beyond trying to diffuse a situation before it began – and they hadn’t even been able to do that this time around. Marinette wasn’t sure what to do about that.

“ – and unfortunately, our esteemed heroes couldn’t be here today, but we hope that wherever they are, they are doing well,” Mayor Bourgeois said formally. “Paris thanks them for their service. A statue will forever stand as an homage to those who tirelessly work to protect us from evil. Monsieur Barbot, would you do the honors?”

“Of course.” Théo stepped up to the statue and grasped the cover, giving it a good pull. The crowd gasped and murmured in appreciation as the cover fell, unveiling the statue.

“Oh,” Marinette whispered. Her eyes filled with tears as she gazed up at the statue, which was a pretty perfect depiction of Ladybug and Chat Noir. Chat was crouched lower to the ground, while Ladybug was leaping up above him with her yoyo spinning around her. Both superheroes looked strong and courageous, and it left Marinette breathless to think that was how the people of Paris saw them.

She wasn’t sure who started clapping first, but very shortly the entire crowd was applauding. Marinette belatedly joined in, glancing over at Adrien. He was teary-eyed too, and his hands were shaking. Both of them shared the same thought. What would Paris do when they found out that someone new was taking up the mantle of Ladybug and Chat Noir? Would people think that the original Ladybug and Chat Noir had abandoned them?

“Very well, Monsieur Barbot,” Mayor Bourgeois said, moving towards Théo. The two of them posed for several pictures – Marinette noticed that Alya had managed to squeeze her way right up in front, meaning she’d have great pictures for the Ladyblog – before Mayor Bourgeois announced that there was cake and refreshments to celebrate. Chloé trailed after her father as the mayor led the way.

As the crowd dispersed, most people heading for the small tent set up on the other side of the park, Marinette walked up to the statue. This close, she could see that Théo had gotten a few details wrong. For example, Chat’s nose was a little bigger than that, and her lips weren’t nearly so full. She also thought that Théo had missed the mark a bit with Chat’s expression. But overall, it was a pretty good likeness.

‘I disagree. I should be taller than that,’ Adrien thought.

Marinette laughed out loud, grateful for his humor. ‘How can you tell? Your statue self is crouching down,’ she thought, glancing over at him.

‘I can tell,’ he thought. ‘If there weren’t so many people here, I’d crouch down and then you’d be able to see.’

‘It’s a rendition, Chaton,’ Marinette thought, reaching out to pat his shoulder. ‘It’s not going to be perfect, because it’s not like Théo could call us up and ask for exact measurements. And even if he could’ve, we wouldn’t have been able to give them to him. I don’t exactly want Alya running around looking for every teenage girl that’s my height. It’s lucky enough that she never noticed I wear the same hairstyle as Ladybug.’ She touched her pigtails self-consciously.

‘If Alya noticed, she probably didn’t think twice about it. Pigtails have become popular since Ladybug, and they weren’t exactly an unknown hairstyle before that… but yeah, you’re right,’ Adrien thought.

“Marinette! Will you take a picture of Nino and me?” Alya called, rushing over to them. “I really want to see if we can recreate the statue.”

“Sure,” Marinette said, taking Alya’s phone. “Adrien can help you pose.”

“Nino, crouch down here. No, not like that – put your right arm up more,” Adrien instructed.

“This is so not comfortable,” Nino said, grimacing as he obeyed.

“Well, Chat Noir is rumored to be part-cat,” Marinette said. “I bet that means he can move in ways that humans can’t.” In fact, she knew that he could. Even now, Adrien could twist himself into the most bizarre positions and claimed they were perfectly comfortable. Even with their bond, she was never quite sure if he was just pulling her leg.

“You read my article!” Alya said, her eyes lighting up.

“Of course I did. I always look at the Ladyblog,” Marinette said with a smile. That article had struck a little too close for comfort. She and Adrien had been walking eggshells for days, trying to make sure that nothing they did was too revealing.

Adrien had been moving around Nino, making small adjustments to Nino’s posture. Now, he stood back. “Okay, Alya. You’re going to have to jump to look like Ladybug.”

“No problem. Hold my bag.” Alya tossed her purse to Adrien and then moved around behind Nino. She looked at Marinette, who held up the phone.

“And one – two – jump!” Marinette shouted, pressing the button rapidly. “Okay, do it again – one – two – jump! And a third time, just in case. One – two – jump!”

“That’s enough. My legs hurt,” Nino groaned, sitting down on the ground and rubbing his thighs.

Marinette pulled up the pictures. Her heart did something funny when she saw one that had captured Alya mid-jump. Alya lacked the yoyo, of course, but she had her arms outstretched just like the statue of Ladybug. Her hair was down but she had brushed it back over her shoulders to give the illusion of pigtails, and she was wearing a cocky, confident smile. Nino, crouched down before her with one hand flat against the ground and the other raised in the air, was grinning.

‘They look like us,’ Adrien thought, peeking through Marinette’s eyes to see what she was seeing.

‘They really do,’ Marinette thought back, biting her lip. She didn’t know who Master Fu would choose as their replacements. It seemed unlikely that he would pick another soulmated pair, but Alya and Nino also had shields in place. There was a very good chance they would be able to hide that secret from each other.

Was she looking at the next Ladybug and Chat Noir?

Chapter Text

Adrien sat before his computer, bouncing his leg restlessly, and refreshed the Ladyblog for about the tenth time in two minutes. His heart jumped when he saw the new post that had appeared about thirteen seconds ago. Alya had captioned it 'Praise for Paris's Heroes', with a picture of the statue right underneath. And just under that was the video of what had to be Lila's interview, followed by a short blog post and at the very end, one of the pictures of Alya and Nino imitating the statue. He drummed his fingers on the desk, wondering if he really wanted to watch it.

'You know you do,' Marinette thought. Unlike Adrien, she wasn't even pretending to do her homework. She was reclining on her bed with her phone propped up on her knees, and she had been checking the Ladyblog just as obsessively as Adrien had.

'If I could, I'd come over there and we could watch it together,' Adrien thought back, sighing. This would be much easier to swallow if he could do it while wrapped around his soulmate. Unfortunately, there was no way he'd be able to sneak out of the house with someone noticing. Chat Noir could easily jump out of a second story window, but Adrien Agreste wasn't quite that capable. He had tried before, and it hadn't ended well. He'd had to make up a story to account for his sprained ankle and bruised face, and Gabriel had been utterly furious.

'I wish you could. If your father weren't such a dick, you could,' Marinette thought. 'It's not even that late. Alya and I have stayed over at each other's houses way past 7pm before.'

Adrien smiled a little. 'I'm not even allowed out of the house after 7pm, not unless it's for my job,' he thought ruefully, moving the cursor to the play button. Marinette was right. He did want to watch the video, even if it was just out of morbid curiosity. He might not be able to watch it wrapped around her like he would if he were still Chat Noir, but at least their bond meant he could still feel her. He pressed play at the same time Marinette did.

Alya appeared on screen first, wearing an excited smile, and said, "I'm here to give you a Ladyblog exclusive! I have here with me Lila Rossi, Ladybug's best friend. She's agreed to give me all the details about Paris's favorite superhero!" She hit the button to turn the camera around, showing Lila. Adrien crinkled his nose automatically at the sight of her.

"Hi," Lila said, giving the camera a wave.

"So Lila, tell us. How did you and Ladybug first meet?" Alya asked, keeping the camera on Lila as she spoke.

"That's an interesting story," Lila said, smiling shyly. "I had only been in Paris for a couple of days when my mamma asked me to run an errand for her. I do whatever I can to help around the house, you see. My mamma has such an important job that I have to." She flipped her hair over her shoulder.

'I thought Alya told me that Lila said Ladybug had saved her on her very first day in Paris,' Marinette thought.

'It's a small detail,' Adrien thought, turning the volume up a bit as Lila continued.

"What I wasn't expecting is that a motorcycle would come speeding at me right when I was crossing the street! I froze and didn't know what to do. Suddenly, a yoyo wrapped around my wrist and yanked me out of the way!" Lila held her arm up. "I had no idea who Ladybug was up until that moment. She carried me to the other side of the street and told me to be careful, and then she said she loved my hair."

'I do not!' Marinette thought indignantly.

'Didn't Alya tell you that Lila said a car almost hit you, not a motorcycle?' Adrien thought.

'... Wait, yeah, she did,' Marinette thought.

"Ladybug told me that she wished her hair was as long as mine so she could style it the same way. We started talking about hair and one thing led to another," Lila said, patting her hair. "We talked for at least two hours, until she said she had to go because her family was waiting for her."

"Ladybug mentioned her family?" Alya said, pouncing on that.

"Of course. We talked all about them!" Lila said. "Ladybug has two younger brothers and an older sister."

'Wow,' Adrien thought. Lila couldn't have been further off if she tried.

"So Ladybug's got siblings. Amazing," Alya breathed. "What else did she tell you?"

"Hmm..." Lila tapped her chin in thought, then smiled triumphantly. "Ladybug has a boyfriend!"

'Okay, I guess she got one thing right,' Marinette thought.

"Oh my god, really?" Alya practically shrieked. The camera flipped around to reveal her face, then snapped back to Lila. "Is Ladynoir a thing?!"'

Lila wrinkled her nose. "I don't know what Ladynoir is."

"Are Ladybug and Chat Noir dating?" Alya clarified.

"No way! Ladybug is dating someone much cooler than that loser cat," Lila said with a snort.

'That fucking bitch,' Marinette thought.

'Not so right after all,' Adrien thought back, wincing.

"Oh..." Alya said, sounding momentarily crestfallen. "Did, uh, did she tell you who?"

"Nope. She just said he was a really cool guy in lycée," Lila said. "Oh, and she also told me all about how her miraculous works!"

'This ought to be good,' Adrien thought. Marinette was still simmering in her rage too much to spare an answer.

"Please tell us all the details!" Alya said.

"Certainly," Lila said with a smug smile. "Well, you already know that Ladybug can only stay transformed for so long. But what you didn't know is how she charges her miraculous! She has to find some flowers and put her miraculous inside them for five minutes."

"What," Adrien said flatly.

'The hell?' Marinette thought.

"The pollen has a rejuvenating effect on her miraculous and that's what enables her to use her power!" Lila said, waving her hands around.

"Wow, Ladybug must have a hard time in winter," Alya said.

"She knows a florist," Lila said quickly. "Um... also! She told me that when you put the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous together, it creates an alternate timeline!"

"What?!" Adrien exclaimed at his computer.

"An alternate timeline?" Alya repeated, at last sounding a little skeptical. Lila was undeterred and nodded confidently.

"Yup. An alternate timeline where the person who put them together can do whatever they want, and no one else would be the wiser." She pretended to shiver, wrapping her arms around herself and giving the camera a coy look. "The idea of someone being able to do that scared me. I think Ladybug realized that, because that's when she said she had to go home."

"Wow. That actually makes sense and totally explains why Hawkmoth wants the miraculous," Alya said. "Did she tell you anything else?"

"Just that she's really lonely and she was so happy to meet a friend like me," Lila said modestly. "She gave me her phone number so we can stay in touch, but she asked me not to give it out. Sorry."

"Rats," Alya said. The camera shifted and then Alya stepped into the frame beside Lila. "But you heard it here first! An exclusive from Ladybug's best friend. Lila's agreed to more interviews in the future, so stick around Ladybug fans! I promise the Ladyblog will keep you in the know! Blogger out!" She waved and so did Lila, and then the screen went dark as the video ended.

'Well,' Adrien thought.

'Oh my god,' Marinette thought. 'That was the biggest pile of lies I've ever heard. Every single word of that was pure bullshit. I can't believe Alya swallowed it up!'

Adrien rubbed his forehead and sighed as he scanned the blog post beneath the video. It didn't really say much, merely giving some details about the statue unveiling. He stared for a moment at the picture of Alya and Nino. Earlier Marinette had thought that they might be the new Ladybug and Chat Noir, but Adrien wasn't sure. Alya was too eager to believe what people told her sometimes. She lacked the skepticism necessary to really be a good journalist. He was half-tempted to leave a comment suggesting that Alya double-check her sources but knew it wouldn't help.

'I hope this doesn't hurt the Ladyblog in the future.' he thought back, moving to shut his computer down. Up until now, he'd tried to give Lila the benefit of the doubt. But now he couldn't deny it any longer. Lila Rossi was a liar, and he hoped that her lies didn't cause any more trouble.

Chapter Text

“Did you hear she’s best friends with Ladybug?”

“I can’t believe she can call up Ladybug anytime she wants to!”

“You think she could get me Ladybug’s autograph?”

Marinette did her best to ignore the whispers as she walked through the gates, but it was hard. Ever since that interview, Lila’s popularity had skyrocketed and Alya was right there beside her. Alya was loving the attention that the Ladyblog had been getting, not that Marinette could blame her, and Lila was soaking up the attention like a dry sponge. She had dropped a few more tidbits over the past day, saying that Ladybug had given her a charm bracelet and that, in her civilian life, Ladybug had green eyes.

Frankly, Marinette wasn’t opposed to that last bit of information – people believing that Ladybug and Chat Noir had differently colored hair and eyes in their civilian forms wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. But it was frustrating to see her classmates and the other students at the school swallowing up Lila’s lies like that. No one seemed to think that it was weird that Ladybug would suddenly become best friends with a stranger.

‘They want to believe it because Ladybug and Chat Noir are so mysterious,’ Adrien thought. Even mentally, he sounded tired. He had been up since 3:30am, getting ready for a last-minute show that had been thrown together. He wasn’t going to be at school that day at all, a fact which made them both cranky.

‘There’s a reason we were mysterious. If I really had told all that stuff to Lila and she was telling the truth, she’d be screwing me over big time. Hawkmoth would know way too much about me,’ Marinette thought.

“How’s Adrien today?”

Marinette squeaked and jumped. “Ch-Chloé!”

Chloé smirked at her. “I know he’s not here today,” she said, popping the lip of her coffee open. “How is he?”

“He’s fine,” Marinette said, glancing around to make sure that no one had overheard. But no one was standing within earshot of them. Everyone in the yard had gravitated towards Lila like she’d magically developed the power of a small sun.

“Good,” Chloé said, taking a sip of her coffee. Marinette looked at her expectantly, a little confused as to why Chloé had approached her in the first place when Adrien wasn’t around. At first she thought that Chloé must have wanted something, but then she realized that Sabrina was one of the people standing around Alya and Lila. Sabrina was pretty much the only person besides Adrien that Chloé ever hung out.

“That must be driving you crazy,” Marinette said, nodding at Sabrina, and watched Chloé’s face scrunch up.

“If Sabrina wants to drool all over that brat, that’s her choice,” Chloé said shortly. “Clearly she has terrible taste if she can’t even tell that Lila hasn’t said a truthful word since she got here.”

“Some people would say Sabrina’s always had terrible taste,” Marinette observed innocently.

‘Marinette!’ Adrien thought.

Chloé threw her a look, though she didn’t seem mad. “Alright, Ms. Ladybug. You better be careful, you know.”

“What do you mean?” Marinette said. Was that supposed to be a threat?

“You think that whole ‘Adrien is my soulmate’ thing disappeared?” Chloé wanted to know, raising an eyebrow. “Because let me tell you, it hasn’t. Lila may not have said anything else, but people in school are talking about it. A lot. Everyone thinks that Lila and Adrien are soulmates.”

Marinette’s mouth dropped open. “What?!”

“There are two different groups from what I can tell. The first group thinks that Adrien is lying about Lila not being his soulmate out of respect for you, because you’re dating and he doesn’t want to break up with you just because he met his soulmate. They don’t like you very much. The second group thinks that Adrien is lying about Lila not saying his words because he didn’t feel anything when she did. They think that Gabriel Agreste must have instilled blocks into Adrien when he was a kid, and don’t like Gabriel as a result.” Chloé smiled at Marinette’s gobsmacked expression.

‘So basically, the whole school thinks I’m lying,’ Adrien thought incredulously.

“They all think Adrien is lying,” Marinette repeated out loud, shaking her head. “That’s – ridiculous!”

“I don’t disagree, but those are the rumors going around,” Chloé said, taking another sip of coffee. “I can’t believe you haven’t heard them. I thought part of being a superhero was paying attention.”

“I pay attention,” Marinette protested. Though really, the only people she talked to on a regular basis were Adrien, Alya, Nino, and, to a lesser extent, Chloé. Adrien hadn’t heard any of those rumors, and it was hard to say whether Alya or Nino would bring it up if they had. They might not, particularly if they belonged to group one…

‘This is just great,’ Adrien thought, putting his face in his hands. Then he quickly straightened up as the make-up artist he was sharing a tent caught sight of him and started telling him off for touching his face so soon after his make-up had been finished.

Echoes of a scolding in her ears, Marinette said, “And I bet Lila is doing nothing to stop these rumors.”

“Nope,” Chloé said, popping the ‘p’. “Not that I’ve taken the time to talk to her or anything, but Sabrina told me that she’s bringing it up at every opportunity and telling people that Adrien doesn’t want to talk to her because of you. She’s acting very sad about the whole thing. I have to say, she’s a half-decent actress.”

“I guess that’s what happens when you lie constantly. You get good at it,” Marinette said bitterly. When she and Adrien had first agreed to keep their soulmate bond a secret, their decision had been made primarily because of Gabriel Agreste. Not only was Adrien concerned that his father would enact the same exacting standards on his soulmate that Gabriel expected of Adrien, they were also both worried that Gabriel might overreact and try to have blocks instilled in his son.

Marinette wasn’t wholly sure of the legalities surrounding blocks right now. Adrien was still a minor, but he was very happy with his soulmate. However, considering Gabriel’s money and connections, neither of them were sure about how much say Adrien would have in the situation if word got out. Neither of them had been expecting that someone like Lila Rossi might throw such a wrench in their plan…

“Probably,” Chloé agreed, drawing Marinette’s attention back to her. “I just figured you should know in case you want to do damage control. The last thing Adrikins needs is this shit getting back to Gabriel.”

‘She’s not wrong, though I would hope my father would listen to me if I told him Lila wasn’t my soulmate… I can’t let him get me tested. Our bond would show up,’ Adrien thought. He’d managed to escape the make-up artist and was now standing outside.

‘I don’t think we should pin our hopes on anything relating to your father,’ Marinette thought as the bell rang. She clenched her jaw as she watched Lila strut across the yard, proceeded by a crowd of admirers. Reluctantly, she followed Chloé into the school. They were the last ones to the classroom. Marinette walked in just in time to hear Lila’s voice ring out.

“Yeah, when I told Ladybug about my soulmate, she felt so bad for me. It’s been really hard, you know? I can’t get anywhere near Adrien.”

“That’s because you’re not Adrien’s soulmate!” Marinette snapped before she could stop herself. Chloé looked at her in surprise.

‘Marinette, don’t,’ Adrien thought. ‘Don’t engage with her. Not now.’

“Marinette, that’s really rude,” Alix said, frowning at her.

Lila sniffed loudly. “I can’t help it if you’re jealous of what Adrien and I share,” she said, her eyes filling with tears. “I’ve tried to be nice. I haven’t approached Adrien at all because you’re dating him. But you can’t erase the truth…” her lower lip quivered. Marinette could feel her anger building as Rose and Sabrina immediately reached out to comfort Lila. A silver bracelet, the one that Lila claimed Ladybug had given her, sparkled on Lila’s wrist as Lila dramatically sniffed again and wiped at her eyes.

“Hey –” Chloé started to say, but it was too late.

“I am not jealous! You’re just a liar!” Marinette yelled.

“Marinette!” Alya exclaimed.

“Marinette,” another voice said at the same time. Madame Bustier frowned disapprovingly. “The classroom is not a place for insults or defamation. Please come into the hall with me.”

“But –” Marinette said.

“Now,” Madame Bustier ordered, so sternly that even Chloé shut her mouth. Anger still bubbling away in her gut, Marinette glared at Lila and stomped out into the hall.

Chapter Text

Adrien glanced around to make sure that no one was paying attention to him, then ducked into a little alcove. He closed his eyes and opened the bond as widely as he knew how, focusing all his attention on Marinette. Her anger and frustration was as powerful as though it was his own; he had to take a deep breath to keep himself focused. He pushed feelings of calm and compassion through the bond, hoping to improve her mood even a little bit. But Marinette was as stubborn as she was beautiful and clung to her feelings even as she stormed out into the hallway.

'It's not fair! It's just not fair!' she thought heatedly, swinging around to face Madame Bustier. Adrien snuck a peek through her eyes and watched as Madame Bustier closed the door. The hallway was otherwise empty. It struck Adrien that they had been in a similar scene just days before, but now Marinette was brimming with righteous fury instead of sorrow.

"It's not fair!" Marinette burst out before their teacher could say a word. "She's the one who is lying, but I'm the one who's getting in trouble?!"

Madame Bustier sighed and knelt, setting a hand on Marinette's shoulder. "Marinette, you're not in trouble. I didn't bring you out here to yell at you," she said gently. "I understand where you're coming from. I know Adrien had said that Lila isn't his soulmate, and I know it's frustrating to hear Lila say otherwise."

"It is! Especially because it's not true!" Marinette said.

"Regardless, you can't go around accusing people of being liars," Madame Bustier told her. "And you especially can't go around yelling at people. Not in my classroom, anyway. That’s not setting a very good example as the class president, is it?"

Marinette frowned. "But Lila is lying. I know she is!" Her anger rose again.

'Calm, My Lady,' Adrien thought. He was a little worried that Marinette would be akumatized at this rate. He didn't think he'd ever seen her this angry before. Ladybug? Yes. Ladybug had been this furious at Hawkmoth before. But Marinette? It was a little frightening and, to be honest, awe-inspiring that she was this upset on Adrien's behalf. He just didn't want Marinette to be the one who suffered for it.

"Sometimes it's very difficult to join a new school," Madame Bustier said carefully, hitching her purse higher on her shoulder. She hadn't even gotten the chance to put it in her desk. "It can be overwhelming and scary. Lila might be trying to make herself sound more interesting. She's clearly trying to reach out and form relationships with people, even if she's not going about it the right way. But if Lila had some friends here and knew that she had a place where she belonged, she might be less inclined to tell fibs. Don't you think so?"

"Maybe," Marinette said with clear reluctance.

'I doubt it,' she thought to Adrien. 'I think Lila loves the attention she gets from lying, so she would do it no matter what friends she had.'

'You're probably not wrong,' Adrien thought, shifting a little. His little spot was quickly growing uncomfortable, and a quick glance at his watch told him that he was going to be late to the rehearsal if he didn't hurry.

"Would you be willing to at least try?" Madame Bustier asked. "It would be wonderful if the other students could see their class president making an effort."

"But what am I supposed to do if she keeps lying?" Marinette said, crossing her arms.

"Maybe ask her questions about herself. If Lila shows sees that you have a genuine interest in her, lying won't be as fun or interesting," Madame Bustier said. "I know I'm asking a lot of you, Marinette. But I really want you to set a good example to everyone. I'm counting on you."

Marinette sighed. "Okay, Madame Bustier."

Adrien breathed a sigh of relief and stood just as Jeanne burst in the room. She took one look at him and exclaimed, "There you are! They're looking for us. Come on!" She ran over to him and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards the door.

'Oh no!' Marinette thought, her emotions spiking - but this time, it wasn't anger. It was fear.

Barely aware of where Jeanne was leading him, Adrien looked through Marinette's eyes and gasped with horror when he saw the akuma circling Marinette and Madame Bustier. It was exactly what he'd feared would happen, and it was happening when he was miles away and couldn't do anything to help. Madame Bustier wrapped an arm around Marinette and swatted at the akuma with her purse, trying to shoo it away.

"Oh my goodness, an akuma!" Madame Bustier cried. "Go away! I won't let you hurt one of my students, Hawkmoth!" She threw her purse at the akuma. Over Madame Bustier's shoulder, through Marinette's eyes, Adrien watched the purse hit the ground and fly open. His heart sank as the akuma landed on one of Madame Bustier's lipsticks and sank into it.

"No!" Marinette cried out. "Madame Bustier, please fight him! Whatever he says, it's not true!"

"Adrien!" Jeanne said at the same time, shaking his shoulder hard. "Would you stop spacing out?"

"Wh-what?" Adrien stammered, trying to pay attention to her and to Marinette. It was harder than he'd expected. Jeanne gave him an impatient look.

"They're explaining our instructions to us," she hissed.

"Right," he said, looking at the show's coordinator. But inwardly, he was watching in horror alongside his soulmate as a bubbling, purple-grey cloud covered Madame Bustier and changed her into an akuma mere inches away from Marinette.

"I won't stop until everyone on Earth feels the love. Starting with Lila Rossi!" the akuma declared, putting the lipstick to its mouth. When it painted the lipstick on, it turned its lips black.

"No, you can't!" Marinette cried. She ducked around the akuma and threw the classroom door open. "Everyone, run! Madame Bustier's been akumatized!'

"I am Zombizou and I will show you love!" Zombizou yelled.

'Marinette, duck!' Adrien thought, horrified.

Marinette obeyed, hitting the ground. A literal kiss sailed over head and smacked into Sabrina. There was a split second of silence before the screaming started. Zombizou started cackling and jumped over Marinette's head; Marinette's hand shot out and she grabbed the akuma by the ankle, forcing Zombizou to faceplant. Kim and Alix were the first to make a run for the door, shortly followed by the remainder of the class. Alya and Nino dragged Marinette up and out the door with them, leaving Zombizou alone in the room. Nino had the good sense to slam the door.

"Adrien!"

Adrien snapped to, realizing that everyone was looking at him. "Err, sorry," he said, heart racing. He had to go! He had to find somewhere to transform! He had to -

'Do nothing,' Marinette thought, dazed and overwhelmed as Alya pulled her down the stairs.

Right. The adrenaline faded, leaving behind a sense of regret and dismay. There was no need for Adrien to rush out the door and make his way across town. Even if he did, there was nothing that he could do. He would just be another civilian who was putting themselves in danger. And this wasn't a video game where civilians would be able to step up in an awesome way. Adrien knew that better than anyone. All those times Alya had inserted herself into the middle of a battle had only been a source of frustration for both him and Ladybug.

"So, we're going to start the rehearsal off. The show is only an hour away, so I want everyone putting on their big smiles," the coordinator declared, sharply clapping her hands. Adrien stared at her, baffled.

"I'll tell you what to do," Jeanne muttered, rolling her eyes at him. "You better get your shit together though, Agreste."

"Right," Adrien repeated numbly, following her backstage. It was a flurry of activity, just like always. Someone grabbed him and yanked him over to a bunch of dress racks. Adrien obediently stripped off his jeans and t-shirt and put on the clothing that they gave him. Then, when he was given the go ahead, he shuffled over to stand in line. Jeanne was right in front of him: she would make one loop herself, then he would do one, and then they'd go out together. He really should have been paying attention to what she was whispering, because it sounded more complicated than usual.

But all he could think about was that he wasn't where he was supposed to be, and there wasn't a single thing he could do about it.

Chapter Text

"Are you okay, Sabrina?" Marinette asked anxiously, wrapping an arm around Sabrina's waist as she and the rest of the class hurried down the hall. Sabrina staggered a little, and Kim came to Sabrina's other side and slipped her arm around his neck, helping to support Sabrina's weight. Marinette shot him a grateful look.

"I feel funny," Sabrina said, her eyes looking a little glassy. The grey kiss mark on her forehead stood out starkly against her paling skin. It was obviously doing something to her, but what?

"Everyone downstairs!" Marinette called out. There wasn't enough space for her, Kim and Sabrina to walk down the steps together, so Marinette went down first and let Kim help Sabrina down. As they got to the first floor, Marinette glanced around to see who was missing. Her heart thudded in her chest as she realized that Alya, Nino, Lila and Chloé were all gone. She hadn't even noticed them breaking away and so had no way of knowing where or when they'd gone.

"What do we do?" Rose said, clasping her hands anxiously in front of her chest. Out of the corner of her eye, Marinette saw Marc and Aurore running out the front door of the school and knew they had the right idea.

"We need to run," Marinette declared.

'Are you okay,' Adrien thought to her. He could feel her panic. Marinette pushed a wave of reassurance back at him and spoke out loud.

"We have to get away from the school as long as Zombizou is still here," she said. "We should - Sabrina?!"

Sabrina let out a low groan from where she had doubled over, slowly sliding to her knees with her hands clasped across her stomach. "I don't feel good," she whined, lifting her head. Marinette took a couple of steps towards her before stopping as a purple haze flashed over Sabrina's eyes.

"Sabrina?" she whispered.

"Kissou!" Sabrina shouted suddenly, leaping at Kim. Kim let out a screech as she tackled him to the floor and pressed a kiss to his cheek. He managed to swat her away, but the damage had been done and it was much quicker this time. In a matter of seconds, Kim's eyes flashed purple just like Sabrina's had and the kiss mark faded from his cheek. He sat up.

"Run!" Marinette shrieked, jumping backwards. "Don't let them kiss you!" She raced towards the front doors of the school, glancing over her shoulder. Her heart ached as she saw Kim pounce on Nathaniel and Sabrina throw herself at Mylène. Ivan yelled and went back.

"Marinette, come on! You can't help them!" Alix grabbed her arm and literally dragged her out the doors. Juleka shoved them shut. Marinette looked around at her remaining classmates. Max and Rose both looked petrified.

"It'll be okay. We just have to wait for Ladybug and Chat Noir to come," Max said breathlessly, shoving his glasses up on his nose. "They should be here soon."

'No, they won't,' Marinette thought, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip. This was maddening in a way that she hadn't anticipated. She wanted to transform. She wanted to challenge Zombizou. She wanted to protect her friends. But she couldn't.

'You need to find someplace safe,' Adrien thought. 'Somewhere that Zombizou won’t get to you or to them. You can do that much.'

"Right," Marinette said out loud. "We need to get away from here. They're going to -"

The doors slammed open. Marinette gaped as about a dozen students swarmed out chanting "Kissou". She couldn't believe how fast this was spreading! She grabbed Rose's hand and took off across the yard, heading for the gates. If she were Ladybug, she'd slam them shut and find something to tie them shut to contain the infection. But regular old Marinette didn't have the luxury of increased speed right now. All she could do was run across the street and down the block towards the bakery, trying to ignore the sounds of screams behind her.

"Maman, Papa!" Marinette burst into the bakery, startling her maman and the handful of customers inside.

"Marinette, what are you doing?" Sabine exclaimed.

"There's an akuma!" Rose cried.

"People are turning into zombies!" Alix shouted.

"We need to barricade the door!" Max said, stepping aside for Alix. Then he pulled the door shut and locked it, backing away from it.

Sabine hurried out from behind the counter over to the window, peering out. She gasped at the sight of what was going on. "Oh my goodness! Okay, that's it. No one is leaving the bakery until further notice," she declared. "We're shutting the lights off. Everyone get in the back. We'll pretend that no one is here. Hopefully, that will make them pass by the bakery without coming in."

"Come on," Marinette said, beckoning to her classmates. While Sabine took the customers into the storage room of the bakery and went to tell Tom what was going on, Marinette ushered her friends upstairs to the living room. She could tell that they were all freaked out, and it made her feel a little better to put another door between them and what was going on outside.

"This is so scary," Rose said shakily, leaning into Juleka.

"There's never been an akuma that could infect people like this," Juleka whispered.

Marinette looked around at their scared faces, heart twisting. 'This is horrible,' she thought. 'I hate the fact that I just have to sit here and do nothing! How do people stand this?'

'They've all been like this since the beginning,' Adrien thought. 'They don't know what it's like to be able to do something about the akuma. Horrible as it is to say, they're using to sitting back and letting Ladybug and Chat Noir do all the work.'

He sounded a little distracted, so Marinette took a quick peek through his eyes and realized that he was strutting down a runway. Jeanne was walking beside him, and Adrien was concentrating on making sure that they were walking perfectly in sync. It was harder to do than she would have guessed. Particularly since, when they got to the end of the walkway, Jeanne slipped her scarf down to her elbows to reveal the design of her dress. At the same time, Adrien took his jacket off to show the embroidery on his shirt. Both movements had to be perfectly synchronized.

"Let's turn the television on and see what's going on," Alix suggested, picking up the remote.

" - no sign of Ladybug or Chat Noir yet," Nadja Chamack was saying. "But -" She let out a shriek as she was tackled by someone.

"Shit," Alix whispered.

"Where is Ladybug?" Rose wailed, covering her face. "Why isn't she out there stopping this?"

Guilt hit Marinette so hard that her knees went weak and she sank onto the sofa. She opened her mouth to apologize but stopped. What good was there in apologizing? Her friends wouldn't understand why she was apologizing, and it wasn't like she could tell them that she had been Ladybug. They would only want to know why she wasn't Ladybug anymore. The thought of having to admit that she couldn't protect the city anymore was paralyzing. She closed her mouth and clenched her hands into fists, digging her nails into her palms.

'Shit!' Adrien thought.

'What? What is it?!' Marinette thought, looking through his eyes again. The doors had burst open and an intern was standing there, a very familiar glazed look in her eyes.

‘The whole city is going to end up a zombie at this rate,' Adrien thought grimly, his hand shooting out to catch Jeanne's arm. 'Whatever the hell Fu is planning to do, he need to do it fast.'

'We're watching the news. Nothing is happening,' Marinette thought.

'I hope that Fu didn't get kissed,' Adrien thought; he pulled Jeanne back down the walkway and through the curtains at the end. Backstage was teaming with people and it was impossible to know who was a zombie and who wasn't. Adrien changed course, heading towards the emergency exit with Jeanne and a few other models right behind him.

A jolt of pure horror shot through Marinette. 'Oh my god, I didn't even think of that!' she thought, clasping a hand over her mouth. 'What do we do?'

'I don't know. We don't even have a phone number to call him,' Adrien thought regretfully. 'I hope that's not the case.'

'Should we try to get to his shop?' Marinette thought.

'What if we get kissed too?' Adrien thought, worry churning in his stomach. ‘Then there would be no one who knows how the miraculous work except for Hawkmoth…’

Marinette ground her teeth together in frustration. 'Crap. I really hope Fu has already given the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous to someone, and that whoever it is, is just taking their time,' she thought. It had been six days since Fu had taken their miraculous. Surely that was enough time to identify two more candidates. But then again, they hadn't seen anything on the news about a new Ladybug and Chat Noir... and Fu hadn't given her and Adrien their miraculouses until Stoneheart attacked...

If no new heroes showed up, what were they going to do?

Chapter Text

"What do we do, what do we do, what do we doooooooo?" The voice of the one of the other models rose into a thin, obnoxious wail. Adrien tried not to visibly cringe, knowing that everyone in their cramped, small room was upset. They'd escaped out the emergency exit, but the streets were swarming with zombies. So Adrien had led the group back inside through the front doors and barricaded them all into the room where the techs operated the lights and music for the show. That also meant they had access to a television, which a handful of people were plastered to.

"You can start by shutting up," Jeanne said aggressively, staring the other model down. "If those zombies hear us, they're definitely going to try to get in here! Is that what you want?!”

'I am suddenly very grateful that I'm sequestered inside with Alix, Max, Juleka and Rose,' Marinette thought. 'I could almost make myself believe it’s a weird movie night if things weren’t so tense.’ She paused, then added, ‘Also, at least the four of them aren't screaming.'

Adrien sighed, a headache developing right above his right eye, and rubbed absently at the spot as he looked back at the television. By his estimate, it had been at least an hour since Zombizou had appeared and there was still no sign of any heroes. His comment earlier about Fu having become a zombie was looking more and more likely, but he had no idea what he and Marinette were going to do about it.

Even if they could get to the shop, they didn't know how to get to the miraculous. Maybe Fu hid them somewhere, but there was an equal chance that he always carried them on his person. And there was no telling whether Fu had already given out the Ladybug and the Black Cat. Maybe he had and the new holders had been turned into zombies before they could show up…

'You're full of optimism today,' Marinette thought wryly.

'Sorry. I can't help but think of all the ways in which this situation might have exploded without us knowing,' Adrien thought back.

"Look, it's Ladybug!"

The cry had Adrien's head snapping around. He scrambled to his feet and rushed over to the television, nearly trampling Jeanne in the process - vaguely aware that across the city, Marinette was snatching the remote out of Alix's hand and changing it to the same news channel that Adrien's television was on. Zombizou was sauntering around in front of the Eiffel Tower (a fact that made Adrien burn inside, because the tower had become such a special place to him and his lady) but as the figure in red shot on screen, Zombizou swung around with a cackle.

"Ah, Ladybug! I've been - wait. You're not Ladybug," Zombizou said. The purple outline of a butterfly flashed over her face, indicating that Hawkmoth was peering through her eyes.

"She's right," one of the interns said said, sounding shocked. "That's not Ladybug!"

Adrien clenched his jaw, staring hard at the screen in silence. The new Ladybug miraculous holder was wearing the famous red, black-spotted suit, but there were some key differences. This suit had a black section across the shoulders and down her back, as well as black boots that went up to her knees. One slender hand was holding a very familiar yoyo, but Adrien was pretty sure that hand was shaking.

"You're right, I'm not Ladybug. I'm the new Ladybug. I'm - Coccinelle," the girl announced. The brief pause before she spoke told Adrien that she hadn't stopped to consider a name for herself until that very moment.

"Coccinelle?" Zombizou said.

"Coccinelle?!" Jeanne echoed. "What the fuck?"

'Coccinelle,' Marinette thought, and it was a thought so swathed in sadness and heartache that Adrien clutched at his chest.

"Where is Ladybug?!" Zombizou demanded.

"Ladybug isn't coming. You get to deal with me," Coccinelle said, squaring her shoulders. And right away, Adrien knew that this fight was going to be a bust.

'Oh, this is going to be painful,' he thought with a grimace, barely resisting the urge to clamp his hands over his eyes and watch through his fingers.

'I almost feel bad for her,' Marinette thought.

Because Zombizou proceeded to kick Coccinelle's ass. There was really no other description for it. For an akuma who claimed to be about spreading love, Zombizou was fast and brutal. In about three seconds, she covered the distance between her and Coccinelle and delivered a roundhouse kick to Coccinelle's face that sent Coccinelle flying backwards into the Eiffel Tower. Adrien and everyone else in the room, as well as Marinette and everyone in her room, collectively winced as Coccinelle made impact with the steel.

"What is going on?" one of the models exclaimed.

"Who is this loser?" someone demanded.

"Where is Ladybug?!" Jeanne cried.

'Oh my god, I can't watch,' Marinette thought. Yet like Adrien, she also couldn't look away as Zombizou bounded over to Coccinelle and plucked the stunned heroine from the ground. Zombizou slammed Coccinelle up against the base of the tower, pinning Coccinelle there by the throat.

"Poor little bug," she cooed. "Did they send you out here all by your lonesome?"

Coccinelle choked something out, ragged and unintelligible.

"I guess the old Ladybug and Chat Noir couldn't hack it," Zombizou said, a wicked smile spreading across her face. "So much for their promise to protect Paris no matter what, hmm?"

A pained wheeze escaped Coccinelle's mouth.

"Don't worry, my dear. I'm here to spread love. Let me take that miraculous off your hands and I'll put out of your misery," Zombizou said, reaching up with her free hand.

Adrien couldn't stand it. He whirled away from the television and charged the door, barely aware of Marinette moving in perfect sync with him, the kind of sync he wouldn't have been able to achieve with Jeanne or anyone else even if they practiced for a hundred years. He grabbed the doorknob -

"Adrien, stop! What are you doing? There are zombies out there!" Jeanne exclaimed, putting her hand over his.

"I have to go," Adrien said, pushing her away. He yanked the door open and looked out. The hallway was quiet, and the zombies had proven that they were anything but, so he knew it was safe. He stepped out and turned to face Jeanne. A part of him felt bad about leaving her. She looked young and terrified, and so did everyone else in the room. The hero side of him yearned to stay and protect them.

But that was the problem, wasn't it? Even if Zombizou showed up right now, Adrien wouldn't be able to protect anyone. He didn't have a miraculous suit to protect him right now. She'd throw him aside exactly like she'd thrown Coccinelle and that would be the end. Even going outside right now was probably blindingly stupid. He and Marinette were civilians. They couldn't help anyone... but they had to try. Adrien couldn't sit here in good conscience while Zombizou stripped Coccinelle of her miraculous and handed it over to Hawkmoth. They had to do something.

"Adrien..." Jeanne whispered.

"Just - just stay here," Adrien ordered, pulling the door shut behind him.

'Where do you want to meet?' Marinette thought, sneaking down the stairs. She had told their classmates that she was going down to the bakery to get some snacks so that she could leave without argument. But if she was caught by her maman or papa, no amount of excuses would be good enough and she'd never make it out of the building. Luckily, meeting Adrien had taught Marinette a lot about being sneaky. She slipped into the empty kitchen and went right out the door that Tom typically used to accept deliveries.

'Let's head for Fu's shop,' Adrien thought back, peering around the corner before he continued. 'It's almost halfway between us. Maybe one of us will run into him on the way there.'

'God I hope so,' Marinette thought. 'Be careful, Chaton.'

'You too, My Lady,' Adrien thought, striding down the corridor. They'd both have to stick to alleys and try to avoid people or zombies as much as possible. It would be slow going for them both. But Adrien didn't care if he could only move a foot every five minutes. If he had to sit here and do nothing while there was a Ladybug in danger, even if it wasn't his Ladybug, he was going to go insane.

He took a deep breath and pushed the door to the street open.

Chapter Text

Getting to Fu’s shop was taking three times as long as it normally did. Marinette crept down an alley and hastily hid behind a dumpster when she heard a bunch of zombies coming her way. While she waited for them to pass, she pressed her back to the brick and quietly slid her phone into her lap, opening her internet browser. She typed in the address for the news channel she and Adrien had been watching earlier.

A live view of Zombizou was still going on, but there was also a highlights reel. When Marinette clicked on one of the videos, her heart thudding in anticipation of what she was about to see, it showed Coccinelle latching her yoyo onto the top of the tower and dragging herself out of Zombizou’s grip mere seconds before Zombizou would have grabbed the miraculous right out of Coccinelle’s ears.

‘Oh thank god, she escaped,’ Marinette thought, relief flooding through her. This whole situation would have been much harder if they’d had to worry about getting the Ladybug miraculous back from Zombizou – or worse yet, from Hawkmoth. Not to mention what Zombizou would’ve done to a detransformed Coccinelle…

‘Good,’ Adrien thought, though his emotions spoke volumes about what he was really feeling. The Black Cat’s guilt over not being there to help a Ladybug in distress was powerful indeed. The first thing Marinette was going to do when she saw her partner again was give him a huge hug, though she had to temporarily settle for pushing a wave of comfort and reassurance at him.

It looked like Coccinelle had fled, probably to regroup – or maybe to freak out over what she’d gotten herself into, the poor thing. Zombizou was deceptively hard to deal with. It wasn’t an akuma Marinette would have wished on anyone, much less someone who was just starting out. Dealing with one akuma was bad enough but dealing with an akuma that had a ton of literal zombies was a whole other story.

‘Where is the Black Cat?’ she thought, flipping over to the Ladyblog. It was conspicuously, frustratingly, silent. Beyond the initial post about Zombizou, Alya hadn’t posted any updates. That was so unlike her that Marinette refreshed the page a couple of times just in case it was her connection. But there were no new posts, though comments continued to roll in on the initial post. People had descended into outright speculation about where Ladybug was, why Coccinelle had shown up, and where Chat Noir was.

‘Maybe Fu only had the chance to give the Ladybug out?’ Adrien thought.

‘But Coccinelle can’t do this alone!’ Marinette thought back. ‘She needs her Black Cat!’

‘You could’ve done it alone,’ Adrien thought.

‘Maybe I could now that I have some experience, but it would be a hundred times harder. I was a disaster during Timebreaker, and you know it,’ Marinette thought. ‘If it hadn’t been for Alya, Nino and Chloé, there’s no way I would have been able to defeat her. And that was after we’d been at this for months. Coccinelle needs help.’

‘If we can find Fu, and he hasn’t become a zombie, maybe we can help,’ Adrien thought. He wasn’t optimistic about that based on their last encounter with Fu, but surely Fu would see that Paris was falling apart and make an exception? Adrien had never wanted to fight beside a Ladybug that wasn’t his lady but considering the current circumstances he wasn’t sure he had a choice.

‘You’re right. I’ll keep going,’ Marinette thought, locking her phone and slipping it back into her pocket. She stood and made her way to the mouth of the alley, peeking out. The street was eerily quiet considering it was midday and there were no other people around, but at least there were no zombies waiting to pounce.

She stepped out onto the pavement and began running towards the far end of the street, already planning what her next move would be. But she hadn’t got more than a few steps before a black shadow darted overhead. Marinette froze mid-step, her eyes focused on the place where the shadow had been. Was that –

‘Guess Fu gave out the Black Cat after all,’ Adrien thought, and his grief was a sour taste on the back of Marinette’s tongue.

‘Where the hell has he been?!’ Marinette thought, outraged. ‘Didn’t he know Coccinelle needed him?’

‘Maybe he just got the miraculous,’ Adrien thought. ‘I’m almost to you. Can you find somewhere safe to hide?’

Marinette glanced around, knowing that staying outside on the street wouldn’t be safe for much longer. Her eyes lingered on a nearby apartment building and she walked towards it. The door swung open easily under her hand and she ducked into the empty lobby. The small window on the door meant she could see out in case any zombies came, but she’d also have an exit if anyone came through the door behind her.

‘I’ll monitor the situation,’ she thought, pulling her phone out again. This time, she pressed on the live coverage of the situation.

Coccinelle had returned, and this time there was indeed a Black Cat with her. Much like Coccinelle, his suit was different from Chat Noir’s. It was still largely black, but there were dark grey sections that started on his hips and ran up under his arms. His boots, on the other hand, were solid black. His black ears were larger, with little tufts at the end, and his tail was shorter. But most tellingly of all, the suit lacked a gold bell. Instead, the high collar was unadorned.

“And a new Chat Noir,” Zombizou was saying, stroking her chin as she gazed up at the two heroes. “Guess the new Ladybug isn’t good enough either, huh? How nice that they’re sending out sacrifices for me…”

“Shut up!” Coccinelle said, a flush working its way down from beneath her mask. “Lynx and I are going to stop you!”

Lynx said nothing, but he shifted at Coccinelle’s side.

“Oh, you think you’re going to stop me?” Zombizou seemed amused by the idea, judging by her smirk. She held up her lipstick and slowly painted her lips, then smacked them obnoxiously.

The sound was enough to goad Lynx into action, which Marinette immediately thought was a mistake. It was exactly what Zombizou wanted him to do, at any rate. Zombizou gave a delighted laugh a Lynx leapt towards her, baton held aloft. The way he held it was more like the way Marinette’s maman would hold a staff, as opposed to how Adrien held his baton like a sword, and he went high.

Zombizou ducked the blow easily and went low, punching him in the abdomen hard enough to make Marinette smother a gasp with her hand. Were it not for the miraculous suit, that probably would’ve killed Lynx. As it was, the camera quality was good enough to show how Lynx’s face contorted into pain. He was knocked flat by the blow, baton hitting the ground seconds later.

Coccinelle jumped down to join them, swinging her yoyo around. She was clearly trying to wrap it around Zombizou, and Marinette shook her head. That was something she had tried to do at first with enemies too, only to realize that the vast majority of akumas were way too fast for that maneuver to work unless they were otherwise distracted. And sure enough, Zombizou jumped straight up in the air and came down on top of Coccinelle. Literally.

‘Oh shit,’ Adrien thought, and a moment later the front door opened. He rushed inside.

Marinette jumped up and threw herself into his open arms. “I’m so glad you’re here!” she said. “Adrien, they’re really suffering.”

He grabbed her phone to steady it, keeping one arm around it, and grimaced down at the screen. Marinette looked too. Lynx was on his feet again, but barely. Zombizou picked up his baton and laughed as she snapped it in half – Adrien flinched – and then threw it aside. Then she reached down to grab Coccinelle’s yoyo. Lynx rushed at her again, this time using his claws.

“Cataclysm!” he shouted.

“Ha, you think that’s gonna help?” Zombizou said. “Disintegrate this, little kitty!” She dropped the yoyo, grabbed his shoulders, and wrenched his hand around with shocking force, shoving him at the tower. Lynx’s hands flailed madly – and then made impact with the Eiffel Tower.

“No!” Marinette and Adrien yelled in unison.

The beam that Lynx had made contact with disintegrated. The Tower swayed. Lynx paled, took two steps back, and then ran. Coccinelle scrambled to her feet, grabbed her yoyo, and fled too.

The Tower fell.

Chapter Text

On instinct, Adrien tightened his grip around his partner and braced himself. They both felt it when the tower hit the ground. It caused the ground to shake with such force that they stumbled. Adrien's back hit the wall and Marinette fell against him. He held her tighter, pulling her securely against his chest, and waited for the rumblings to stop. Marinette wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest, so tense that he could feel the way her muscles were aching. Still, they both stood there frozen until everything grew still and quiet.

'How many people do you think just died?' Marinette thought, her emotions a churning mass, and Adrien instantly felt sick. The Eiffel Tower was enormous. For it to have collapsed like that... there was no way that some innocent people, zombified and not, wouldn't have been caught in the crossfire.

'I don't know. Too many,' Adrien thought. His nose was buried in Marinette's hair, and all he could smell was the vanilla shampoo that she favored. Normally the scent made him feel calm and relaxed. Too bad it wasn't nearly enough to help right now.

'We have to do something,' she thought.

'Maybe we can find Lynx and Coccinelle and offer some advice. They're doing all the same things that we did wrong when we began,' Adrien thought. 'Even if it means that we have to tell them who we are and break Master Fu's rule, we have to try.' He felt Marinette nod against his chest.

'I agree. Maybe the time for secrets is past,' she thought, pulling away and looking up at him. Adrien opened his eyes to meet her gaze - and promptly yelled in shock.

"What the hell?!"

"Good afternoon to you too, Adrien, Marinette," Master Fu said. Marinette tensed and whirled around, already knowing who it was before Master Fu spoke. She stood protectively in front of Adrien, and he set his hands on her shoulders.

"What are you doing here?" Marinette spat. She was normally so polite around adults that it was weird to hear her speak so rudely, but Adrien couldn't say that Master Fu didn't deserve her reaction. As far as Adrien was concerned, the deaths of all those people were on Master Fu's shoulders. Not Adrien. Not Marinette. Not Coccinelle. Not Lynx. Master Fu. He was the one who'd taken their miraculouses away.

"I'm here to ask for your help," Master Fu said wearily, taking a step into the lobby and letting the door swing shut behind him.

Adrien's grip tightened on Marinette's shoulders. "Help with what? You've already done a fantastic job of screwing everything up," he said bitterly.

Master Fu sighed. "I deserve that," he said. "I know I have no right to your help, and I know you're angry with me, but I hoped that you'd be willing to look past that for the sake of Paris. Coccinelle and Lynx are too inexperienced. Tikki and Plagg barely had enough time to tell them how to use their powers before they had to go fight Zombizou. They don't know what they're doing."

"You literally just gave out the miraculouses, didn't you?" Marinette said incredulously. "Just now, when Zombizou appeared?!"

"I was searching for suitable candidates. I had several in mind, but when Zombizou appeared I had to take the first choices that I could find," Master Fu said.

"Then I don't understand what you want us to do. Unless you think Coccinelle and Lynx are going to give their miraculouses back..." Adrien trailed off, cocking his head and shrugging. He thought that was pretty unlikely.

"You know there are other miraculouses," Master Fu said, gesturing to the bracelet that he wore, and understanding snapped into place between Adrien and Marinette like a line drawn taut.

"You want us to use a different miraculous and go help," Marinette said.

"That's right." Master Fu glanced around, but of course they were alone inside the enclosed space. "I don't think that they can win otherwise. And Marinette, whatever else you do, you must help Coccinelle cast the miraculous cure. It will reverse all the damage that has been done."

"Right," Marinette said.

'If he'd just left the Ladybug miraculous with you in the first place, this wouldn't have happened,' Adrien thought sourly, and felt her agreement before she spoke again.

"If we help, we want our miraculous back. I want to be Ladybug and Adrien will be Chat Noir."

Master Fu's eyes widened. "But -"

"No. No buts," Adrien interrupted. "Either we're good enough to be miraculous holders or we’re not. You can't have it both ways." Both he and Marinette stared Master Fu down. Adrien could see the moment when Master Fu realized he had no choice.

"Very well," Master Fu said. "We can discuss it afterwards, but I give you my word that you will be Ladybug and Chat Noir again. We have to hurry, though. If Coccinelle or Lynx fall under Zombizou's power, they'll give their miraculous to her. That mustn't happen."

"Then what miraculous do you have for us to use?" Marinette said, moving forward.

"I have the mouse, the snake, the bee, and the fox," Master Fu said. "Each one grants a different power. The Snake miraculous grants the power of intuition. The Fox miraculous grants the power of illusion. The Mouse miraculous grants the power of multiplication, and the Bee miraculous grants the power of subjection. I felt that these four would be most useful against Zombizou. It's up to you which one you would like to use." He was looking at Marinette as he spoke, clearly expecting her to decide which miraculous would be the most useful.

Adrien wasn't even sure what Master Fu meant by intuition, but he could definitely see Marinette as a cute, mouse-themed superhero. She was small, or petite as Marinette liked to call it, but also mighty. And if it granted the power of multiplication -

'You know, I can hear you,' Marinette thought, turning her head to eye him.

He grinned despite everything and thought, 'Multimouse. That would be the perfect name.'

She rolled her eyes at him and turned back to Master Fu. "I'll take the Bee. If I can get close to Zombizou to freeze her in place, we could get the akuma," she said. "And Adrien can take the Fox. Illusions that can confuse Zombizou, or her zombies, will be really helpful."

Master Fu smiled at her. "A wise choice," he said approvingly, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out two objects: a hair comb that had a bee design on it, and a necklace with a pendant curled like a fox's tail. Marinette took the hair comb and passed the necklace to Adrien. She affixed the hair comb in her hair, while Adrien set the necklace around her throat. The pendant was warm where it fell against his skin. Orange and yellow light filled the air.

"Hi! I'm - oh, you must belong to Plagg." A fox-like kwami peered curiously at Adrien. "You're a kitten through and through. Plagg would be furious if he knew you were wearing my miraculous, you know. He hates to share."

"Ah, it's a long story," Adrien said, who wasn't sure how he felt about immediately being pegged as belonging to Plagg.

"I'm Pollen. It's lovely to meet you," Pollen chirped to Marinette. “Tikki always has the best bugs, so I’m sure we’ll work great together!”

"Likewise," Marinette said with a thin smile.

"I'm Trixx," Trixx said to Adrien. "To transform, you say 'Trixx, let's pounce'."

Adrien knew better than to shout the words this time, like he had with Plagg, and instead said, "What's your power and how does it work?"

"I grant you the power of illusion. You can create an illusion of whatever you want with your flute," Trixx explained. "The incantation is 'Mirage'. Depending on your skills, the illusions may be able to make sounds as well - but no matter how good you are, it will only last for five minutes and after that you'll detransform." He paused for a moment, then added, "To detransform on purpose, you'll say 'let's rest'."

"Got it," Adrien said, knowing that Marinette was receiving similar instruction from Pollen. He wasn't sure how he felt about using another miraculous. Marinette was similarly conflicted. Unfortunately, choice wasn't a luxury that they had right now. If they didn't do something, Zombizou would get the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculouses and hand them off to Hawkmoth. There was no way Adrien was going to let that happen after all they'd been through.

"Just make sure that you use the power wisely," Trixx said, violet eyes bright. "And don't waste it, got it? You can make people believe whatever you want them to. That's more valuable than some realize."

"I'll remember," Adrien promised, more thoughtfully this time.

"Ready?" Marinette said, turning away from Pollen.

'I hope we can do this,' Adrien thought.

She swallowed hard. 'I hope we can too. Let's go.'

"Trixx, let's pounce!'

"Pollen, buzz on!"

Chapter Text

As the yellow light faded around her, Marinette opened her eyes and found herself looking at Adrien - well, not technically Adrien. It was very strange to see him dressed in orange as opposed to black, though she thought that the color still suited him. His outfit was mostly orange, but his stomach and chest were white, and he had black gloves and boots. A fluffy fox tail and two equally fluffy fox ears, all orange with white tips, completed his look.

Though when Adrien opened his eyes to look back at her, and she saw his green eyes through an orange mask, it was almost more than her heart could take.

'Aspik,' he thought, squinting at her.

'What?' Marinette thought, baffled.

'If I had the snake miraculous, that's totally the kind of cool name that would suit me,' he thought, and Marinette rolled her eyes so hard that it hurt.

"Seriously?" she said out loud. "You can spend time thinking up superhero names for us that go with every miraculous if you want to, but right now you need to focus on a name for fox you. I can't call you Chat Noir." Even though he would always be her kitty.

His expression softened and he sent a wave of affection towards her even as he said, "How about Tromper?"

Deceive. Marinette cocked her head and nodded. It made sense for the fox, since his power was all about illusions. "That works. And me?"

"Miel," he said with a smirk.

"Fine, but don't think you can get away with calling me Chérie on the field," she said, wagging her finger in his face.

Tromper chuckled, grabbed her hand, and pressed a kiss to her knuckles. He hadn't done that since they'd lost their miraculous and Miel couldn't have stopped her smile if she tried. There was a spark in his eyes that had been missing for a long time now - a spark that she had been a little afraid she would never see again. As strange as it was to be standing opposite her partner in yellow and black stripes as opposed to red and black spots, she couldn't deny that she had missed this in ways she had never dared to put into words.

"Miel, Tromper, good luck," Master Fu said, and Miel started. She had almost forgotten that Master Fu was there. When she glanced at him, he was looking between them with an expression she struggled to identify. Wistful, perhaps, or regretful. She found she didn’t care.

"Thank you. We'll meet up with you again after the battle," Miel said. She reached for her hip and found not a yoyo, but a spinning top. It was smooth beneath her gloved fingertips, but the point was sharp. That was what she was supposed to use for her attack, according to Pollen. It was too bad they weren't going against Hawkmoth. Miel would have enjoyed jabbing Hawkmoth with this.

'So violent,' Tromper thought, pulling forth his flute with one hand and reached for her hand with the other. They went past Fu and out the door, this time unafraid. But the street was still empty of zombies, so they didn’t get to try out their new powers just yet.

'We have to find Coccinelle and Lynx,' Miel thought. Now that the newness of their transformations was wearing off, she could feel herself settling into her usual businesslike demeanour. 'They've probably gone somewhere to recoup from Zombizou, but where?'

Tromper wrinkled his face up. 'Lynx would have to feed Plagg because he used Cataclysm. It's unlikely that he would have had cheese on him, whoever he is,' he thought. 'Where's the nearest cheese store?'

It took a moment of experimentation before Miel figured out how to open the spinning top and use it the way she would've used her yoyo, but she was able to look up the location of the nearest high-end cheese shop. Both she and Tromper took to the rooftops to avoid the zombies. A thrill of joy ran through her as she threw out the spinning top and let it yank her through the air - it moved much quicker than her yoyo, leaving her breathless. A rush of happiness from Tromper through their bond had her smile stretching from ear-to-ear as he easily leapt up to join her.

They headed east towards the shop, and within five minutes Miel knew they were on the right track. Because there, right on the rooftops where anyone could see her, was Coccinelle. She was pacing back and forth and wringing her hands together. When Miel and Tromper landed on the rooftop, she jumped about a foot in the air and immediately lashed out with her yoyo. Tromper, used to dodging the yoyo after spending hours sparring with Ladybug, easily dodged the weapon and grabbed it, preventing Coccinelle from yanking it back.

"It's okay. We're on your side," Miel said soothingly, holding her hands up. "We're here to help."

"Who are you?!" Coccinelle demanded, eyes darting between them.

"I'm Miel and this is Tromper. The guardian sent us," Miel said.

Coccinelle's shoulders dropped, but she continued to eye them warily. "He didn't say anything about other people to me. He only said that a cat would be coming."

"He had to find us first," Miel improvised, since she didn't think Coccinelle would appreciate being told that she and Lynx were hopelessly out of their depths. Even if it was true.

"How do I know that you're not part of Zombizou's zombies?" Coccinelle said.

"Do you see us trying to kiss you?" Tromper said dryly, folding his arms across his chest, and Coccinelle blinked for a moment.

"I guess not," she said finally. "Can you let go of my yoyo?"

"Only if you promise not to try to attack us again," Tromper replied.

"I promise," Coccinelle said, and Tromper obediently let go. Coccinelle twisted her wrist to bring the yoyo back when a simple twitch of the finger would have done, and as a result nearly brained Lynx when he appeared on the roof beside her. Lynx just barely ducked in time and Coccinelle let out a horrified squeak.

"Maybe just put it away," Miel said quickly, exchanging a look with Tromper. Had she ever been that uncoordinated with her yoyo? By the time Master Fu had taken the Ladybug miraculous away, that yoyo had felt like an extension of Miel's being. She itched with the urge to get her hands on it, because she knew that she and Chat Noir would be able to put an end to this nonsense -

"Who are you?" Lynx demanded.

"They've come to help us," Coccinelle said. "Miel and Tromper." She pointed to each of them in turn.

Lynx gave them a distrustful look. "I don't think we need your help."

"That's too bad, because you totally do," Tromper said, undeterred. "Look, what you've been doing so far isn't working. Coccinelle, you almost got your miraculous stolen. And Lynx, you toppled the Eiffel Tower. If you two go at Zombizou again without having kind of a plan in place, there's no telling what will happen."

"We're doing the best we can!" Coccinelle said, clearly offended.

"We know," Miel said gently. "But I think if the four of us work together, we can get a lot further. The akuma is in her lipstick."

"How do you know that?" Lynx said.

"Because..." Miel trailed off, unwittingly remembering how Madame Bustier had stood in front of her and thrown her purse at the akuma. That akuma never would have been at the school if Marinette hadn't let her temper get the best of her. It was her fault that Madame Bustier had been akumatized.

'No, it's not,' Tromper thought immediately. 'Don't go down that path. The only person at fault here is Hawkmoth and you know that as well as I do. You have the right to be angry, Marinette.' He put a hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. His touch fortified her a bit, giving her the strength to force a smile.

"We've been watching the live footage and the lipstick tube makes the most sense," Miel said. "That's what she's using to gain control over people, and it's the only thing about her that doesn’t fit."

Coccinelle looked at Lynx, then shrugged. "I... I guess that makes sense. But how are we going to get it away from her? She's been keeping it close to her the whole time."

"You'll have to call for your Lucky Charm when the moment is right," Miel told her. "It'll give me - you - a clue as to how we can do this." She rushed over her error, hoping that neither of them had noticed, but Lynx's eyes narrowed.

"You're the old Ladybug and Chat Noir," he said in sudden realization.

"What, really?" Coccinelle exclaimed, staring at them with a strange look.

"Yeah, that's us," Tromper said, smiling tightly. "So trust us when we say, we know a little bit about how to handle this."

Chapter Text

Zombizou wasn't difficult to find. The Eiffel Tower had collapsed, taking several buildings with it, but Zombizou had not left its location. Instead, she'd taken to standing on top of the collapsed tower and laughing to herself. Just seeing her mirth at the situation was enough to make Tromper twitch, but he controlled the urge to punch the akuma in the face with a reminder that this wasn't technically Zombizou's fault. Their anger should be reserved for Hawkmoth; the occasional purple outline that flashed over Zombizou's face was enough to tell Tromper that Hawkmoth was still in control.

He glanced over at Miel, who was crouched down and staring at the situation with narrowed eyes. Her suit was mostly yellow, with black stripes from her hips to her calves. Her black ankle boots were striped with white, but her wrist-length gloves were solid black. Her mask was all yellow and the antennae on her head were black. Tromper actually thought the antennae were pretty cute, but when he reached out it was to touch the end of Miel's hair. It was gathered back in a low ponytail, not her usual pigtails - perhaps out of a desire to make sure people didn't recognize her as Ladybug.

'I miss your pigtails,' he thought.

'I'll have them back soon,' Miel thought, flashing him a smile that faded all too quickly. This moment was bittersweet for both of them: they’d spent the last few days broken hearted after being rejected as heroes, yet here they were again.

'Not soon enough,' Tromper thought, forcing himself to look away and back down at Zombizou.

"So... what's the plan?" Coccinelle said, a little too loudly. Tromper quickly shushed her. The element of surprise was going to be a huge factor here.

"You need to cast your Lucky Charm. We won't be able to figure out a plan without it," Miel said, backing away from the ledge. She only straightened up once she was out of view. "And we'll have to move fast once you have, because you've only got five minutes until you detransform."

"Then shouldn't we wait until we're already down there?" Lynx said.

"A Lucky Charm can totally change a plan on the fly, and we can't risk that right now. It needs to be now," Miel said decisively.

Coccinelle didn't look convinced. "What if I detransform mid-battle?"

"You'll have your warning system," Tromper said. He tapped his ear when she looked at him blankly. "Your earrings will start a countdown. Five spots for five minutes." Just how little had Tikki actually told her?

"Just throw your yoyo overhead and say Lucky Charm," Miel instructed.

"Alright, cool. I can do that," Coccinelle muttered. "Lucky Charm!" One dull flash of red light later and Coccinelle was yelping in alarm and ducking away from the sizeable object that fell, leaving Lynx to leap forward and catch it before it hit the ground.

"What is it?" Lynx said, holding the red, black-spotted object at arm's length.

"It's a boombox," Tromper said, eyebrows furrowed. Sometimes the Lucky Charms gave out the strangest objects. They all looked expectantly at Coccinelle, who blinked.

"What?" she said.

"You're supposed to figure out what to do with it," Tromper told her.

"It's a boombox? It plays music?” she said uncertainly. "What else would you do with it?"

"It's supposed to help us beat the akuma," Tromper said, his exasperation deepening. Ladybug had figured out her first Lucky Charm in a matter of seconds, saving Chat Noir from being crushed in the process.

"So what, we're supposed to turn it on and hope Zombizou starts dancing?" Coccinelle said, putting her hands on her hips. “That doesn’t sound very likely…”

"No, it sounds flat out stupid," Lynx interjected.

Miel was glancing around with that look in her eyes that meant her brain was moving fast. "No, she's right," she said suddenly. "Not about the dancing part, but about turning it on. I think I know what we have to do. Tromper, you need to cast mirage so that Zombizou is confused. Create a bunch of copies of Lynx and me if you can to cover us. Coccinelle, you have to turn on the boombox to cover up the sounds of us moving. Zombizou has good hearing and she might be able to hear us coming otherwise. Then I'll sneak up behind her and paralyze her, giving Lynx the chance to grab her lipstick and use Cataclysm."

“Wow,” Coccinelle said. “How did you get all of that out of a boombox?”

Tromper felt a rush of pride. "That's my lady,” he said. “She always comes up with the most un-bee-lievable plans."

Said lady shot him a look. "Obviously, you're feeling better if you're back to making puns," she said, but her tone was at odds with the soft relief coming through their bond.

"But wait, what happens once I use Cataclysm?" Lynx said.

"Then Coccinelle has to catch the akuma in her yoyo and purify it. Once she does that, she can cast the miraculous cure. It will put everything that happened back to normal." Miel turned to Coccinelle. "That is incredibly important. You must not let the akuma get away, or Ma - er, the victim could be reakumatized."

"Right," Coccinelle said, wrinkling her nose in concentration. "Catch it, purify... got it." She swung her yoyo too hard to be casual, looking sideways at Miel as she did.

Tromper wasn't at all sure that she did, but there was a bright, excited look in Coccinelle's eyes that suggested his doubts were wrong. At any rate, they didn't have much more time to stand around talking about it. They needed to stop Zombizou as quickly as possible before the whole city fell under her, and by extension Hawkmoth's, control. He took his flute off his back, running his fingers along the length of the instrument. He was far more versed in piano than any other instrument, but he had played the flute a handful of times just for fun.

"Let's do this," he said grimly.

'Good luck,' Miel thought, beckoning to Lynx. The two of them leaped off the building just as Coccinelle's miraculous gave its first beep. She jumped and clasped a hand to her ear.

"I've still got four minutes, right?" she said anxiously.

"That's right," Tromper said. And sometimes he thought even that was nebulous. The five-minute countdown sometimes seemed to pass by in a flash, while at other times it could drag on for twice that length of time.

"Okay," Coccinelle said, her expression smoothing out into determination. She grabbed the boombox and hefted it. Tromper took that as a sign that she was ready. As soon as he received word that Miel and Lynx were in position, he put the flute to his lips and blew several notes that came to him like magic. A shivery feeling ran through him as the flute glowed with orange light.

"Mirage!" Tromper called out, snapping the flute out and down. The light followed the flute, forming into a ball that continued in the flute's trajectory. It hit the ground in front of Zombizou and exploded, forming at least a dozen Lynx's and Miel's. Zombizou looked utterly baffled.

Coccinelle hit the button on her boombox and extremely loud rock music rattled out of it, loud enough that Tromper winced. His fox ears lowered, but he tried to ignore the loud music in favor of watching what was happening below. He could see Miel - the real Miel - stealthily making her way towards Zombizou, who was preoccupied with the illusions. Every illusion that Zombizou touched faded away, but there was a lot of them. Miel came right up behind her without her notice and took her spinning top into her hand.

"Venom!" she shouted, stabbing the tip of her top into Zombizou's thigh. Zombizou screeched in surprise and froze, then toppled forward onto her face. Her lipstick flew out of her hand and went spinning across the pavement. Tromper tracked its progress, watching as it rolled under some debris. Lynx ran after it but lost it, looking around frantically.

"Lynx, there!" Tromper shouted, pointing. "Beneath the concrete, Lynx, hurry!"

Lynx fell to his knees and looked beneath the debris. Then he stretched a hand underneath and said, "Cataclysm!"

The debris dissolved, along with the lipstick. A purple akuma fluttered free, flying up into the sky.

"Now, Coccinelle!" Miel shouted, looking up at them.

"Uh - I purify you!" Coccinelle shouted, throwing her yoyo out. Nothing happened.

"You have to open it first!" Tromper said.

"Oh!" Coccinelle quickly reeled her yoyo in and ran her finger over the back of it, then threw it out again. Tromper didn't dare breathe until the yoyo had snapped shut around the akuma; she pulled her yoyo in again, then touched the back to open it again. A white butterfly fluttered past her fingers.

'It worked,' Tromper thought, his knees weak with relief. Below them, Miel visibly sagged.

'Thank god,' she thought. 'Now tell her to do the miraculous cure.'

"Right. Now throw your Charm up and say, Miraculous Ladybug," Tromper ordered.

And Coccinelle grabbed the boombox and threw it up in the air as hard as she could, shouting, "Miraculous Ladybug!"

Chapter Text

Relief flooded into their bond from both sides as Miel watched the boombox explode into hundreds of miniature ladybugs that swept across Paris. As Madame Bustier sat up, the Eiffel Tower vanished from the ground and reappeared back in its normal position. Buildings were restored to their former glory. All of the people who had been turned into zombies suddenly stopped and started looking around in confusion.

“Madame Bustier, are you okay?” Miel said, hurrying over to the woman.

“I – yes, I think so. What happened Lady – oh! You’re not Ladybug,” Madame Bustier said, pulling back from Miel in surprise.

“No, I’m a different hero who was called in to help,” Miel said, which wasn’t technically a lie.

“Dear me. Was I that terrible as an akuma?” Madame Bustier’s face dropped.

“Um,” Miel said, unsure of how to address that. Because Madame Bustier had been one of the worst akumas they’d faced so far, but she didn’t want to admit that out loud. It really wasn’t Madame Bustier’s fault. Still, her silence seemed to speak volumes and Madame Bustier sighed heavily as she climbed to her feet.

“I see. Thank you very much for your help,” she said quietly.

“It wasn’t your fault,” Miel told her.

Madame Bustier gave her a tight smile. “Of course.”

Miel’s miraculous let out a beep, startling them both. Much as she would have liked to have comforted her teacher a little more, Miel settled for an awkward nod and backed off. She threw out her spinning top and let it catch on the roof, catapulting her through the air and onto the rooftop that Coccinelle and Tromper were occupying. It was only then that she realized Lynx wasn’t with them.

‘He took off as soon as Coccinelle cast the cure,’ Tromper thought. ‘I guess he didn’t want to stick around.’

‘Maybe he thought we’d try to take the miraculous back,’ Miel thought. She wouldn’t have, though the temptation was pretty strong as she eyed Coccinelle’s earrings. But no. Master Fu had been the one to give them out and he should be the one who collected them.

“That was so cool,” Coccinelle said, staring at her hands with a look of wonder. She was down to two dots now but didn’t seem overly concerned.

“You did a great job,” Miel said, smiling at her.

“Yeah, I really did, didn’t I?” Coccinelle said. “Say… can I get a picture of us?” Her earrings beeped and another dot disappeared.

“You don’t have time. You have to go before you detransform,” Tromper said.

“But I want a picture!” Coccinelle said.

“Next time,” Miel told her. “Okay? You can’t let anyone know who you are, remember?”

Coccinelle pouted but seemed resigned to the fact that she wasn’t going to get her picture. She looked closely at Miel and Tromper one last time, as though burning them into her memory, before she turned and went over the side of the building. No sooner had she gone than Tromper heard the sound of his own miraculous beeping. The pendant was down to three parts.

‘We should go too,’ he thought, turning to Miel. ‘I guess I should head back to my modelling job… I’m not sure if they’ll want to resume now that things are over, but I don’t want anyone to start wondering why I took off.’ As it was, he was sure that Jeanne was going to be beside herself.

Miel let out a sigh. ‘I have to think of something to tell Maman and Papa,’ she thought. ‘I’m sure they know I left and they’re going to be really mad.’

‘Good luck.’ Tromper gave her a quick kiss goodbye and then left, wanting to get as far as he could before his transformation ran out. He made it a few blocks from the location of his job before his miraculous gave one last feeble beep; he jumped down into an alley and hit the ground mere seconds before orange light washed over him and Trixx came spiralling out of the necklace.

“Whee, that was fun!” Trixx said enthusiastically as Adrien caught him. “I haven’t stretched my muscles like that in years.”

Adrien cocked his head and smiled, holding in a laugh. “That’s a change. Usually Plagg just whines for cheese or complains about how long I had to stay transformed.”

“Plagg’s a brat,” Trixx said dismissively. “Though… I wouldn’t mind some fruit, if you had some?” He peered hopefully up at Adrien.

“I can get you some soon,” Adrien promised, recalling the large basket of fruit and snacks that had been sitting in the waiting area. It was largely untouched, as no self-respecting model would ever consume a large meal before a dress rehearsal or a show. Adrien didn’t have to worry about being fired, given that he was the designer’s son, but any other model who didn’t fit in their outfits would be cast out.

“Sure! I guess I’m staying with you for a while?” Trixx asked.

“I… guess so?” Adrien said. They hadn’t thought to ask Master Fu what should happen afterwards. But it made sense that Trixx and Pollen would stay with him and Marinette for at least a little while, right? Just in case there was another akuma attack?

‘We’ll go to Master Fu’s shop tomorrow,’ Marinette thought. She was almost home. ‘Hopefully by then he’ll have retrieved Tikki and Plagg.’

‘Works for me,’ Adrien thought, tucking Trixx into the pocket on his shirt. It was where Plagg usually liked to stay, because that way Plagg could easily hear everything that was going on.

As he continued on his way, he wondered if Master Fu would get the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculouses back easily. Perhaps he’d have to offer Coccinelle the Fox and Bee in return? He wasn’t sure he was comfortable with that. Swapping miraculouses was one thing, but there were lives involved too. Pollen and Trixx deserved good holders. Not to say that Coccinelle and Lynx weren’t good people, but Master Fu had basically admitted that he didn’t know much about them.

‘And it’s not like he’s going to tell us who they are so that we can find out more,’ Marinette thought. ‘Okay, wish me luck. I’m about to go inside.’

‘Good luck,’ Adrien thought with a wince, breaking into a light jog. Sabine’s lecture rang in his ears as he neared the front of his destination, where Nathalie was waiting.

“There you are!” she said as Adrien walked up. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

“I got turned into a zombie,” Adrien lied with an easy smile. “When I snapped out of it, I was somewhere downtown. Sorry. My phone died while everything was going on, so I couldn’t call,” he added before she could ask that very question. It wasn’t true, but he hadn’t thought to contact Nathalie or his bodyguard after detransforming so the lie would have to do.

Nathalie’s frown deepened as she gave him a critical onceover. “You’re not hurt?”

“No,” Adrien said quietly. At face value, the question seemed kind. Even concerned. But he had quickly learned better. Nathalie wasn’t asking if he was okay, she was asking if his body had been damaged in any way. The difference was small, but key.

“Good. Then let’s go. We’re on a tight schedule,” Nathalie said briskly, turning on her heel. “I’ve canceled your piano lesson and your fencing practice to accommodate the extra time here. You’ll have to make sure to practice on your own time to make up for it.”

What time are you referring to? It was on the tip of Adrien’s tongue to ask, but he bit the question back at the last moment and mutely followed her inside. As they passed through the waiting room, he snagged a handful of grapes and slipped them into the pocket of his shirt when Nathalie wasn’t looking. The stage manager would have a fit if she’d known, but frankly Adrien’s attire was dirty anyway. Everything would need to be laundered before the show tomorrow.

‘I’m grounded for a week,’ Marinette thought glumly. ‘Maman says that what I did was foolish and reckless. I told her I went out to look for you.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Adrien thought. It wasn’t fair, but it also wasn’t like Marinette could explain what she’d really been doing.

‘No, it’s fine. Frankly, I got off light with just a week. Maman and Papa were distracted trying to get the bakery open back up,’ Marinette thought. ‘Besides, so long as I have Pollen or Tikki, I can still sneak out at night after they’ve gone to bed.’

Adrien smiled. ‘Is that your way of saying you’d like to meet a certain fox tonight?’

‘Only if you’re interested in meeting up with a bee,’ Marinette thought back.

‘Always, Bugaboo,’ Adrien thought.

Marinette sighed. ‘I’m never going to get rid of that nickname, am I?’ she thought resignedly, and Adrien let his amusement be her answer as he followed Nathalie backstage.

Chapter Text

"Thanks for your help tonight, Marinette," Sabine said as Marinette switched the sign on the door to closed. It was an hour later than the bakery usually closed, but Sabine and Tom had wanted to recoup some of their losses from their forced closure earlier. Marinette judged that they'd been successful. Her feet ached from how much scurrying around she'd done, and her apron was covered in a mishmash of flour, sugar, and sauce.

"It was no problem," Marinette said lightly, pretending not to notice her maman's steely look as she walked over to one of the pastry cases to start taking out what hadn't sold. It actually hadn't been her choice; in addition to the week of grounding, she was on bakery duty all weekend and every day after school. She was taking her punishment without complaint tonight because she was hoping her parents would her go to Adrien's show tomorrow - with a quick trip to Master Fu beforehand, of course.

'You don't have to come to my show,' Adrien thought. He was sitting at his piano bench, ostensibly practicing. Marinette knew that in reality, he was watching Trixx play on his climbing wall while only occasionally putting his fingers to the keys.

'I want to come,' Marinette thought stubbornly. 'Someone should be there for you.' Because she knew that Gabriel Agreste was very unlikely to come, being that Gabriel had not left the mansion in some time. And even if Gabriel did decide to attend, it would be because he wanted to make sure that the show went according to his very high standards, not because he wanted to see his only child doing a fantastic job.

As a model, Adrien got exactly one ticket to use. He'd never had a use for it before, but Marinette was determined to be there to use it now.

'Alright, alright,' Adrien thought, his emotions warm and soft and fond in a way that left Marinette flushed as she finished with the first case and moved on to the second one. Their bond grew quiet for the next few minutes as Marinette finished gathering all the pastries and Adrien finally started practicing.

"I can finish the rest," Sabine said at last, pulling Marinette's attention back to her.

"Are you sure, Maman?"

"Very sure. Take some pastries if you like," Sabine added, turning back to the cash register. Marinette hummed an acknowledgment as she carried the tray back into the kitchen. Whatever they didn't eat tonight would be sold at half-price tomorrow. She checked to be sure that her papa was distracted and then quickly took down a box, putting a dozen pastries inside. Then she put away the remainder and took a small dish from the cupboard. She squeezed a generous portion of honey into the dish and then took both the dish and the box upstairs.

"Good evening, Marinette!" Pollen chirped, flying down from the balcony. She had been absolutely delighted to find that Marinette had plenty of flowers up there and had immediately made herself at home in Marinette's prized roses. The sight of the little bee kwami happily buzzing amongst the roses had been so cute that Marinette hadn't been able to bring herself to tell Pollen to move. She'd reasoned that a kwami couldn't do much damage to flowers anyway.

"Hi Pollen. I brought you some honey," Marinette said, setting the dish down on her desk. Pollen liked to eat honey, but other sweet things would do if honey wasn't available. She had eaten a couple of Tikki's cookies earlier.

"Ooh, thank you!" Pollen said, buzzing her way over to the desk. Marinette shot her a smile as she set the pastry box down on her desk.

'Are those for me?' Adrien thought with interest.

'Not all of them, but you can have a few if you're very good tonight,' Marinette thought back, picking up her sketchbook. They wouldn't be able to meet until after midnight, both because Marinette had to wait until her parents went to sleep and Adrien had to wait until Nathalie had done one last check on him. She could have worked on her homework, but it was Friday night and that was the last thing she was in the mood for. So instead, she crawled up the stairs to her bed and made herself a cuddly little nest, wrapped up in a blanket and leaning on her cat pillow. She opened her sketchbook and propped it on her knees.

'I can be very good for some pastries,' Adrien thought. 'Any song requests?'

Marinette hummed in thought and then named a few of her favorite songs. It was very pleasant to relax and idly draw while the sweet sound of Adrien's music echoed in her ears; she had never been a huge fan of piano music until now. He practiced for over an hour, until his fingers grew too stiff to keep going. Then he drifted over to his computer, where he opened an assignment – and the Ladyblog.

There was finally a new post from Alya, Marinette realized when she glanced through Adrien’s eyes. Curiously, there were no photographs or videos from Alya herself. All of them were submissions from blog visitors. Alya had a brief note saying that she’d become a zombie shortly after Zombizou appeared… which may or may not have been true. Marinette didn’t know what to think.

‘Do you think it’s Alya and Nino?’ she thought, setting aside her sketchbook to pull up the Ladyblog on her phone. Looking through Adrien’s eyes was easier now, but still gave her a headache if she did it for too long.

‘I don’t know. I like to think I know Nino well enough to be able to tell, but…’ Adrien sighed, leaning his chin on his hand. ‘Alya knows you as well as I know Nino, and she hasn’t recognized you as Ladybug even though Ladybug has been around for months.’

Marinette slowly scrolled down the post, realizing that some people had gotten shots of Miel and Tromper – though they didn’t know their names, of course. For that reason, they were being credited as ‘Bee’ and ‘Fox’ respectively. And luckily, no one seemed to have made the connection between the new miraculous holders and Ladybug and Chat Noir. She supposed they did look quite different in their new costumes, plus some of the miraculous magic may have been at play.

‘That dumb magic. It’s such a pain. I bet we would’ve recognized Coccinelle and Lynx without it,’ Adrien thought.

‘If we even know them; don’t forget, they could be strangers. Besides, if we do know them, they might also have recognized us and that wouldn’t be good,’ Marinette thought back, though she could see where he was coming from. Master Fu hadn’t wanted Ladybug and Chat Noir to know who each other was either. She couldn’t imagine how frustrating and torturous it would be to work so closely with someone when you had no idea who they really were!

‘Yeah, I guess you’re right. And who knows, maybe it wasn’t them. A lot of people got turned into zombies. Alya could’ve easily been one of them,’ Adrien thought. He had paused at a picture of Coccinelle and was staring at her critically. ‘Every time I try to pick out one of her identifying features, it’s like my brain stops being able to vocalize them.’

‘I know what you mean,’ Marinette thought, squinting at a picture of Lynx. Definitely the miraculous magic. Trying to focus on anything about him and compare it to anything about her friends was giving her a serious headache. Tikki had always told her that it was strong, but this was her first time seeing just how powerful it really was.

She checked the time and realized that it was close to midnight at last. Everything from below her had gone quiet while she was sketching. Marinette slid down off her bed and cracked the door to listen. It was tellingly silent, so she knew her parents must have retired to bed. She gently eased the door back down and straightened up, shaking out her arms to loosen them.

‘Nathalie’s gone now too. Meet you at the tower?’ Adrien thought.

Marinette sent back her wordless agreement and, out loud, said, “Pollen, would I be able to borrow your powers for a little while?”

“Of course!” Pollen said. She had been dozing on the desk but awakened when Marinette got down. Now, she flew over to Marinette with a gentle buzz. “I am at your service.”

“You’re – really?” Marinette said, a little puzzled. Tikki had certainly never said that, and Plagg would’ve died before allowing those words to pass through his lips. She peered at Pollen, wondering if it had something to do with the fact that Pollen was a bee. Weren’t most bees worker bees? Marinette was no queen, though…

“While you hold my miraculous, you may use my powers anytime you like,” Pollen said with a cheerful smile. “It’s been a while since I had a Bee. I’d enjoy going out.”

“Okay, great!” Marinette said. “Pollen, buzz on!”

Warm yellow light suffused her room, leaving Miel behind. She opened the box of pastries and took out a honey biscuit, setting it on the dish for Pollen when they returned. Then she closed the box, tucked it beneath her arm, and made her way out onto the balcony. The soft tingle that ran through her told her Adrien had transformed, so Tromper was on his way. With a grin, and a delighted thrill at being able to do this again, she leapt off her balcony.

Chapter Text

When Adrien awoke the next morning, he didn't jump out of bed immediately. He took a few minutes to lay there, staring up at the ceiling and remembering the very pleasant time he and Miel had spent on the tower. Pleasant... but also, in a way, bittersweet. As cute as Marinette looked while transformed with the Bee miraculous, they both missed Plagg and Tikki deeply. It just wasn't the same traversing Paris as Miel and Tromper. Much as he hated to admit, Adrien thought he understood now what Trixx had meant when he called Adrien a kitten.

"Are you getting up?" Trixx asked, and Adrien rolled over to see Trixx staring at him from Adrien's desk. He smiled lazily at the kwami. Marinette was still sleeping, and the quiet contentment rolling through the bond was peaceful.

"Yeah, I am," Adrien said, though he made no move to get up. Fatigue weighed down his bones. He really shouldn't have stayed out as late as he had. The sun had been maybe a couple of hours away from cresting the horizon when he'd crawled in his bedroom window. The make-up artists were going to be outraged when they caught sight of the deepening bags under his eyes.

"You could just stay in bed all day," Trixx said.

"Now you sound like Plagg," Adrien said, amused. How many times had Plagg suggested the same thing? Though when it came to Plagg, it was less out of concern for Adrien's welfare and more for the fact that Plagg was, at heart, a lazy cat who liked nothing better than cheese and a day in bed. Unfortunately, Plagg had gotten stuck with a holder who rarely had the luxury of a full night's sleep, never mind the time to spend daylights hour under the covers.

Trixx snickered. "Yeah, I hear that a lot. Wayzz complains that Plagg and I are too much alike for his sanity," he said, violet eyes twinkling with mischief.

Adrien contemplated that for a moment. "You're lazy and destructive too?" he asked finally.

"Nah, but I am a fox. I like to play tricks," Trixx replied. "That often creates chaos, and chaos and destruction go hand-in-hand. The last time Plagg and I had fun together, we created the Grand Canyon."

"That's... horrifying," Adrien said after a slow blink.

Trixx gave him a wicked smile. "No, it was fun. I'd like see to Plagg again..."

"I'm not sure Paris can handle that," Adrien muttered.

"Adrien?"

His heart thudded against his ribs as he shot upright. "Yes, Nathalie?" he called out, motioning for Trixx to hide.

'What? What?!' Sensing his panic, Marinette came awake in a confused flounder. Adrien quickly sent a pulse of reassurance her way.

"You need to be ready within two hours for the show. You can practice piano after you have breakfast," said Nathalie. Thankfully, she didn't open the door - both because she would've seen Trixx and because Adrien couldn't resist making a face in her direction.

'Oh,' Marinette thought, slumping back against her pillows with a groan.

"Thanks Nathalie," Adrien said with forced politeness, swinging his legs over the bed. "I'm not hungry right now, though. I'll get something later."

"Very well," Nathalie said. "Then you should start your practice now."

"Right," Adrien muttered. If he listened hard, he could hear the click of her heels against the hardwood as she strode away. He shook his head. Naturally, he had zero intentions of practicing the piano this morning. He and Marinette had plans. But that was alright. It had been sometime since he'd set up his iPod to play music while he was out. And since he'd practiced for a while last night, he didn't feel bad.

'What a wake-up call,' Marinette thought. 'I thought for sure you were being attacked!'

'Sorry, I panicked. Sometimes Nathalie just opens my door and Trixx was right out in plain sight,' Adrien thought, glancing around for the kwami. He finally spotted Trixx, now curled up at the top of one of his bookcases.

'Right,' Marinette thought. 'Well, I guess I'm awake now. I'm going to go see if Maman will let me go.'

'Wait and I'll come over. Maybe she'll be more inclined to let you go if I'm there too,' Adrien thought, climbing out of bed. He got dressed, did his hair, and brushed his teeth, knowing that Marinette was also getting ready. When he was finished, he locked his door, set up his iPod with the classical music playlist, and walked over and pulled open the curtains. Far from the bright, sunny day of yesterday, it was overcast and drizzling. Heavy fog hung over the streets of Paris. Adrien made a face.

"Now see, if I were Plagg, I'd flat out refuse to go out in that," Trixx said from behind him.

"You are not wrong," Adrien said. "Would you do it for a cranberry-blueberry scone? Marinette's papa makes the most amazing scones."

Trixx's eyes gleamed. "You've got yourself a deal."

"Trixx, let's pounce!" Adrien whispered. Orange light washed over him, briefly illuminating the room. Tromper then opened the window and stepped up onto the ledge, wincing as a fine mist sprayed his face. He might be a fox right now, but the cat side of him wasn't terribly pleased by the weather either.

He jumped off the ledge and quickly made his way towards Marinette's house, landing in an alley about a block away. He detransformed, tucked Trixx into his pocket, and walked the rest of the way while mentally following the conversation between Marinette and her maman. As predicted, Sabine wasn't crazy about the idea of her daughter going out so soon after being grounded. The words "you should have thought of that before going out during an akuma attack" were uttered just as Adrien opened the bakery door and walked inside. Both mother and daughter looked up at him.

"Oh, Adrien!" Sabine said in surprise.

"Hi," Adrien said, running a hand through his hair and grimacing when it came away damp. "Marinette, are you ready?"

Marinette winced. "I don't think I can come today, Adrien, I'm sorry. I should have called you before you came, but I was hoping that something might change at the last minute." She shot her maman a pointed look.

It wasn't hard to conjure up some disappointment, since he was well used to no one coming to his shows. Adrien pasted on a smile. "Oh, I see. That's okay. Thanks for trying."

"You have a show today, Adrien?" Sabine asked him. "Will your father be there?"

"Probably not," Adrien said honestly. "My father doesn't really like to go out in public. He usually sends Nathalie in his place to make sure that everything is done properly. Sometimes Nathalie brings along a tablet so my father can see what's going on through Facetime... so I guess sometimes he's there? Though I really prefer when he's not, because things go so much more smoothly otherwise..."

Sabine frowned. "I see."

"But that's okay. I'm used to it," Adrien went on, shrugging. "I just thought Marinette might like to come because she loves fashion so much... and it would've been nice to have a friend in the audience."

'You're laying it on a little thick,' Marinette thought.

He ignored her, adding, "Sorry, I'll go." He turned towards the windows and did a quick double-take when he realized that, during his couple minutes inside the bakery, it was started raining hard.

"You need an umbrella. I'll get you one," Marinette said with another look at her maman. She disappeared upstairs.

"Have you eaten yet?" Sabine asked him. Then, without waiting for him to respond, she added, "Pick out whatever you like, Dear."

"I wouldn't mind a cranberry-blueberry scone," Adrien said shyly.

"Of course!" Sabine took three of the scones and slid them into a paper bag, handing them to him. She shook her head when Adrien reached for his wallet and sternly told him that he wasn't going to pay for it.

"Thank you," Adrien said, touched. He clutched the bag to his chest as Marinette returned with an umbrella.

"Have a good show," Marinette said softly, handing him the umbrella.

"Oh, for goodness' sake. Just go, Marinette. But you're to be home immediately after, understand?" Sabine said.

Marinette lit up. "Really?! Thank you, Maman!" She kissed Sabine's cheek, hooked her arm through Adrien's, and literally dragged him out the door. Adrien got the umbrella up just in time to keep them both from getting soaked. The bakery door swung shut behind them, leaving them out in the chill and damp, but Adrien couldn't keep himself from grinning in triumph.

'Laying it on too thick, huh?' he thought smugly, and she snorted and elbowed him as she grabbed the umbrella.

‘Yeah, yeah, they love you and would spoil you rotten given half a chance. Now let’s go. I want to see Tikki!’ she thought, pulling him forward. Adrien opened the bag, broke a scone in half and slipped half to Trixx before stuffing the other half in his mouth as he followed.

Chapter Text

Marinette’s apprehension deepened as they grew closer to Master Fu’s until her hands were shaking when she knocked on the door. Adrien took her free hand and laced their fingers together as the door opened. Master Fu silently beckoned them both in, closed the door behind them, and switched the sign to ‘Closed’ before locking the door. Then he took them both into the same back room where they had been before.

“Hello again,” Wayzz said politely from where he was sitting on the table.

“Hi Wayzz,” Marinette said softly.

“Hello,” Adrien said as they both moved to kneel on the cushions. He looked curiously at the phonograph that was also on the table, wondering why it was there but also recognizing that his curiosity was just a front for his nerves. Marinette took a deep breath, fighting to get control over both their nerves.

Master Fu joined them with a pot of tea, just as he had a week ago – had it really only been just over a week? Marinette wondered. So much had changed in such a short span of time. It was a little dizzying to think about. Last time she and Adrien had left this shop, both of them had been crushed. And now here they were again, about to either be happy or get their hearts broken again.

“First of all, thank you for your help against Zombizou,” Fu said, breaking the heavy silence. “I don’t think Coccinelle and Lynx would have been able to defeat her on their own.”

“She was a strong akuma,” Marinette said. “They needed training.”

“Training we didn’t have time for,” Fu said mildly.

‘That’s not really true,’ Adrien thought, though he didn’t say it out loud. ‘If he’d picked out new holders right after he took our miraculouses away, Coccinelle and Lynx would’ve had at least a few days to get used to their powers. They wouldn’t have been on our level, but they also might not have had such a hard time.’

‘Well, he didn’t bother to train us either,’ Marinette thought wryly. ‘We were lucky in that the first few akuma that we have faced weren’t as strong or as difficult to deal with as Zombizou. Otherwise, we would’ve been screwed and there wouldn’t have been anyone else to step in.’

She looked at Fu. “It’s likely that the akuma from here on out are only going to get stronger, and they might even start coming faster if Hawkmoth thinks he can press the issue. If you didn’t have time for training before, then you definitely don’t have time for it now. Adrien and I are the best chance for Paris.”

“It’s not enough for us to guide Coccinelle and Lynx as Miel and Tromper,” Adrien added. “Marinette basically had to walk Coccinelle through everything yesterday. That’s not sustainable. There wouldn’t have been nearly as much property damage or deaths if Ladybug had just been able to execute her plan from the get-go.”

“You don’t know that you would have been able to stop Zombizou any faster,” Fu pointed out.

“No, we don’t know that for sure, but the fact that we were able to stop her as soon as we stepped in is pretty telling,” Marinette shot back.

Master Fu sighed. “All of my reasons for taking your miraculous away in the first place still stand.”

“They really don’t,” Marinette said firmly. She had been thinking about this a lot in preparation for this moment, and now she laid it all out. “Master Fu, you were upset that we didn’t tell Tikki and Plagg. But that, plus Chloé knowing, were literally the only secrets we kept from them. And now that they know this, there would be no reasons for us to hide any other secrets from them.”

Adrien nodded. “I’ve spoken to Chloé. She would never tell anyone who we are. The fact that she’s gone this long without telling anyone proves that she can be trusted. And I’ve known her since we were children; she wouldn’t put me or Marinette in danger like that.” He squeezed Marinette’s hand as he spoke.

“You also said you were worried that having us too focused on each other could ruin the balance of the team,” Marinette went on. “I don’t think that’s true either. Adrien and I have been able to maintain our friendships outside of each other in our civilian lives. There’s no reason to think we couldn’t do the same as Ladybug and Chat Noir if we had to. Furthermore, that’s all a moot point since at some point, we would’ve discovered that we were soulmates anyway. Having us discover we were soulmates after we’d already established a partnership could have actually upset the balance of the team way worse than things as they are.”

Master Fu opened his mouth to respond to that, but Adrien was quick to speak before he could, adding, “You also said it’s dangerous if one of us got akumatized. Frankly, our soulmate bond makes that less likely to happen, not more. Being connected to Marinette makes me calmer and happier, and she feels the same way.”

“I do.” Marinette nodded, shooting Adrien a small smile. “I agree that it’s dangerous, but I don’t believe it’s as much of a danger as you think. Yes, if Hawkmoth gets to one of us, he’ll know who we are. But our soulmate bond actually has nothing to do with that; even if we just found out each other’s identities by accident, which could have happened at any point, he’d still know that information. Not to mention, he’d be able to find out about you. And in fact, I agree with Adrien that our soulmate bond gives us an advantage. I would know immediately if Hawkmoth got into Adrien’s head, and vice versa, and we’d have the chance to plan and respond accordingly.”

“Plus, now we know what happens if we face an akuma and one of us dies or disappears. We’re both going to be substantially more careful, but if it happens we’re prepared to deal with it,” Adrien said. Had they not been right in front of Master Fu, he would’ve kissed Marinette’s hand when she flinched at the memory. The depths of his caring was a comfort that Marinette drew on to keep her voice strong and steady when she spoke.

“Tikki and Plagg both said that we’re really good at what we do, and I believe them. Adrien and I love protecting Paris. We want to bring down Hawkmoth. I know this hasn’t worked out the way you wanted it to, but you will not find better holders for the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous. We’re asking you to trust us,” she said, staring Master Fu right in the eyes and daring him to say that he didn’t.

There was a slight pause before Wayzz cleared his throat. “Master, if I may, I understand that there were certain things you wished to impart that you didn’t want both of them to know. But… is it possible that the time for that has passed?”

“What do you mean?” Adrien said, looking at Wayzz.

Master Fu sighed and shook his head. “I had plans to train Ladybug as the new guardian.”

“What?!” Marinette exclaimed.

“You’re leaving?!” Adrien burst out at the same time, shocked.

“No! I’m not going anywhere,” Master Fu said. “But I have been the guardian for a very long time. I’ve been searching for someone who was a trustworthy successor with no luck, and I thought I had finally found someone I could trust to someday pass those duties to. A protégée, if you will.”

Marinette furrowed her eyebrows. “I mean, I don’t know if I want to? I’d have to learn more about what being the guardian means. But… I don’t understand what this has to do with Adrien and me.”

But Adrien had put it together, and said, “You weren’t planning to tell me anything about being the guardian. You only wanted Marinette to know. That’s why you were so mad when you found out we didn’t have shields, wasn’t it? Marinette could have shielded the information from me if we did.”

“What?” Marinette said again, but considerably more upset this time. “Why? Wouldn’t only one of us knowing more information than the other upset the balance of the team?”

“My reasoning is… complicated,” Master Fu said carefully, which Adrien frankly thought was bullshit. That was the same way Nathalie talked when she was trying to squeeze in a last-minute photoshoot, and she knew that Adrien wouldn’t be happy about it. ‘Complicated’ was what adults said when they didn’t have a good reason but didn’t want to admit it.

“Complicated, yeah right,” Adrien said rudely. “You just didn’t want me to know.”

Marinette was now squeezing his hand very tightly, and her voice was ice cold when she said, “Our miraculous, please, Master Fu. As per your word.” She was about two seconds away from transforming, climbing over the table, and taking them if Master Fu wasn’t smart enough to offer them up. Adrien exhaled, thinking that he wished that she could. Tikki and Plagg had spoken reverently about the guardian, but what they were now was failing to measure up big time.

Chapter Text

Master Fu’s eyes flicked back and forth between them consideringly before he reached for the phonograph on the table. Adrien watched with mounting confusing as Master Fu pressed a few different spots on the phonograph. He couldn’t help a startled gasp when the phonograph suddenly opened and many compartments slid out, but he promptly forgot all about that when he realized that the Ladybug earrings and Black Cat ring were sitting right on top.

“You will have to return the Fox miraculous and the Bee miraculous,” Master Fu said, gently lifting the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculouses out and setting them on the table. The earrings and rings were so close, but –

“What about Trixx and Pollen?” Adrien asked, curling his free hand into a fist in his lap. “Will you be giving them to Coccinelle and Lynx?”

“No,” Master Fu said, so quickly that Marinette and Adrien exchanged looks. There was definitely more to that story, and Marinette couldn’t resist prying a little.

“Why not?” she asked. “It would be nice to have more help against Hawkmoth. I don’t think Coccinelle was well suited to the Ladybug, but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t be a good Bee or Fox. And now they’re both familiar with how a miraculous works.”

“I can only give a miraculous to people that I trust. When I spoke to Coccinelle and Lynx last night, both of them refused to relinquish their miraculous,” Master Fu said somberly.

‘I can’t blame them,’ Adrien thought, though he didn’t say as much out loud. He and Marinette knew all too well how painful giving up a miraculous could be. Even if Coccinelle and Lynx hadn’t had the chance to develop much of a bond with Tikki and Plagg, having a taste of the glory of being superheroes before having it ripped away couldn’t have been easy.

“But you have them right here,” Marinette said, puzzled. “So how did you get them?” Like Adrien, she could hardly bear to tear her eyes away from them.

“We went back after they were both asleep and took them,” Master Fu said.

“You – what?” Adrien said, blinking. Surely he had misheard that, and Master Fu hadn’t just admitted to burglary?

“Wait, who is we?” Marinette said.

“That would be me,” Wayzz said, lifting a tiny paw. To his credit, he looked a bit ashamed.

“I may be old, but I’m still capable of transforming,” said Master Fu, seemingly taking Adrien’s question as an insult to his age. When in reality, age was the furthest thing from Adrien’s mind.

“Wait. You transformed and snuck into their rooms?” Marinette asked in total disbelief. “To steal the miraculouses back?”

“Technically, I sent Wayzz in to retrieve the miraculouses while I waited outside on the roof next door. But you must understand that I had no choice, Marinette. I can’t allow the miraculouses to get into the wrong hands. Coccinelle and Lynx weren’t right for the job. Had the circumstances not been so dire, I wouldn’t have chosen them in the first place. Since they wouldn’t give the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculouses back, I had to take them by any means necessary. Because of that, I can’t risk giving them the Bee or Fox miraculous either,” Master Fu explained.

‘That may well be the creepiest thing I’ve ever heard,’ Marinette thought.

‘At least he wasn’t actually in their rooms, though I’m not sure sending Wayzz in is much better,’ Adrien thought. A top of the line security system could keep a human out, but a kwami? What was to stop Master Fu from doing the same thing to them if he decided he was dissatisfied with how they were handling things?

‘We’re going to have to think about this later,’ Marinette thought, shooting him a worried glance, and he gave her a nod before turning back to Master Fu.

“So Coccinelle and Lynx just… woke up this morning to find the miraculouses gone with no explanation?” Adrien said.

“Of course not. I left a letter for each of them explaining the matter,” Master Fu replied.

‘Wow. That’s – wow. A letter. I’m not even sure what to say to that,’ Adrien thought.

“Right,” Marinette said, because she didn’t know what to say to that either. Somewhere out there, two very unhappy kids were waking up to find their miraculouses gone. Adrien wondered if he and Marinette would be facing another akuma in the near future.

“Did Coccinelle and Lynx know who each other was?” he asked.

“No. I contacted them separately. They had never met in their civilian forms. That, I made sure of,” Master Fu said.

“Who were they?” Marinette asked, curiosity burning brightly through her. Adrien wanted to know too. If it was Alya and Nino – but then it couldn’t be both of them, could it? Not if Master Fu was telling the truth and Coccinelle and Lynx had never met before in their civilian forms. But it could be Alya or Nino and someone else that they didn’t know…

Master Fu shook his head. “I can’t tell you, and, before you ask them, I’ve already told Tikki and Plagg not to tell you under any circumstances. You don’t need to know. They’re never going to have a miraculous again. You knowing could put them both in danger if Hawkmoth akumatized you, and they can’t defend themselves.”

‘He has a point,’ Adrien thought reluctantly.

‘I guess we’ll never know,’ Marinette thought, sighing. Somehow they were going to have to make peace with that.

“Now, the Fox and the Bee,” Master Fu said, holding a hand out.

Marinette let go of Adrien’s hand, reached into her purse, and brought Pollen out. “Thanks a lot for your help,” she said, nuzzling Pollen’s cheek.

“It was my pleasure!” Pollen chirped.

Trixx flew out of Adrien’s pocket without prompting and grinned. “See you around, Kitten!”

“Definitely,” Adrien said, offering his index finger for Trixx to grab and shake. Then he took off the Fox miraculous, watching regretfully as Trixx immediately disappeared. He would have liked it if he could have kept both Trixx and Plagg around, but there was no way Master Fu would have agreed to that. And frankly, for the safety of Paris, maybe that was for the best.

He set the necklace on the table, keeping his hand on it until he had picked up the ring just in case. A rush of warmth that for once had nothing to do with Marinette made his hand tingle as he touched his ring. It was both familiar and comforting. Adrien smiled so hard his cheeks ached and quickly slipped the ring on his finger, watching out of the corner of his eye as Marinette copied him and exchanged the Bee for the Ladybug. A second, duller rush of warmth ran through Adrien as Marinette put the earrings in her ears.

Two magical flashes of light lit the room.

“Marinette!”

“Adrien!”

“Tikki!” Marinette cried, immediately grabbing her kwami in both hands. She clutched Tikki to her cheek, sorrow and gratitude welling up inside her.

Adrien wanted to speak, but words failed him. All he could do was hold out a trembling hand. Plagg’s impossibly light weight settled on his palm moments later. He brought Plagg into his chest and held Plagg there, but Plagg was contrary and wouldn’t stay. Instead, he wiggled out of Adrien’s hold and easily scaled Adrien’s arm and shoulder to end up on Adrien’s neck.

“Hey kid,” he whispered in Adrien’s ear, voice distorted by the force of his purr. “Eww, you smell like fox.”

The comment startled a laugh out of Adrien, and he was able to blink away the tears in his eyes. “Yeah, Trixx mentioned that you wouldn’t like that.”

“I don’t. No kitten of mine should ever smell like a kit. It’s disgraceful,” Plagg sniffed, nuzzling his head against the curve of Adrien’s jaw. “I bet your room stinks too. It’s going to take me forever to get the fox smell out of everything!”

“I’ll buy you lots of cheese, so you’ll have plenty of energy to work on it,” Adrien promised.

“You better,” Plagg said, now climbing up into Adrien’s hair.

Movement caught Adrien’s attention, and he glanced up in time to see Master Fu putting the Bee miraculous and the Fox miraculous back into the phonograph. When he closed the top, all the other compartments closed as well. As happy as he was to see Plagg again, he felt a little sad at seeing Trixx go and he couldn’t help but wonder if he and Marinette would ever see Trixx or Pollen again.

“Adrien, we should go,” Marinette said, wiping her eyes. “You’re going to be late.”

“Ah, shoot. You’re right,” Adrien said. He had to get home before Nathalie realized he was gone. He stood and so did Marinette, and then Master Fu got up.

“Good luck,” he said to them. “If you need me, here is my number.” He handed Marinette a slip of paper.

Marinette nodded shortly. “Until next time, Master Fu, Wayzz,” she said, and then she and Adrien left.

Chapter Text

When they emerged back outside, Adrien didn’t even care about the rain that was wetting his hair. He was so happy. Happier than he could remember being in ages. He grabbed Marinette’s hand and they ducked into an alley before he pulled her into a hug, then picked her right up off the ground and spun her in a circle. Marinette laughed as she wrapped her arms around Adrien’s neck, and Adrien was pretty sure he heard Tikki giggling too.

“You were magnificent in there!” Adrien said enthusiastically, beaming at her. “You didn’t even give him a chance to say no!”

“You were right there with me,” Marinette said, her smile widening as Adrien set her down. Her cheeks were flushed, and her eyes were sparkling. He couldn’t resist swooping down to kiss her. She kissed him back eagerly, their combined joy singing between them in a loop.

“Alright, alright,” Plagg said at last, poking his head out of Adrien’s pocket. “I know we’re all very happy things are back the way they should be, but I am a cat and I am getting very wet and so I am not happy.”

“Oops, sorry Plagg,” Marinette said, opening her umbrella. Though it was a little too late, since they were all soaked. Adrien stared at her in dismay, suddenly realizing that her clothes had gotten wet too.

“Mari, I’m sorry. Your outfit is ruined,” he said.

Marinette snorted. “Don’t worry about it. I was going to go home for an outfit change anyway,” she said. “I couldn’t possibly go to your show like this!” She indicated her clothing, which Adrien looked at with confusion. She was wearing pink cotton capris paired with a dark blue shirt that had pink flower petals embroidered all over it and blue flats, which was a very nice outfit.

“Why not?” he asked blankly.

“Seriously? Adrien, I’m going to be around a bunch of fashion designers. I have to look amazing,” Marinette said. She waved her hand at her clothes again. “This? Not amazing.”

“You always look amazing,” Adrien said. In fact, with her hair so wet it was falling out of her pigtails and her lips pinkened from their kiss, he thought that she had never looked more beautiful.

Marinette flushed. “Stop thinking like that! It’s embarrassing,” she complained, pressing one of her hands to her warm cheek.

“I can’t help it! It’s the truth. You’re beautiful no matter what you wear,” Adrien said.

“Ugh. Now I have to kiss you again for being so sweet,” Marinette mock-grumbled, pressing the umbrella into his hand before stepping closer. She grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked him down into what was their most passionate kiss by far. And it worked: he stopped thinking about how pretty she was since that kiss was enough to make him forget how to think at all.

“Oh great, you broke him,” Plagg said when Marinette pulled away, and all Adrien could do was stare dumbly at her.

“Now that, I’m not sorry for,” Marinette said with a smirk, though she did pat Plagg on the head. “I’m going to run home and change. I probably won’t see you before your show, but I’ll be in the audience when you come out. And maybe we can meet afterwards?”

“Absolutely,” Adrien said after a pause, belatedly realizing she had asked him a question.

Marinette flashed him another smile and said, “Tikki, spots on!” Red light swirled around her, changing cotton into the red, black-spotted suit Marinette had missed so much. Ladybug sighed and ran her hands down the front of her suit, then fingered her pigtails before touching her mask, as though to make sure everything was back in place.

“Gosh, it’s nice to see you like that again,” Adrien said.

Ladybug sighed. “It’s nice to be this way again,” she admitted. “I’d like to see my kitty too.”

“Plagg, claws out!” Adrien said immediately. Green light swirled around him, comfortable and familiar: it was like coming home.

“There he is,” Ladybug said softly, cupping his cheek with her hand. She was smiling, though her eyes were a little watery for reasons that had nothing to do with the rain. Chat pressed his hand over hers and turned his head so that he could kiss her palm.

‘I really do have to go,’ he thought reluctantly, wishing that they had the time to take a run across Paris. Not for patrol purposes, but just for the sake of being able to do so again as Ladybug and Chat Noir.

‘Later,’ Ladybug thought. ‘You’ll get into trouble if you’re not there when Nathalie comes to get you. Go.’

Much as he hated to admit it, she was right. Chat kissed her hand one last time and then they both took to the rooftops, heading in different directions. He went straight home, landing on his windowsill and slipping into his room. He crossed to the piano and picked up his iPod, shutting it off and sneaking a quick glance at the time. He had just enough time for a shower.

“Plagg, claws in,” he said.

“I’m starving! That last kid tried to feed me cheddar!” Plagg cried as he exploded out of the ring.

“Oh my god, how terrible,” Adrien said, trying not to smile as he walked over to the mini fridge. He pulled it open, suddenly glad that he hadn’t had the heart to get rid of the stash of Camembert cheese inside. He took out a full wheel and set it down on the desk.

“Seriously?” Plagg said, watching the cheese with wide, greedy eyes.

“Consider it a welcome home gift,” Adrien replied, this time unable to stop a grin as Plagg squealed and pounced on the cheese. He left his kwami tearing at the wrapper and headed into the bathroom.

‘Tikki’s having a field day with my papa’s cookies,’ Marinette thought. ‘She said Coccinelle bought her a box of the supermarket biscuits.’

‘Clearly, they suffered,’ Adrien thought, stripping his sodden clothes off. Hoping that no one would notice them before they dried, he dropped them into his laundry hamper. Then he jumped into the shower and quickly washed his hair while Marinette was preoccupied with trying to figure out what to wear – which meant Adrien spent the whole shower calming her down and reassuring her that anything she wore would look lovely as she bounced from idea to idea.

‘It’s just so hard,’ Marinette thought fretfully. ‘I want to look just right.’

‘Why don’t you call Alya?’ Adrien thought, turning the shower off.

‘Good idea!’ Marinette thought, grabbing her phone.

“Adrien?” There was a knock at the door and Adrien jumped, realizing it was Nathalie.

“Yes, what is it?” he asked loudly, hoping that Plagg had had the sense to hide.

“We need to go,” Nathalie said. “Don’t bother drying your hair. Your stylist can do that. Just get dressed and come downstairs.”

“Got it,” Adrien said, quickly drying himself off. He pulled on a t-shirt and jeans and cracked the door to find that luckily, Nathalie had left. There was nothing but crumbs left of the cheese, and Plagg was hidden behind some of the books on Adrien’s desk. He let out a feeble groan when he saw Adrien.

“So… full…”

“I can’t believe you ate all of that.” Adrien shook his head as he gently picked his kwami up. “If you barf on me, you won’t get Camembert for a week.”

“Noted,” Plagg said with a loud belch.

“You’re so gross,” Adrien muttered fondly as he slid Plagg into the pocket of his shirt. Then he grabbed his raincoat, jammed his feet into his sneakers, and rushed out the door.

Gabriel was waiting for by the front door. His lip curled when he saw Adrien’s wet hair, but all he said was, “Adrien, I expect you to have a flawless performance today. You know you are representing both my company and the family name, and any mistakes will reflect negatively on all of us.”

“I know,” Adrien said quietly.

“You will be the best model there tonight,” Gabriel said, his tone allowing for no argument.

“Yes Father,” Adrien said, staring down at the floor.

“Good,” Gabriel said. “You may go.”

That was it. No pep talk, no ‘good luck’, not even a good-bye. Adrien swallowed as he slipped his coat on and followed Nathalie out into the pouring rain to the car. Marinette was a quiet presence in the back of his head radiating both sympathy and anger at his father, feelings which Adrien appreciated even through the disappointment. Maybe someday he would learn to stop expecting things of Gabriel Agreste. He hoped so if it meant that interactions with his father would hurt less.

Chapter Text

A gentle pressure in the back of her head woke Marinette from a sound sleep. The mental equivalent of a hand on her shoulder giving her a shake until she responded, it was impossible to ignore. She groaned into her pillow and mentally flailed around in an attempt to make it stop. Adrien's laughter echoed in her ears moments later, accompanied by a strong but affectionate burst of amusement, both of which were enough to unwittingly tug Marinette's lips into a smile.

And right about then, she realized she wasn't going back to sleep until she paid attention to her annoying cat.

'Hey!' Adrien thought indignantly.

'It's what you deserve for waking me up so early,' Marinette thought, unrepentant. After getting home yesterday afternoon from the show around 3pm, her maman had immediately put her to work in the bakery with only a quick break for supper. Marinette had been so tired by the time she was allowed to leave that she'd gone straight upstairs, showered, and fallen into bed without even going out for a run with Tikki.

Adrien, she knew, had been similarly tired: they had only had a few moments together following the show before he was called away to circulate the room. Then he’d attended the after-party in Gabriel’s absence, so it had been a late night for him too. But apparently he had slept well, because he was up and bursting with energy even though it was painfully early.

'It's not early. It's after 10am,' Adrien thought.

'It's Sunday,' Marinette thought back. 'That's early!' She rolled onto her back and hugged her Chat Noir plushie, glancing around for Tikki. Her heart warmed to see her kwami curled up on Marinette's pillow, sleeping soundly - just the way it should be.

'Sure it is,' Adrien thought indulgently. 'I'm going to visit Chloé today. I thought I'd see if you wanted to come.'

'Hmm, voluntarily spend time with Chloé? Not particularly,' Marinette thought dryly, looking up at the skylight. Bright sunlight seeped in around the edges of the cover.

'Hey, she's been pretty nice to you since we met. She even talked to you about Lila,' Adrien thought.

Marinette had to admit that was true. She wouldn't go so far as to call Chloé nice, but it was obvious that Chloé had taken Adrien's warnings to heart and was genuinely trying. The truth was, Chloé was never going to be a nice person. She just wasn't built that way. But she had apologized to Marinette, even if it was after finding out that Marinette was Ladybug, and she'd helped get Adrien into Collège Françoise Dupont - she had even backed down that first day and sat in a different seat! She had warned Marinette about Lila and even tried to intervene when Marinette lost her temper, and she'd kept their secret for this long...

Plus, Adrien loved Chloé. They were childhood friends. For a long time, Chloé was the only friend that Adrien had. Adrien's loyalty ran deep, so there was no way that Chloé was going anywhere. Marinette had already accepted that she was going to have to figure out how to get along with Chloé Bourgeois, and she supposed that this could be the next step even if the thought of willingly spending a Sunday with Chloé made her half-wish an akuma would pop up. She sighed deeply, knowing that Adrien was patiently waiting for her to sort through the mess in her brain, and gave in.

'Okay, fine,' she thought, rubbing her eyes. 'If Maman says I can come, I'll go. But if Chloé makes one rude comment, I'm leaving.'

'That's fair,' Adrien thought. 'Thanks, My Lady.'

'You're welcome, Chaton,' Marinette thought, sitting up.

"What's going on?" Tikki asked, blinking sleepily.

"I'll be right back. I'll bring you cookies," Marinette said, scooting to the edge of the bed. She hauled on a pair of jean shorts and a tank top, ran a brush through her hair, and headed downstairs to where the bakery was already bustling. Sometimes her parents woke her up first thing in the morning to help - she supposed she should be grateful they had given her a chance to sleep in.

"Good morning, Marinette. Could you refill this tray?" Sabine said, handing Marinette an empty croissant tray.

"Sure, but... Maman..." Marinette said.

Sabine immediately turned to give her a firm look. "I let you go out yesterday because it was for Adrien. He deserved to have someone at his show supporting him. But you are still grounded, young lady, so I don’t even want to hear it."

"I know, I know, but this is for school," Marinette said, clasping the tray to her chest.

"For school," Sabine repeated skeptically.

"I was assigned a project that's due early next week," Marinette lied. There was no such project, of course. But her maman didn't need to know that. She felt only the smallest flicker of guilt for lying about it, even though, before she met Adrien, she had rarely lied to her parents. Since getting their miraculouses, it seemed that was all she did. It didn't bother her as much as it probably should have.

"Let me guess, your partner is Alya," Sabine said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"No, actually. It's Chloé," Marinette said, making a face.

"Chloé Bourgeois?" Sabine clarified, and Marinette inwardly grinned. She knew she had her maman now. Sabine was still under the impression that Marinette hated Chloé. She would never believe that Marinette was willingly going to Chloé's for fun.

"Yeah. Today is the only day Chloé is available. If I don't go today, I'll have to do all the work myself," Marinette said. "Please, Maman? I promise I'll help in the bakery when I get back."

Sabine sighed. "Alright, fine. But I want you home by 3pm."

"Absolutely," Marinette agreed, ducking into the kitchen. She quickly refilled the croissant tray and passed it out to her maman, then grabbed a couple of cookies and dashed upstairs to retrieve Tikki.

'You're getting as good at lying as I am,' Adrien thought.

'Well, we are supposed to be a perfect match,' Marinette thought, running back downstairs with her purse, school bag, and kwami safely tucked away. She waved goodbye to her maman and hurried out the door before Sabine could change her mind.

She got to Le Grand Paris to find that Adrien had beaten her there and was waiting out front for her. He gave her a quick smile in greeting and then took her hand as they walked into the hotel. He went straight over to the elevators and pressed the button for one of the top floors. When the doors reopened, a man in a butler's costume was standing there waiting. He looked them both up and down, nodded at Adrien, and then turned and walked away.

'That was Jean. He's the one who looks after Chloé most of the time when the mayor is busy,' Adrien thought as they stepped out.

'You mean all the time,' Marinette thought. Because so far as she could tell, Mayor Bourgeois was never not busy.

'Pretty much,' Adrien thought, leading the way down the hall. He paused before a door and opened it. Arriving by way of door as opposed to balcony was a bit disorienting, but Marinette quickly recognized Chloé's bedroom.

"Hi Adrikins!" Chloé called out. "Marinette." Her voice was a little cooler when she said Marinette's name.

"Hi Chloé," Adrien said.

"Chloé," Marinette said, setting her things down.

"So, did you see?" Chloé asked, looking between the two of them.

"See what?" Adrien said blankly.

Chloé huffed and grabbed her tablet, showing the two of them the TVi website. "Congratulations, the two of you made the same page as the identity reveal of that idiot who has been robbing corner stores wearing a banana suit," she declared.

Marinette took the tablet, eyes widening when she saw the photograph. True to his word, Adrien had joined her after the show. They'd only had a few minutes to talk, but someone had snapped a photo in that moment. It showed Adrien wearing a pair of well-tailored, dark grey trousers and a white dress shirt that was open at the throat to show a glimpse of the green shirt he wore underneath. Marinette was wearing a green dress with a white blazer and darker green heels, her hair pulled up into a loose bun with white ribbons.

'We look like we match,' Adrien thought, smiling at her, and Marinette realized that they really did.

"I don't even remember that being taken!" Marinette said. "Adrien, what if your father sees it?"

"You're labeled as a fan of Adrien's," Chloé said, taking her tablet back. "But Gabriel might bring it up anyway, so..." She shrugged.

She was protecting Adrien, Marinette realized, by giving him some forewarning. Marinette softened. "Thanks, Chloé."

Chloé scoffed. "Whatever," she muttered, but Marinette was pretty sure Chloé was blushing faintly as she turned away to put her tablet back down.

Adrien put his hand on Marinette's shoulder and squeezed as he said, "Any chance we could get some breakfast together, Chlo?"

“Sure,” Chloé said, straightening her shirt. “The hotel restaurant is open.”

“Oh, uh, I didn’t bring any money,” Marinette said, startled.

Chloé huffed and rolled her eyes. “It’s my treat for the ex-heroes of Paris,” she said stiffly, and Adrien grinned at her.

“Yeah, about that…”

Chapter Text

“Okay, now I need to hear the whole story,” Chloé said.

Adrien glanced around automatically to make sure that no one else was within earshot, realizing that he should have expected that. He, Marinette and Chloé were sitting outside on the patio, which was technically closed right now – but of course, when you were the daughter of the man who owned the hotel, nothing was ever truly closed. But it did mean that there was no one else sitting around them. The rest of the tables were empty, and the waitress had closed the door to the hotel behind her when she went back in.

‘What do you think?’ Marinette thought. ‘How much should we tell her?’

‘I don’t know,’ Adrien thought back. His instinct was to tell Chloé the whole story, but he doubted that Marinette would be on board with that. And really, Master Fu was upset enough that Chloé knew who they were. He would no doubt strongly prefer it if the two of them didn’t tell Chloé anything else.

Marinette’s eyes sharpened, her mouth tugging down into a scowl, and she turned to Chloé and said, “The guardian chose two random people to be the new Ladybug and Chat Noir, but he didn’t give them any training or tell them what to do. So, Adrien and I had to step in using the Bee and Fox miraculous as Miel and Tromper. We used that as leverage this morning to make sure that we got our miraculous back from him. It turns out that he was just mad because he wanted to train me as the new guardian, but he didn’t want Adrien to know anything.”

“Marinette!” Adrien exclaimed, shocked.

“Marinette!” Tikki scolded at the same time. Chloé’s jaw dropped as Tikki flew up above the table, crossing her little paws and frowning at Marinette. Adrien clapped a hand to his face and groaned. So apparently they were also letting Chloé in on the existence of kwamis now.

Plagg cackled, poking his head out of Adrien’s shirt pocket, and said, “Nice going, Pigtails. I had no idea you could be so spiteful, but I like it.”

“Chloé’s not going to tell anyone. Right?” Marinette said, turning to Chloé.

Looking a bit shell-shocked, Chloé silently nodded.

“Still. I can’t believe you did that. Master Fu would be furious if he knew you’d just told someone all that,” Adrien said. They couldn’t even blame it on an accident this time.

"Pardon me if I don't really care what Master Fu thinks," Marinette said stiffly.

"Marinette," Tikki said again, this time with more exasperation. "I understand that you're upset with how Master Fu handled the situation, and you have every right to feel that way. But that doesn't mean you can go around spilling everything! Chloé is not a miraculous holder and -"

"Well, maybe it's good for Adrien and me to have someone to talk to who isn't," Marinette interrupted. "I know that Chloé found out by accident, but why shouldn't we tell her anything else? It's not like she's going to do anything with the information. Even if she was, she already knew the most important bits. So what difference does it make?" She set her jaw as Adrien stared at her. She was radiating frustration and hurt and anger, and he realized that the conversation with Master Fu had been bothering her a lot more than she had let on.

'No chance of that happening now,' Adrien thought, glancing at Chloé. She looked utterly fascinated by the conversation that was occurring in front of her.

Tikki sighed. "You shouldn't tell her anything else," she said, but with a tone of great resignation, as though she already knew that Marinette was going to ignore her advice.

"Um, so… what is that?" Chloé asked Adrien, pointing to Tikki. Tikki glanced up at Chloé but said nothing.

"We're called kwami," Plagg said lazily, jumping out of Adrien's pocket and floating down to inspect their plates. There was a piece of swiss cheese accompanying Adrien's crepe. Plagg grabbed it and shoved it in his mouth.

"Kwami," Chloé repeated, stumbling slightly over the unfamiliar word. "Wait. That day you guys came to see me, you said you couldn't detransform because you were hiding the fact that you were soulmates. You were hiding it from them?" She gestured to Plagg and Tikki.

Adrien nodded, figuring they might as well tell her the rest. "Plagg and Tikki are how we transform," he explained. "They go inside of our miraculous and grant us our powers. As soon as we detransform, they appear. When they found out we were soulmates, and that you knew, they were obligated to tell the guardian that."

"And then he took away your miraculous and gave it to someone else," Chloé said, the awe fading from her expression to be replaced by a flat look. Suddenly, she turned to Marinette. "Wait, did you say that guardian didn't want Adrien to know anything?"

Marinette nodded furiously. "He had a whole bunch of reasons, but I think most of them were crap. The real reason he got so mad is because he wanted to train me as a replacement. Not that he actually asked me if I wanted that, mind you. He just decided that I would make a good one. But because Adrien and I don't have any shields, anything the guardian told me would automatically be known by Adrien as well."

"Well, what's wrong with that?" Chloé demanded, looking ready to throw down with the guardian on Adrien's behalf.

"Thank you!" Marinette said, throwing her hands up.

"Adrikins would be make an excellent guardian!" Chloé exclaimed.

"Right?! I have no idea what the guardian's problem was! He kept going on about the balance of the team!" Marinette said.

"That's stupid," Chloé sneered. "How the hell is your team balanced if one of you knows way more than the other?"

"Exactly!" Marinette shouted, slamming her hand down on the table with such force that her water glass nearly fell over. Adrien's hand shot out and he grabbed it just in the nick of time.

"Is this really happening?" he whispered to Plagg as Chloé and Marinette continued to rant at each other.

Plagg snickered. "Apparently you have your own fan club."

"I already have a fan club. This... this is something completely different," Adrien muttered, feeling like his head was on a swivel as he looked from one girl to the other. They were both being so passionate in his defence! It was both touching and a little scary.

"It was just dumb!" Marinette said angrily. "He didn't even have a good reason for it! He just said it was "complicated"." She made finger quotes around that last word, wrinkling her nose.

"Pfft, yeah right," Chloé scoffed. "Complicated is what adults say when they don't know what else to say! It sounds more like he thought he could wrap you around his little finger, whereas Adrien is used to flouting authority."

"What?" Adrien broke in before he could consider whether that was a smart idea, and both girls turned to him like they’d forgotten he was there.

"What?" Marinette said, blinking.

"That's not true. I don't flout authority," Adrien objected.

"Adrien, honey, where exactly does your father think you are right now?" Chloé asked.

"Err… at basketball practice…" Adrien said. It hadn’t taken much convincing for his bodyguard to take him by Chloé’s instead.

Chloé shot him a knowing look. "You know, I thought this soul bond thing between you and Marinette was going to be a total bust, but I really like how it's brought out your rebellious side," she said.

"You can thank me for that too," Plagg piped up. "I'm always encouraging him to ignore his responsibilities."

"He really is," Adrien said with a resigned nod.

"Well then, I like you," Chloé said. "Feel free to visit me whenever you want, little kwami." She gently rubbed Plagg's head.

“If you have cheese around, I’ll visit you lots,” Plagg said.

“Umm, hang on,” Adrien said hastily, visions of the disasters that Chloé and Plagg could get up to together dancing through his head.

Marinette snorted at that and picked up her orange juice. “It was just disappointing,” she said quietly, and Plagg, Tikki, Adrien and Chloé all looked at her. “I thought Master Fu would be so much better than he was. He’s not much of a guardian at all.”

“He’s like everyone else. He tries his best,” Tikki said gently, patting Marinette’s arm. “In this case, he was completely off base. I’m really proud of both you and Adrien for negotiating with him the way you did.”

“You should’ve just threatened him,” Chloé said.

“Actually, Marinette almost did,” Adrien said.

Chloé smirked. “You’re moving upwards in my opinion,” she said to Marinette.

“Gee, thanks,” Marinette said sarcastically, but that meant more to her than she was letting on and Adrien knew it. He gently nudged her foot under the table and grinned at her. She just flushed and made a face back at him.

“Well,” Plagg said, rubbing his paws together. “How about some of that cheese?”

“And cookies!” Tikki said.

“I’ll get them,” Adrien said quickly, getting to his feet. As he walked away, he heard round two of defending his honor start up behind him and shook his head.

Forget Plagg and Chloé or Plagg and Trixx, Master Fu had better hope that Marinette and Chloé never teamed up.

Chapter Text

After spending part of the morning and afternoon with Marinette and Chloé, Adrien went to fencing practice and then to a double Chinese lesson. He returned home exhausted both physically and mentally, with his brain feeling like it was overstuffed with information. He was murmuring Chinese verbs under his breath as he walked up the steps, only to stop short when he saw Nathalie waiting for him at the front door.

“Your father would like to see you,” Nathalie said, her expression giving nothing away.

“Okay,” Adrien said cautiously, wondering if someone had seen him at Le Grand Paris and contacted Gabriel. If they had, he could at least use the excuse that Chloé had demanded he come. He knew that Chloé would back him up if anyone asked her, and that Gabriel Agreste didn’t dare do much against Chloé Bourgeois. Gabriel had a lot of power and contacts, but Chloé’s father was the mayor. There wasn’t much that Mayor Bourgeois wouldn’t do to make his daughter happy. Life could get very difficult for Gabriel is the mayor willed it.

He slipped his jacket off and hung it up before following Nathalie up the stairs and to the right. Plagg shifted restlessly as they went and Adrien cupped a hand over the kwami, suddenly grateful that Plagg was there. And, of course, for the ever-present awareness of his soulmate in the back of his head. He could feel the way Marinette stopped agonizing over her English homework to pay full attention to what was happening.

‘What do you think he wants?’ she thought.

‘I’m not sure. Who knows, with my father,’ Adrien thought. ‘How’s your homework going?’

‘Okay. Maman said it was either work on my homework between customers or help her clean the kitchen,’ Marinette thought. ‘Such a tough choice.’ She giggled, and her amusement brought a smile to Adrien’s lips. He quickly wiped it away when he noticed Nathalie eyeing him.

But Nathalie made no comment. All she did was knock on Gabriel’s office door and call out, “Sir, Adrien is here.”

“Send him in,” Gabriel said.

Adrien’s heartrate quickened as he stepped into the room. His father was seated at his desk, no doubt working on a design, but he stood as Adrien entered. His body was framed by the large window behind his desk, which cast his features into shadows and made it impossible for Adrien or anyone else to see the expression on his face. Not for the first time, Adrien suspected that had been done on purpose.

“Good afternoon, Father,” Adrien said quietly.

“Adrien,” Gabriel said. “I would like you to explain this.” He nodded at Nathalie, who turned her ever-present tablet so that Adrien could see what was on the screen.

‘Oh my god. I never thought I’d be so grateful for Chloé Bourgeois,’ Marinette thought.

Adrien whole-heartedly agreed. Because he’d already seen the photograph that Nathalie was showing him, he was able to do a better job at controlling his expression and not react with shock or alarm. He cast an impassive glance at the screen, then took a quick peek at Nathalie’s face – not that it helped. As always, her face was completely blank and gave him no hints as to what Gabriel might want to hear.

“What do you mean?” Adrien asked at last, sounding as innocent as he could.

“This girl is clearly not just a fan. Who is she?” Gabriel said, as though he didn’t already know. He’d probably already done a background check on Marinette and her parents.

‘Your dad is super creepy if I haven’t said that before,’ Marinette thought.

‘Tell me about it,’ Adrien thought back, clearing his throat.

“This is Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She’s a classmate of mine from school,” he said. “She used to sit behind me, but now she sits across the aisle and one back from me.” He decided to omit the fact that he and Marinette used to share a desk.

“Is that all she is?” Gabriel asked.

‘He’s fishing,’ Adrien thought.

‘Go with a semi truth,’ Marinette thought.

“Well, she’s my friend too,” Adrien said. “Or at least, I like to think she is.”

“Why did you invite her to your show?” Gabriel said. “Why not invite Mlle Bourgeois instead? She’s your oldest friend, right?”

‘Tell him I’m into fashion,’ Marinette thought. ‘Tell him I’m a big fan of his work in particular. It’s the truth, or at least it used to be before I found what an asshole he is.’

Adrien swallowed his amusement and said, “Marinette is really into fashion. She loves your work, Father. I hear her talking a lot about how much inspiration she’s drawn from what you’ve done. I thought she would love being able to see your work up close. And Chloé’s been to enough of my shows. She finds them boring.” He shrugged.

“Don’t shrug, Adrien, it’s beneath you,” Gabriel said sharply, and Adrien immediately straightened up.

“Sorry,” he said quietly, while Marinette’s anger burned in the back of his mind. Luckily, a customer came into the bakery and distracted her before she could start ranting.

“Is there a reason your clothing matches?” Gabriel continued.

“No?” Adrien said. It was only once the word was out that he remembered how much his father hated when he answered a question with a question, and hurried to add, “We’re not wearing anything particularly unique. There were plenty of people at the show wearing grey, green and white. Marinette might have looked up some information ahead of time and dressed to fit in… I know she was really worried about being around other fashion designers and not wearing the right thing.”

There was a long pause during which Gabriel stood there in contemplative silence and Adrien fought not to squirm. He knew where this was going; this was not the first interrogation he had faced about young women he had spent time with, and it would not be the last. Not until the day when Adrien confessed that he had found his soulmate, but he had no plans to do that anytime soon.

“You would tell me if you found your soulmate, right?” Gabriel said at last, stepping away from the window, and Marinette breathed a sigh of relief for both of them.

“Of course,” Adrien lied. “But Father, you told me that I might not meet my soulmates for years. You didn’t meet Mother until you were both in university, right?”

“Right,” Gabriel said. His face softened briefly at the mention of Émilie before tightening with grief that was as fresh as the day Émilie had passed away. Seeing it, Adrien’s stomach twisted hotly with guilt. He had a new appreciation for how hellish it was to lose your soulmate.

‘Adrien, that doesn’t excuse how he acts,’ Marinette thought as she filled a pastry box.

‘I know,’ Adrien thought, though he wasn’t sure how true that was. He wanted to think he’d be able to go on without Marinette, but he didn’t know that for sure. Losing her would definitely change him for the worse.

Marinette sighed. ‘If I was there, I’d kiss your cheek, give you a hug, and then slap you upside the head,’ she thought. ‘It doesn’t. I know how devastating it is to lose your soulmate. But if I had a child, I would never treat them the way Gabriel treats you.’

She had a point. Adrien couldn’t imagine Marinette being anything but sweet and loving towards her children, whereas he couldn’t even remember the last time his father had given him a hug. Usually the only touch Adrien got was when people were putting clothing or make-up on him or styling his hair, or when Chloé was hanging off him. At least, that was how it had been until Marinette and Plagg came into his life.

“That will be all, Adrien,” Gabriel said, and Adrien glanced up at his father in surprise.

“Would you join me for supper, Father?” he asked in a rare flash of hope. It had been so long since he and his father had eaten supper together…

But Gabriel was already shaking his head. “I have work to do,” he said, turning back to his desk.

With Adrien dismissed, Nathalie opened the door and gestured for Adrien to leave. He hesitated for a moment, looking back at his father, but he could tell by the set of Gabriel’s shoulders that no further comments would be welcomed. No, now that Gabriel had been assured that Adrien hadn’t met his soulmate, all his attention was back on his design work. Adrien sighed and stepped out into the hall.

“The chef has prepared your meal,” Nathalie told him, and then she shut the door in Adrien’s face.

“I’m not hungry,” Adrien told the door crossly.

‘Meet me tonight after dark. I’ll bring you a much better supper,’ Marinette thought.

‘Thanks, My Lady,’ Adrien thought, sighing. Shoulders slumped, he walked back down the hall, down the stairs, and back up the stairs on the other side. He entered his room, shut the door, and threw himself down on the bed. His stomach was growling, but yet another lonely meal sounded miserable. He’d much rather wait and eat with his soulmate.

Chapter Text

When Marinette walked into school on Monday morning, she kind of wished she had taken a sick day, because the hottest topic of conversation was Coccinelle and Lynx and the new Bee and Fox miraculous holders. As she walked to Madame Bustier’s classroom, she couldn’t help looking around and wondering if one of the students around her was Coccinelle or Lynx. It could’ve been anyone.

‘This sucks,’ she thought to Adrien, who had already arrived at the classroom. Rather than wait outside for Marinette like he usually did, he’d been dragged into the school by an overly excited Alya.

‘It’s frustrating,’ Adrien thought in agreement. ‘But maybe, with time, it’ll get a little easier and we won’t wonder as much.’

Marinette had her doubts about that. Any attempts at getting Tikki to give so much as a hint about Coccinelle’s identity had been met with either silence or polite refusals or, last night when she had pushed Tikki too far, a gentle scolding about respecting privacy. Adrien had also asked Plagg about Lynx a few times, but Plagg usually just laughed at him and refused to say anything.

“Marinette, there you are!” Alya cried as Marinette slid the door to their classroom open.

“Uh – what?” Marinette said, freezing and wondering if her phone had lied and she was late.

‘You’re not late. Alya is just going crazy,’ Adrien thought, waving to her from where he was still sitting beside Chloé in the front row. Chloé wasn’t there yet.

“Did you read my newest article on the Ladyblog?” Alya demanded, practically jumping down the stairs to shove her phone in Marinette’s face. “Look! It has over two hundred thousand views already! That’s over twice as many views as I got from Lila’s interview!”

“Wow,” Marinette said, gently easing Alya’s phone away from her nose. “That’s really cool! And of course I read it, but my mom made me help in the bakery all day yesterday. We were slammed. I didn’t get a chance to text you.”

“Sure, yeah,” Alya said absently, all of her attention on her blog as she hit the refresh button again. Marinette slipped by and made her way up to her desk, thankful that Lila wasn’t there yet either. Maybe she would be lucky and Lila would be the one who was out sick.

“Good morning, Marinette,” Nino said.

“Hi Nino,” Marinette said with a smile, taking her seat. “Long weekend?”

Nino just sighed. “Let’s just say I’m kinda glad that Alya and I have shields up,” he whispered, leaning towards Marinette. “All she’s been talking about nonstop is that article she wrote.”

“Ouch,” Marinette said, who was well acquainted with exactly how obsessed Alya could get. She suddenly found herself grateful that she had been preoccupied all weekend. Listening to Alya drone on about Ladybug was awkward enough. She really didn’t want to have to listen to endless theories about the new Bee and Fox too!

“So do you think there’ll be an akuma attack today?” Alya demanded, throwing herself down in her seat. She looked from Marinette to Nino to Adrien, clearly expecting an answer. Marinette looked at Nino and shrugged, so Nino turned hopefully to Adrien. Adrien sighed.

“Uh – we don’t know,” he said at last. “I don’t think anyone but Hawkmoth knows that.”

“But I need someone to get akumatized!” Alya cried.

“Alya!” Nino said. “That’s awful.”

Alya scrunched her face up. “I know, but how else am I going to find out more about Coccinelle and Lynx?” she asked, dramatically flopping over the desk. “If they’re anything like Ladybug and Chat Noir, they’ll only come out when there’s an akuma or when they’re on patrol. And who even knows if they’re going to be doing patrols? I just have so many questions I want to ask!”

“It’s very unlikely that they’re going to tell you what you want to know even if you do get to see them,” Marinette pointed out.

“You don’t know that. I can be very persuasive,” Alya said, wiggling her eyebrows.

“What do you even want to know?” Adrien asked.

“Everything! I want to know why Ladybug and Chat Noir stopped being heroes, I want to know who Coccinelle and Lynx are, I still want to know who Ladybug and Chat Noir are – I want to know it all!” Alya proclaimed.

“Why don’t you just ask Lila?” Marinette said before she could stop herself.

“Why would Lila know?” Alya asked, puzzled.

“Well, you said Lila and Ladybug are best friends. If Ladybug doesn’t have the Ladybug miraculous anymore, then surely she would’ve told Lila who she was so they could keep hanging out,” Marinette said in the most innocent voice she could muster. “Lila probably knows all the details now.”

Adrien was hard-pressed to restrain a smirk as Alya’s eyes lit up. ‘You’re evil,’ he thought.

‘You know it,’ Marinette thought smugly. She was extremely curious to find out what Lila would say in response to that. Though knowing Lila and the wild stories she could pull out of mid-air, she’d probably make something up about Ladybug having to flee Paris unexpectedly. After all, it wasn’t like Lika could give the name of someone. Not unless she had someone willing to lie for her…

“That’s a great idea!” Alya burst out. “Maybe she’d be willing to do another interview!”

Nino was smiling at Alya’s enthusiasm. “You won’t know until you ask. And there’s your chance.” He nodded to the door and Marinette turned to look as Lila walked into the room. Chloé, Sabrina, and Ivan were right behind her.

“Hi Lila!” Alya said.

“Hi,” Lila said, making her way up to her desk.

“Did you see the Ladyblog this weekend?” Alya asked.

“Yeah,” Lila said slowly. “Why?” She looked from Alya to Nino to Adrien before settling on Marinette, her eyes narrowed. It was obvious that she knew something was up, but she wasn’t sure what. Marinette couldn’t help a small smirk.

“I wanted to know if you’d do another interview!” Alya said, and it was wonderful to see the way that Lila froze.

“Another interview? Why?” Lila asked.

“Because you’re Ladybug’s best friend, of course! You’ve got the inside scoop on why she’s no longer a superhero,” Alya said. “And maybe even on her identity?” She looked hopefully at Lila.

‘This is great,’ Adrien thought gleefully.

‘She looks totally panicked,’ Marinette thought, biting her lip to hold a smile in.

“U-um… I’ll have to see…” Lila said, clearly trying to think fast. “Ladybug, she – she doesn’t really want me spreading her secrets…”

“But she’s not Ladybug anymore,” Nino said. “Hey, maybe you could even introduce us!”

“That would be amazing!” Marinette chimed in, unable to resist.

“I’d like to meet her too,” Adrien added.

“So would I,” Chloé said, setting her backpack down behind Asrien. “You did say on the blog that you’d do more interviews. You wouldn’t want to disappoint your fans, right?”

“Of – of course not,” Lila said weakly.

“Speaking of blogs, did you guys see the picture of Marinette and Adrien?” Chloé went on, turning to Alya and Nino.

“No,” Alya said, looking baffled by the fact that Chloé was speaking to her.

“You need to see it. They look like the perfect couple,” Chloé gushed, pulling her phone out and turning it on. She aimed it at Alya and Nino – and, Marinette realized, at Lila, who took one look at the photo and went white. Then she flushed red with anger.

‘Remind me to bake Chloé a dozen cookies,’ Marinette thought.

‘She deserves way more than just a dozen,’ Adrien thought. ‘I almost feel bad for enjoying this.’

“Wow, that is a great picture,” Alya said, impressed.

“Excuse me,” Lila mumbled, grabbing her backpack. She rushed down the steps and out the door.

“Oh, poor Lila,” Alya said, her smile immediately falling. “Seeing you guys together is so hard for her.”

Chloé put her hands on her hips. “And why would that be?” she asked tightly.

Alya awkwardly glanced over her shoulder at Marinette. “Ah, well…”

“If the next words out of your mouth have anything to do with soulmates, then save it,” Chloé sneered. “You call yourself a journalist, but you’re really failing to check your sources. I’ve never heard of an ethical and genuine journalist that ignores an established source of information for pure clickbait bullshit.”

“Watch it, Chloé,” Nino said warningly.

“Shut it, Lahiffe. This doesn’t concern you,” Chloé said haughtily. “Everyone, listen up!” She yelled that last part, and everyone in the class turned to look at them.

“What is it?” Alix said.

“At first I thought it was funny, but now I’m sick of it and so I’m putting this dumb rumor to rest. Adrien Agreste and Lila Rossi are not soulmates. Whatever Rossi thinks she feels towards him is all in her head,” Chloé said. Adrien’s mouth dropped open in surprise.

“How do you know?” Alya demanded.

Chloé glared at her. “Because Adrien and I have been friends since we were children. I know what his words are, and I guarantee you that Rossi did not, and never will, say them.”

Chapter Text

“Wait, you know what Adrien’s words are?” Nino said, looking surprised.

“Of course I do. We compared words when we were kids,” Chloé said, folding her arms across her chest. What she was saying was true: Adrien remembered that moment well. He had been disappointed at the time to see that Chloé had the words ‘excuse me, you dropped your cell phone’ written across her chest. More distinctive than most, but still no where near what he had first said to her.

‘Chloé hasn’t found her soulmate yet, right?’ Marinette thought, her eyes flicking around the room to track the rest of their classmates’ reactions.

‘Not as far as I know, and I’m positive that she would’ve told me if she had,’ Adrien thought, following Marinette’s glance. Mostly everyone looked somewhere between surprised and curious at Chloé’s outburst, and he realized that it was a good thing Lila had already left. There would’ve been a lot of fuel added to the fire had Lila still been in the room.

“Why didn’t you say so before?” Alya demanded.

“I didn’t think I had to considering that Adrien himself told you all that Lila didn’t say his words,” Chloé said. “Or did you forget about that?”

Alya opened her mouth and then closed it before looking over at Adrien. “Umm…”

“Wait, so you and Lila really aren’t soulmates?” Rose said, looking disappointed.

“No,” Adrien, Chloé and Marinette all said in perfect unison.

“And you’re sure you’re not just saying that because you’re worried about your father?” Nino asked. “Because Dude, we’d all do whatever was necessary to help you if that was the case.”

Adrien sighed, more touched by that than he wanted to let on. “Nino, I am absolutely, 100% sure that Lila Rossi is not my soulmate. I don’t know what Lila thought she felt, but I have never felt anything towards her. And before anyone says anything, my father did not put blocks on me,” he added sharply, shooting a glare at Max. Max had the decency to look a little guilty, considering that he was the one who had suggested that in the first place.

“He’s also not lying because of Marinette before anyone bothers to use that as an excuse,” Chloé said flatly, staring Alya down. “Believe me, if that were the case, I’d be the first to support anything that makes Adrien and Marinette break up.”

‘You know, I don’t think that’s so true anymore,’ Adrien thought. ‘Chloé likes you.’

‘I can’t believe I’m admitting this, but I’m starting to like her too,’ Marinette thought back. ‘Turns out a little mutual hatred over someone goes a long way.’

“I’m not willing to let anyone see my words,” Adrien said, because he was pretty sure that Alya was gearing up again to ask for just that. “It’s too risky. If my fans caught wind of what they were –” He cut himself off and shuddered. He had seen other celebrities far bigger than him fall into that trap, and it was always disastrous. People had even gone so far as to tattoo words on their bodies just to make themselves seem like a celebrity’s soulmates. Some of his fans could be a little too dedicated.

“No one is going to ask you to do that,” Nino said, shooting Alya firm look. “We believe you.”

“Good. Then I think it’s time that this stupid rumor was officially dropped,” Chloé said. “Because if it gets back to Gabriel Agreste, then it’s going to cause a lot of trouble for Adrikins.” She very slowly looked around the classroom, pinning each of their classmates with a cold glare until they squirmed and looked away. Alya was the last person that Chloé made eye contact with, and Alya held out the longest but eventually even she dropped her gaze.

“I also think everyone owes Adrien an apology,” Marinette spoke up.

‘Mari!’ Adrien thought. ‘That’s not necessary!’

Naturally, Marinette ignored that and added, “Adrien told everyone that Lila wasn’t his soulmate, but all of you assumed that he had to be lying. You took the word of someone you barely know over your friend and now those rumors have spread through the whole school, which isn’t fair to him.”

“You’re right. We’re sorry,” Nino said.

“Sorry, Adrien,” Rose piped up, looking guilty, and everyone else murmured their apologies too. Alya sighed.

“Yeah, I’m sorry too. I guess I got caught up in the idea of having three soulmate pairs in one class,” she said. “Lila must have been mistaken.”

“Yeah… mistaken,” Marinette said, and Adrien could see the way that she exchanged a glance with Chloé.

“It’s okay. But I would appreciate it if you would set everyone else straight too. Chloé’s right. If any of this got back to my father, he would be very upset,” Adrien said. “Frankly, it’s a miracle that he hasn’t heard yet.” Or rather, that Nathalie hadn’t heard and spread word back to Gabriel.

“We’ll spread the word at lunch time,” Alix said.

“Thank you,” Adrien said, relieved. He really hoped that this would be the end of people believing Lila’s lies – well, at least when it came to the two of them being soulmates. He wasn’t optimistic enough to think that this would be the start of people realizing that Lila had been lying about everything.

“You know,” Chloé began.

“Chloé, don’t,” Adrien said instantly. Naturally, she ignored him.

“Rossi owes you an apology too,” Chloé said stubbornly. “She helped to perpetuate that rumor even after you told her that you weren’t her soulmate. I even heard her telling people that Marinette was forcing you to lie.”

“What?!” Alya exclaimed. “You must have misheard her. Lila wouldn’t do that.”

Chloé looked very much like she was going to tell Alya exactly how far Lila had already gone, but Madame Bustier chose to walk into the classroom at that very moment and, unaware of the topic of conversation, told them all to get out their math books. Adrien couldn’t decide if he was glad for their teacher’s timing or not. He really didn’t want to see Alya and Chloé get into a fight over what Lila had done so far. It was enough for him, for now, that their classmates finally believed that Lila wasn’t his soulmate.

‘You’re too nice sometimes, Adrien,’ Marinette thought.

‘I’m not being nice. I just don’t want to see Chloé get in trouble,’ Adrien thought back as he pulled his math book out. ‘She has no proof that Lila said that, and people will be naturally skeptical to believe her just because it’s Chloé saying it and they know what she’s like.’

Marinette paused, then sighed. ‘I guess you’re right. Everyone is still too willing to give Lila the benefit of the doubt. I can’t wait for the day more of her lies blow up in her face.’

“Okay class, I’m going to start with attendance and then we’re going to move right into your math homework,” Madame Bustier said. “Now let’s see, who –”

“Holy shit!” Alya blurted out suddenly.

“Alya!” Madame Bustier said.

“Sorry Madame, but there’s a new akuma!” Alya sounded much more excited about the news than she really should have. “Please, could I –”

“No,” Madame Bustier interrupted, holding up a hand.

“But – ”

“We’ve talked about this, Alya. I can’t keep letting you leave class just to film akumas,” Madame Bustier said, sounding exasperated. “If you got hurt, the school be held liable. And no, I don’t care that Ladybug eventually heals everyone.”

Adrien glanced over at Marinette. Their eyes met, and they really didn’t need a telepathic bond to know what each other was thinking. Marinette stood up.

“Madame Bustier, Lila didn’t come back to the classroom and now there’s an akuma. As class president, I volunteer to go find her and tell her about the situation!” she said, making a dash for the door.

“You shouldn’t go alone. I’ll go with you!” Adrien said, leaping to his feet and following.

“Marinette! Adrien!” Madame Bustier shouted after them. That was shortly followed by a loud crash and a scream. Chloé’s scream. Adrien slowed.

‘No, don’t. If it’s the akuma, we can’t help her the way we are,’ Marinette thought, grabbing his hand. She pulled him along, heading for the art room. At this time of the morning, it would be empty. They ducked inside and Adrien pulled the door shut.

“Oh dear, this is really bad,” Tikki exclaimed, bursting out of Marinette’s purse.

Plagg emerged from Adrien’s pocket far more slowly, yawning. “Ugh, I was having a good nap,” he whined. “Must we?”

“Yes, we must,” Adrien said tersely. “Plagg, claws out!”

“Tikki, spots on!”

As the green and red lights faded, Chat looked at his partner. “I’ll say one thing. It’s really nice to not have to make an excuse to separate to transform,” he said, thinking back to when they’d faced Animan. That had been really frustrating.

Ladybug smiled. “It sure saves a lot of time,” she said. “Now come on, Chaton. Let’s do our thing!”

Chapter Text

Rather than go through the hallway and risk running into someone that they knew or who may have seen Adrien and Marinette duck into the art room, Ladybug and Chat jumped out the window and scaled the building to get to the roof. Ladybug was genuinely surprised by how fast her heart was beating as she rushed towards the far side of the roof just above Madame Bustier's classroom. The concern she was feeling couldn't be solely attributed to Chat, but nor was it the kind of concern she'd feel for an innocent civilian caught in an akuma's crosshairs.

She was worried about Chloé.

'Sometimes I think this bond has changed me for the worst,' she thought.

Chat just laughed and wrapped an arm around her waist as they jumped off the roof together. Ladybug threw out her yoyo and let it catch on a tree in the yard; she dropped them down and swung them through the open window of Madame Bustier's classroom. Most of the students, including Madame Bustier, had fled. Alya was still there because of course she was, safe in the door with her phone in hand. Chloé was the only other person still in the room, and that's because she had been shoved up against the wall by the akuma.

When she saw the akuma, Ladybug froze. So did Chat. The black, red-spotted uniform could only belong to one person -

'Either there's two bitter Ladybug wanna-bes running around Paris, or we've got a problem,' Chat thought.

"Let go of me!" Chloé cried out, struggling against the akuma.

"Let go of you? Why should I?" the akuma demanded.

"Because she said so, and that's the polite thing to do?" Chat said.

The akuma jumped at the sound of his voice, clutching Chloé tighter. "Don't come any closer! I'll kill her!"

Ladybug took a deep breath. 'Get Alya out of here,' she thought. This was the first time an akuma had openly threatened to kill someone and she didn't like it. She stared at the back of the akuma, at the back of Coccinelle and wondered where the akumatized object could be. She couldn't see if the akuma was wearing earrings, but maybe -

Chat quickly made his way over to Alya, giving the akuma a wide berth. They had no way of knowing how much had been said, but it was very likely that Alya had recognized the akuma. If so, she was smart enough to figure out that Coccinelle's civilian self had been akumatized - yet she'd stuck around anyway. He shot her a look, to which Alya smiled innocently. Chat just shook his head and gently pushed her the rest of the way out the door, then pulled the door shut. Before Alya could pull it open again, he jammed a broken desk beneath the handle to keep her out.

"Coccinelle," Ladybug said.

"Don't call me that! I'm Antielle thanks to you!" Antielle swung around, expression full of rage. "You took my miraculous back!"

"Actually, I took my miraculous back," Ladybug said, deciding to leave Master Fu out of it for the time being. Her feelings towards him were very complicated right now, but that didn't mean Master Fu deserved to have an akuma trying to kill him.

"If you're mad at Ladybug, what's your beef with Chloé?" Chat asked, taking his baton in hand. Thankfully, Chloé had the good sense to remain quiet even though she was shooting Ladybug and Chat increasingly desperate looks. She had slid to the floor when Antielle turned around but couldn't escape.

Antielle snarled as she twisted to glare down at Chloé again. "She made me look like a fool in front of the whole class!"

And suddenly, Ladybug put two and two together. Antielle’s hair and eyes had both turned black, but her hairstyle was very familiar – two shorter strands on either side of her face, though now tied off with red ribbons as opposed to orange bands. Like a fog that had been magically lifted, she realized that Coccinelle’s hairstyle had been extremely similar and could’ve slapped herself for not having seen the truth earlier.

"Wait - Lila?!" she exclaimed.

"Oh my god," Chloé said, looking shocked.

"Holy shit," Chat said.

'I can't believe Master Fu gave Lila the Ladybug miraculous,' Ladybug thought, completely horrified.

'At least now we know why he refused to give her the Bee or the Fox miraculous once he figured out what kind of person she is,' Chat thought back.

"You think you're so smart, Bourgeois," Antielle continued, using her grip on Chloé's jacket to drag Chloé back to her feet. Her face contorted with fresh anger. "Adrien and I are meant to be together and I'm going to make it happen no matter what it takes!"

"Adrien will never love you," Chat said. "He has better taste than that!"

"That's right. Besides, Chloé isn't the one you should be mad at. It's me," Ladybug said. "Adrien might have actually noticed you if you had the Ladybug miraculous, but now you're nothing. You're worse than nothing." She poured all the contempt she had ever felt for Lila into a sneer that made Chloé proud. "Right now, you're not even good enough to kiss my boot."

Antielle screamed in pure rage and let go of Chloé to launch herself at Ladybug, who threw herself out the window. She used her yoyo to swing herself to the roof on the other side of the street but failed to account for the fact that Antielle would also have a yoyo. Their bodies impacted with a force that left Ladybug gasping for air and sent her flying, and she found herself rolling across the rooftop instead of landing the way she’d hoped to.

“Ladybug!” Chat cried out.

‘I’m fine,’ Ladybug thought. ‘Get Chloé out of there and somewhere safe!’ She rolled to a stop and sat up as Antielle landed smoothly on the rooftop.

“You think you’re so hot, Ladybug,” Antielle said, stalking towards her. “Everyone in Paris thinks you’re amazing. Wonder what they’d do if they all knew that you were nothing without that miraculous? I can’t wait to strip it off you and show Paris what you really are.”

“Not gonna happen,” Ladybug said, scanning Antielle quickly. The Ladybug suit in all of its iterations couldn’t really hide much. Antielle had no pockets. So whatever her akumatized object was, it had to be visible. That left her hair ribbons, her earrings, or her mask as potential objects. None of which would be easy to get.

“Anti Charm!” Antielle shouted, throwing her yoyo in the air. A black swirl of light produced what looked like a water gun, which Antielle caught. “Here, Ladybug, a care package just for you!” She aimed the nozzle at Ladybug and pulled the trigger.

Ladybug threw herself out of the way of the orange substance that came out. Whatever it was, it sizzled and hissed threateningly as it splattered across the roof. Ladybug stared, somewhere between shocked and horrified, as the orange liquid started melting the roof. Then she looked back at Antielle, gulping when she saw that the water gun was pointed at her again.

‘Chat, you might want to hurry up,’ she thought, dodging another blast of the orange liquid.

‘I’m coming, My Lady. I took Chloé to your bedroom,’ Chat thought.

‘My bedroom? Seriously?’ Ladybug thought, glancing around. She wanted to make a run for it, but she was worried about Antielle spraying an innocent person. There was no telling what that stuff would do to the human body.

‘It was the closest safe place I could think of that Antielle wouldn’t.’ Chat landed on the opposite side of the roof, leaving Antielle trapped between them. Ladybug immediately felt better with him there.

“I suppose you think your kitty is going to help,” Antielle said mockingly, pumping the water gun.

‘Try for her earrings,’ Ladybug thought, spinning her yoyo.

‘Got it,’ Chat thought, taking his baton into his hand.

They both leapt forward at the same time. Antielle unleashed a blast of the orange liquid in Chat’s direction, forcing him to dodge, then spun around to meet Ladybug. She was inhumanly fast, to the point where even Ladybug found herself struggling. She did manage to knock the water gun from Antielle’s grip and kick it away, but Antielle just laughed and punched Ladybug in the stomach. Ladybug gasped at the unexpected pain and reared back.

“I’m better than you,” Antielle scoffed, pivoting to kick Chat in the chest. Then she grabbed her yoyo and wound it around Ladybug, giving it a good yank. Ladybug yelped as she was sent flying into Chat and they both crashed to the ground.

‘How are we supposed to do this if we can’t even get close to her?’ Chat thought, sitting up and rubbing his head.

‘I don’t know…’ Ladybug sat up too and immediately pushed him away, jumping out of the way herself as more of that orange liquid splashed over where they’d just been sitting. Antielle was strong and fast – too much so. They needed something to keep her still.

And then Ladybug had an idea.

Chapter Text

‘Wait. You’re serious?’ Chat thought, one eye on Ladybug and the other on Antielle.

Ladybug nodded even as she dodged another blast. ‘It’s the only thing that makes sense right now. I have the feeling we’re going to need both Lucky Charm and Cataclysm for this, but we need something to keep Antielle still. Another person using the Bee miraculous would be really helpful.’

‘I’m shocked that you’d even think about Chloé,’ Chat thought. ‘Not Alya?’

‘Alya is my friend, but Chloé already knows about us, the miraculous, even about a kwami. She has way more familiarity with this than Alya would, which means we won’t have to waste precious time explaining things to her. Plus, that way we don’t have to worry about Antielle escaping and going after Chloé because she’ll be here with us,’ Ladybug thought. There was some hesitancy and conflict in her emotions when it came to Alya, but Chat knew that now wasn’t the time to press.

Especially when Ladybug was pushing a memory at him then, one that only took mere seconds to flash in front of his eyes: the time that Marinette had transformed shortly before Miel and Tromper had spent some quality time at the Eiffel Tower, Pollen had told Marinette that she was at Marinette’s service. And Marinette had been a little conflicted over that, thinking that she was no queen bee…

‘But I know someone who would be,’ Ladybug thought.

‘And you want me to go,’ Chat thought back, not liking that.

‘You have to go, Chat. I can’t. Antielle is mad at me, not you. She wouldn’t let you distract her,’ Ladybug thought. ‘Just… go. Go fast. I’ll be fine.’

Chat didn’t like it. In fact, he hated it. But he could also see where Ladybug was coming from. They couldn’t risk leading an akuma, and by extension Hawkmoth, back to Master Fu. He gritted his teeth and turned, jumping off the roof. He could hear Antielle letting out a taunting laugh behind him and making a remark about traitorous cats, but he tried not to listen and ran.

Getting to Master Fu’s shop was a lot easier and faster by way of miraculous. He dropped down into the alley behind the shop and detransformed. For once, Plagg seemed to sense the grim, tense atmosphere and didn’t even whine about cheese as Adrien opened the back door and slipped inside, leaving them both in what appeared to be a kitchenette. Wayzz was sitting on the counter; he jumped at their sudden appearance.

“Uh… hello?” he said, clearly startled to see them.

“I need the Bee miraculous,” Adrien blurted out. “Where’s Master Fu?”

“Up front. Let me –” Wayzz flew over to a switch on the counter and flipped it up. “This is how I can let Master Fu know I need him. This switch turns a light on in the store,” he explained to Adrien.

“Thanks,” Adrien said, sneaking a quick glance at what Wayzz had been eating. It looked like anchovies. Suddenly Camembert didn’t seem so bad.

“Wayzz, what is – Adrien?” Master Fu cut himself off as he walked into the kitchen.

“Ladybug and I need the Bee miraculous. Please, Master Fu, it’s an emergency. Coccinelle got akumatized,” Adrien said, deciding that Master Fu didn’t need to know that they now knew who Coccinelle really was.

“Oh dear. I was afraid that would happen.” Master Fu sighed heavily and beckoned to Adrien, walking into the room with the low table and phonograph. Adrien hovered behind him as Master Fu opened the phonograph, revealing all the different compartments. For the first time, he noticed that five miraculous were missing. The Ladybug, the Black Cat, the Turtle, and Butterfly were all gone, of course, but there was also a fifth empty space.

“What goes there?” he asked, gesturing to the fifth space.

“The Peacock,” Master Fu said shortly, picking up the Bee miraculous. He hesitated before handing it over, but eventually gave it to Adrien, adding, “Whoever you choose, you must make that it’s someone you trust who is prepared to handle the responsibility that comes with a miraculous. Choose wisely. Such powers are meant to serve the greater good. They must never get into the wrong hands.”

‘Oh my god, the irony,’ Ladybug thought. She was playing a game of cat-and-mouse with Antielle, running around Paris.

‘Right?’ Adrien thought, trying to hide a smirk.

“Once the mission is over, you must retrieve the miraculous and bring it back to me. It’s too dangerous to allow any more miraculous to be in circulation for right now,” Master Fu concluded.

“Thank you,” Adrien said. “Come on, Plagg!”

He hurried back out through the kitchen and into the alley and transformed, then took to the roofs. He made his way back towards the bakery and dropped down onto Marinette’s balcony, relieved to see that – for once – Chloé had done as she was told and was sitting on the reclining chair. She jumped when he landed, her expression immediately changing to one of panic as she looked around.

“Did you win already? Where’s Antielle?” she said shrilly.

“We haven’t won yet. We need your help,” Chat said, opening his hand up.

Chloé stared at him. “What?”

“This is the Bee miraculous. It’ll give you the same powers that Marinette had when she transformed with it,” Chat said, because he knew damn well that Chloé paid just as much attention to their battles as Alya did. “If you do this, you have to be really careful, Chloé. You can’t tell anyone about it. You saw what happened when I accidentally let the cat out of the bag.” He couldn’t even smile at his pun.

“I remember,” Chloé said quietly, standing up.

“When the battle is over, you have to give the miraculous back,” Chat added, and saw her face twist. “I’m sorry. That’s the rule. It’s the guardian, not me.”

“Right. Someday I’d like to meet this guardian,” Chloé said, taking the Bee miraculous. She examined it for a moment before affixing it in her hair just to the right of her bangs. There was a flash of yellow light and Pollen appeared.

“Well!” Pollen said, her eyes wide, and then she grinned. “Greetings, my Queen!”

‘Ah, here we go,’ Ladybug thought. She was getting tired now, and Chat panicked.

“Chloé, we don’t have time for this. We have to hurry!”

“Right. What I do?” Chloé asked Pollen.

“To transform, you say, ‘buzz on’,” Pollen said promptly. “My power is that of subjection. You will be able to immobilize your opponent if you say ‘Venom’ and stab them with the tip of your stinger, but the power works much like Ladybug’s and Chat Noir’s. You only have five minutes from the moment you activate it to when you’ll detransform, so you only get one shot at it.”

“Venom, I like it,” Chloé said with a smirk. “Pollen, buzz on!”

The flash of yellow light was so bright that Chat had to close his eyes and throw an arm over his face to keep from being blinded. When he felt it was safe to look, he lowered his arm and found himself staring at another yellow, black-striped superhero. Her suit was a little different from Miel’s, unsurprisingly, but definitely recognizable as the Bee miraculous.

“Very cool. What’s your name?” Chat said.

“Queen Bee, of course,” she said, a sparkle in her eyes. Chat couldn’t help grinning.

“Of course. Well, come on, Queen Bee! We have to meet up with Ladybug. Antielle is proving to be the worst akuma we’ve faced yet.” His smile faded. “She has the powers of Ladybug but multiplied. She can summon several Lucky Charms without having to detransform.”

“That’s not good,” Queen Bee said. She reached for her hip and came up with the spinning top that Miel had used. Experimentally, she threw it out and watched as it wrapped around a point about a block away.

“Don’t go crazy,” Chat warned her, remembering how Ladybug’s yoyo and yanked her halfway across the city that first time, and jumped off the balcony. A blur of yellow shot past him and he shook his head. He had the feeling that Chloé was going to adjust to being a miraculous user very quickly.

‘Where are you?’ he thought to Ladybug.

‘I’ll circle back towards the school,’ Ladybug thought. ‘Let me just – ha!’ She successfully tripped Antielle over the side of a building into a dumpster and took off.

“The school!” he called out to Queen Bee. In the distance, he saw her nod and change directions. Chat did the same, landing on the rooftop mere seconds after Queen Bee and at the same time as Ladybug. She looked exhausted from her race around the city.

“She’s right behind me!” Ladybug said, rushing over to Chat and Queen Bee. “We have to think of something fast. Her temper is getting worse and she’s starting to not care who gets hit when she misses.”

“Starting?” Queen Bee said. “Did she ever care?”

Ladybug took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. “Probably not, but that’s not the point. What do we do?”

Chapter Text

"Use your Lucky Charm before Antielle gets here," Chat urged.

Ladybug nodded. "Lucky Charm!" she cried, throwing her yoyo aloft. It burst into red sparkles and then a red, black-spotted ice cream scoop fell into her hands. She blinked at it for a moment, belatedly noticing but disregarding the twin baffled looks on Chat's and Queen Bee's faces, then looked around. A soft jingling sound caught her attention. She walked to the edge of the roof and peered over.

"Is that André the ice cream guy?" Queen Bee said in disbelief, having followed her.

"Yeah, it is. Okay, I know what to do," Ladybug said, eyes darting around and focusing in on first Chat, then Queen Bee, André's cart, and the scoop in her hands. "Queen Bee, I want you to hide. You have to be ready to sneak up on Antielle with your stinger. As soon as you take her down, grab her earrings, her hair ribbons, and her mask if you can get it off. We're not sure where the akumatized object is and we might only get one chance at this so we're going to have to be fast."

"Got it. You can count on me, Ladybug," Queen Bee said.

"I know I can," Ladybug said, surprised to realize that it was true. She thrust the ice cream scoop at Chat. "Go down there and borrow André's cart. Scoop as much ice cream on the ground as you can. Make it nice and sticky and slippery, and maybe even keep a few scoops to the side to throw at her. I'll be the bait that gets Antielle down there."

"You know, I much prefer it when our roles are reversed and I'm the bait," Chat said, but he turned to do as she'd asked. Ladybug watched them both go and then forced herself to turn away, scanning the horizon. It shouldn't have taken Antielle that long to crawl out of the dumpster. She had to be planning something. But what? Not knowing made Ladybug nervous. Antielle was by far the strongest akuma they had faced so far.

But it was little wonder. Lila had plenty to be angry about. Not only had the miraculous and her chance at fame been taken out from under her nose, Chloé had shown her that picture of Marinette and Adrien and Alya had been pressuring her about another interview. It was probably a good thing that Lila hadn't known that Marinette had suggested the interview, or Antielle would've been after her too. For that matter, it was frankly surprising that Antielle wasn't trying to kill Marinette - but then maybe Marinette was number three on her list...

'Okay, stop it. Thinking about someone trying to kill Marinette is freaking me out,' Chat thought.

'Sorry,' Ladybug thought, realizing that she was letting her mind get away from her. 'I just wish that Master Fu had been more careful about who he chose as Coccinelle. I'm sure Lila would've gotten akumatized eventually, maybe even today... but she wouldn't have become Antielle and so maybe she wouldn't have been such a problem. Those Anti Charms of hers pack a real punch.' She rubbed ruefully at her shoulder.

'I don't know what he was thinking. All I can think of is that Master Fu was desperate. He did say he hadn't had the chance to look at any candidates. Pretty sure he just picked the first person he came across that day. Plus, you know how good Lila is at lying,' Chat thought.

Ladybug did know, and she could easily imagine Master Fu being suckered in, like so many other adults at the school, by Lila's faux sweet nature. Still, that made it no less frustrating. She paced around the roof, wondering if they would be facing an akumatized Lynx next. She really hoped not. Antielle's Anti Charm was bad enough; Ladybug couldn't fathom what Cataclysm would be like in the hands of an akuma...

"Ladybug, look out!"

Queen Bee's warning came just in time. At the sound of it, Ladybug reacted instinctively and threw herself to the ground. Something passed over her head so close that she could feel it and hit the roof behind her. She pushed herself up and turned, eyes widening at the sight of an honest-to-god arrow. The tip was sunk several inches deep in the roof and the shaft was still quivering. Ladybug gulped and touched the top of her head, realizing that the arrow had come so close it had actually touched her hair.

"Damn," Antielle said, and Ladybug spun around to see that the akuma was standing behind her wearing a cruel smirk. "Just a little bit lower and we could've had Ladybug-shish-kabobs. What a shame. Guess I'll have to try again." She hefted the black, red-spotted crossbow she was holding.

"Because I'm really going to stand here and let you shoot me," Ladybug said sarcastically, backing up a step. It took everything she had to maintain her composure and not let her fear show on her face.

'Okay, ice cream is on the ground and Queen bee is hidden. We’re ready,' Chat thought.

"It would be nice if you did, but that's okay. I don't mind a hunt!" Antielle fired again and Ladybug dodged again, this time throwing herself off the roof. She threw her yoyo out and saw it connect with a tree branch -

And an arrow flew through the air and cut through the tree branch.

"Ladybug!" Chat's cry rang out as she hit the ground with a pained groan, having fallen a good three stories.

"Anti Charm!" Antielle cried as she landed several feet away from where the ice cream was - so much for that plan.

"Get up, Ladybug!" Queen Bee was suddenly there, grabbing Ladybug's arm and dragging her to her feet. Over Queen Bee's shoulder, Ladybug caught sight of Chat grappling with Antielle. He was using his baton and Antielle was now holding a black, red-spotted spear with a razor-sharp edge.

"I'm fine," Ladybug said shakily, gently pushing Queen Bee away. Her mind raced in search of another plan, but she was coming up blank. The smart thing to do would be to slip away, let her transformation run out, feed Tikki and regroup - she only had about three minutes left anyway. They would need a new Lucky Charm if they hoped to beat Antielle. But she didn't know if she could leave Chat...

"Go," Queen Bee said, putting a hand on Ladybug's arm and meeting Ladybug's gaze. "I'll help him. Just hurry."

"I'm counting on you," Ladybug told her; she put her hand over Queen Bee's and squeezed briefly before she ran, heading for the school. Behind her, Antielle let out a scream of rage that sent chills down her spine.

Ladybug rushed into the empty school and ducked into a classroom. "Spots off," she said.

Tikki appeared, looking worried. "Oh Marinette, I'm so sorry! I should've told you it was Lila when you asked!" she cried.

"It's okay, Tikki. You couldn't have known what would happen. But please, eat as fast as you can. Chat and Queen Bee need me," Marinette said, wincing as she crouched down. Her side really hurt from where she'd landed on the ground. She took a cookie from her purse and gave it to Tikki.

"Right," Tikki said, taking a huge bite of the cookie and chewing furiously.

Marinette closed her eyes for a moment, taking a few seconds to catch her breath and work through the pain from her side and her shoulder. There was a way to get to Antielle, just like there had been every other akuma they had faced. She just had to remain calm until Tikki had finished eating. Then she could transform and use whatever Lucky Charm she got, as well as Queen Bee's stinger, to get the akumatized object away from Antielle. Chat could Cataclysm it, Ladybug would purify the butterfly and cast the cure, and this would all be a bad memory. Right.

And then it went quiet outside.

‘Shit,’ Chat thought.

Marinette closed her eyes and tried not to cry as the reality of it all filled her head.

Antielle broke the silence by laughing and calling out, "Oh Laaaaaadyyyyybuuuuug. You should really come out."

"She's taunting you, Marinette. Don't listen," Tikki said between mouthfuls of cookie.

But Marinette had to look. She carefully turned around and slowly sat up until she could peek over the sill. Her eyes widened in utter horror at what she saw. Queen Bee was all wrapped up in Antielle's yoyo, tied to a tree - she was struggling to get free, but she couldn't. Blood was running down her face from a deep cut across her jaw. Antielle was standing in the middle of the yard, one strong arm wrapped around Chat's body. He was pinned against her, unable to move... because the tip of Antielle's spear was jammed up under his chin.

"Come out here, Ladybug," Antielle commanded, losing her humor. "Or I'll put shish kabob kitty on the menu tonight."