Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Everyone processed trauma differently.

From talking with others like her, Marinette knew that some people would forget the incident itself, or only have a vague memory of it.

But for Marinette, her memory of that fateful day was perfectly clear.

It had been a Wednesday, just after lunch. A lovely, sunny, sunny day.

Marinette had been carrying bags of shopping that her parents had sent her to buy, only across the street from her home, when it happened.

…

Marinette still didn't understand why Chloe loved to torment her, the only thing the twelve-year-old understood was that she couldn't do anything about it. No teacher would stop Chloe's behaviour, no schoolmate would stand up to the bully, and Marinette could not hide when the blond was feeling vindictive.

So, Marinette could only groan when, while waiting for the traffic light that kept her from home to turn green, Chloe loudly announced herself, a silent Sabrina trailing behind the bully.

Being such a frequent target of Chloe's ire, Marinette couldn't remember what exactly Chloe had said to her that day, beyond it being Chloe's usual words to demean Marinette and make her feel small. It was all stuff Marinette had heard before, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

Then, like a saviour to Marinette, the traffic lights changed to show the green man, signalling that it should be safe for everyone to cross to the other side. Key word being 'should'.

So eager to get away from Chloe, Marinette rushed forward, eyes on the front door of her parent's bakery. Only, she ended up stumbling to the ground instead, almost dropping her bags, courtesy of Chloe's foot.

Marinette did remember scowling at Chloe's annoying high-pitched laugh as the blond and Sabrina passed her fallen figure, trying to grab the stuff that had fallen from the bags.

"One of these days, that girl's going to get what's coming to her." Marinette mumbled to herself, getting to her feet.

And then Marinette became aware of a car speeding down the road, a car going way too fast to just stop at the traffic lights, a car that would most likely just speed past the traffic light, a car that was heading directly for Chloe.

Marinette didn't know what caused her to move, just that she did. One moment she was standing just off the pavement, holding her shopping bags and watching the car speed towards Chloe, the next moment her shopping bags had fallen to the ground and she had launched herself forwards.

"Chloe! Look out!" Marinette screamed.

Marinette remembered the feeling of the material of Chloe's expensive and designer jacket under her hands when she shoved the blond out of the way, as well as Chloe indignant screech as she misunderstood why Marinette had pushed her.

Marinette also remembered being slammed into herself, slammed into so hard that she was sent into the air before impacting on the ground near where Chloe was picking herself off of the pavement.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng!" Chloe began her angry tirade.

But then Chloe's face morphed from one of anger to that of shock.

"Oh god!" She gasped, bringing her hands to her mouth.

At first Marinette was confused as to why Chloe would be shocked over her of all people. But then Marinette's body finally registered the immense pain through the shock. She tried to scream out in pain but all she could manage was weak moans and cries.

Marinette eventually became aware of Chloe kneeling down next to her, which surprised Marinette because Chloe would never dare dirty her trousers by kneeling on the ground.

"It's-it's okay, M-Marinette." Chloe stuttered. "Everything will be okay."

Chloe trying to comfort someone, let alone that someone being her, had been so unusual for Marinette that she would have laughed, if not for the pain.

Chloe then turned to Sabrina, who looked as shocked and unsure what to do with the situation as Chloe did, stood frozen behind her friend.

"What do I do?" Chloe screamed at Sabrina.

"Oh, uh…" Sabrina tried to remember what her dad had taught her. "Try to keep her still and any point of bleeding elevated."

"Marinette, you need to be still." Chloe turned back Marinette, still screaming.

It was only after Chloe had mentioned it that Marinette realised she was struggling to move, subconsciously trying to relieve the pain somehow, which was only serving to cause her more pain instead.

At that point, things got fuzzy, the pain preventing Marinette from detailing events.

She remembered her parents arriving at some point, drawn out of their bakery by the commotion, only to find their daughter at the centre of it.

And she half remembered being in the ambulance, her mother there to stroke her head while an EMT tended to her.

Marinette's next clearest memory was waking up to a doctor explaining the extent of her injuries to her parents, and the operations that she'd have to go through to fix the damage.

Then, Marinette had been put to sleep again for the operation.

…

That day, Marinette's life changed in an irreversible way.

The doctors did all they could, but there was some damage that they could not fix.

Damage that would leave Marinette confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

Still, Marinette guessed it could have been much worse. And she found that help could come from the most unlikely of places.

Mayor Bourgeois, eternally grateful for Marinette saving his daughter at the cost of herself, offered his help, and his money, to the Dupain-Chengs. Without the mayor's help, Marinette's parents would have been left to figure out how to adjust their home to account for their daughter's new state. But, as their mayor had stated when he came to personally thank Marinette, money was no object.

So, hallways were widened, equipment in the bathroom and bedroom were added, and the basics of ramps and chairlifts were installed, allowing Marinette to keep her current bedroom, much to her relief. And not only that, but a small lift was installed under Marinette's skylight, allowing her to still access her rooftop garden. Marinette's stilt bed was replaced with a regular bed, along with many other small changes to her room to allow for her wheelchair.

Marinette was extremely grateful to the mayor for aiding in her living, even though the media coverage did lead her to suspect that his charity wasn't completely out of gratitude.

Still, when Marinette returned from the hospital, everything at home was ready for her. Even if she was not ready herself.

But, no matter how many times Marinette ended up on the floor due to going to stand and forgetting about her new condition, she was determined not to let her disability control her life or stop her motivation. And she would keep that mindset.

"Mama, I'm going out!" Marinette called to her mother as she heaved herself into one of her wheelchairs.

She owned two, not counting the fold-up one used for around the house, but only made regular use of one. The electric wheelchair was usually left to gather dust.

"Make sure you're not late for afternoon classes sweetie!" Her mother called after her.

"I will!"

Marinette put her hands to the wheels of her chair and began pushing, her hand-crafted gloves giving her good grip on the wheels.

In the year since her accident and Marinette had gotten used to life without working legs, working on her upper body strength so she could lift herself in and out of her wheelchair and stair lift, and doing her best to prove that despite being disabled, she was not helpless.

Marinette pushed herself along, the beads that decorated the spokes of her wheels clacking up and down with each push.

Her arms took her a familiar path, rolling past buildings and trees until she reached a slightly less urban area, the buildings larger and more spaced out.

Marinette sighed heavily as she reached a tall hill that she was all too familiar with and had nicknamed the 'snag' since becoming bound to her wheelchair. And, unfortunately, unless she wanted to travel much longer route, it was the only way to her destination.

"Okay, I can do this." Marinette told herself, pushing forward.

In all honesty, if Marinette just used the electric wheelchair she had been gifted, the 'snag' wouldn't have caused her any issues, but Marinette viewed that wheelchair as a barrier to herself. Plus, though it was an unpleasant struggle, there was nothing like the feeling of conquering the 'snag' each time and reaching the top with nothing but her own strength.

"Yes." Marinette said in victory, rubbing her hands through the gloves.

Once again, she had conquered the damned hill.

After a small rest, Marinette continued her journey, coming to a closed off area with a large fence and heavy gate.

Marinette frowned sadly when she saw the gate closed and locked.

"Of course." She said.

Marinette continued pushing until she reached a part of the fence where the large building inside and its massive garden could be seen, vines crawling the walls and a pond glistening under the sun. Strangely, one section of the garden, near that pond, was in a better state than the rest of the garden.

Happy with her location, Marinette engaged her breaks and pulled out her sketchbook.

This place was always a wonderful location to sketch, providing her with inspiration for idea, even if she couldn't get any closer to the garden.

Marinette spent the next hour contently drawing things she spotted in the mansion's garden, stopping only to eat the lunch that she had packed. There was a bird hopping about on a branch, dragonflies skimming about over the pond, some flowers midway through blooming, a pure white butterfly.

Marinette paused in the middle of her drawing to look again, but she couldn't spot the butterfly she had seen.

"I guess it flew off." She muttered.

Marinette then looked at her watch and her eyes widened at the time, it was getting time for afternoon classes, and if she didn't leave now, she would be late.

"Lunch passed quickly." Marinette said to herself.

Marinette turned her wheelchair around and began her way to college.

A white butterfly watched her go.

Marinette arrived at the college in time and wheeled herself up the ramp, as she entered the building she looked over to where her classroom was, on the first floor up.

A few years ago, this would have been an issue.

With the way that College Francoise Dupont was built, they hadn't initially installed any lifts, as a person's class schedule could be made so that they never left the ground floor. And Headmaster Damocles had always been a passive man rather than active, so never sought to change it.

That, of course, changed with Marinette's accident.

Marinette did not take kindly to be stuck on the ground floor, so with some help from her parents, as well as another unlikely source in the form of a certain blond, lifts and walkways were installed to allow wheelchair users access to the upper floors.

So, Marinette felt the usual small sense of pride when she pushed herself into the lift that took her to the same floor as her classroom.

She then braced herself as she pushed herself inside the room.

"Mari!"

Marinette inwardly cringed at the happy voice as arms uncomfortably wrapped around her, probably giving her new bruising from how tight they held her.

"I was worried when you weren't home when I went to get you." The owner of the voice pouted.

"I just went for a little trip." Marinette placated. "I'm fine, Chloe."

Chloe continued to pout.

"But what if you'd fallen over, I wouldn't have been there to help you." She said.

"You know me better than that, Chloe, I don't fall over. And even if I somehow had, I'm sure I could have picked myself up."

Chloe gave a small 'harrumph', not convinced.

Marinette wheeled over to the desks and parked her wheelchair next to the wall, she then reached behind her to fetch her crutches. Unsteadily, and with great effort, Marinette used her crutches to rise to her feet.

Though Marinette would always need a wheelchair for the rest of her life, her spine and legs had healed enough that she could manage brief moments of standing as long as she had support, but it was a strain for her to do and there were days where she just wouldn't be able to manage it. It had taken Marinette endless determination and countless hours of physical therapy to be able to stand using crutches, and even then, she could only manage it for a minute or so, but she refused to give in or give up.

Marinette's desk was on the second row, up some steps. She should have been on the first row, or even stayed in her wheel chair and used that as a desk, like Chloe never stopped insisting, but Marinette remained stubborn in not wanting to let her disability limit her. Still, Marinette knew that she shouldn't overshoot herself, and so settled on the second row rather than farther up.

"Here." Chloe said, grabbing one of Marinette's arms and supporting her back.

Without needing to be called, Chloe's other 'best friend', because Chloe was allowed to have two best friends if she wanted, Sabrina came and supported Marinette's other side.

As much as Marinette wanted to insist she could manage it on her own and as much as it pained her to admit it, on most days, Marinette did need help to reach her desk. It was a relief when Marinette could finally drop into her seat.

"You should really stay in your wheelchair." Chloe repeated what she always told Marinette. "Why do you always insist on straining yourself?"

"To prove that I can do it." Marinette gave her usual answer.

Chloe gave Marinette an expectant look.

"With some assistance." Marinette admitted.

"Thank you." Chloe said.

Chloe and Sabrina took their seats next to each other as class began and Marinette sighed, already feeling that it was going to be a long day.

…

Marinette still found it extremely weird to have Chloe acting so buddy-buddy with her, even after two years, how Chloe acted towards her previously still imprinted firmly in her mind.

It started with Chloe visiting Marinette while she was still in hospital, Sabrina lugging in a rather lavish 'get well soon' gift that Chloe said was from her.

Of course, Marinette has assumed in to be a one-time scenario, a brief intermission on Chloe's cruelty due to Marinette saving her life, before she would fall right back into her bullying behaviour.

But, as it turned out, it wasn't just a one-time event.

Chloe continued to visit and continued to bring lavish gifts.

It got even weirder for Marinette when she was allowed to go around the hospital in the wheelchair she was provided while Chloe was visiting, and spent the entire time being pushed around by Chloe herself, a girl who loathed to do any labour.

And just when Marinette thought that her situation couldn't get any weirder, Chloe declared herself Marinette's 'best friend'.

Don't get Marinette wrong, she was glad, and even grateful, to no longer be the victim of Chloe's wrath.

But that left her to be victim to Chloe's 'kindness' instead.

Marinette often felt like Chloe treated her like a charity case, using the fact that she had a disabled friend who she constantly went out of her way to help to bolster her social status. In Chloe's mind, Marinette's confinement to a wheelchair now meant that she couldn't do certain things that she actually could.

For her part, Marinette never hesitated in correcting her new 'friend', and sometimes Chloe would learn and give Marinette her individuality. But Chloe would inevitably forget and default back to her usual behaviour; things sticking only occasionally.

Unsurprisingly, Chloe had been the one to buy Marinette her electric wheelchair.

But, somehow, against all odds, Chloe declaring herself as Marinette's 'best friend' wouldn't be the strangest thing to happen to her.

Chapter Text

It had been there for as long as she could remember. Sanctuaire de la Dame.

An old building surrounded by a large garden and protected by a sizable fence and gate.

There were many ghost stories about the building, and the never-seen owner. And the state of the property didn't help its reputation.

The garden had been overgrown for a long time, countless weeds and wildflowers creating their own form of beauty in a way.

Marinette grew up rather fascinated with Sanctuaire de la Dame, staring at it each time her parent's travels brought her past. She often made up her own stories about what lay beyond that gate, imagining a powerful wizard lived in the house, or perhaps it housed a magical artifact or great power.

Before her unfortunate accident, when Marinette was first allowed to go further than the park right outside the bakery without her parents with her, she chose to go to Sanctuaire de la Dame. To get the closer look at the property inside that fence.

It was on that day that Marinette learned that the gate wasn't even locked, just shut on the latch.

…

Marinette opened the gate to Sanctuaire de la Dame in surprise, then stuck her head inside to get a look at the property now that it was unobscured by bars.

On some level Marinette knew that it was wrong to enter the property, it belonged to someone else, someone who could still be living in the building.

But this could be her only chance to fully see the property, if the owner remembered to lock their gate next time, and Marinette wanted to see the garden that had held her imagination for so long.

So, she went inside.

The experience was a little less magical than Marinette had hoped for.

Up close, she could finally see that the garden wasn't much better than the overgrown dog park that was nearby, and the structures were rotted or rusted.

Sanctuaire de la Dame wasn't the home of an eccentric and recluse wizard, as Marinette had once dreamed up, it was a neglected and likely abandoned home.

And Marinette couldn't accept that.

The young pre-teen wandered over to one area of the garden, crouched down and then began removing weeds, giving no mind to the dirt.

She lost track of time, pulling the weeds.

A large pile had formed by the time Marinette realised she needed to head home.

"That looks better." Marinette declared looking at her work.

The area of garden did look semi-better than before, but that didn't remove the weeds everywhere else, or make up for the large patches of bare soil where the weeds had been removed.

Still, Marinette was rather proud of herself as she left through the property's gate and went home to wash away the dirt that covered her.

With a new project to set her mind on, Marinette returned the next day, and the day after that, and even the day after that, pulling weeds from the garden and adding them to the ever-growing pile.

Until, one day, something changed.

…

"I really need to do something about the pile of weeds." Marinette noted to herself as she pushed her way into the Sanctuaire de la Dame property, heading towards the area she had last left off at.

Marinette then stopped short when she noticed an envelope lying on the ground, looking as though it had been haphazardly tossed there.

Curious, Marinette picked it up, reading the writing on the front.

"To the girl who is picking my weeds." Marinette read, eyes widening. "Ah!"

So much for the property being abandoned.

Hesitantly, Marinette opened the envelope, gasping in surprise as some paper money fell out of the envelope when she pulled out the letter.

"What?" Marinette questioned.

She crouched down to pick up the money while reading the letter.

"Dear young Miss." Marinette read aloud. "Thank you for the work that you've been doing to my garden, it hasn't looked this nice in a while. I am very grateful for your help. Though, in future, you should not enter onto someone else's property without permission, as it can get you into trouble. Regardless, here is some money for your efforts."

The letter wasn't signed, but it was clear who it was from.

Marinette blushed at the pride she felt, holding the money she had apparently earned.

The money wasn't a grand sum, but it was certainly more than her usual pocket money.

Looking around the garden, Marinette quickly decided on what the money would go towards.

But first, there were still weeds that she had to pull.

…

Marinette returned the next day with seeds and bulbs in tow, as well as of some gardening supplies she used for her own balcony garden.

"Hmm, I think the lavender can go over here, and a mix of tulips over here…" Marinette began to plan out how to plant them.

The young teen had no illusions that she'd be able to fix the entire garden, but just one area seemed like a manageable enough task, the part near the pond and a birdbath.

"I wonder if I can do anything about the pond." Marinette mused to herself as she peered into the murky water.

Shrugging her shoulders, Marinette went back to work planting, watering all the plants once she was done.

"There we go." Marinette said triumphantly, hands on hips. "Much better."

As her last act of the day, Marinette pulled a letter out of her pocket, wrapped in plastic to protect it against the elements.

'Dear Sir/Madam.

Thank you for the money you gave me. I hope you like the flowers I planted, I think they'll make your garden look even better.

Sincerely, Lace.'

Marinette had wanted to sign the letter with her actual name but knew enough about safety to not give her name to a stranger.

The young teen left her letter in front of the flowerbeds, then packed as many of the weeds into the bags she brought as she could and left, a smile on her face.

…

When Marinette returned for the remaining weeds the next day, she found a new letter in front of the flowerbeds. This time, it addressed her as 'Lace', and it came with slightly more money than before.

"Dear Lace." Marinette could almost feel the amusement of the person who had written the letter. "Thank you for the flowers, I'm sure they'll look lovely when grown. But I meant for the money to be for yourself, not for you to do more work on the garden. Please, take this payment for all your hard work, and use the money for yourself this time. Sincerely, J."

Marinette smiled as she counted the money.

She probably would use most of it for herself this time, she was running low of some fabric and art supplies. But there was still a little she wanted to do with the garden.

Doing the job she came to do, Marinette used the bags she brought to remove the weeds, taking them to the proper recycling zone. And also watered all the flowers she had planted.

Finally, Marinette went for a brief visit back home, bringing with her some cookies in a plastic tub. And another letter.

'Dear J

Thank you again for the money. But you don't need to pay me, I'm happy to help the garden grow and look nice.

Please enjoy these hand-made cookies.

Sincerely, Lace.'

Marinette placed the plastic tub of cookies on the edge of the nearby birdbath with the letter on top, before leaving to go back home.

Things continued on like that for a while.

Marinette would come every day to water the plants, and sometimes continue her work in pulling weeds and planting more flowers, slowly growing the small area of garden she had fixed. Unfortunately, there was only so much she could do, as she only knew the basics of gardening.

And every day, there would be a letter to Marinette from 'J', thanking her for her work, sometimes with some money inside for her effort.

And 'Lace' would write back, thanking the mysterious resident for the pay. Sometimes also leaving gifts from the bakery, which would always be gone by the time Marinette came back.

'Dear Lace

I'm so glad for the care you've given to my garden. You make each day just a slight bit brighter for me, when I look outside to see those flowers blooming. It been so long since my garden looked so pretty, and so long since I saw butterflies fluttering by.

Sincerely, J'

'Dear J

I'm happy to see the butterflies too. They've helped me with some art design inspiration. And I'm glad that I help you each day through my work, it makes everything worth it. It's unfortunate that I never get to see you outside enjoying it.

Sincerely, Lace'

Their letters to each other were never long, just short conversations back and forth where they had to wait a day until they could continue that conversation.

Marinette found that it was sort of like having a pen pal, where the person on the other end just never left the building rather than living a long distance away.

And Mariette found herself conflicted on the fact she never got to see her mystery friend.

On one hand, she would love to see them in person, learn what they looked and sounded like, and actually see their reaction to her work rather than being told about it on paper.

But she also knew that J was likely an adult, and 'don't be around strange adults without your parents' had been drilled into Marinette head by both school and her parents. So, if J ever did come out of their house to meet her, Marinette would have to get her parents to make sure things stayed safe. And that could risk Marinette's parents banning her from coming to the garden if they decided they didn't want her around J anymore.

Part of Marinette knew she was being stupid, that she should have already told her parents about where she'd been going and the letters, but the recently-emerged side of her that desired independence and to prove that she was a 'big girl already' was stronger.

Thinking back on the entire set up once she was older, Marinette realised that she was likely very lucky that nothing bad happened because of her pre-teen pride.

Marinette hummed quietly to herself as she dug a hole next to the birdbath.

Some newly bought flowers were next to her, ready to be planted at the base of the birdbath to obscure the rather large chip in it from view, and make it look prettier.

*Thunk*

Marinette stopped as her trowel hit something hard.

"Is part of this buried or something?" Marinette said to herself.

Marinette scraped back some more of the soil, eyes widening slightly as she caught sight of something that definitely wasn't the stone of the birdbath.

It took a little more digging but Marinette finally unearthed a metal jewellery box with a lock on the front.

Immediately, Marinette tried to open the box, only to find it locked.

"Of course it is." Marinette sighed. "I wonder if I can pick the lock. It'd be a shame to break the box.

And it really would be. With a bit of cleaning, the box would look beautiful, especially with what looked like the shape of a butterfly made with coloured glass on the lid.

Putting the box to the side, Marinette dug around the birdbath some more, but found nothing else after a while of searching.

"I guess that this was the only thing that was buried." Marinette mused, picking the box up again.

Marinette was then startled by a butterfly landing on the box.

Looking up, Marinette was surprised to find many white butterflies fluttering around her.

"Wow." Marinette muttered.

She didn't hesitate to use her phone to snap a few pictures and selfies, brain already bursting with inspiration for designs.

Barely remembering her original task, Marinette quickly filled in the holes she made while planting the flowers.

But as Marinette went to pick up the box again to head home, she hesitated.

"This…isn't really mine." Marinette said to herself.

It was dug up on J's property, so by all rights, it belonged to J, even if there was a possibility they didn't know it existed.

So, being the good and true girl she was, Marinette decided to leave the box behind for J to find, though it was with some reluctance.

'Dear J

I found this box while digging around the birdbath today. It's locked, but maybe the key is somewhere around here as well, since it was buried in the garden. I'd love to know what is inside it once you manage to open it, and I hope the box gets cleaned as well because it's very pretty.

Sincerely, Lace.'

Marinette quickly wrote the letter and placed it on top of the box, hiding them both slightly under the flowers, so that anyone from the outside wouldn't be able to see the box but J would when coming to view Marinette's work.

As Marinette left, she found herself attacked by the butterflies.

"Pft! Ah! Get off!" Marinette protested as she tried to gently push the butterflies from her face.

When Marinette reached the gates, the butterflies thankfully left her alone, flying back to the flower garden.

"What was that about." Marinette rubbed her face, still feeling the gossamer wings on her skin.

Looking back into the garden, Marinette saw the butterflies gathered around the birdbath.

"They must really like the new flowers." Marinette said, leaving.

Shrugging off the butterfly attack, Marinette skipped her way home, ready to fill her sketch book with new designs while wondering about the contents of the box she found.

Unfortunately for Marinette, the next day would see her in the hospital before she could see J's response.

Chapter Text

For obvious reasons, Marinette was unable to visit Sanctuaire de la Dame for a while after her accident.

First, it was due to being stuck in hospital for her recovery.

Then, Marinette had to get used to life confined to a wheelchair.

And then Marinette had to deal with her parents being in over-protective mode for a while, scared that something would happen to their newly disabled daughter that she would need help for.

So, just like the first time Marinette had finally been allowed outside without parental supervision, Marinette went to Sanctuaire de la Dame, eager to see the garden again and hear from J.

Of course, the first obstacle Marinette faced was the hill she would come to call 'the snag'. What was once something Marinette didn't even take notice of in her prior daily trips to Sanctuaire de la Dame, now became the equivalent of a cliff to her.

After what felt like an hour, Marinette finally managed to push herself to the top of the hill, huffing and panting as her arms trembled.

"Why?" Marinette said between breaths. "Why?"

Once Marinette felt like she could breathe normally and her arms stopped shaking so much, she pushed herself the rest of the way to Sanctuaire de la Dame's gates.

But when Marinette pulled on the handle, the gate didn't move.

Frowning, Marinette tried again, but the gate only rattled.

"Am I not able to open the gate while sitting or something?" Marinette questioned as she turned and pulled the handle several times.

Finally, Marinette looked in between the two sides of the gate, finding that the gate was fully locked, and not just closed on the latch like usual.

"J never locked the gate before." Marinette said to herself. "Maybe it's because I've been gone for a while."

Hanging her head in disappointment, Marinette turned to push herself back home, deciding to try again tomorrow.

But each day she tried, the gates remained locked.

Nearly an entire year had passed for Marinette, since she was last able to access the garden of Sanctuaire de la Dame. Forced to watch as her work on the section of garden near the pond and birdbath fell away under neglect.

Every so often, Marinette would try the gate, but it remained locked whenever she visited.

A few times, 'Lace' had left a letter in the gate, enquiring about J, only for the letters to still be there when she next visited, ruined by the weather. Except for one of the letters, but she never found a reply to it.

Answers finally came for Marinette in the form of a letter.

Not a letter addressed to Lace in the gate of Sanctuaire de la Dame.

But a letter addressed to Marinette Dupain-Cheng at her home.

"I…I think I'm being summoned to a Will reading." Marinette told her parents as she scanned over the contents of the letter.

Sabine took the letter from Marinette and read it.

"I don't think any of my relatives have passed away recently." She said, turning to her husband.

"Mine either." Tom said, reading the letter for himself. "It's likely a scam."

"But what if it's not." Marinette protested. "Shouldn't we go just in case it's real."

"I suppose." Tom said. "As long as we don't sign anything without a lawyer, nothing bad should happen. Right?"

Sabine hummed, unsure.

"I have a friend who works in law, they can give me some advice about what we should do." Sabine decided.

"Good idea, honey." Tom handed the letter back to Sabine.

Sabine nodded and took the letter with her as she left the room to go contact her friend.

"Jenny Ridge." Tom mulled over the name of the person whose will Marinette had been summoned to. "Are you sure that you don't know anyone by that name?" He asked his daughter.

Marinette shook her head. "Nope." She answered.

Though, she got the feeling that she should be familiar with the name in some way.

In the end, the family decided to go to the Will reading, just to see what Marinette had, apparently, been left.

They entered into the assigned room, where the lawyer in charge of the will was sitting behind a desk, several other adults on the other side.

"Names?" The lawyer asked.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng." Marinette answered. "These are my parents."

The lawyer nodded.

"It seems that everyone is here then." She said.

"What's this girl doing here?" One of the adults spoke up with a sneer on their face.

"I don't recognise her, or her name, at all." Another spoke up.

The others nodded in agreement that they didn't know Marinette, casting judgement at her with their eyes.

Marinette wouldn't be surprised if they were related to Chloe in some way.

"Well, Mrs Ridge named Miss Dupain-Cheng as one of her recipients." The lawyer explained. "Things should be cleared through the reading of the Will."

The adults reluctantly settled down as the lawyer began.

After the usual declaration of Mrs Ridge being of sound mind when composing her Will and testament, the lawyer explained that all of the deceased's assets had been liquidated except for her home, and began to list out how the deceased woman's estate would be parcelled out.

Evidently, the adults in the room were the woman's children and grandchildren. Each was given a set sum of money, which sounded like a lot to Marinette, but then again, she didn't have experience in what quantified a large amount of money. And a few were given certain objects. Marinette frowned when it came with the message that none of the family had been particularly present in the old woman's life.

"Wait, that can't be it." One of Mrs Ridge's sons protested, realising everyone in the family had been named. "Mother had more money than that. And what about the house?"

The man then had a moment of realisation, turning to Marinette, prompting the other adults to also turn their attention to Marinette.

Marinette herself had a similar reaction of shock and disbelief. This strange woman wouldn't really leave her a whole house and money, right? She'd get something small and the rest would go to a charity of some sort, that had to be it.

"For my property of Sanctuaire de la Dame, I leave to the girl I have become familiar with as 'Lace'-" Marinette's eyes widened and she gasped in shock as she heard the lawyer's words. "-as she is the only one I know who has cared for that property enough to inherit it, and was there for me more than my own children and grandchildren have been. My remaining money shall be used to fund the upkeep, taxes, insurances and all other expenses of Sanctuaire de la Dame until a time in which the money runs out."

"Lace? Who the hell is 'Lace'?" It was one of the daughters speaking this time.

"Through investigation, it was found that Lace was a name used by Miss Marinette Dupain-Cheng in letters to Mrs Ridge, that they passed back and forth during the prior year." The lawyer explained.

"Her?" Several of the adults exclaimed.

Marinette didn't listen to them, too busy being in a state of shock.

She had entertained the idea of 'J' being dead, as a reason she couldn't access Sanctuaire de la Dame anymore, but it had never been more than one theory among many until now. The idea that someone she could call her friend, even if their only interaction was through letters, was dead was shocking to the pre-teen.

Even more shocking was that J, or rather Jenny Ridge, had left Sanctuaire de la Dame to Marinette, all because Marinette decided to pretty-up part of her garden and leave her letters in response to the letters J had sent first.

For a brief second, the thought that Mrs Ridge was indeed an eccentric magic woman, as a younger Marinette had once thought up, flashed across her mind.

"There's no way that this little girl could be given the property. She's not even related!" This time, it was one of the grandchildren.

"Do not raise your voice at my daughter." Tom demanded.

"That is what the Will details and that is what will be carried out." The lawyer informed the family.

The woman then turned to the Dupain-Chengs.

"As an underage minor, temporary ownership of the property will have to be signed over to your legal guardians until you come of age, at which point ownership will automatically be signed over to you." The lawyer informed Marinette.

"Okay." Marinette responded quietly, still in disbelief over the entire thing.

"We'll have to hire our own lawyer first, before we sign anything." Tom said. "We weren't exactly expecting this."

"Oh, you'll need a lawyer alright." It was the son again, who looked very angry. "There is no way that I'll let this Will stand."

With that, the man stormed out.

Some of the other family members followed him out, similar anger on their faces. Soon followed by the remaining family members.

"So, Marinette." Sabine said. "I'll ask again, how did you know Mrs Jenny Ridge?"

Marinette sunk down in her wheelchair.

It took the Dupain-Chengs a couple of days to go over all the paperwork with the help of a professional, until they were satisfied that there were no hidden clauses or loopholes that would hurt them, and that Sanctuaire de la Dame really was left to Marinette in good faith.

Marinette herself, was grounded.

As she had feared, her parents really weren't happy to find that Marinette had been in constant contact with an adult that they had no idea about, making sure that their daughter knew how stupid she had been.

Thankfully, Marinette had still been allowed to go to Sanctuaire de la Dame after her parents were happy with the paperwork, despite her ground status.

So, after nearly a year, Marinette was finally able to renter the gates of Sanctuaire de la Dame.

This time, the garden was bypassed as Marinette and her parents went to the front door and opened it, going inside the building itself for the very first time.

A small layer of dust was disturbed by Marinette's wheels when she pushed herself forwards, taking in the pretty architecture and tarps covering all the furniture.

"Wow, I didn't expect the place to come fully furnished as well." Tom remarked as he pulled up one of the tarps to look at the table underneath.

"This is very nice." Sabine agreed.

They came to some stairs with a lift nearby.

"Hey, wheelchair access." Tom said cheerfully as he pressed the call button.

The three family members then cringed as the very concerning creaking and grating noise the lift produced as it shuddered to the ground floor.

"Okay, we are not riding on that." Sabine shut down the idea. "It looks like it'll break down any second."

"Looks like upstairs is a no-go, then." Tom said.

"No, you two go up and check things out." Marinette shook her head.

"Are you sure?" Her parents asked.

"Yeah." Marinette nodded. "Here, you can take photos for me."

She handed them her phone.

"If you're sure." Sabine said.

"We won't be long, stay out of trouble." Tom told her.

The two parents then went upstairs, leaving Marinette to her own devices downstairs.

Sighing, Marinette looked down at her lap.

But then something moved in the corner of her vision.

Looking up, Marinette found a butterfly fluttering in front of her face, followed by another butterfly.

"Huh? Why are you in here?" Marinette questioned, turning her chair.

She was surprised to find that many more butterflies had made their way inside, fluttering around Marinette.

Then the butterflies flew off towards one of the rooms, circling back to Marinette and then going to the room again.

"Do you…want me to follow?" Marinette asked, feeling fooling for talking to the butterflies.

She followed the butterflies, rolling through open doors until she reached a room that she and her parents had not yet visited.

The room looked like some sort of study. And unlike the rest of the house, it wasn't covered in tarps.

Looking out the window, Marinette could see the section of garden she had been working on the previous year.

The butterflied fluttered around the room before landing on the desk in the middle, most landing on a very familiar box.

"It's here." Marinette said to herself.

As she pushed over, the butterflies took flight again, allowing Marinette to pick up the box, which looked much cleaner than when she had dug it up.

"Still locked." Marinette pursed her lips. "Did J manage to open it before…" Marinette went silent, placing the box on her lap.

The fluttering of wings caught Marinette's attention again and she looked up to see a letter on the desk as well, one addressed to 'Lace'.

"Huh." Marinette said, picking up the letter, and also noting that it felt slightly heavy.

The envelope flap was also loose, not yet sealed.

Marinette then watched as all the butterflies filtered out through the door, quickly leaving her alone in the study.

"That was weird." Marinette remarked.

Before Marinette could open her letter, however, Tom and Sabine appeared in the doorway, Sabine frowning heavily while holding her own phone.

"What's going on?" Marinette asked.

"Mrs Ridge's family decided to contest the Will, so we'll have to leave until we can sort everything out." Sabine revealed.

"What?" Marinette cried. "Why?"

Tom sighed. "I really don't know." He said. "But we should go home anyway."

The two parents turned and left the room, expecting Marinette to follow.

Frowning, Marinette looked at the box in her lap, before stuffing it into the bag on her wheelchair along with the letter. Closing her bag, Marinette followed after her parents.

Marinette was sat on her bed, pulled against her headboard so that she could stay upright, with the butterfly box beside her and letter to 'Lace' in her hands.

After a minute of just staring at the envelope, Marinette finally opened it and pulled out the letter inside.

'Dear Lace

It took me a while to find out why you stopped visiting. But I found out after reading the news and seeing your picture.

I'm sorry about what happened to you, and hope that you recover.

Perhaps it'll make you feel better to know that I found the key to that box you found. And I thought that we could maybe open the box together, and find out what's inside together.

Maybe you could-'

The letter cut off there, suggesting that J had been interrupted while writing and never got to finish.

"I guess you never got to find out then." Marinette said, looking at the box.

Still feeling some weight in the envelope, Marinette tipped it out, a key landing in her hand.

The handle was shaped like a butterfly.

"I guess that this is the key." Marinette muttered to herself.

It felt wrong, in a way, to open the box without J. But it was pointless to not open the box.

So, Marinette set the box on her lap and inserted the key into the lock, a quiet click being emitted as she turned the key.

When Marinette opened the glass-encrusted lid, she only had a second to view the various pieces of jewellery inside before a purple orb appeared from inside, almost blinding her.

When the light died down, she could see and small floating creature in front of her opening its eyes and looking at her.

Marinette screamed.

The small creature winced and covered its ears, backing away from the screaming girl.

"A bug! A mouse! A…bug-mouse!" Marinette screamed as she tried to back away, which was hard to do trapped against the back of her bed.

"Please stop screaming." The creature begged. "I know you're scared but-"

"Ah! Bug-mouse talks!" Marinette screamed again.

In her scramble to get away, Marinette almost toppled off her bed, barely managing to catch the headboard with one hand. The fear of falling over briefly overwrote her fear of the small creature as she stopped screaming and trying to escape to right herself. Once that was done she, put a hand over her rapidly beating heart.

"Have you calmed down now?" A small voice asked.

Marinette turned her head back around to face the small creature, who was looking at her nervously, and looked ready to start it all over again.

"Please don't scream again." The creature begged. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"W-what are you?" Marinette asked warily.

The creature sighed in relief, happy Marinette wasn't going to fall back into another screaming fit.

"My name is Nooroo and I am a Kwami." It answered.

"A what?" Marinette asked.

"A Kwami. I am linked to that Miraculous in your hands and can grant powers." Nooroo explained.

Marinette looked down at the jewellery box, which, by some miracle, hadn't spilled out its contents during her scramble.

"This?" She held the box up.

"Actually, I mean this."

Nooroo floated down to the jewellery box and picked out what looked like a rather plain broach.

Hesitantly, Marinette took the broach from the Kwami, turning it over and finding a small hinge and latch on the sides, opening it up to find a tiny picture frame and mirror inside.

"What do you mean, 'grant powers'?" Marinette asked, half believing that she was just having a strange dream.

"The Miraculous are seven magical pieces of jewellery, and they grant those who wield them extraordinary powers, transforming them into heroes. My Miraculous gives the powers to create champions." Nooroo told her enthusiastically.

"Champions? Okay." Marinette said, not really knowing what it meant. "Are the other Miraculous in here too."

She picked up some of the other pieces of jewellery in the box to look at them.

Nooroo looked down sadly. "As much as I wish it, no. The Miraculous are usually watched over by the Guardian, but he moves around a lot depending on where he feels the Miraculous need to be, so I don't know where he is."

"Are you alright?" Marinette asked the Kwami, seeing he was upset.

"I'm alright." Nooroo said. "I've just been without my fellow Kwamis for so long. And I've been in that box for a while."

"Yeah, what were you doing in a box buried in the ground in the first place? I just found you in the garden of Sanctuaire de la Dame." Marinette asked, closing the box to look at the lid again.

"That is the home of my last wielder." Nooroo said, looking slightly sad. "Though she never used my power. She was helping me track down the Guardian. But then war broke out and bad people were invading the country. I asked her if we were going to fight, but she said that it was too risky and that I had to be safe from their hands, then she renounced me. And now I am here."

"I'm guessing that you're talking about the Second World War." Marinette frowned as the Kwami nodded. "That was over seventy years ago by now. If you're as powerful as you say, I can see why they would rather bury you in the garden than risk you getting captured."

Nooroo just nodded.

"So…" Marinette said. "Do you need to eat anything?"

"I'd like some oranges, if you have them." Nooroo said.

Marinette smiled.

"Yeah, they're downstairs." She said.

The Kwami watched as Marinette used the bars and straps around her bed to navigate her way into the wheelchair next to her bed, seemingly only just now realising that Marinette couldn't walk.

"Oh, are you alright?" He asked in concern.

"I'm fine." Marinette waved off. "I've been living like this for a year now. Stay here, I'll get you some food."

Nooroo watched her go, reluctantly sitting on his new wielder's bed.

The next day, Marinette was in school, venting to Chloe of all people.

She had woken up that morning to butterflies invading her room, through a window Nooroo had opened for them.

Apparently, those particular butterflies were drawn to the Butterfly Miraculous, as Nooroo explained, being an instrument in its power.

Said Miraculous was currently pinned to her shirt under her blazer, and said Kwami was hidden away in her purse, not wanting to be left alone in Marinette's room during the day.

Of course, Marinette couldn't explain to Chloe about the Miraculous and Kwami, but she could vent about Sanctuaire de la Dame.

"…I learned after that Mrs Ridge had been in the hospital for a while before passing away, which is why I got locked out. And now the family is contesting the Will. So, I might not get the place after all." Marinette finished her vent.

"I don't know what you're worried about, it seems very open and shut." Chloe didn't look away from the mirror she was touching up her makeup in. "As stupid as it is to leave your property to your gardener, it's up to that crazy woman if she wants to do it to spite her family. It's not like you forced her or anything."

"Maman thinks that they're plan is use our lower income against us." Marinette informed. "If the family decide to drag out the case for long enough, it could reach a point where we can't contend anymore due to lack of money, so the property will just default to them."

"I'm sure you'll win before that point." Sabrina spoke up.

"I don't even know if we'll bother." Marinette said. "It'll cost a lot, win or lose, and I didn't expect to get anything in the first place. So, it's not like I'll lose something important to me."

Plus, Marinette had already rescued the jewellery box she'd dug up from the house.

Chloe snapped her compact mirror shut.

"No!" She proclaimed.

"No?" Marinette and Sabrina turned to her.

"No. You are not just giving in." Chloe stated. "You worked on that garden, you were given that property. It is yours! And you're not going to let it just be taken away by some pathetic people who couldn't be bothered to spend time with their family.

"Uhh…" Marinette said.

Usually, Chloe was only this compassionate about her looks.

Chloe pulled out her phone and began texting.

"Daddy has the best lawyers around, and they'll make sure you win." Chloe said.

"Chloe, you don't need to do that." Marinette denied. "We're fine on our own."

"Nope!" Chloe shut down. "You're getting my help whether you want to or not. I'm not letting you lose that house."

"Why do you care so much?" Marinette questioned.

"Because I'm not letting my best friend get taken advantage of." Chloe stated, as if she were doing some great charity. "Besides. A house all to ourselves is open to so many possibilities."

"Ah." Marinette said.

There was the other shoe.

Of course there was something in it for Chloe, other than just her ego.

Marinette just sighed and gave up, knowing that Chloe was too stubborn to talk her out of it.

Despite being the receiver of the estate, Marinette saw very little of the legal process herself due to her age, other than giving a summary of how she knew Jenny Ridge to the lawyer Chloe had forced upon her.

As predicted, once the family members suing realised that they didn't have enough evidence to contest the will, they tried to drag the case out for as long as possible, in hopes that the Dupain-Cheng's more humble income would render them unable to defend Marinette's place in the Will.

Unfortunately for them, the lawyer given by Chloe proved to be good at his job, proving that the Will and Testament was valid with no fraud on Marinette's end much quicker than any lawyer the Dupain-Chengs would have hired on their own.

So, in a relatively short amount of time, which still felt way too long to Marinette, the legal battle was won and the Will was declared valid.

And as such, Sanctuaire de la Dame went to Marinette, or rather Marinette's parents until she was of age.

But that didn't mean that Marinette got to enjoy her new land immediately.

…

Marinette and her family, plus Chloe and Sabrina, made their way into Sanctuaire de la Dame once again.

As Chloe had helped with getting the property to Marinette, she had naturally been invited along to view it, with Sabrina tagging along as usual.

"Hmm, rather nice." Chloe said as she viewed the property. "First order of business, get gardener, or rather a few. The garden is going to be the first impression everyone sees of your place."

"Chloe, we don't need to hire a gardener." Marinette protested. "I can do it myself, like before."

"Marinette, you're in a wheelchair." Chloe pointed out without hesitation. "Do you plan on doing everything on your stomach, or creating some sort of swing and pully system to hover you over the flowers?"

Marinette scowled but conceded defeat, knowing that Chloe was right.

"Besides, you said that money was left for the upkeep of the property, I'm sure a gardener falls under that." Chloe added.

Then they went inside, Chloe sneering at the tarps and dust.

"Ugh, this place is so old." She said.

"It was built a long time ago and an old person lived here." Marinette reminded.

"Well, it won't do." Chloe said. "Everything needs fresh paint. And you'll need new curtains-"

"I like how things look." Marinette protested loudly.

Chloe hummed. "I suppose 'vintage' could be pulled off. Everything still needs to be beautified though, clear out the dust, and I'm sure those are smoke stains." She said, pointing at a stain on the ceiling.

Sabrina went over to the lift and pressed the button, wincing at the shuddering it made.

"I'll add fixing the lift to the list." She said, writing the needed fix under Chloe's suggestions of a gardener and interior decorator.

The group went around the house, Marinette once again briefly being left downstairs, until they had a list of issues with the property.

"We should hire someone to inspect the building, first of all." Sabine concluded at the end of the trip. "To make sure everything is structurally sound. And the changes can be made in the first place." Sabine said.

"Good idea." Tom said. "I had a friend who lived in an old house and had central heating installed, it resulted in the ceiling coming down several times from drying out."

"Sorry, girls, it looks like you won't be able to have your parties in here for a while yet." Sabine said to the teens.

Chloe frowned while Marinette just looked tired, Sabrina having no reaction.

Marinette slipped a finger into her purse to pat Nooroo's head, since the Kwami wouldn't be able to access what had been his home until everything was done.

"Now, let's go home and have some hot chocolate while we organise everything." Tom proposed.

"That sounds great, papa." Marinette smiled.

"You better have hazelnut." Chloe said as the family, plus friends, went back to the bakery, leaving Sanctuaire de la Dame behind.

Chapter Text

Master Fu sighed as he closed up his shop for the day, the day had been uneventful as usual, except for one thing. He peaked out his window to see the same person waiting outside with a hat and sunglasses hiding their face, Fu had spotted them lingering outside his shop all day, but when he would go to confront them they would mysteriously disappear.

"Is that stranger still out there, master?" Wayzz asked.

"Yes." Fu said. "But they have not given any indication to their intentions. But just in case, activate the defensive charms."

Wayzz nodded and floated over to the wall, pressing his antenna against it, a symbol lit up from where he touched the wall, and then more symbols lit up along the wall, spreading out until they covered all of the walls. The symbols eventually faded away, leaving the walls blank again, but there was now a thrum of magic in the air.

"Hopefully, if they are ill-intent, that should keep them out." Fu said.

Fu made himself some tea and made preparations for dinner, as he was preparing, he looked out the window again to find the stranger nowhere in sight.

"Maybe the protections scared them off." Wayzz suggested.

Fu hummed, feeling that Wayzz wasn't right.

Still, Fu was confident in his defences and finished making dinner, eating his meal before retiring early to bed.

Outside, a mysterious figure watched from the shadows with a grin.

It was 3 AM, the witching hour, when all should be asleep, but there was someone who wasn't. They crept across the street towards a massage shop, their form illuminated by the streetlamps. As they stepped closer, a glowing dome of symbols flashed over the house, keeping them from advancing any further.

"Child's play." The stranger scoffed.

Reaching inside their pockets, they produced a glowing rock and stick, screwing the glowing rock to the end of the stick, the stranger placed it at the base of the protective dome before lifting it up. The protective dome rippled as it was lifted up by the glowing rock, almost as if it was fabric, leaving space underneath for the stranger to slip under and inside without touching the protective dome themselves.

"Too easy." The stranger commented.

The stranger left the stick in the ground to hold up the protective dome for an easy escape.

The next obstacle was the lock on the door, but it only took the stranger a few seconds to pick the lock and open the door.

Their footsteps were quiet, barely a sound being made, as they wandered into the house.

"Now, where would the old man keep them?" The stranger whispered to themselves.

They felt around until they sensed something that led them to a door, quietly and slowly opening it they found it to be Master Fu's bedroom, the old man sleeping on a futon.

'Of course.' The stranger thought, not daring to wake Fu up by speaking aloud. 'Now, where are they?'

The stranger crept around the room, feeling for the presence to get stronger, until they came to a stop in front of a gramophone.

'Yes, I feel them in here.'

The stranger picked up the gramophone, nearly exclaiming from the unexpected weight of it, but managing to keep silent. They then began to slowly navigate their way back around the room, not out of stealth but from the weight of the gramophone.

What the stranger failed to notice was the Kwami who had been asleep inside of the horn of the gramophone, who was now very much awake from the constant shifting, and it only took Wayzz a few seconds to realise what was going on.

"Master! Master!" Wayzz launched himself out of the gramophone. "There's a thief in the room!"

Master Fu was awake and already rising from his bed to face the intruder.

"So, much for stealth." The stranger muttered as they quickly ran for the door.

"No!" Master Fu shouted when he realised what was being taken, giving chase.

The stranger quickly disappeared from sight, easily able to outpace the old man, but Master Fu had a trick up his sleeve.

"Wayzz, Shell Strong!" Master Fu wheezed.

In a flash of green light, Master Fu was dressed in Chinese-style green clothes, complete with a mask.

In his powered form, Master Fu was able to catch up with the thief, who had just made it passed the protective barrier again, smacking the gramophone out of their arms. The gramophone fell to the floor and the horn broke off, but Fu didn't care about that right now, all he cared about was defending what was inside the gramophone from the thief.

"Who are you, and why are you stealing from me?" Master Fu demanded.

"I'm surprised you do not recognise me, Wang Fu." The stranger said. "And I'd hardly call it stealing, I'm merely claiming what should be mine."

"You remain unknown to me." Master Fu said, shifting into fighting stance. "And the Miraculous do not belong to you."

"Oh, they will." The stranger promised.

The stranger quickly attacked, Master Fu blocking with his shield shaped like a turtle shell before making an attack of his own which the stranger easily dodged. The elder attacked multiple times, but each attack was dodged or blocked by the stranger, who didn't seem to be breaking a sweat.

"Face it, old man." The stranger sneered. "Your age has caught up with you, you're just too weak."

The stranger kicked Master Fu away from them, sending him to the floor.

"And, I'll be taking these." The stranger walked over to the broken gramophone and picked it up. "Still heavy." They complained.

"Then let me lighten the load." Master Fu said, getting back up and charging at the stranger.

The stranger raised the broken gramophone in front of them to protect themselves and the attack connected, knocking it from their hands, but also cracking it open to reveal a large ornate box inside.

"Well, thank you." The stranger grinned at Fu. "That does help lighten the load considerably."

Master Fu scowled and attacked again, this time managing to land a few hits on the stranger.

"Huh," The stranger said, rubbing their chest. "I'm impressed, I actually felt that. But I am done playing now."

The stranger brought out their staff and aimed it at Master Fu, energy firing out of the end that he was too slow to avoid, he cried out as he was sent to the ground, unable to get back up.

The stranger walked over to the ornate box and picked it up, opening it and looking at the jewellery inside.

"Let's see; Bee, Fox, Ladybug and Cat, that makes four." The stranger counted each of the Miraculous inside, opening the small compartment inside to look at the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous. "And I know where the fifth lies."

The stranger turned back towards Master Fu, who was struggling to get up, and stomped on his back to keep him down.

"You still have something I need." They said.

The stranger leaned down and grabbed hold of the bracelet around Master Fu's wrist, ripping it off and returning him to an ordinary old man.

"No!" Master Fu cried out.

"Yes." The stranger laughed darkly.

The stranger put the bracelet in its place in the box, but they failed to note that it was colourless, meaning the Kwami was not inside.

In one last feeble effort to stop the stranger, Master Fu grabbed their ankle as they walked away while shutting the compartments in the box, tripping them up and causing the box to be sent from their hands to the ground, the Miraculous inside flying out of their box. A green blur quickly grabbing one of them out of sight before the stranger could notice.

"You're really getting annoying now." The stranger said as he kicked Fu in the head, knocking the old man out.

The stranger picked up the Bee, Fox and Turtle Miraculous', the compartment doors to the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous were shut and they couldn't see either on the ground, meaning the Miraculous were safely sealed away in there.

With no further interruptions, the stranger walked away and disappeared into the shadows.

Once they were gone, Wayzz came out of hiding and flew over to Master Fu.

"Master! Master! Please, wake up!" Wayzz cried.

Master Fu groaned and weakly opened one of his eyes, it was clear that he wouldn't remain conscious for long.

"Wayzz," Master Fu said weakly. "I am sorry, I have failed you, I have failed all of you."

"All is not lost yet, Master." Wayzz insisted.

Wayzz showed the Miraculous he had rescued from the stranger, it wasn't his own but it was one of the most important. Master Fu saw the Miraculous and smiled.

"Good." He said. "Wayzz, you must hide them before the thief comes back for the earrings and before you are forced to return to your Miraculous. Here is no longer safe."

"Why can't you hide them?" Wayzz asked desperately.

"I'm afraid that I wouldn't get very far. Now, go!" Master Fu commanded his Kwami.

Tears dripped from Wayzz eyes as he nodded and flew off in search of a suitable hiding place for the Ladybug Miraculous from the stranger. He eventually found one and placed the earrings in the hiding place, it admittedly wasn't good, but it was the best he could do with his small size and limited time. As soon as he had hidden the earrings, Wayzz no longer had the energy to live outside of his Miraculous without a wielder and faded away, pulled back into his Miraculous.

A couple of hours later, Master Fu was found unconscious by some early-morning joggers, who were quick to phone for an ambulance to take him to hospital.

Lights switched on as the stranger entered a large room, placing the ornate box on a stone table with symbols etched onto the surface. They opened up the box and began taking out the Miraculous inside, placing each on a different section etched into the table, only to pause when they opened up the compartment for the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous', the Cat was there but the Ladybug wasn't.

"What? No!" They shouted.

The stranger tipped the box upside down and shook it violently, as if the Ladybug Miraculous was somehow stuck inside. Failing that, they then smashed the box around repeatedly until it broke, but that didn't reveal the earrings inside either.

"I must have left them back there." The stranger growled.

The stranger whispered some words while touching the carved table and the symbols began to glow, creating a magical cage around the table to keep the Miraculous' inside. They then left in search of the Ladybug Miraculous.

They arrived at the place where they had battled Master Fu, only to find it blocked off by police tape with many people wandering around to try and get a look, it seemed that the old man had already been found. Still, that wouldn't stop them.

The stranger, staying hidden, put out a hand and concentrated, feeling everything within the area, but they failed to feel the presence of another Miraculous.

"The old man must have already found it." They growled. "Still, no matter, I will recover it eventually." They then left.

They returned to their large room and regarded the four Miraculous they did have.

"Without all seven I cannot yet perform the ceremony." The stranger mused aloud. "But I do not know where the other three lie, no doubt the old fool has already hidden the Ladybug away since he is now so defenceless, he may have even already given it to a new wielder.

The stranger then grinned, an idea forming.

"If the other Miraculous are wielded by others, then what is best to draw them out than something for them to fight, or someone?"

The stranger walked over to the Miraculous trapped on the table and looked at each of them.

"I may not be able to use perform the ceremony, but I have enough power to turn one for a short time. The question is, which should I use?"

They waved their finger around in a circle, pointing at each of the Miraculous, weighing the pros and cons of using each, until they finally landed on one.

"Of course." They said, reaching into the cage. "Who better to receive the Ladybug than their own partner?"

They picked up the Cat Miraculous and examined it before taking it over to a different table with symbols carved into it, they used some chalk to write some more symbols on it before using an ornate-looking knife to cut the palm of their hand and letting the blood drip into a small well in the table, they placed some candles at strategic points on the table before setting down the ring in the middle and lighting the candles.

Feeling that was something was going on, Plagg emerged from the inside of his Miraculous.

"What's going on?" He asked as he took in everything around him. "Who are you?" He demanded when he saw the stranger.

"I'm your new Guardian." The stranger said.

Plagg looked sceptically up at them. "No, you're not." He said, unconvinced.

"Well, I am. And you're going to help me retrieve the others, a Guardian should have all of the Miraculous after all."

"There is no way that I'll help you, not even for all the Camembert in Paris." Plagg argued.

"After this spell, you'll be all too eager to help me." The stranger said with a disturbing grin.

"What?" Plagg looked around the table he was on, eyes widening when he realised what the stranger was talking about.

"No! No, don't!" Plagg tried to escape but was stopped by a magical barrier.

But the stranger remained unaffected by Plagg's pleas and began the incantation.

Feeling that something was happening with Plagg, the other Kwamis emerged from their own Miraculouses and were horrified by what they saw.

"Plagg!" They cried out in worry, unable to get past the magical cage that contained them and their Miraculous'.

The stranger continued to chant, as he did the blood in the small well began to travel along the carved symbols in the table until they were all red, contrasting against the white chalk symbols, darkness then began to emerge from nowhere and wrap around the Kwami and ring.

Plagg cried out with pain but the stranger continued their incantation.

The other Kwamis also cried out with pain, feeling the feedback from Plagg.

Eventually, Plagg was forced back into his Miraculous and there was a bright explosion of light, when the light faded the stranger looked back on the table and laughed in triumph. The other Kwamis looked at the table to and cried out with horror, seeing the corruption coming off of the ring, having a more jagged appearance and the paw pads now claws.

"No!"

"Plagg!"

"You monster!"

The Kwamis cried out.

"Pipe down or you're next!" The stranger threatened.

They would be next anyway soon enough, but they didn't know that.

The Kwamis went quiet and were eventually forced to return to their Miraculous without any wielders to keep them around.

"Now," The stranger said, holding the ring aloft. "The duty of the Guardian is to find suitable wielders. So, who should I choose as my minion?"

The stranger looked out of their window, over-looking Paris as they contemplated their decision.

Meanwhile, Marinette was sleeping peacefully with Nooroo also asleep by her head and a handful of butterflies scattered about her room. Marinette had managed to convince Nooroo to keep the majority of them back at the Sanctuaire de la Dame's garden where they'd be happier and less conspicuous, but allowed a few to stay.

Suddenly, Nooroo jolted from his sleep with a cry of pain, clutching his head and tears springing from his eyes. Marinette was woken by his screaming but didn't have time to question what was wrong before she felt a sharp pounding in her head that then spread to the rest of her body, gritting her teeth to avoid screaming as well, she felt fear and anger but these emotions were not her own.

The pain and foreign emotions soon faded but left behind aftershocks that left Marinette constantly shivering and feeling like she was going to puke. Nooroo, however, looked much worse.

"Nooroo, what's wrong?" Marinette asked gently, scooping up the Kwami into her hands. "What was that?"

Horror was plastered over Nooroo's face. "Something's happened to Plagg! Something absolutely horrible!" He cried.

"Who's Plagg?" Marinette asked, doing her best to sooth her Kwami.

"The Kwami of the Cat Miraculous." Nooroo whimpered. "Someone bad must have gotten their hands on it, and they've done something to it. It hurts to reach for him."

It took a while to get Nooroo to calm down, Marinette was still shaken herself, the Kwami constantly muttering about Plagg and the darkness he felt, not even attempting to eat the mashed-up banana Marinette had given him.

"Why did I feel it too?" Marinette eventually decided to ask.

"The Butterfly Miraculous is very receptive to the emotions of others, especially those we are close to their wielder, it is how we choose our champions. And even though you haven't transformed yet, you are still the wielder of the Miraculous and as such have a connection to me, and since I felt the pain Plagg went though, you also felt it, but to a lesser extent." Nooroo explained.

"I felt horrible." Marinette admitted. "I can't imagine Plagg having to go through worse."

The 'but he did' went unspoken.

"I wish I could help him." Marinette said.

Nooroo then brightened.

"Maybe you can." He said.

"How?" Marinette asked.

"My using your Miraculous. We can use it to find Plagg and stop whoever did that to him."

"But, how? I mean, I don't like to bring attention to my disability, but I'm not exactly going to be beating any bad guys while stuck in a wheelchair."

"You can create champions to help." Nooroo said. "They can search for you and…But, oh…They won't have incentive though." He then drooped.

"Incentive?" Marinette asked.

"A reason to join your cause. Champions are usually created in times of trouble, when the Champion has reason to accept the power, without a proper reason the connection between the Campion and wielder is very weak. Though, with what has happened to Plagg, we may get some incentive for Champions soon." Nooroo said, depressed.

Marinette sighed. "Look, I'm really unsure about this right now, and it's still the middle of the night, we should go to sleep and think about this more in the morning." She said.

Nooroo nodded in agreement.

Marinette and Nooroo settled back down into their sleeping places, but sleep refused to come again, leaving the both of them lying there in silence until day came.

Chapter Text

Marinette felt like a zombie as she went about her morning routine, barely able to summon the energy to lift herself in and out of her different wheelchairs.

Because of her rude awakening full of pain and hurt in the middle of the night, Marinette had been unable to return to sleep, the aftershocks of whatever happened to the Cat Kwami keeping her from rest, the same went for Nooroo. The little Kwami was just as tired at her, slumping wherever he was instead of floating like he usually did, Marinette had to manually pick him up to take him with her, but what worried Marinette the most was how Nooroo looked ready to break down at any moment, still reeling from whatever happened to his fellow Kwami.

If it were any other day, Marinette would have just suggested going back to bed, maybe a long relaxing bath first, and phone off sick from college. But she couldn't do that because today was the first day of the new school year, her last year at college, and she didn't want it to seem like she was one of those students who tried to extend their holidays by not going in.

"Are you alright, Marinette?" Sabine asked her daughter when she saw the state of her.

"I'm fine." Marinette replied. "I'm just a bit tired."

"Did you stay up designing again?" Sabine asked.

"Yeah." Marinette lied.

Sabine sighed. "I'm going to start locking your stuff away at night to make sure you sleep." She teased.

Marinette would have joked back, but she just didn't feel like it today.

After breakfast, Marinette gathered her things for college and headed downstairs to where her wheelchairs waited for her. She would usually lift herself into her more personalised and manual wheelchair, but the heaviness in her arms and the general feeling of not being all there told her that it wouldn't be a good idea. So, she reluctantly heaved herself into her electric wheelchair, the fabric feeling stiff and a bit uncomfortable, having not worn in like her manual wheelchair because of its lack of use.

"Marinette, wait." Tom called to his daughter before she could leave.

Tom gave her a box of macaroons, the box decorated with the symbol Marinette had designed for the bakery.

"To share with your class." Tom explained.

"Thanks, dad." Marinette said.

Marinette wheeled out of the door and to the traffic lights that led across to the college, the little man turned green and Marinette crossed without any problems, continuing on her way to college.

Marinette's class, like the previous few years, was on the second floor, so she rolled herself onto the elevator and took it to the next floor. When she reached her classroom, she was surprised to find a girl she'd never seen before sitting in the seat next to where she usually sat in class, a spot that was usually empty since Chloe had a habit of scaring off potential desk mates. Though, Chloe wasn't here yet, so that was probably why, Marinette just hoped she'd get to keep her desk mate this time.

Despite the feeling of exhaustion that weighed her down, Marinette went through her routine of getting to her desk, wanting to stake her claim on the desk for the first day of college lest someone else take it for the rest of the year.

"Hey, Marinette." Nino greeted his classmate as she worked up the strength to carry herself on her crutches.

"Oh, hey, Nino." Marinette said, slightly out of breath.

Marinette took note of where the boy was sitting, on the front row, across from where Chloe and Sabrina usually sat. Which was unusual, considering the boy favoured sitting at the back where he was out of view of the teacher.

Nino took note of the wheelchair Marinette was using.

"An off day?" Nino questioned.

"Just a bit." Marinette said.

"Want me to do anything?" Nino asked.

Marinette gave a few more attempts to keep herself upright with her crutches before collapsing back into her wheelchair in defeat, she just didn't have the strength or stability to do it on her own.

"If you wouldn't mind." Marinette admitted.

Nino got out of his seat and helped Marinette out of her wheelchair, struggling a bit with her weight as he helped her to her seat.

"Here, let me help." The girl in the seat next to Marinette's offered, getting up and taking Marinette's other side.

Together, the two got Marinette to her seat and lowered her onto it.

"Thank you." Marinette said, relaxing.

"No problem." The girl said as she sat in her own seat, Nino returning to his. "I'm Ayla.

"Oh, I'm Marinette."

Marinette then went to offer Alya a macaroon, only to realise she'd left them and her bag with a wheelchair. She was saved from getting up or asking for help by said objects being placed on her desk, looking up, she saw Chloe and Sabrina.

"You really need to work on that memory of yours, Marinette." Chloe said as she and Sabrina slid into their own seats.

Chloe then took notice of Alya in the seat next to Marinette.

"Excuse me, but that isn't your seat, move!" Chloe ordered her.

"It's the start of the year, there aren't any seat assignments yet. And Marinette doesn't seem to mind me sitting here." Alya shot back. "And you already have your seats. So, why do you care?"

"I care because that's not your seat." Chloe said. "And there are other seats, so go sit in one where you're welcome."

"I quite like this seat, thank you very much." Alya argued.

"Chloe, please." Marinette said placatingly. "Nobody ever sits next to me anyway, so just let her have the seat. She's fine."

"Not this year." Chloe answered. "This year, that seat's reserved for someone very special."

"Adrien Agreste." Sabrina finished for her friend. "A famous teen model and Chloe's best friend. Aside from me-us, of course." Sabrina quickly corrected herself.

"And I should care because?" Alya asked, sounding unimpressed.

"You should care because he's an important person who earns more than your parents probably earn combined, and as such, he only deserves to hang out with the best, which is us. And you sitting there gets in the way of our perfect friendship seating."

Marinette recalled Chloe mentioning Adrien a fair few times, and seeing his pictures in various advertisements, but despite the both of them supposedly being friends with Chloe, they had never met. Something always coming up whenever Chloe intended to introduce them to each other.

"You know what, fine." Alya said, sitting up. "I wouldn't want to put up with being near you all year either."

Alya then went over to sit next to Nino instead.

Marinette sighed at the loss of another desk mate.

"Chloe, you need to stop doing this, I'm allowed to have other friends." She told the blond.

"I'm not denying you are." Chloe defended herself. "And if it were last year, I wouldn't have cared if she sat there as long as she wasn't a bother. But Adrien's attending college this year, and I want him to sit there."

"Still, you could have asked in a nicer way." Marinette said.

"I'm pretty sure I asked kindly enough. Didn't I, Sabrina?" Chloe turned to her friend.

"Yes, you did, Chloe." Sabrina was quick to agree. "You said 'excuse me' and explained the situation clearly."

"See?" Chloe turned to Marinette. "It's not my fault she got all insulted over a simple request to move."

Marinette fixed Sabrina with a look that said, 'you're not helping'. Sabrina elected to ignore her.

After that Chloe was quick to open Marinette's box of macaroons and help herself to one, reminding Marinette of why she had them. She offered one to Sabrina, who declined, before passing the box back to Ivan with the message to pass it around the classroom.

The first class of the year then begun with the students, and even the teacher at Marinette's offering, munching on macaroons.

A boy ran through the streets of Paris, his bag banging at his side, desperately trying to reach his destination before he was found out and forced to return, he cut through the park in hopes of reaching it in time. But just as he made it to the steps of the college, he was stopped by the screeching of wheels and a voice calling out to him.

"Adrien!" Called Natalie, his dad's assistant. "Please reconsider. You know what your father wants."

"This is what I want to do." Adrien did his best to assert, turning away and heading back towards the college.

"Adrien, please don't go against your father, this is not what he wants."

Adrien turned around again to face Natalie.

"And what about what I want? All I want to do is go to school like any ordinary kid. Is that really so much to ask?" He said, slightly angry.

"Please come home before you get in trouble. You wouldn't want to disappoint your father, would you?" Natalie played a dirty move.

Adrien sighed, Natalie knew that he didn't like to get into trouble and disappoint his father. He gave the college one last longing look before heading back down the steps, towards the car.

"I'm beginning to wonder if it might be worth it." Adrien muttered to himself.

From their place on a park bench, someone watched as the argument between Adrien and Natalie unfolded before Adrien was ultimately taken back home against what he wanted, they regarded Adrien with a thoughtful look as they caressed the small box in their pocket that held a ring inside before grinning wickedly.

Chloe moaned as morning classes finished with no Adrien in sight.

"I'm sure something just came up." Sabrina comforted her friend. "You know Adrien wanted to come."

"I know." Chloe said. "This always happens. But by what he'd said, it sounded like he was finally coming this year. His dad must have not let him come, again."

"Why wouldn't his dad let him come? The college doesn't have a bad reputation, and you said he lives close." Marinette inquired.

"Adrien's very high profile." Chloe boasted proudly. "He is my friend after all, and only the best, such as myself, get to be his friends. Mostly because Mr Agreste is a 'bit' protective and controlling of my poor Adrien's life."

"Wow, poor guy." Marinette said in sympathy.

With another helping hand from Nino, he and Sabrina got Marinette back down to her wheelchair, Marinette still not feeling stable enough to support her own weight.

"You know that wheelchair has a table attachment." Chloe pointed out. "If you're having one of your off days you shouldn't force yourself just to get to your seat."

"It's the first day of the year, I wanted to claim my seat." Marinette said.

"I could have held your seat as well." Chloe offered.

"It would have been silly for you to claim an entire desk that you don't even sit at, and I didn't want you to cause a fight over it." Marinette replied honestly.

"I wouldn't have caused a fight over it." Chloe defended.

"You almost did with Alya over just one seat." Marinette deadpanned.

Chloe chose not to respond other than some grumbled insistence that she wouldn't have started a fight.

As the students filtered out of the college for their lunchbreak, Marinette went her separate way from Chloe and Sabrina, wanting to go on another one of her 'walks' around town. As she rolled down the street, she spotted Alya.

"Hey." Marinette said as she caught up with the girl. "I'm sorry about Chloe, she can be very...passionate about her views."

"I noticed." Alya said. "But it's not your fault, she's the one who forced me to move."

"I should have gotten her to stop though, that Adrien guy she mentioned didn't even come in, so it's unfair that you had to move." Marinette said.

"I guess I should have stood my ground more, but, as nice as you are, I don't think I could stand being near that bottled blond. Uh, no offence." Alya said when she realised that she was insulting Marinette's friend.

"None taken." Marinette said with a small smile. "Honestly, Chloe can really be blind to how others feel and is self-absorbed, but she's nowhere as bad as she used to be. But that could be my own opinion, since she doesn't pick on me anymore."

"She used to pick on you?" Alya asked in concern.

"Uh, yeah." Marinette felt a little awkward speaking about something personal with someone she hardly knew. "She used to treat me like how she treats anyone else, but after I saved her, she declared herself my best friend. It's still kind of weird, but with my new position, I do try to make her friendlier. At least she doesn't throw around her father's title like she used to."

"Wow, willing to be friends with her to try and turn her to good, you're a modern-day hero." Alya joked. "What you do to save her, stop her from falling off something while she was too busy doing her make-up to look where she was going?"

"Actually, I saved her from a car." Marinette answered with a smile. "It's how I ended up in this thing." She tapped her knuckles against the wheelchair.

"Ouch. Sorry." Alya winced. "I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories."

"It's okay." Marinette insisted. "I don't really mind it anymore, the only thing that bothers me about it is how people treat me like I'm fragile just because I can't walk."

"Ah, I can understand." Alya said. "My granddad's stuck in a wheelchair as well, and he likes to shout at anyone who acts like he can't do anything himself because of it."

"It is frustrating." Marinette agreed.

Frustration at others had been a common occurrence in Marinette's therapy group, while some didn't mind the fact that others were practically bending over backwards to help them, others found increasingly annoying when they were told to stay still and whatever they wanted would be brought to them. They felt like they were given no agency, treated like the loss of one thing completely took away their ability to do any sort of task, expressing how it made them feel less of a person. Marinette was just thankful that her parents had quickly snapped out of that behaviour when they realised Marinette could still do things like help out around the bakery, even if she couldn't use her legs.

As the two girls walked through Paris, Alya took notice of the white butterflies that were beginning to gather around Marinette.

"Butterflies seem to really love you, huh?" Alya said.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Maybe it's my perfume." Marinette said as some of the butterflies took perch in her hair.

Without noticing it, the girls' journey had taken them close to the mansion, where Marinette kept most of Nooroo's butterflies. Marinette would regularly drop by with Nooroo to visit them, so they must have thought she was visiting today and come to meet her.

"That is adorable." Alya laughed as the butterflies landed on Marinette. "I need to take a photo."

Alya took out her phone and snapped a picture, Marinette shyly offering a peace sign for the photo.

"Is it alright if I post this?" Alya asked.

Marinette sighed rolled the question around in her head. "Sure." She said with a shrug.

Marinette and Alya eventually past by the gates to the mansion and Marinette managed to send a silent message to the butterflies to return to the garden, which they reluctantly did.

"Wow, that's beautiful." Alya said as she looked at the garden. "I wonder who lives here."

"No one, at the moment." Marinette answered.

She didn't want to mention that she was the owner of the property to her new potential friend, not wanting to turn her off by making it seem like she was boasting.

"It's just getting renovated since it's so old." Marinette said, pointing at the scaffolding wrapped around the building, a few builders wandering around on it.

It had been a while since renovations on the building had started, and though they were far from over, a few of the rooms had renovations finished and things such as the elevator had been fixed.

"So, uh, want to get lunch at my parents' bakery?" Marinette asked Alya.

"Sure." Alya said. "Sound better than my original plan, going to the nearest McDonalds."

"Okay. It's back the way we came." Marinette pointed behind them.

Alya laughed. "That's alright. I was just stretching my legs anyway."

The girls turned around and headed back to Marinette's home, Marinette explaining to Alya that they didn't have to worry about the lunchtime rush because she got privileges from being the daughter of the bakery owners.

Adrien sighed as he finally made it back to his overly spacious room after his home-schooling lesson with Natalie and 'talk' with his dad. It wasn't fair, all he wanted to do was go to school like any other kid and make friends, but that was apparently too much to ask.

As Adrien sat down and turned on his TV in an effort to distract himself from his problems, he took notice of something on his table, a small box and a voice recorder.

Opening the box, Adrien found a black ring with a green paw-print design on top resting on a cushion inside, the ring was slightly spikey in the corners and the pads were clawed. Taking the ring out of the box, Adrien found it unnaturally cold to the touch, and he saw the sudden impression of something with fangs and green eyes hissing at him, causing Adrien to almost drop the ring, but it left as quickly as it had appeared.

Curious as to who left the ring here and why, Adrien picked up the voice recorder and pressed play.

"Hello, Adrien Agreste." A voice came out of the recorder, it was smooth and almost hypnotic-sounding in a sense. "'Who am I', you may be asking, for now, you may merely call me a friend. I have seen the confining and controlled life you are forced to live, no independence given, but I offer you the key to your freedom, freedom to go where you want and act how you want. Inside the box I placed with this recorder there is a ring, this ring is your key, it may not seem like much, but I promise you, it holds all the power you will ever need, if you just put it on."

Adrien turned the ring over in his fingers before sliding it onto his finger without a second thought, it sent shivers through his body as he wore it.

"Now, this key will only be a test run to show you all I can offer you, if you like the power and freedom I have gifted you, meet me along the Seine where we can discuss things one-to-one. For now, to turn the key of your freedom, simply say, 'Claws Out'." The message came to a stop.

Adrien looked at the ring on his finger, he swore he could feel it thrumming, and it still felt cold despite the fact his body heat should have warmed it up.

"Would this really give me freedom?" Adrien questioned himself. "How would it work? Maybe it's a wish granting thing, or a lucky charm."

Adrien suddenly got the feeling someone, or something, was laughing at him. But looking around, there was no one there.

"I guess there's only one way to find out." Adrien concluded. "Claws Out!"

Adrien didn't even have time to gasp for air as the coldness and thrumming from the ring spread all throughout his body, bringing with it a prevailing feeling of numbness, then the feeling of needles forcing their way into his brain, forcing Adrien to his knees as he gripped his head with his eyes screwed tight and his mouth open in a silent scream.

Unseen by Adrien, shadows emerged from the ring on his finger and swirled around him, growing thicker and thicker until Adrien was wrapped in them like a cocoon. Adrien tried again and again to scream in pain and fear, but the shadows invaded his mouth, silencing any attempts. He felt like he was being crushed to the point of shattering within himself, and then the shadows took those shards and began crafting something new, until Adrien stopped trying to scream, the pain and fear fading away, replaced by something else.

Not that far away, as these events unfolded, in her home above the bakery, Marinette collapsed to the floor, clutching her head as she screamed for someone who couldn't, her new friend Alya freaking out above her as she called for Marinette's parents.

In Adrien's room, the cocoon of shadows surrounding Adrien cracked before falling away, and like a cocoon, something entirely new emerged.

Adrien regarded his new form with interest, feeling over his body and taking in the changes.

"So, this is what they meant." Adrien said.

Adrien then paused when he felt something get in the way of his speech, feeling along his teeth with his tongue, he found them sharped with fangs, pressing against them a little harder, his tongue started to bleed.

"The power to be free." Adrien contemplated.

Adrien looked towards his window, which he only just realised was open even though he didn't recall opening it, and a grin found its way onto his face. He stepped up to it until he was standing on the windowsill, looking at the street below, his hand went automatically to the metal cylinder he somehow knew was there, he held it in front of him and extended until it reached the ground.

With one final look at his room, he jumped out of the window.

…

Adrien laughed madly as he shot across rooftops, faster than he could ever imagine, not caring about who saw him or if they could see past the mask he wore and recognise him as Adrien Agreste. The person on the recorder was right, the ring did make him feel so free.

Adrien eventually had to stop for breath, the suit he wore gave him much more speed and stamina, but it seemed he still eventually wore out, it just took him longer than usual. As he took in a breath, Adrien realised that he'd stopped right in front of billboard without realising it, and from the billboard his own face looked back at him, one of his father's ads.

Rage suddenly boiled up inside of Adrien, all of the feeling that he'd managed to keep down for so long rising to the surface, as if the ring also freed the anger and sadness from where he kept them. The billboard showed him all he'd ever be to his father, just an asset to show off his business, just another one of his models that happened to live with him, not his son that he was supposed to care about. That Adrien on the board, he was just a fake, someone created in a desperate attempt to please his father and maybe gain some affection, to fool the world into believing he was the perfect child.

"No more." Adrien promised to himself, fist clenching.

No, he wouldn't be that person anymore, he wouldn't! What was the use in being him if it didn't get him any affection from his father, and false affection from those attracted to him? In fact, the only time his father even looked his way was when he misbehaved. So, why not go with the method that got him results instead? He didn't need the boy on the billboard anymore.

"I hate you." Adrien hissed, looking at the 'perfect' image of himself that everyone loved.

He didn't need that image anymore, he was free now, and that image was just more chains on his life, he would never go back to it.

"I hate you." Adrien said louder.

He was free, and now that he knew what freedom was like, he was never going back, no matter the cost.

"I hate you!"

Black energy formed around his fist.

"Cataclysm!"

He punched the billboard and it disintegrated before his eyes. He then dropped to his knees and panted as if he'd run a marathon, looking at the hand that just held the destructive energy.

"This is my power." Adrien said, unsure how to feel.

But then something within him forced that feeling towards happiness and glee.

"Nothing's going to be able to hold me back." He grinned. "I wonder what else I can destroy.

But instead of summoning Cataclysm again, his ring gave a beep and one of the pads on the paw design flashed before disappearing.

"What's this?" Adrien asked.

He wanted desperately to hunt down more advertisements with his false image on and destroy them, but the ring wasn't allowing him anymore.

Then Adrien remembered, the person who gave him the ring in the first place, they'd have answers. And they said to find them by the Seine.

Adrien quickly arrived by the Seine, but then he was faced with the problem that he didn't know where by the Seine he was supposed to go.

"Enjoying yourself." A voice suddenly said.

Adrien swung around, ready to attack, finding someone standing there with a long coat and hat obscuring their identity.

"You certainly seem like you have been." The stranger said.

Adrien recognised the voice. "You're the person from the recording, the one who gave me my ring." He said.

"That's right." The stranger said. "I realise you must be confused. But I wanted to give you a taste of what I have to offer before I explained everything. So, how was your taste?"

"It's amazing. This suit, this ring, it makes me feel like I could do anything, like I don't have to be afraid. I…you're not going to take it back, are you?" Adrien covered the ring with his other hand.

"That depends." The stranger said with a chuckle.

"On what?" Adrien asked suspiciously.

"On whether you're willing to cause destruction and fight in order to draw out some people into the open and then take from them." The stranger said.

"What?" Adrien asked, a small niggling telling him he should be more shocked than he was acting.

"I'll explain." The stranger offered. "What you are wearing now is called a Miraculous, which is one of seven. I am the newly instated Guardian of the Miraculous, the one who takes care of them when they are not in use and hands them out to those I deem worthy. However, three of the Miraculous are missing from my care, something left over from the previous Guardian, and I would very much like them back where they belong."

"So why have you given me one?" Adrien asked.

"The Miraculous are most likely in the hands of others, but they could possibly be drawn out of hiding by the appearance of a villain terrorising Paris. I want you to draw them out and then take their Miraculouses, bringing them back to me." The stranger told him.

"And why would I do this?" Adrien questioned, the prospect of causing destruction sounding oddly appealing the more and more he thought about it.

"Well, I suppose I could always find someone else to use the ring." The stranger said, a hint of a threat in their voice.

"No!" Adrien exclaimed, clutching at the hand wearing the ring.

"Then all you need to do is get me back the other Miraculouses and it's yours to use however else you want, and you keep your freedom."

The stranger held out their hand to Adrien.

"Do we have a deal?" They asked.

Adrien looked at the ring, uncertainty flashing across his face, he knew on a moral level that agreeing to it, destroying things at all, was wrong, but then that uncertainty fell away as he remembered how good it felt to wear the ring, what it was giving him, and he suddenly found it worth it.

"Deal." He grinned evilly, shaking the stranger's hand.

"You've made a wise choice, Adrien." The stranger said.

Adrien shook his head, looking down to stare at the staff in his hand, which seemed to be warping.

"Not Adrien" He said. "Catastrophe."

With his declaration, the staff transformed into a clawed gauntlet, the blades glinting wickedly.

Chapter Text

"Are you sure you want to go back to college today? You had a really bad fit yesterday." Alya asked Marinette in concern as they journeyed to college together.

Marinette grimaced as she remembered the pain she suddenly felt during yesterday's lunch, like something was invading her brain, her parents had quickly taken her to the doctor who declared nothing wrong with her, though they were still waiting for some tests to return, Nooroo had only told her to be prepared when she managed to be alone with him long enough to ask.

"I'm fine now." Marinette insisted.

"Are you sure, I don't want another freak-out like yesterday while we're in the middle of class." Alya asked.

"I'm sure, I'm completely fine." Marinette insisted.

Marinette was even in her usual wheelchair, not that Alya knew the meaning behind that. Marinette was just glad that Chloe hadn't been there to witness her collapse in pain, otherwise the blond might have forced her to stay at home and tied her down to ensure that she did (she had been threatened with such an action multiple times whenever Marinette tried to go to college when sick).

"Fine, but if you start looking too peaky, I'm pushing you home no matter how much you protest." Alya relented.

"Okay." Marinette agreed.

The two girls arrived at the college and went into the courtyard where most of the student were gathered before class began.

"Mari!" Chloe spotted the girl and called her over. "Where were you yesterday afternoon?" She then spotted Alya with Marinette. "And why is she with you?"

"Alya's my new friend." Marinette answered firmly.

"What? But…" Chloe began.

"I'm allowed other friends Chloe." Marinette said with the same firmness.

Chloe gave an unhappy pout but backed down.

"Fine." She relented. "But that doesn't mean that we're friends." She said to Alya, pointing her finger.

"Fine with me." Alya responded, crossing her arms.

She still couldn't understand how a girl like Marinette put up with Chloe enough to be her friend.

"You still haven't told me what happened to you yesterday." Chloe then pointed out.

Marinette winced, she hoped she'd managed to dodge that question though the commotion Chloe had put up about her getting another friend. Thankfully, she'd gotten Alya to promise not to tell when they had met up for college.

"Uh, I just wasn't feeling that well, that's all." Marinette lied. "But I'm feeling better now."

Chloe regarded Marinette suspiciously, trying to evaluate whether she was lying or not.

Marinette was saved from further interrogation by someone calling Chloe's name.

Adrien walked confidently through the college doors, happy at finally doing something he wanted to do, and this time he wasn't going to let anyone hold him back.

"Adrien!" A painfully familiar voice called to him.

Adrien sighed in frustration, he'd been so close again, but today was going to be different than yesterday.

"Please don't anger your father anymore." Natalie pleaded. "You're already grounded."

Ah, yes. Adrien's little taste of freedom around Paris had been noticed by his father, not the turning into a cat-man and destroying one of his 'precious' advertisements, but the fact that Adrien had snuck out and not reappeared until late with no explanation for where he'd been. And for disobeying the rules and refusing to tell where he'd been, Adrien was grounded.

"I already don't have any freedom." Adrien replied angrily. "What's there left to take? I'm going to do what I want."

With that, Adrien turned around and walked into the college before Natalie could try to stop him. The assistant sighed in defeat as Adrien's bodyguard and driver turned to her questioningly. She didn't like that Adrien had just spoke to her in such a manor, even when he was frustrated he was polite, but she knew that he was also just a teenager and that everyone had their tipping point.

'Maybe a day as a normal boy will help him.' Natalie reasoned.

"I'll deal with it." Natalie told the bodyguard. "Let's go."

Adrien passed through the doors with a grin on his face, looking at all of the other students around him, all about the same age and potential friends. His eyes scanned the crowed and managed to pick out a familiar face.

"Hey, Chloe." He said as he walked over to the girl.

Honesty, Adrien would have rather not announced his presence to the, admittedly rather loud, girl, but she was the only familiar face around and his first friend, so it was best to start with her.

"Adrien! You made it!" Chloe cried happily as she ran over and latched onto him in the way that Adrien usually had tolerated.

But Adrien didn't have to tolerate things anymore.

"Yeah, I managed to avoid Natalie and the Gorilla." Adrien said as he pried Chloe's arms off of him gently.

Chloe pouted at Adrien rejecting her hug.

They were then interrupted by people realising exactly who Adrien was and coming over to look at him or ask for autographs. The area around Adrien was quickly becoming crowded, everyone wanting to see and interact with the teen model.

"It's getting crowded here, let's head to class." Marinette said to Alya.

Marinette quickly navigated her wheelchair around the growing crowd of students that surrounded Adrien, and by extension Chloe, who refused to leave his side. She wheeled into the lift that took her to the next floor while Alya took the stairs, the two girls meeting up as they entered the classroom.

Marinette looked up at her seat, she wasn't having one of her 'off days', but the distance up to her seat seemed as if it might be too far to manage on her own today, the ache from the previous day's empathetic episode still remained deep down in her bones, as well as Nooroo's ominous warning weighing on her heart.

'Maybe I could follow Chloe's advice, just for today.' Marinette contemplated to herself.

"What's wrong, you're just staring at your seat?" Alya asked.

"Huh?" Marinette looked at her. "Oh, nothing." She waved off. "Just wondering if I'd be able to make it to my seat."

Alya looked at her suspiciously.

"I'm fine." Marinette insisted before she could say anything.

"You're 'fine' about what?" Came Chloe's voice.

Marinette winced and turned her head to see the blond standing in the doorway alongside Adrien, who seemed to have managed to shake off the crowd of students.

"Nothing." Marinette was quick to insist.

"If it's 'nothing', then why did you have to insist that you were fine?" Chloe interrogated.

"Alya was just concerned because I wasn't going to my seat right away." Marinette said.

"Think you can make it?" Chloe asked, her features softening in understanding.

Marinette shrugged, looking up at her seat.

"I could carry you to your seat." Adrien offered, his good nature shining through.

Despite Adrien's good intentions, everyone in the room winced at his poor choice of words and judgement.

"I'm fine, thank you." Marinette declined calmly.

"It wouldn't be any trouble. You look light enough to carry." Adrien insisted.

Marinette frowned. "I said, I'm fine I don't need to be carried." She said sternly.

Adrien frowned slightly himself. "I'm just trying to help." He said.

"Well, I don't need your help." Marinette said. "I can do things on my own."

"You can't get to your seat by yourself." Adrien shot back.

Nino mimed a digging motion as he looked at Adrien in sympathy.

"I can't, can I?" Marinette asked challengingly.

Marinette grabbed her crutches and then wacked Adrien's legs with one of them to get him to move out of her way, she then pushed herself to her feet, supporting her weight with her arms using the crutches and used them to pull herself up the steps to her seat, all by herself, slumping into her seat victoriously. She then looked down at Adrien in triumph.

"Don't ever tell me that I can't do something." She told him.

Adrien nodded as he looked up at Marinette, impressed. He hadn't realised that the girl could do such a thing on her own, he thought that disabled people were meant to be completely confined to their wheelchairs, it made him feel a bit bad for assuming.

"A word of advice, Adrikins." Chloe said to him quietly. "Never assume what a disabled person can and can't do and only offer when asked, especially with Marinette."

Adrien nodded in understanding, then he frowned.

"Chloe, don't call me that anymore." He said.

"What, Adrikins? But I've always called you that." Chloe was confused.

"And I don't like it." Adrien answered.

"You never had a problem with it before." Chloe said.

"I did, but I'm not putting up with it anymore." Adrien said seriously. "So, don't call me it."

"Fine, if you don't like it." Chloe relented, slightly hurt.

Chloe directed Adrien to his seat next to Marinette before sitting in her own in front of him, leaving Adrien to feel incredibly awkward as he sat next to the girl he had accidently insulted, who was quite obvious in ignoring him.

Class started and then passed without incident. Afterward, Marinette headed home for her lunch while Adrien stayed at the college, partially to avoid going home and not being able to return to the college and partially to mingle with the other students and make new friends, something that proved to be harder than he expected thanks to a certain blond.

"Don't try and talk to them, Adrien, they're not worth your time and would just want to be your friend because you're famous." Chloe said as she dragged Adrien away from the group of students he had just gathered up the courage to try and talk to before being interrupted by his friend.

"Chloe." Adrien complained. "I need to make other friends."

"You're new to this school, Adrien, so you don't know how it works. People are vicious, if you aren't careful, you'll end up getting used. You need to stay with me to stop that from happening." Chloe said.

"I'm pretty sure you're one to worry about." Adrien muttered under his breath.

Thankfully, Chloe didn't hear him.

The three of them, Sabrina was also there but had been keeping quiet the entire time, continued to walk around, but every time Adrien thought he saw a potential friend, Chloe found something wrong with them or chased them off if they were the ones to approach.

"She has a bad reputation, she'd only drag you into bad behaviour."

"Eww, no. Have you seen his fashion sense? Your dad would have a fit if you made friends. And don't get close or you'll smell how much he barely bathes."

"Ha, you think you could be friends with my Adrien? Don't think Adrien would lower himself in such a way."

With each rejection Chloe made for him, Adrien grew progressively angrier at his childhood friend, he hadn't realised how much she spoke for him before and he was not happy about it. Eventually, it got to a point where the students would actively avoid the three of them, not wanting to be on the receiving end of Chloe's sharp tongue.

"You can't keep turning everyone away, Chloe." Adrien finally burst out angrily.

"I won't." Chloe promised. "I just haven't seen the right people for you to make friends with yet. Besides, you have me, Sabrina and Marinette to be your friends."

"I'm pretty sure Marinette hates me." Adrien pointed out.

"She'll get over it, Mari doesn't hold grudges for long and it was a simple misunderstanding." Chloe waved off.

It was too bad that there was no one around to point out that Chloe was the ultimate example of Marinette's inability to hold a grudge.

"Anyway, we can keep going after we've had lunch." Chloe said. "In fact, we'll go to Marinette's for it, her parents own the best bakery in Paris, she'll forgive you quicker if she gets to know you. We'll go after I've gone to the ladies. Stay here."

Chloe walked off in the direction of the toilets, Sabrina following dutifully behind.

Adrien saw his chance and walked off, eager to interact with others without Chloe breathing down his neck. He saw a boy in a red cap sitting at a table and recognised him from his class and decided that it was best to start with the familiar.

"Hi." He said as he approached.

Nino looked up at Adrien and was quick to recognise him.

"Oh, you're Chloe's friend." Nino said, looking down at his tablet again.

"Well, yeah." Adrien said uncomfortably. "I'm Adrien. What's your name?"

"Nino." The boy answered shortly.

Adrien frowned, he thought that making friends would be easier than this, especially considering who he was.

"Have I done something wrong?" He asked.

"You, personally, no." Nino answered, looking up. "But you're friends with Chloe, and her attitude today screams stay away."

"Is she really that bad?" Adrien asked.

"You kidding? Didn't you see how she treated everyone who dared to get near today?" Nino raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"She's just trying to find me the right friends." Adrien said, trying to be defensive, but his heart wasn't in it, he already knew the truth.

"Trust me, you're not going to find any friends with Chloe in charge. I still can't understand how Marinette remains friends with her." Nino said.

"I guess she can be controlling." Adrien admitted.

"That's an understatement. If the slightest thing didn't go her way, she used to throw her father's title around to get what she wanted, she's not as bad as she was now thanks to Marinette mellowing her out, but she seems to have reverted back on old behaviour today." Nino said.

Adrien sighed. "I know." He admitted. "But Chloe's the only friend I have."

Nino's eyes softened, understanding the blond's problem.

"Well, I guess she doesn't have to be your only friend anymore." He said, sticking out his hand.

"Really?" Adrien asked.

"Sure, dude, I shouldn't hold Chloe against you. I'll show you the real way to make friends." Nino offered.

"I'd like that." Adrien smiled genially.

Before Adrien could accept his hand, he was interrupted by Chloe grabbing onto him, having appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

"Adrien, I told you to wait." She pouted.

Chloe then looked at Nino.

"Wait, are you trying to make friends without me?" Chloe asked.

"Well, you wouldn't let me." Adrien told her, getting fed up with her attitude. "And it turns out it's easier when you're not insulting everyone."

Chloe looked over Nino with a wrinkled face.

"I don't know Adrien, he doesn't-"

"Alright, just stop!" Adrien burst out, interrupting Chloe.

The ring on Adrien's finger pulsed.

"I've had enough, Chloe, I can't put up with your attitude anymore!" He continued, not feeling the need to calm down like he usually would.

"Adrien…" Chloe said weakly, reaching out for him.

"No!" Adrien stepped away from her angrily.

"Ever since I've got here you've been nothing but cruel and controlling, and I'm not going to stand for it. I've put up with you for far too long, but now I have a chance to be free and I'm not letting you take that away from me by controlling who I can and cannot be friends with."

"Adrien, what are you saying?" Chloe asked, tears in her eyes.

Adrien had never shouted at her before and it hurt and confused her.

"I'm saying that we're done, we are not friends anymore, I won't be friends with someone like you!"

"But Adrien…why?" Chloe cried.

"'Why' what? Why don't I want to be friends? How about the fact that I come here, expecting to make friends, only for you to insult and bully everyone we come across, taking away my chances at making new friends. All so you can keep me to yourself, don't think I don't know that's what you've been doing. I've always known you weren't the best, but I hadn't realised just how much of a monster you were until you showed your full colours today, insulting everyone, controlling who I could even talk to like I'm some possession, throwing around your father's title, walking around like you own the place. Why would I ever want to remain friends with you now that I know exactly who you are? A pathetic monster!" Adrien breather heavily as he finished his tirade.

Chloe stared at Adrien in shock for a moment before tearing up and then openly sobbing, turning and running out of the college, everyone staring after her.

Sabrina was equally stunned and stood there, watching Chloe break down and run off before her thoughts caught up with her and she ran after the blond.

"Chloe, wait!" She called after her.

Everyone stared at the doors that Chloe had just ran though, sobbing. All of them knew that Chloe deserved to be taken down a peg or two, most of them having suffered from Chloe in some form or another, and none of them could fault what Adrien had said, but the scene had made them all uncomfortable, as if it had been too brutal a take down, even for someone such as Chloe.

"Dude." Nino finally said. "Are you okay?"

Nino reached out hesitantly, but didn't touch Adrien's shoulder.

Adrien gave a frustrated huff.

"Yeah." He said. "But I need some time alone."

Adrien turned and ran out of the front doors as well, running through the streets until he came across a secluded area where he stopped to breath. He slumped to the floor, not caring about dirtying his clothes as his mind battled with itself.

'You shouldn't have made Chloe cry, she's your best friend.' The part of him that had always been there said.

'She deserved it. The only reason she's your friend is because she wouldn't let anyone else near, but now you don't need her anymore, you don't have to put up with how awful she is to everyone.' Said another part of him, the part of him that he usually kept buried but had been getting louder lately.

"She deserved it for all that she's done, maybe even more." Adrien agreed with the second thought, his ring pulsing deeply.

Adrien look at the ring on his finger, remembering the freedom that he now had with just a simple phrase, as well as the price that came with it.

"Well." He said to himself. "I guess it's time to start upholding my end of the deal."

Adrien stood and held up his clenched fist.

"Claws out!"

Black lightning washed over Adrien, replacing his form with black.

With a wicked grin, Catastrophe ran off to make his grand introduction to the world.

Chapter Text

Marinette sat on her bed, one hand supporting her weight while the other rested comfortingly on the head of the blond girl who was sobbing into her lap.

"A-a-and h-he called m-me and mon-ster." Chloe sobbed into Marinette's lap.

Marinette kept quiet as Chloe sobbed out her story of what had happened to get her into such a state.

Chloe claimed that Adrien had snapped at her out of nowhere, she had just been trying to make sure Adrien found the right friends but then he suddenly blamed her for not being able to find any and started insulting her, making the blond feel deeply betrayed that her friend would turn on her in such a way.

But Marinette knew enough about Chloe by now to read between the lines, to see what the blond left out of her story. Chloe 'making sure Adrien found the right friends' no doubt meant she has scared off anyone who dared to try, Marinette had learned from experience that Chloe tended to have high standards for friends and was overly protective of the friends she had, it had taken a while for Marinette to drill into Chloe's head that she didn't need the blond dictating her own friends but Chloe had eventually begrudgingly agreed that Marinette could make her own choices. From the sounds of it, Chloe didn't think Adrien was capable of making his own choice in friends as Marinette was and so kept everyone away, and since it was Chloe, the blond wasn't likely to have been nice in controlling who Adrien could be friends with, and Adrien no doubt snapped from Chloe's actions, leading to the situation now.

"D-do y-you think I'm a m-monster." Chloe sobbed out, her red eyes looking up at Marinette hopefully.

Marinette sighed and bit her lip, finding herself at an impasse. Her kind and caring nature demanded that she comfort Chloe, who was genuinely distraught over the verbal beating she received from one of her oldest friends, but another side of her told her that some tough love was in order, with Chloe so vulnerable she might finally be able to get through to the blond about how her behaviour affected others, and there was no Sabrina to contradict her and tell Chloe she'd done nothing wrong either.

Marinette looked over to the other side of her room, where Nooroo hid among her scraps of fabric, and tried to ask her Kwami for advice, Nooroo looked out from the fabric but his eyes told her that she would have to decide for herself.

"Well," Marinette said, trying to be careful in how she worded things. "I don't think you're a monster."

Chloe brightened slightly at the affirmation.

"But, you're not exactly that nice of a person either." Marinette winced, but there was no other way she could think to word it without it going over Chloe's head.

Chloe quickly dropped into looking even more broken. "What?" She asked.

Marinette winced again but soldiered on.

"I know you Chloe, and I don't think Adrien's blow up at you was completely out of nowhere, was it?" She said.

Chloe looked away.

"You insulted people, didn't you?" Marinette continued.

"They didn't seem like they'd be good friends for Adrien, so I turned them away." Chloe justified herself quietly.

"And by 'turned them away', you insulted them, didn't you?" Marinette repeated. "I know you did, because you tried to do the same when people wanted to be my friend, but I wouldn't let you because I can make my own friends. Just as Adrien should make his own friends too."

"But this is different, Adrien is much more famous, there are people out there who will just use him, I was only trying to protect him." Chloe argued.

"Chloe, there's a difference between protecting your friends, and hurting others, and what you were doing was hurting others." Marinette said.

"I only told them to back off, maybe a bit of name calling to convince them, but they'll get over it." Chloe justified.

"It isn't just 'a bit of name calling' or harsh words, Chloe." Marinette said sternly. "It can end up being very harmful. You know this pain you're feeling right now, from Adrien insulting you and calling you a monster?"

Chloe nodded hesitantly.

"This is the same sort of pain you cause others, the humiliation, the sadness, the sense of injustice. Each time you call someone names, put them down, silence them, think their misery is funny, you are causing them the same pain you feel. And that's why Adrien turned on you."

Chloe burst into a fresh round of tears at Marinette's words, Marinette patted her on the back and allowed her to continue crying on her knee but didn't offer any reassuring words.

"I-I-I didn't realise." Chloe claimed as she sobbed.

"I don't think that's true." Marinette said. "Otherwise why would you intentionally insult someone other than to make them feel bad. You can't lie to me, Chloe, I was your favourite victim up until I saved your life."

Chloe's eyes widened as she realised that she made Marinette feel how she currently felt for the longest time.

"I didn't know it felt this bad." Chloe continued to claim. "I thought people would get over it."

"Maybe if it was just once or twice, but continuously doing it, and doing it to everyone, that builds up, it keeps the hurt from going away and will always stick with someone, and when someone's bully is the mayor's daughter who uses her father's power to do what she wants, there's very little chance of that bully having to repent for her actions." Marinette said.

"But then why, why are we friends now?" Chloe asked.

Marinette shrugged. "Desperation, maybe." She admitted sadly. "I read once about a girl who had no friends, so when her bully started acting like her friend, she decided to forget what her bully had done to her in favour of having a friend. That sort of sounds just like our situation, doesn't it?"

Chloe felt ashamed, because it did, she remembered that one of the things she used to tease Marinette about was her lack of friends. It made something heavy settle in her chest, she didn't like that Marinette had to befriend her bully just to have friends, even if that bully was her.

"But, that girl's story gets sadder, because her bully quickly went back to being her bully, while you haven't. And that's the other reason I became your friend after everything you did to me, because I saw that you could change, you didn't revert back to your old behaviour towards me, you genuinely changed."

"Oh." Chloe said. "I'm…sorry, for what I've done."

The weight in Chloe's chest felt slightly lighter after saying that.

"It's not me you need to apologise to, you wouldn't be here if I hadn't forgiven you, it's everyone else you need to apologise to." Marinette told her.

"I guess…" Chloe looked away.

Marinette smiled at her. "If you want to move forward, if you want to prove Adrien wrong, you have to change for everyone like you changed for me."

"But…I don't know where to start." Chloe cried.

Marinette frowned and looked around her room as if it would suddenly provide the answer, and her eyes landed on her desk draw full of her sewing supplies, still open from when Chloe barged into her room crying her eyes out. Stretching out her arm, Marinette just managed to reach into her draw and rummage around, hissing as she pricked her fingers on pins until she felt what she was looking for and grabbed it, her motions shifting Chloe's head on her lap, causing the blond to look in confusion as to what her friend was doing. Marinette straightened herself and opened her had to reveal what she had grabbed.

"Do you know what this is?" Marinette asked.

"A ribbon?" Chloe said in confusion, looking at the thin ribbon in Marinette's hand.

"It's a promise." Marinette corrected.

Marinette took the arm Chloe had on her lap and tied the ribbon around her wrist.

"A promise that you will do better, that you'll keep trying to be a better person, that you can change." Marinette held Chloe's hand firmly in her own. "That you're not a monster."

Chloe took back her hand to admire the ribbon now tied around her wrist, there was nothing special about it, no pattern or stitching, just a plain red ribbon, and yet Chloe found that it held more worth than anything, it was a symbol, a symbol that she would become a better person, a symbol of Marinette's trust in her.

Chloe looked up at Marinette and nodded, determination in her eyes, still red from her crying.

The two girls were then distracted by noise from Marinette computer, which was on and tuned into the news while Marinette had been working.

"Breaking news." Said the newscaster. "A masked man has appeared on top of the Bourgeois hotel and is believed to be armed dangerous."

Chloe lunged for Marinette's computer and turned up the volume, staring at the screen in horror, while Marinette lifted herself onto her computer chair and pulled herself over to also view the screen.

"Multiple guests and employees have come out of the building with injuries." The camera swung to show off one of the victims, holding his arm with claw marks on his face and arms. "It is yet unknown what the mask man wants." The newscaster continued. "But with people still held hostage inside of the building, including the mayor himself, the police are hesitant to enter.

"Up there!" Somebody out of sight of the camera yelled.

The camera swung up to the roof of the hotel and zoomed in until a person dressed in black was apparent, though it was hard to tell because they were so high up the person seemed to be wearing a long coat, the had something pointed either side of blond hair and something long trailed behind them like a tail. But despite their distance, their voice rang out loud and clear.

"Not one step closer, officers." The voice was male. "Or you'll be looking for a new mayor."

The man reached behind him and pulled something up, dangling it over the edge of the building, it was mayor Bourgeois.

"Daddy!" Chloe cried out.

Chloe jumped to her feet and ran across the room, practically diving through the door.

"Chloe, wait!" Marinette called after her, but she was already gone.

Marinette turned back to her computer.

"If I see anyone other than those who I am looking for, he gets an express ticket to ground level." The man threatened, having seemingly no trouble holding the hefty mayor in the air with one hand. "And you know who you are. If you don't show up and hand over your Miraculous', I'll reduce this hotel to rubble with everyone still inside, and the same will happen to every building in Paris until you do. And as proof of my power…"

The man threw the mayor back into the roof and held out his arm, something shiny extending from it, he then slashed at the roof in front of him and people cried out in horror as the section of the roof fell away and crashed towards the ground, whatever he had was able to slice through brick with no issue.

"That is only a fraction of my power, so do hurry before I grow impatient."

The man then disappeared from the roof.

The camera focused back on the newscaster. "As you've seen, this man is very dangerous…" Marinette stopped listening.

"Oh, god, what's happening?" Marinette questioned.

"It's the corrupted Miraculous, he has it." Nooroo told her, flying over.

"You mean, he's the one whose pain I felt?"

Nooroo nodded.

"What do I do then?"

"Don't forget you have a Miraculous of your own." Nooroo pointed at Marinette's broach. "It's time to fight back.

Marinette breathed in deeply "Okay. I can do this." She told herself. "I just need to choose a Champion, right?"

"Right. Just say, Wings Rise." Nooroo said.

Marinette took a calming breath. "Nooroo, Wings Rise!" She called.

Nooroo was suddenly sucked into Marinette's broach and she cried out in surprise as a swarm of butterflies flew in through her window and landed all over her and the chair she sat on, causing a tingling sensation to wash over her. Eventually, the butterflies flew away to flutter around her room, leaving Marinette to take in her new form.

Marinette wore a high-necked purple top that also covered her fingers and trailed into long coattails that draped over her seat, a butterfly in a lighter purple was emblazoned on her chest and on the back of each hand. Her legs were covered in more purple material that led seamlessly into high-heeled footwear, butterfly wings on the back of each ankle.

Her hair was down and covered by a purple transparent hood, which was attached to a cape that covered her shoulders and was split somewhere on the back and draped either side of her into points, the now fully coloured broach pinned the cloak together.

Looking into a nearby mirror, Marinette saw that she wore a purple mask, the top disappeared under her fringe and it went down either side of her nose to cover her cheeks. And in Marinette's hand, she found she held a cane of some kind.

And Marinette wasn't the only thing the Miraculous had changed, looking at her seat Marinette found that it had been changed from a computer chair to what only could be described as a throne, the back of it carved to look like butterfly wings.

"I hope this is temporary." Marinette commented as she ran a gloved hand over her throne. "This is so strange." She then shook her head. "Alright, finding a Champion. I need to feel the emotions of Paris, right?"

Marinette breathed deeply and closed her eyes, concentrating, she then gasped as she felt thousands of presences, like lights, and searched for those which shined the brightest.

Chloe ran to her father's hotel, her home, in what had to be record time, not giving any mind as to how her run made her sweaty or ruined her hair, but before she could make it any further she was stopped by the police line.

"You can't go any further, ma'am." A police officer said.

"But my dad's in there." Chloe protested.

"It's too dangerous for you to go in." The officer remained firm.

"Chloe!"

Chloe turned to see Sabrina running over to her.

"I'm glad you're alright. I tried to find you in the hotel after you ran off, but then that cat man attacked. I'm glad you weren't inside." Sabrina said.

"Cat man?" Chloe questioned.

Sabrina nodded. "He looked like he was dressing up as a cat anyway, with the ears and tail." She said.

"Great, so my dad's being held hostage by a crazy cat man." Chloe said, her already fragile state leaving her close to breaking.

It seemed as if the police were making plans to sneak into the hotel to rescue the hostages, but before they could move out, the cat man appeared on top of the roof again.

"Ah, ah, ah." The cat man warned, dangling the mayor over the building again with just one hand. "Naughty police. Do you think you could sneak past me? Remember, if I catch one whiff of you inside the building, the fat man falls."

"Daddy!" Chloe cried out again.

The cat man cut off more of the roof, sending brick to the ground and causing people to scream and move back to avoid being hit.

Chloe desperately wanted to do something, to help her father. But what could she do?

…

Marinette opened her eyes, she had found a light that had suddenly shone brighter, she laughed when she realised who it was.

"Well, Chloe, now's the chance to truly prove yourself." She said.

Marinette held out her hand and one of the butterflies fluttering around her came to rest on her finger, bringing the butterfly close, she gently pressed her lips to the creature's body, her lips then glowed a soft purple and the light transferred over into the butterfly from where her lips touched, until the butterfly glowed a soft purple.

"Go my…Tiānshǐ, give her the strength she needs." Marinette said.

The butterfly took off from her hand and flew out her window, towards the Bourgeois hotel.

As Marinette watched it fly, she held a hand to her chest and shivered, Chloe's light had not been the only thing she felt, she had also felt the soul of the corrupted Cat Miraculous user, it had been so cold and angry, it felt like an infection. A few of her butterflies landed on her to comfort her as Marinette vowed to set things right and remove that infection.

…

Chloe continued to look up at the roof of her hotel, tears in her eyes as she watched her father dangle precariously off the edge, the cat man had tied him up there with only a rope to keep him from falling as a warning to the police, and it terrified her. Chloe was so lost in her desperation that she didn't notice the purple butterfly flying towards her and landing on her promise, the insect then seemed to be absorbed into the ribbon and turned it purple. A glowing, butterfly-shaped symbol appeared in front of Chloe's face.

"Chloe?" Sabrina stepped back from her friend, eyes wide at the glowing symbol in front of her face.

But Chloe wasn't listening.

"Do you want to do something?" A voice asked her.

"What?" Chloe asked faintly.

"Do you want to be able to save him, to save everyone?"

Chloe's vision faded away to nothing but white, but then a faded figure appeared, floating in front of her, a lady dressed in purple with a butterfly theme. The ends of the lady's cloak and coattails floated behind her like wings.

Chloe knew she should find this strange, but something told her that everything was going to be alright.

"Yes." Chloe answered. "But I don't know how."

The lady smiled gently, filling Chloe with a warm feeling that she wouldn't mind staying in forever.

"I can give you the power to save them." The lady told her. "To do good."

"You can?" Chloe asked hopefully, unable to question the lady's words.

"Yes. But you must remember this." The lady turned serious. "The man I am giving you the power to fight, he is just as much of a victim as your father, corrupted by this…" The lady showed Chloe an image of a black ring with a green pawprint on the top. "He is not doing these things out of his own will, it is the corruption in him, I feel it. If I give you this power, I need you to remove this ring from him, hopefully it should remove the corruption. Do you understand?"

"I…understand." Chloe said.

It was hard to believe, but it also made sense, somehow.

"Good. And do you accept this gift, to become something better, something more, to become a hero, my Champion?"

"Yes!" Chloe loudly proclaimed.

"Then rise from the ashes and be reborn anew! Royal Phoenix!"

People gasped and backed away from Chloe as a purple light emerged from her promise and wrapped around her like a chrysalis that glowed brightly.

Catastrophe looked down at the commotion below and smirked when he saw the bright light.

"Finally." He purred darkly.

Chapter Text

The crowd stared in shock and awe at the glowing purple cocoon floating off of the ground, the silhouette of Chloe Bourgeois barely visible inside. Then, the silhouette reached out and a hand breached through the cocoon, it slashed though the cocoon, leaving an opening in its wake before the cocoon disappeared in a flash, releasing Chloe from inside. But the Chloe who stood there was not the same as the one who had been wrapped in light.

She wore a red one-piece strapless bodysuit, with the top of the jumpsuit pointing upwards and attached to a red feather choker with a line of fabric, the bodysuit legs were tucked inside matching heeled boots that were rimmed at the top with three lines of golden metal, one of the boots went up to her knee while the other only went half-way up, around her waist was an orange ballet skirt. She wore red gloves that ended in a point over her hands with one going all the way up her arm white the other only went to her elbow to match the boots, around one wrist was Chloe's promise which stood out because of being purple, the other wrist had feathers coming out either side that were long enough to go halfway up her forearm, she wore a feathered mask over her eyes that was made up of different shades, three red crest feathers were attached to her ponytail, and over her head floated a tiara made of flames.

"Chloe?" Sabrina asked nervously.

Chloe turned to her friend and smiled reassuringly.

"Call me, Royal Phoenix." She said.

She then turned to the police.

"I'll keep him busy, you rescue the hostages." She told them.

People then stepped back further as fire burst out of Royal Phoenix's back, taking on the form of wings, which she then used to take to the sky before anyone could protest.

Royal Phoenix flew higher until she was level with the roof, allowing her to see the villain who held her father hostage.

He wore a long black trench coat that trailed on the floor, the lower half was split into two pieces with rips in the fabric at the bottom, the lower half was also almost entirely behind him and it only fastened slightly at the chest, the collar of the coat was popped up, the sleeves were ripped off, green pipping went over the shoulder and behind the back, and a broken chain was around his waist, hanging off belt hoops either side.

He wore a black one-piece bodysuit underneath with the arms also ripped off into short sleeves, around his waist were silver belts that crossed in an X-shape, a black cat head with green eyes on the front of them. He wore black boots that went halfway up his knees, the rims pointing down at the front and up at the back and were lined with silver fur, on the toe of the boots were metal claws attached. He wore matching arm-length bracers with were rimmed with silver fur at both ends, with black gloves covering his hands and sharp metal claws that tipped each finger.

The weapon the he had been using to destroy the roof was now also identifiable as cat-claw blades that were attached to a gauntlet on one arm. He wore a black cat collar with a bell on the front, another chain was attached to the collar but was broken at the front, letting the broken ends hang either side of the bell. His face was covered by a black mask, the eyes hidden by green glass shaped like eyes, on top of his head were a set of black cat ears with three hoop piercings in each one, and from behind him was a long black cat tail.

The villain frowned when he saw Royal Phoenix close up.

"You don't look what they mentioned." He said.

Royal Phoenix frowned in confusion, as did Marinette back in her room, seeing through her connection to her Champion.

"Who are you?" The villain demanded.

"I am Royal Phoenix, and I will take you down." The Champion told him.

The villain laughed. "Well, I am Catastrophe, and I'd like to see you try."

Catastrophe lunged at her with his cat claw and Royal Phoenix flew out of the way, the villain almost fell but managed to grab the railing and launch himself back onto the roof, kicking at Royal Phoenix who managed to dodge again.

Royal Phoenix then held out her arm with the feathers, the feathers stood up straight and began to grow and multiply until they formed the shape of a bow, Royal Phoenix placed her other hand to the feathered wrist and then drew it back, a glowing bow string and arrow made of flames appearing.

The Champion then let the flaming arrow launch at Catastrophe.

"They didn't mention any of the Miraculous having flaming arrow weapons." Catastrophe grunted to himself as he blocked the attack with his cat-claw.

Royal Phoenix frowned again, having overheard him.

"He's working with someone." She said.

Marinette's glowing symbol appeared over Royal Phoenix's face as they communicated.

"Being controlled rather." Marinette corrected. "It must be whoever corrupted his Miraculous. He might be able to lead us the them if we get his Miraculous."

"Right." Royal Phoenix said.

The symbol faded and Royal Phoenix attacked again, this time aiming to get in close

She spotted the ring on one of his fingers and came across a problem, the ring was on the same hand as the cat-claw gauntlet. She'd have to risk getting in very close to have a chance at grabbing the ring, and the biggest problem came from her being a long-distance fighter while Catastrophe had the cat-claw the ring was hidden under to attack with if she got too close.

"This is going to be harder than I thought." Royal Phoenix said to herself. "I need to contain him if I'm going to be able to get that ring, I'm not going to be able to grab it through fighting."

Royal Phoenix stayed in the air and fired her arrows at Catastrophe while trying to formulate a plan to contain him, while the villain did his best to hit the Champion who continued to fly out of his reach, resorting to throwing objects at her in an attempt to knock her down.

"You can't stay up there forever!" He taunted.

"I think I can." Royal Phoenix called back.

Catastrophe growled but then his ears twitched as he heard a whimper, he then grinned as he realised who it was from, backing away from the Champion.

"You can't if you want to save him." He said.

Catastrophe then turned around and swung his arm, cutting through the rope holding the mayor up, sending him towards the ground.

Royal Phoenix gasped in horror.

"Daddy!" She cried out.

Royal Phoenix quickly flew past Catastrophe and down the building, catching up to her falling father and grabbing his arms, then grunting in effort as she fought to slow their fall. They hit the ground with a thump that jarred their legs but were otherwise unharmed.

Royal Phoenix barely had any time to feel relief over saving her father before she felt a sharp pain in her back and was launched across the ground, her wings going out, she lifted herself up and winced in pain as she saw Catastrophe approaching her.

"'Daddy' huh? I never would have guessed that Chloe Bourgeois could ever be a superhero." Catastrophe sneered.

"Shut up!" Royal Phoenix snapped.

Oh, how Royal Phoenix wished she could just go all out on the villain, she knew she could take him, but that would mean disappointing her Lady.

"Though, I think I can see why you were chosen, I can't exactly attack your loved ones now that I know your identity, since you don't love anyone other than yourself." Catastrophe continued.

"Shut up!" Royal Phoenix repeated, firing off the arrow.

Catastrophe stepped to the side and the arrow shot passed him, causing Royal Phoenix's eyes to widen in horror when she saw that it was now heading towards the crowd of bystanders. Acting quickly, she managed to recall the flames before it hit anyone, making her sigh in relief. But the distraction only allowed Catastrophe to hit her again, making her grip her arm in pain as the scratches bled.

Marinette's symbol appeared over her face again.

"You need to lead him away from the crowd." Marinette instructed. "He thinks you have a Miraculous, so he'll follow you."

"Got it." Royal Phoenix said.

She kicked her leg out as Catastrophe approached, taking his legs out from her him as she jumped to her feet.

"You want my Miraculous, then come and get it." Royal Phoenix goaded.

Her wings re-ignited as she took off into the skies and across Paris, a quick check back confirmed that Catastrophe was following.

As she flew, tears began to fall from her eyes, but rather than wipe them away she allowed them to collect on her hand, once she had finished crying she wiped the tears over the cuts on her arms and the injuries disappeared, the cuts in the cloth as well.

"Thank my Lady for healing tears." Royal Phoenix said to herself.

Royal Phoenix looked behind her and gasped when she realised that she couldn't see Catastrophe chasing after her anymore.

"Where did he go?" She questioned, flying back the way she came.

Royal Phoenix didn't realise that she was flying lower until a flash of black in the corner was all the warning she was given before she was slammed into. She then grunted as she hit the ground, Catastrophe's weight on top of her, pinning her so that she couldn't move. Around them, people went running.

"Got yah." Catastrophe laughed. "Now, where is that Miraculous?"

Keeping Royal Phoenix pinned, Catastrophe looked about her person, trying to find one of the pieces of jewellery he was told to take, but he couldn't find any. Her ears were bare of red and black spotted earrings, and there was no sign of any Peacock or Butterfly shaped broaches/pins anywhere on her body, he could even see anything hidden in her hair.

"Where is it?" Catastrophe growled.

"Get out of my personal space!" Royal Phoenix exclaimed, struggling to get free.

"Or what?" Catastrophe growled.

Royal Phoenix answered by wiggling a leg free and then bringing it up in between his legs, hard. Catastrophe went ridged, then let out a high-pitched whine as he fell to the side.

Royal Phoenix stood up and dusted herself off nonchalantly.

She then bent down to grab at Catastrophe's ring, but he had already rolled away and stumbled to his feet, crouching low with a hand still nursing his injury.

"That was a dirty move." He hissed.

"No one ever said that I had to play fair." Royal Phoenix responded.

She the frowned, wondering once again how she would get Catastrophe's ring off him.

Marinette's mark glowed in front of her face again.

"Get him to use his attack, Cataclysm, it should put him on a timer before he is forced to transform back. But be careful, it destroys anything it touches." Marinette informed her.

Catastrophe frowned himself as he saw the glowing symbol that frequently popped up over Royal Phoenix's face, it didn't fit with the rest of her aesthetic and it was almost as if she was listening to someone else when it appeared.

"Come on then." Royal Phoenix goaded Catastrophe as the mark disappeared. "Why don't you hit me with everything you've got?"

Catastrophe laughed. "Believe me, you don't want everything I've got. I've actually be going easy on you."

"Oh, how much of gentleman." Royal Phoenix said sarcastically. "But I'm not some frail little bird, I know I can kick your arse no matter what you have. Unless, it's because you're too much of a pussy to properly fight me, afraid of getting beaten by a girl." Royal Phoenix made a pretend sad face, rubbing a hand over her eye and pouting.

Catastrophe growled at the mocking. "Shut up!" He snapped.

Royal Phoenix grinned. Oh, how the tables had turned.

"Or what, pussy, you'll claw at me." She taunted in a baby voice.

Catastrophe growled again and charged, Royal Phoenix dodging out of the way using her flight, the villain quickly turned around and charged again only to be met by the same result, their dance continued for the next few minutes, Royal Phoenix constantly throwing taunts throughout.

"Alright." Catastrophe snarled. "You want my full power? Well, then here it is. Cataclysm!"

The blades on Catastrophe's gauntlet withdrew and a black bubbling mass wrapped around his hand.

"This destroys anything it touches." Catastrophe grinned madly. "I wonder what it does to humans."

He then charged.

Royal Phoenix quickly used her flight to her advantage to dodge the deadly touch again.

"Great, I've got him to summon his attack." Royal Phoenix muttered to herself. "Now how do I get him to use it without it touching me."

The feathers on her wrist grew again and she fired more flaming arrows at Catastrophe, but he didn't use his Cataclysm hand to block like she had hoped, instead using a bin lid he had found to block the ones he couldn't dodge. Worse was that he could still somehow climb while his hands were occupied, allowing him to make his way up to her. Royal Phoenix was so occupied by firing at Catastrophe that she didn't notice the brick being thrown her way, which impacted against the side of her head, sending her down onto a roof, her wings disappearing.

"Now you can't escape." Catastrophe hissed in victory as he joined Royal Phoenix on the roof.

Royal Phoenix seemed to be struggling to stand, one hand over her injury and also covering her face while the other rested against her knee as support, this made Catastrophe's grin even wider. He walked towards the Champion, gradually picking up pace until he was running at her.

Hidden by her arm, Royal Phoenix grinned.

"Sucker." She said once Catastrophe was close enough.

Catastrophe's eyes widened, but he was too late as Royal Phoenix dropped her injured façade, dodged out of the way of his hand, grabbed his arm as it went passed, and then flung him over her shoulder.

Catastrophe grunted as he hit a chimney, his hand hitting the roof and transferring his destructive power to it, he quickly stood and growled when he realised he'd wasted his attack, quickly running out of the way as the destruction spread.

"I think the word you're looking for is, 'oops'." Royal Phoenix grinned victoriously.

The cat-claw blades popped out of their gauntlet as Catastrophe attacked with renewed anger.

"It makes no difference. I'll still slice you to pieces." The angered villain snarled as he attacked.

"Except that you're now on a timer." Royal Phoenix pointed out. "Meanwhile, I could keep this up all day thanks to my Lady."

Catastrophe looked down at his ring and saw one of the pads blink before going out completely. He then looked at the area he'd destroyed at grinned.

"You could, but if I were you, I'd be more concerned about that." Catastrophe said, pointing.

Royal Phoenix turned and gasped as she saw the chimney begin to fall thanks the Cataclysm attack, accompanied by screams from the street.

Disregarding Catastrophe, Royal Phoenix summoned her wings and shot off the roof, she passed the chimney as it fell, and kept going as she spotted people directly underneath, she swooped down and grabbed the two people out of the way just in time to avoid the chimney hitting the pavement. She then set the two civilians on their feet.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

Chloe was slightly shocked to recognise them as two girls from her class.

"Yes, thank you." Juleka said, stunned. "That was awesome."

"Well, you're welcome." Royal Phoenix said, smiling at the praise.

"Wait, Chloe?" Rose asked.

"Uh, got to go, still fighting a villain." Royal Phoenix said, flying back onto the roof.

But as she reached the roof and looked around, there was no sign of Catastrophe anywhere around, and she doubted it was another attempt at ambushing.

"Gone." She said in frustration.

She began her flight back to the hotel, crying more healing tears along the way.

Back at the hotel, the hostages had been rescued and were receiving medical attention for any injuries they may have received, mayor Bourgeois especially after his fall, though apart from a few scratches he seemed to be fine. But the mayor wasn't concerned over his fall anymore, his focus was more on his daughter.

"What happened to my girl?" He questioned Sabrina, who had been allowed to see him.

"I don't know. This glowing symbol appeared in front of her face, she agreed to something, she was wrapped in purple light, and suddenly she was a superhero and took off to fight that guy." Sabrina explained.

"You mean, my little girl is fighting that, that thing." Mayor Bourgeois attempted to stand but was stopped by the medical attendants as well as his own wooziness, the fall had done more to him than he thought. "No, I need stop her." The mayor insisted.

"You're not in any state to do anything." Said one of the attendants. "And considering what we saw, I think she can hold her own right now."

The attendant quickly shrunk back from the deadly gaze the mayor gave him, suddenly fearing for his job.

"She is still just a child, I don't know what's happened to her but I won't let her endanger herself like that." The mayor said.

There was a sudden whoosh, andeveryone looked up to see Royal Phoenix flying above them, who then flew down and perched herself above the entrance to the hotel.

"Chloe, get down from there!" The mayor made his way to the front of the crowd, ignoring his dizziness, and was slightly shocked by his daughter's appearance now that he could get a good look. "What happened to you?" He asked in worry.

Royal Phoenix smiled at him.

She then grasped her hands together and brought them in front of her face, closing her eyes and continuing to smile, she brought her hands to her mouth and whispered something into them before flinging her arms out. Purple light shot out of her opened hands, which then broke up, each piece taking the form of a purple butterfly until there were a swarm of them.

The butterflies then flew to the side of the hotel where they landed on the walls and opened their wings, until the side of the building was covered by purple. People watched in amazement as an image appeared in the purple, like a screen, it gradually became clearer until a lady dressed in purple and wearing a mask, sitting on a butterfly-shaped throne, became apparent.

"Citizens of Paris." The Lady spoke clearly. "I am…"

…

Marinette fought to keep her composure as she presented herself to Paris, she felt that as Paris' new hero that she owned them context for what was happening, and also to explain who were the good and bad guys; she was just glad that the screen she presented herself on didn't show her bedroom for people to see and recognise.

Since she obviously couldn't use her own name to introduce herself with, she needed to come up with one, problem was that she didn't think of needing one until she was already speaking to Paris. Her mind quickly flashed through names to do with her theme to find an appropriate one, Butterfly was too simple, Papillion didn't fit, she couldn't remember the Chinese word for butterfly, Mariposa was too close to her own name, her mind continued to skim through names, unconsciously digging into the history of her Miraculous.

"…Nymph." She eventually managed to find before her pause went on too long.

Nymph, short for Nymphalidae, a family of butterflies, it fit.

"Today you have been witness to an attack, and attack by someone who seeks for power with no care for the destruction and misery they cause in their search. But have hope, for as long as this dark cloud hangs over Paris, I will be there to banish it, to call upon one of you to become my Champion and fight back against this evil, to gift you with the power to fight Catastrophe whenever he may appear. I swear this to you." Nymph spoke, her voice strong.

With those final words, she recalled her Tiānshǐ.

…

Understanding that her time was up as the connection to her Lady began to weaken, Royal Phoenix hopped down to the ground and watched with everyone else as the purple butterflies took flight again, morphing back into the purple light that they had come from, which travelled back down to Royal Phoenix. The light wrapped around her, and when it faded, a normal Chloe Bourgeois stood in her place.

A single purple butterfly, the Tiānshǐ, remained, flying up from the ribbon around Chloe's wrist, it briefly fluttered around Chloe's face, who smiled at it, before flying off into the sky.

There was a moment of silence before a cacophony of noise, numerous news reporters attempting to speak to Chloe about what had just happened, asking questions about Nymph and Chloe becoming her Champion.

A police officer made his way through the crowd.

"Miss Bourgeois, would you mind coming with me, we have a few questions we want to ask." He said.

"Uh." Chloe said, looking worried.

"You're not in trouble, we just want to ask some questions." The officer tried to reassure.

"You will do no such thing." Mayor Bourgeois interrupted, pushing his way through the crowd, quickly grabbing his daughter. "I will not have my daughter treated like a criminal."

"We're not." The officer defended. "We just want to know some things."

"Chloe has been through a lot today, there will be no questions. I'll send her recount of what happened once she is ready." The mayor said. "I recommend for now that you work on crowd control."

The officer reluctantly nodded, knowing that he couldn't go against the mayor, and worked on controlling the reporters, who were still trying to get answers out of Chloe.

"Let's go somewhere quiet and talk this out." The mayor said to Chloe, who nodded in response.

The made to go into their hotel, only to be stopped by Sabrina's father.

"Sorry, sir, but we haven't finished searching the building, nobody can go in until we're sure that man didn't leave something nasty behind." Officer Raincomprix said.

"Now, see here-" The mayor began.

"It's okay daddy, they're just making sure everything is safe." Chloe interrupted. "We can go to Marinette's instead, I'm sure they wouldn't mind."

"Yes, yes, I suppose you're right." The mayor said. "I'm sorry, it's been a stressful day."

"It's okay sir." Officer Raincomprix said. "We should have the entire building searched soon."

"Good."

The two Bourgeois made their way over to where a limo was waiting for them, which drove them the short distance to the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

The Tiānshǐ flew through her window and landed on Nymph's hand.

"Now what do I do with you?" She asked.

In answer the Tiānshǐ flew briefly onto her other arm and then crawled up it until it reached the top of the cane held in her hand, it then sunk into the crystal on top the cane, and when it crawled out it was a normal white butterfly once again.

"I guess this is how it works." Nymph said.

There was a beeping and Nymph looked down to see one of the wings on her broach fade out.

"And I get a countdown timer too." She noted.

"Marinette, the Bourgeois' are here!" Her mother's voice came from below.

"Ah!" Nymph freaked. "I need to turn back now, Chloe could come up before the countdown is finished. How do I turn back again? Ah!"

"I apologise for intruding like this and interrupting your business hours, I'll make sure you're compensated." Mayor Bourgeois said as he sat down on the sofa in the living area above the bakery.

"It's fine." Sabine insisted. "You've both been a lot and I don't anticipate we'd be getting much business today after what's happened."

"Would you like some tea, I don't image your nerves would be very good after what you've been through." Tom offered.

"That would be very nice, thank you." The mayor said.

"I'll go get Marinette." Chloe said, making to leave.

"You will sit down and explain exactly what happened." Her father said.

Chloe sighed and pouted but sat down as ordered.

"Now, what's going on? Who was that man who attacked us, who's this Nymph person, what did she do to you, is she bad news?" Her father asked.

"No!" Chloe exclaimed at the last question before composing herself. "Nymph is a good person, daddy. I don't know all the details and it's a little hazy, but the basics of it is that the guy I fought, Catastrophe, is in possession of a ring that grants him powers but has also corrupted him to act like this, he's after something called the Miraculous', one of which is in the possession of my Lady, Nymph, who uses the powers it grants her to create Champions to fight Catastrophe." She explained.

"And you were one of these Champions?" Her father asked.

Chloe nodded.

"And these Miraculous', what are they?"

Chloe shrugged. "That's where things get hazy. I only got the information that they're powerful and destructive in the wrong hands like with Catastrophe, and that his Miraculous allows him to destroy. That's all I got."

"Well then." Her father said. "I guess that means Nymph and her Champions are heroes then, I'll inform the media of this."

"Good." Chloe said. "I don't want anyone daring to think that I or my Lady are villains like Catastrophe. I've got to go tell Marinette about this, I just left her upstairs."

Chloe quickly shot off up the stairs to Marinette's room, who had only just managed to chase off the last of her butterflies after transforming back, the timer having thankfully ran out before Chloe's appearance, she was then subjected to Chloe's, embellished, story of what happened.

Catastrophe landed came to a stop at some warehouses along the Seine, just managing to land in time before his transformation wore off, leaving Adrien panting in exhaustion in his place.

"You failed." A voice came.

Adrien turned to face his mysterious friend.

"Hey, I tried my best, but I couldn't find any of the Miraculous you mentioned on her. But at least I know who she is." Adrien said.

"You did not find a Miraculous on her because she was not in possession of a Miraculous." The stranger told him.

"What? Then how did she transform and do all those things?" Adrien asked.

"She is the result of a Miraculous, the Butterfly Miraculous, which grants its user the ability to create Champions who have powers." The stranger explained.

"Couldn't you have explained that sooner? You can't blame me for failing when I don't even know what I'm fighting."

"And it is not your fault. I had not anticipated the Butterfly Miraculous' return, it has been lost for a long time, I had expected you to fight your Ladybug counterpart or even the Peacock. But now we know it is active and we can be prepared." The stranger said.

Adrien sighed, happy that the Stranger had told him that he wasn't to blame.

"How do I defeat these Champions then?" He asked.

"Each Champion carries with them an object that is possessed by the power of the Butterfly Miraculous and is what gives them their power, by breaking this object you will undo the possession and return the Champion to normal." The stranger explained. "But it will be hard tracking down the Miraculous wielder themselves, as they are usually far from the fight as they direct their Champion. But given enough time I may be able to find their location."

"So, I just keep fighting and defeating their Champions until you find them?" Adrien asked.

"Yes." The stranger said. "And continue to draw out the other Miraculous wielders, they should eventually show themselves, especially if we manage to track down the Butterfly."

"Got it. Anything else?" Adrien asked.

"Just to be on your guard, you have lost the element of surprise now, so the wielders will be ready." The stranger said.

The stranger then disappeared, leaving Adrien alone.

Chapter Text

The next day, the latter half of the previous school day had been cancelled due to all the chaos, Marinette and Chloe sat in their usual seats, and Chloe was surrounded by all of her classmates.

"What did it feel like?" Kim asked.

"What do you remember?" Asked Mylene.

"Not much." Chloe answered. "It's like a dream now. But I remember feeling like I could do anything, and the sensation of flying, and that I needed to stop that Catastrophe guy."

"You were so heroic." Rose gushed. "The way you swooped in and rescued Juleka and I from being crushed."

"It was awesome." Juleka agreed.

Marinette leaned as far forward in her seat as she could using her arms to hoist herself.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" She whispered to Chloe.

Chloe didn't respond at first but gave a small nod.

"I've already created a blog." Alya said excitedly, holding up her phone. "I have to document heroes and villains appearing in Paris."

"Oh, let me see!" Chloe said happily.

Chloe shot forward out of her seat and snatched Alya's phone out of her hand to look at the blog.

"Hey." Alya protested.

"Chloe, you don't take other people's belongings without asking." Marinette moaned.

"Fine. May I borrow your phone to look at your blog?" Chloe asked reluctantly, not looking willing to hand back the phone.

Alya rolled her eyes.

"Fine. But break it and you're getting me a new one." She said

Chloe quickly scrolled her way through the blog, there was barely anything considering that it had just been created, just a couple of posts giving a rundown on the previous day's events and a discussion section about Catastrophe, Nymph and Royal Phoenix. Chloe grinned in satisfaction when she saw that the image of Royal Phoenix was on the front page of the blog, as well as a blurred image of Nymph sitting on her throne. She then looked as the name of the blog sceptically.

"Kaleidoscoop?" She asked, pulling a face as she handed back the phone. "That's seriously the name you're going with?"

"It's a work in progress." Alya defended. "And a group of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope."

"Why not go with a name that has Nymph or Royal Phoenix in the title?" Chloe asked.

"Nymph didn't fit with anything I could think of, and I'm pretty sure Nymph said that you were only one of her champions, meaning that are going to be others, so it wouldn't make sense to name the blog after Royal Phoenix." Alya explained.

"Please, Nymph is only going to need me, we're going to be the perfect team, Lady and her Champion." Chloe bragged.

"Are you sure about that?"

"Of course I am, I was practically born to be a hero."

Around the classroom, Chloe's classmates shot her disbelieving looks.

"Well, miss hero, how about an interview for the blog, people are dying to know all they can about Nymph and Royal Phoenix?" Alya asked.

"An interview?" Chloe said thoughtfully. "I don't know, I'd prefer it to be on a big news station, I'd get much more attention. But Daddy has warned me about those sort of people, while you're just a student blogger. I suppose I can spare some time for an interview, but I won't answer the questions I don't like, and if I find any lies when it's published…"

"Yeah, yeah." Alya waved her off. "I promise not to lie or stretch any truths, I do plan on being a professional."

Alya held up her phone and opened the recording setting.

"Wait, how do I look?" Chloe stopped her. "Sabrina, mirror!"

Marinette gave a pointed chough and Chloe sighed.

"Please." She added.

Sabrina handed Chloe her mirror and the blond began checking her face for any imperfections and stray hairs.

"Alright, class, seats, please." Madam Bustier said as she entered the room.

Alya moaned. "Can we continue this at lunch?" she asked.

"Fine." Chloe said.

She needed to redo her hair and makeup anyway, she wouldn't be able to stand anything being wrong with her complexion for the internet to see, she'd seen enough shows about celebrities to know how much the smallest of imperfections can be used as weapons against someone.

Behind Madam Bustier, in walked Adrien, and Chloe's heart clenched. She remembered that he would sit next to Marinette in the seats behind, and right now she didn't know if she could take that, she didn't know how he'd react. Would he make more insults, would he believe that she'd changed for the better, could they go back to being friends after what happened?

Chloe's eyes flicked around the room for an answer, and her eyes landed on Alya, who was going back to her seat.

"Uh, Alya." She said uncomfortably.

Alya turned.

"Yes?" She asked.

"I…about yesterday, you can sit next to Marinette now. I mean, you two are friends too, right? So, you can sit together." Chloe said.

Why was it so hard for her to get across what she wanted to say?

Marinette looked at Chloe, and then at Adrien, who was standing at the door, looking as if he was trying to work something out as he looked at the empty space next to her, and then looked back at Chloe in sympathy as she understood what was going on.

"She's trying to apologise, in her own way." Marinette told a confused Alya. "Besides, we can sit together now."

"But, isn't that his seat?" Alya asked, pointing at Adrien.

"I'm sure he's willing to swap." Marinette said.

Alya seemed to pick up on the situation somewhat, she shrugged and sat down without further protest.

Adrien watched as his previous space was filled but wasn't that bothered, it meant he didn't have to sit near Chloe. He looked over at where the girl who took his place sat and saw her space empty, next to the boy he had tried to befriend the previous day. So, he walked over and filled the empty space.

"Oh, hey." Nino said. "How are you doing after, you know, yesterday?"

"I'm fine." Adrien said. "Ready to start anew."

Marinette sat in her wheelchair, doodling in her sketch book while Alya interviewed Chloe for her new blog. As expected, the blond was made sure to make a spectacle out of it, dramatizing her heroic actions, claiming that she wasn't scared at all, and stretching the truth in some parts considering Marinette didn't remember some events happening the exact same way Chloe was describing them.

"And then I saved some civilians from the falling chimney, but when I went back to face Catastrophe, he was gone. He no doubt knew he wouldn't win fairly, and so ran off with his tail between his legs while I was being a hero." Chloe finished her recount of the fight against Catastrophe.

"How did it feel to become Royal Phoenix?" Alya asked.

"It was indescribable." Chloe said. "I felt so strong, like I could do anything, I knew exactly what to do with the powers gifted to me by Nymph."

"And what about Nymph?"

"She was so lovely." Chloe sighed. "The way she spoke was so comforting, her words filled me with determination and strength, and she was always with me as I fought Catastrophe."

The interview rounded up.

"I'll tell you when I've posted the interview." Alya said.

"Good, I want to see it as soon as possible." Chloe said standing. "Now, I have to go. Sorry, Marinette, but daddy wants to spend lunch with me."

"It's fine." Marinette said.

Chloe left, leaving Alya and Marinette alone.

"This is so cool." Alya said. "Paris has its own superhero and I got to be the first one to get the details."

"You're really excited about this, huh?" Marinette asked.

"Of course I am." Alya burst out. "I've always wanted to be a hero, they're so cool and, well, heroic, fighting for truth and justice. Even Chloe was like that when she became Royal Phoenix, I can only image what Nymph would be like."

"I'm sure she's like any person, wanting to do the right thing." Marinette downplayed.

"But it's that she does the right thing, instead of abusing her powers like this Catastrophe guy." Alya explained.

"Oh, I knew Chloe left something out of her interview!" Marinette exclaimed.

"What? What?" Alya asked eagerly, bringing her phone back out.

"Chloe explained to me that Nymph told her, Catastrophe isn't in control. The source of his power corrupted him, that's why Royal Phoenix tried to take it off him." Marinette explained.

"So, this Catastrophe guy may be a normal person forced to be evil?" Alya asked.

Marinette nodded.

"Just like the Venom symbiote." Alya said, typing down what Marinette told her.

"I think so." Marinette agreed.

She knew who Venom was, just not the exact details about the comic character.

"Anyway, I need to get back home and edit all of this, I want it up on the blog before lunch ends." Alya said. "Do you want to come with."

"I'm alright." Marinette waved off.

The two girls went their separate ways.

"What do you want to do now?" Nooroo asked her from inside her pocket.

"Just travel around for a bit, maybe go to Sanctuaire de la Dame to meet the butterflies." Marinette told him, pushing the wheels of her wheelchair.

"How's the place doing?" Nooroo asked curiously.

"Last I checked, I was told that it was almost done." Marinette said. "Chloe's really excited about it, but I don't really mind all that much, I don't really have much use for the place. My parents and I are happy at the bakery. Your old holder lived there, right?"

"Her, and her family did." Nooroo said. "But I guess that they never got to come back, since I remained buried."

"That's so sad." Marinette said, patting Nooroo's head comfortingly.

"It's alright, because I have you as my Miraculous wielder now." Nooroo said.

"Aww, thanks." Marinette smiled.

As Marinette pushed herself along, she crossed through the part and spotted someone sitting on one the benches, it was Adrien. She bit her lip and then sighed in defeat, changing course and wheeling over to him.

"Hey, are you alright?" She asked.

Adrien looked up from where his head had been in his hands.

"Uh, yeah." Adrien said. "Marinette, right?"
"Yep."

"I'm sorry for yesterday." Adrien apologised. "I didn't mean to offend you."

"It's fine, you're nowhere near the worst I've gotten." Marinette assured. "Are you sure you're alright, you're a bit pale?"

"Yeah, I'm just tired. I'm surprised you're talking to me though. You seem like good friends with Chloe." Adrien responded.

"Just because I'm Chloe's friend, it doesn't mean I'm like her."

"But, didn't she tell you what happened yesterday?"

"She did, but she deserved it." Marinette said bluntly.

Adrien raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Wow, I was not expecting that." He said honestly.

"I know all too well what Chloe can be like." Marinette explained. "Whatever you said to her was probably deserving."

'Oh, it was.' Adrien thought to himself.

"In fact, it's probably exactly what she needed." Marinette continued. "I've done my best to make Chloe nicer to others, but I only ever managed to do so much, but this time I managed to get through to her about how bad she is when she came to me after what you said to her. She seems to have taken it on board this time and promised to do better."

"And you believe her." Adrien scoffed.

"Well, she's doing well so far, she managed to make up with Alya, in some capacity. And I'll do my best to keep her on track in the future."

"Why bother, it shouldn't be your responsibility to make her 'improve'."

"Maybe not, but I've seen Chloe do better, and I want her to improve."

"And I suppose you'll want me to forgive her?" Adrien scoffed.

Marinette shook her head. "I don't expect you to, it'd be nice but it's your choice and you don't have to if you don't want to, no one should hold that against you. I forgave her, but that's me, and I saw her ability to change and resolved to help her change. You're you, and it's up to Chloe to earn your forgiveness, and you to decide if she's earned it."

Adrien smiled. "I've never heard it like that before, thanks."

Marinette smiled back.

"Bye then." She waved, rolling away.

Adrien waved back, cheeks tinged with red slightly, unsure of how to feel.

"She's nice." He said to himself.

"Adrien!"

"And the good mood is gone." He muttered.

Turning, he saw Natalie standing at the limo, holding the door open expectantly. With a reluctant sigh, he entered the limo.

Once the limo started into motion, the screen inside the limo switched on, showing his father.

"Adrien, the nature of our agreement is that I allow you to attend college as long as you report back to Natalie when you leave." Gabriel Agreste told his son sternly.

"I just wanted some time outside on my own." Adrien protested.

"That doesn't matter. If you can't uphold your end of the deal, I can easily take you out of college to home school again." Gabriel told him.

"Yes, father." Adrien sighed.

The screen switched off and Adrien slumped in his seat, scowling.

"When we return home, you will practice your piano lessons before lunch." Natalie told him.

When he returned home, Adrien was sent straight to his room, his ring pulsing on his finger, instead of playing his piano, he set his phone to play piano music instead, walking over to his window.

"I think it's time for Catastrophe to make another appearance." Adrien said. "Claws Out!"

Chloe sat with her father in a fancy restaurant, enjoying their meal together. She knew exactly why they were both there, even though her father's job kept him away unless it was for special occasions, the events of the previous day had given them both a scare, it made her feel special to know that her father just wanted to spend more time with her.

Their peace didn't last, however, as an unwelcome face broke through the window.

"Hello, everyone." Catastrophe smirked.

The response was screaming as everyone tried to run to the doors to escape.

Chloe quickly stood up as Catastrophe made his way over to her, placing herself in-between him and her dad.

"I won't let you hurt him." She said bravely.

"And what are you going to do? I don't see any flames around you this time." Catastrophe mocked.

Chloe flinched, suddenly very aware that she wasn't Royal Phoenix this time and suddenly much less brave.

"But don't worry, it's not him I'm after." Catastrophe smirked, grabbing hold of Chloe's arm.

Chloe cried out in pain as the claws dug into her skin.

"Unhand my daughter." The mayor demanded.

Catastrophe easily knocked him away.

"Daddy!" Chloe cried out in worry.

"Nothing personal." Catastrophe told her as he began to drag her out of the restaurant. "Well, I guess it is a bit. You see, I need a hostage, and who better than someone who I can make an example out of?"

"Get off!" Chloe tried to pull and scratch her way out of the villain's hold, to no avail.

"Hold still." Catastrophe told her.

Chloe's eyes widened in horror as he produced some duct tape from seemingly nowhere.

Marinette sat in the garden of Sanctuaire de la Dame, it still felt weird for her to acknowledge that it was her property, reading a book, her butterflies even rested on her and her wheelchair or fluttered around her, Nooroo was off somewhere in one of the flower patches.

The workers who were in charge of making the building liveable were currently on their own lunches, so she didn't have to worry about her Kwami being seen.

Her phone rang, disturbing the butterflies around her.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Where are you?" It was Alya.

"Uh, Aile crescent." Marinette answered. "Why?"

Alya sighed in relief. "Catastrophe's back, I wanted to make sure you were safe."

Marinette frowned at the news but was also confused. "Why would I be in danger?"

"Um, well…" Alya trailed off.

"Alya?" Marinette questioned sternly.

"He took Chloe, and I was worried that you might have met up with her, given that your friends." Alya said. "Marinette?"

"No, I'm fine, I wasn't with Chloe." Marinette told Alya. "I've got to go."

Marinette hung up before Alya could say anything else.

"Catastrophe again?" Nooroo asked as he flew over.

"Yeah. And he's using Chloe as the hostage this time. It's time to make a new Champion." Marinette said.

Looking around, she found herself too out in the open, so she pushed her wheelchair further into the property until she reached a small grove of trees that hid her from view.

"Alright. Nooroo, Wings Rise!"

Chapter Text

Nymph's throne was different. She couldn't help but notice that after she transformed.

Her new throne was more majestic than the one transformed from her computer chair, it was still shaped to give the impression of a butterfly, but the details were intricately carved, and there were arm rests now, also carved with swirling designs, and the legs of the throne were hidden by wispy material.

But Nymph had time to think about her new throne later, she needed to find a Champion to save Chloe.

Alya panted as she ran towards where all the commotion was, her phone at the ready to catch the new super villain attack, she shoved her way through the crowd of people until police tape stopped her from going any further.

"Man, I can't see anything from here." Ayla complained.

Looking around, Alya spotted a way past the police tape without being notice.

"Aha." She grinned triumphantly.

Manoeuvring out of the crowd, she snuck through the police's blind spot successfully, moving quickly until she reached the sight of all the action, positioning herself in a safer place while she began filming on her phone.

"Hey, Alya here with the current situation!" She said into her phone. "Paris' newest villain has struck yet again, this time taking hostage Chloe Bourgeois on the Eiffel tower."

She swung the camera around to the Eiffel tower where Chloe was dangling upside down from the middle, Catastrophe leaning against one of the metal beams.

"I know you're listening, Nymph!" Catastrophe shouted out. "I have your Champion. If you don't turn over your Miraculous, she drops! And if I see any of your Champions, well, splat."

Catastrophe let go of the rope holding Chloe to the tower, causing the girl to scream in fear as she suddenly dropped, before he grabbed hold of the rope again.

"You'll want to hurry, my arm's getting tired." He taunted.

"Are you saying I'm fat?" Chloe screamed in anger at the villain, forgetting her priorities.

"Fat? No." Catastrophe said. "It's your ego that's too heavy. In fact, it's so big that I don't think I can hold on any more."

Catastrophe let go of the rope again, and Chloe screamed as she was sent towards the ground.

Just before she could smash into the concrete, the rope around her went tight and she was jerked to a stop, and then began to rise again.

"Ha, your face." Catastrophe laughed, pulling the rope until Chloe was level again. "Now, stay quiet, or next time I won't bother to catch you."

Chloe was still recovering from her near impact with the ground to say anything, shock stealing away her voice.

"That's messed up!" Alya angrily declared from where she was filming. "Playing with her life like that."

She held no love for Chloe herself, the blond hadn't exactly left the best of first impressions on her, and despite her turning into Royal Phoenix and apologising for their first meeting, at least that was what Marinette said Chloe was trying to do, Alya could tell that they wouldn't be friends any time soon. But that didn't mean she wasn't currently getting angry at Chloe's mistreatment at the hands of Catastrophe.

"There must be something I could do." Alya said, looking to see if there was a way to get to Chloe without Catastrophe spotting her.

…

Nymph smiled, feeling the need to do right despite personal feelings glowing strongly within her new friend.

"The need to do something, to protect. This is what I need." She said, holding out her hand.

One of her butterflies fluttered down onto her finger and Nymph brought it to her lips, kissing it's wings gently to transfer her power into it.

"Go, my Tiānshǐ, give her the power to be a hero." She said.

The purple butterfly lifted off from her finger, flying into the sky and towards its target.

…

Alya still had her phone out, though it was no longer pointed at the action, she was too distracted to keep her arm up. It took her moment to notice the glowing purple butterfly making its way over to her, she'd only just recognised what it was just as it landed on her phone, sinking into it.

Alya gasped as Nymph's butterfly symbol appeared over her face and her vision faded to white, Nymph herself appearing before her.

"You want to help, don't you?" Nymph asked Alya gently.

Alya looked at her in awe before nodding. "Yes, I do." She clenched her free hand in determination. "You're going to give me the ability to do that, right?"

Nymph smiled.

"Yes I am." She answered. "I will give you the power to be a hero as my Champion. But, you must take Catastrophe's ring from him without hurting him, he is only a puppet in all this. Do you accept my gift?"

Alya nodded enthusiastically, grinning in excitement. "I do."

"Then, Lady Wi-Fi, go and be a hero." Nymph proclaimed.

Emerging from her phone, purple light enveloped Alya in a cocoon, and a few seconds later it broke open to reveal Lady Wi-Fi.

Lady Wi-Fi wore a black body suit with white boots and gloves with three white bands above each of them and a white belt that was slanted diagonally on her hips with a purple line running through the middle of it and a purple power button in the middle. Over the body suit she wore a purple crop top that went under her gloves, a white wi-fi signal symbol was emblazoned on the front of the top and attached to the back of the top was a short purple cape that went to her hips, and covering her face was a simple purple mask. Her phone had become a white wrist gauntlet with a black screen on the top.

Lady Wi-Fi looked over at the Eiffel tower before disappearing in a burst of pixels, adsorbing into a nearby wi-fi antenna.

Below the Eiffel tower, a cop's phone rang, causing disapproving looks to be shot his way, smiling sheepishly, he reached into his police car to turn it off.

"I'm sure I put it on silent." He muttered to himself.

As soon as he opened his phone to switch it off, he was surprised by Lady Wi-Fi re-materialising out of it.

"Stay back." Lady Wi-Fi instructed the officers. "I am Lady Wi-Fi, Champion of Lady Nymph. I'll handle this."

"Please, save my daughter." Mayor Bourgeois pleaded to Lady Wi-Fi as he appeared from the crowd of officers.

"Don't worry, I will." She assured.

Holding up her arm with the gauntlet, a purple fast-forward symbol appeared, with her other hand, Lady Wi-Fi swiped over it, causing it to fly out of the screen and enlarge in front of her. She hopped on it, the symbol acting as a hoverboard that took her towards Catastrophe and his hostage.

"Oh, hello." Catastrophe said as Lady Wi-Fi appeared in front of him.

"How about you let Chloe down gently, and we go settle this elsewhere?" Lady Wi-Fi proposed.

"And why should we do that, it's quite a view from here." Catastrophe toyed with the rope holding Chloe up.

"So we can talk. Maybe get rid of that corruption in that ring of yours." Lady Wi-Fi said, remembering what Marinette and Nymph had told her about Catastrophe.

Catastrophe looked at her in confusion. "What corruption?" He asked.

Lady Wi-Fi's eyes widened, she hadn't thought about Catastrophe not realising he was being corrupted, though it seemed obvious now.

Nymph's mark appeared over her face.

"You may be able to get through to him." She heard her Lady's voice. "Keep going, tell him!"

"You're being controlled." Lady Wi-Fi told Catastrophe. "That ring, it's making to do all of this. Is this really who you are, threatening the lives of others?"

Catastrophe looked at the ring on his finger and then at Chloe still dangling from the rope in his grip, contemplating the Champion's words. But then the ring on his finger pulsed darkly, and he didn't want to consider her words anymore.

Catastrophe's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I don't believe you." He hissed at Lady Wi-Fi. "You're just trying to trick me into giving up my ring! I'm the opposite of being controlled, this ring makes me free. And I'm not giving it up!"

Catastrophe lashed out at Lady Wi-Fi, inadvertently releasing his hold on the rope keeping Chloe up.

Chloe screamed as she was once again sent towards the ground.

"No!" Lady Wi-Fi screamed as she dodged Catastrophe's attack, watching the blond fall.

Her hand quickly went to her gauntlet, swiping the symbol that had appeared, sending it at Chloe while she took a kick from Catastrophe.

Chloe's screaming abruptly cut off, but there was no sound of impact accompanying her silenced screams.

The police officers and mayor looked in shock at Chloe Bourgeois, who was stuck a few metres in the air, frozen in time by the pause symbol Lady Wi-Fi had thrown at her.

"Good shot." Catastrophe complimented the Champion as they continued to fight.

Nymph's symbol appeared over Lady Wi-Fi's face again.

"It doesn't seem like words will work." Nymph guided her. "His ring is keeping him from listening, you'll have to take it by force."

Lady Wi-Fi nodded, bringing up the pause symbol on her gauntlet again.

"Why don't you try it out too?" She said, firing the symbol at Catastrophe.

Catastrophe slashed with his clawed gauntlet, dissipating the symbol.

"I'm not really one for staying still." He said.

"You will soon." Lady Wi-Fi shot back.

The two of them continued to fight, ducking in and out of the metal beams as they climbed higher, until they were stuck fighting at the top. Running into the room at the top of the tower, Lady Wi-Fi quickly doubled back under Catastrophe's legs as he chased her, kicking him in the back for further measure. She slammed the door closed behind her after running back outside, sending a lock symbol at the door to keep it closed. Catastrophe was quick to slam himself against the door.

"Okay, I need a better plan." Lady Wi-Fi said.

She looked back over the edge of the Eiffel tower, frowning when she saw the damage done to it in her fight against Catastrophe.

"We can't stay here, anymore and the tower's going to fall down." Lady Wi-Fi concluded, looking at the people down below.

Bringing up her wrist, she summoned her forward symbol again, hopping onto it and riding it to ground level. Underneath the tower, she spotted firemen attempting to reach Chloe, who was still frozen in the air.

"Don't worry, I've got her." Lady Wi-Fi said.

Bringing up the pause symbol on her gauntlet, she drew an X over it, causing the symbol on Chloe to disappear. Chloe's screams resumed as she once again dropped towards the ground, only to be caught by Lady Wi-Fi.

"Did you take care of Catastrophe?" One of the firemen asked, taking Chloe off the Champion to look her over for injuries.

"No, not yet." Lady Wi-Fi reported. "You need to clear out the area as far as you can, so no one gets caught in the crossfire."

"You heard the lady." The fireman said to his co-workers. "Come on, Miss Bourgeois, we need to get you to safety."

Chloe scowled but allowed herself to be taken away, looking back at Lady Wi-Fi longingly.

"Why didn't she choose me." Chloe pouted.

"That wasn't very nice." Catastrophe growled as he dropped to the ground, having finally broken out of the room he was locked in.

"You needed a time out." Lady Wi-Fi shrugged.

Catastrophe hissed, attacking with more ferocity, forcing Lady Wi-Fi to play defence. She grunted as she was launched backwards into a pole, it hurt, but it gave her the room she needed to launch her attacks again.

But when she went to bring up a symbol, nothing happened.

Lady Wi-Fi gasped, looking down at her gauntlet to find the screen blank, save for the signal bar that was showing no bars. She looked behind her to see that the pole she had been thrown into was a wi-fi antenna, which was now broken.

"What's wrong, your powers not working?" Catastrophe mocked her as he advanced.

Lady Wi-Fi gritted her teeth, looking for a way out of her situation.

"Alright, you got me, I surrender." She held up her hands.

Catastrophe eyed her disbelievingly.

"You're going to give up, just like that?" He asked.

"Yep." Lady Wi-Fi said. "I've been bested."

"If you're admitting defeat, then take me to Nymph." Catastrophe said, untrustingly.

"Alright." Lady Wi-Fi said.

With her hands still in the air, Lady Wi-Fi began to walk, Catastrophe behind her with his claw blades not far from her back. As they walked, Lady Wi-Fi kept an eye on her gauntlet.

She grinned when the signal bars returned.

Thinking quickly, she dove forwards, ensuring that she was out of the way of Catastrophe's blades.

"I knew it!" Catastrophe growled. "Get back here!"

"Only if you can catch me." Lady Wi-Fi called back.

She quickly ran towards the closest source of wi-fi, an abandoned phone, disappearing into it. Catastrophe grabbed the phone but crushed it in his grip when he realised Lady Wi-Fi wasn't in it.

Lady Wi-Fi popped out some distance away.

Looking around, she realised she was in a tech store, thankfully already evacuated.

"Well, this is convenient." She grinned, taking in all the laptops, phones and tablets.

Back with Catastrophe, he was getting increasingly angry, up-turning cars as if he'd find Nymph's Champion under one of them.

"Come out and fight me, you coward!" He growled.

He was interrupted from his destruction by a giant screen appearing in the sky, Lady Wi-Fi's face appearing on it.

"Looking for me, kitty cat?" Lady Wi-Fi spoke into the recording symbol in front of her, which was broadcasting her image onto the large screen. "Well, come and find me."

She stepped back from the screen, revealing the tech shop behind her, which she entered.

Catastrophe growled again, quickly heading to the location of the tech shop, stopping outside.

'This is probably a trap.' Said the rational part of his mind.

"I don't care." Catastrophe dismissed it, charging into the tech shop.

Inside, Lady Wi-Fi was no where to be seen, only rows and rows of phones, tablets and laptops.

As Catastrophe walked further inside, there was the familiar sound of Lady Wi-Fi's teleport, he swung around only to be kicked in the mask, and when he swung his claws the Champion had already disappeared back into pixels.

Lady Wi-Fi then popped out of another phone, attacking before disappearing back into pixels again before Catastrophe could counter attack.

"What's wrong?" Lady Wi-Fi taunted as she popped out of a tablet before disappearing. "Can't keep up." She popped out of a laptop.

Catastrophe growled as constant hits were rained down upon him, only barely able to dodge and block the symbols that were fired at him, he's already had to slip out of his coat after it'd been locked to the ground. He smashed every device that was in reach, but there were still many in the store for Lady Wi-Fi to come out of and then disappear back into for safety.

The fight came to an end when Lady Wi-Fi popped out of a laptop far behind Catastrophe that he'd forgotten to smash, firing a locking symbol at him. The symbol hit his clawed gauntlet arm from where it was raised to attack where the Champion had previously been, pinning it to the wall.

"Game's over." Lady Wi-Fi declared, walking confidently over to where Catastrophe was frantically trying to free his arm.

She reached for the pinned arm with her gauntlet arm, eyes on the corrupt Miraculous. But in the heat of victory, she'd forgotten that the villain only had one arm pinned.

Lady Wi-Fi gasped when Catastrophe's free hand latched onto her gauntlet, stopping her from reaching his ring, she then cried out in pain as he began to squeeze his hand. The gauntlet groaned, then cracked, and finally broke under the pressure.

Catastrophe released his grip, allowing Lady Wi-Fi to fall back, cradling her injured arm.

The Tiānshǐ fluttered out of the broken remains of the gauntlet, reverting the gauntlet back into a broken phone.

"No!" Lady Wi-Fi cried as purple light washed over her, reverting her back to Alya.

The Tiānshǐ flew as fast as it could away but was caught in a clawed hand. With Lady Wi-Fi gone, Catastrophe was no longer pinned.

"No you don't, little butterfly." Catastrophe said menacingly. "Cataclysm!"

Alya watched into horror as her Tiānshǐ flaked away in the villain's grasp, falling to the ground as dust.

…

Nymph seized up in her throne, gasping her chest. She then screamed in agony, tears forcing there way through her tightly screwed eyes. Disoriented in her pain, she fell from her throne, curling up on the grass. Around her, her butterflies drifted to the ground, some landing on her and attempting to offer comfort with their feelers and what little strength they had themselves. But Nymph was unaware of them, lost in her own world of pain.

Eventually, the pain receded, but Nymph remained where she lay, eyes now wide open as she shivered, struggling to breath.

She continued to lie there, even as her Miraculous beeped and her de-transformation washed over her, leaving Marinette lying next to her wheelchair.

…

Catastrophe dusted his hands to get rid of the remains of the Tiānshǐ.

"That was satisfying." He sighed.

He looked down at Alya, who was still cradling her arm while looking at the scattered dust that used to be her Tiānshǐ.

"Not even worth the bother." He decided, walking away.

Picking up his coat and putting it back on, Catastrophe left the tech shop, jumping away.

It took a while for the emergency services to arrive at the scene after deciding that Catastrophe was no longer a threat, finding Alya still on the floor and bundling her up in blankets. The siren on the ambulance screeched to life as it took her away to hospital.

Far away, Catastrophe landed in his room, turning back into Adrien.

A shadow in the corner of his room moved and he quickly whipped around, ready to go on the defensive, but relaxed when he saw it was his mysterious friend.

"What did you do?" The stranger demanded, sounding none too happy.

"I defeated Nymph's Champion." Adrien answered happily, not picking up on the stranger's dissatisfaction.

Slap!

Adrien's head was forced to the side, he lifted up his hand to feel the red mark beginning to form.

"You destroyed her Tiānshǐ!" The Stranger said angrily. "We need them to find their mistress, they are worth nothing as dust."

Adrien rubbed his cheek, looking at the stranger in betrayal.

"I'm…I'm sorry." He apologised. "I guess I got carried away. I'll do better next time."

"Good, because if you don't, I could easily give that ring to someone who won't fail me." The stranger threatened.

Adrien's hand quickly covered his ring, hiding it from view as he looked at the stranger in fear.

"Please, don't." He begged.

The stranger suddenly smiled. "I won't." The said in something attempting comfort. "I only want for you to use your ring properly and to listen to me, you shouldn't have to worry about anything as long as you do as I ask.

They walked up to Adrien, pulling him forcefully into a hug, resting the boy's head against their chest.

"I will be here for you, I am the guardian of the Miraculous, meaning I will also guide those who I choose as wielders." They said, stroking Adrien's hair.

The embrace was awkward, uncomfortable and Adrien did not feel welcomed by it, but it was the first hug he'd gotten in such a long time and he took a twisted sense of comfort from it.

"Thank you." He said.

Chapter Text

"Marinette?"

"Marinette!"

"MARINETTE!"

"Huh, what?" Marinette shot up in her wheelchair.

She looked up to see Chloe staring at her with a frown.

"You look terrible." Chloe said bluntly. "Are you alright?" She put a hand to Marinette's forehead.

Marinette took a few seconds to process what the blond was saying. In all honesty, she felt terrible, she couldn't even muster the strength to get to her seat.

She'd felt completely out of it ever since yesterday when Catastrophe…destroyed her Tiānshǐ, the lack of sleep after she'd managed to gather enough will to get home didn't help matters either. The worst part of it all had to be Nooroo though, loosing that Tiānshǐ had done something very bad to him.

"I'm fine, Chloe, I just didn't get any sleep." Marinette said.

Chloe eyed Marinette suspiciously, not believing her.

But she didn't have time to call Marinette out, as the classroom suddenly went extremely quiet.

Alya walked in through the door, her lower arm in a bandage, she kept her head down as she made her way to her seat, slumping down into it.

The whispers then started, everyone trying to talk about what happened as quietly as possible.

"Will she be alright?" Rose whispered to Juleka.

"Do you think that butterfly thing getting killed had a bad effect on her." Kim asked.

Marinette frowned.

"How does everyone know about what happened?" She asked.

"The tech shop where they fought released the security camera footage." Nino answered, stopping by Chloe's desk on the journey to his own. "Everyone knows what happened."

"Oh, no." Marinette said, looking up at Alya. "Help me up there." She turned to Nino.

"Uh, but I thought you were on one of your off days." He said, knowing that Marinette would have already been at her desk otherwise.

"Maybe, but I still want to be at my desk." Marinette said.

Nino shrugged and helped Marinette out of her wheelchair, he ended up supporting most her weight as Marinette didn't have the strength to support herself, but she thankfully didn't weigh that much.

Marinette sighed in relief as she was placed down in her seat next to Alya.

"Thanks." She said to Nino.

Nino tipped his cap and went to his own seat.

"Hey, Alya, are you alright?" Marinette asked her friend hesitantly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Alya looked up at her, smiling.

But Marinette could see how her smile was stretched and the bags under her eyes.

A quick glance down at Chloe showed the same expression she gave her whenever Marinette lied about her health.

Adrien entered the classroom, passing by the girls without them noticing him and sitting at his desk next to Nino.

"What's wrong?" He asked when he saw Nino's frown.

"I'm just worried about Alya." Nino said, prompting Adrien to look at said girl.

He frowned too when he saw the girl's injured arm and clearly tired expression, guilt building up inside him.

'I was too violent.' He admitted to himself, hand absentmindedly rubbing his cheek.

"I'm sure her arm will heal in no time." Adrien said. "Maybe we can send her a get well soon gift." He suggested. 'That's what you do in school, right?' He added in his head.

"It's not just her arm, dude." Nino said, shaking his head. "It's the Kaleidoscoop."

"Her blog about the new heroes?" Adrien asked. "What about it."

"It's been flooded with so many negative comments because she got defeated by Catastrophe." Nino explained, bringing out his phone to show Adrien the blog.

"'How are you meant to protect us when you can't even protect yourself', 'Nymph's not protecting us very well if she's choosing people like you as her champions', 'Go kill yourself you failure'. Geeze." Adrien was horrified as he read the comments left on Alya's blog.

"Yeah." Nino nodded in agreement. "There's a few good comments in here, like 'you tried your best' and 'don't listen to the haters'. But they seem to be drowned out by all the negativity and are hard to find."

"But it wasn't Alya's fault, Alya tried her best, Catastrophe just got the best of her." Adrien defended the girl he had defeated the previous day.

"That's people on the internet for you, dude." Nino sighed. "They say mean things because they can get away with it. I've tried telling Alya to just take down the blog or at least turn off the comments so she doesn't have to put up with them, but she said something about not censoring free speech and not wanting to show the commenters they're getting to her."

The two boys were then surprised by Chloe appearing in front of them, having overheard part of their conversation.

"What are they saying on her blog?" She demanded.

Nino just turned over his phone, allowing Chloe to read the comments for herself.

The blond's face scrunched up as she read.

"That's it!" She exploded.

She threw Nino's phone back at him, which he was barely able to catch, and marched over to her desk, packing up her bag and then picking up Marinette's.

"None of us are in any state to be in college today." Chloe declared. "I was dropped off the Eiffel Tower, you're clearly ready to fall over at any moment." She pointed at Marinette. "And you're injured." She pointed at Alya. "Sabrina, help Marinette to her wheelchair."

Marinette protested as Sabrina helped her out of her seat. "Chloe, I don't…"

"You are not fine, Marinette. You need to stop pushing yourself." Chloe cut off her protests.

Marinette stopped her protests and allowed herself to be taken to her wheelchair.

"Come on, you too." Chloe pulled Alya out of her seat when she saw that the girl wasn't moving.

Alya was barely able to grab her bag as she was pulled away.

"Sabrina, do you mind staying and taking notes for us?" She turned to her friend, remembering to phrase it as a question to appease Marinette.

"Oh, uh, sure, Chloe." Sabrina said.

"Let's go then." Chloe said, leading the way out the classroom, Marinette and Alya reluctantly following behind.

"What just happened?" Alya asked Marinette as they followed Chloe.

"Chloe tends to be a bit forceful, she usually does this if I try to come in when I'm having a really bad day." Marinette explained. "Chloe, what are we even doing?" She asked.

"We are having a sleepover, a day of relaxation to destress over what happened." Chloe proclaimed. "We'll stop at your places for essentials then go to mine."

Marinette and Alya felt as if they had no time to breath in the whirlwind of Chloe, and before they knew it, they were in Chloe's room at her father's hotel.

"Alright, I'll leave you to change into your pyjamas." Chloe said. "It's not a sleepover if you're in normal clothes. I'll go order the cook to make us some snacks."

Chloe then left.

"Uh, I'll go use her bathroom." Alya said, picking up her pyjamas "Will you be fine on your own?"

"Yeah." Marinette said.

Once Alya left, Marinette sighed and looked into her purse.

"How are you doing, Nooroo?" She asked.

Nooroo looked up weakly at her. "Still weak." He admitted.

"Would any food help?" Marinette asked.

Nooroo shook his head. "I don't feel like eating."

Marinette hummed. "This is bad. I can't transform with you like this, meaning I can't help if Catastrophe strikes again."

"Without the Guardian, we'll just have to hope I get better on my own." Nooroo said.

"Would there be anyway I could work out where the Guardian is?" Marinette asked, hoping she could help her Kwami in some way.

Nooroo only shook his head.

Sighing, Marinette gently put her purse to the side and changed into her pyjamas with practiced ease.

Alya quickly joined her and it wasn't long until Chloe was also back in the room.

"Alright, I've different flavours of ice cream coming up, you just have to tell Jean which you want, and chocolate brownie to accompany it." Chloe said. "As for movies, I've got a nice selection of romantic comedies lined up."

Alya watched as Chloe switched on her large TV, opening up a large selection of movies to scroll through.

"Why are you doing this?" She finally decided to ask.

"Hmm?" Chloe gave a questioning hum, not looking away from her search for the right movie.

"Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?" Alya reiterated. "We hardly know each other and didn't exactly start on the best of terms, yet you've dragged me to your place for an impromptu sleepover."

"I could already tell that you're as stubborn as Marinette, it's no wonder you two clicked so quickly actually. And I was already thinking of whisking Marinette after seeing her state, seeing how bad you were, I decided to bring you along too. I doubt you would have taken care of yourself properly if I'd left you alone." Chloe said.

"It's just a sprained wrist, I'm fine." Alya dismissed.

"Please, I've seen the comments on your blog, and no amount of make-up can hide those bags. You are far from fine." Chloe said pointedly.

A few years ago, Chloe would have been blind to the secret suffering of others, but after befriending Marinette she had learned the nuances of reading the face and body language for when Marinette was trying to get away with working hard when she was having a bad day.

Alya looked away, failing to comment.

"What comments?" Marinette asked.

"The usual stuff you expect from the monsters of the internet." Chloe didn't care to elaborate.

"Don't listen to those people, Alya." Marinette told her friend.

"Yeah." Chloe joined in the encouragement. "I mean, not everyone can be as great as I was, and I'm sure you tried your best…" She trailed off when she saw the cutting motion Marinette made from behind Alya.

"What Chloe is trying to say is, you have no reason to listen to what those people say." Marinette amended.

"But they're right." Alya finally broke. "Lady Nymph trusted me to defeat Catastrophe, but he defeated me instead. And worse, I let him destroy her Tiānshǐ."

"That wasn't your fault." Marinette insisted.

"You haven't seen the video." Alya countered. "I had him, he was pinned down. But instead of pinning his other arm, I all but gave him full access to my item to break."

Chloe opened her mouth but quickly closed it with a sharp look from Marinette. Alya definitely didn't need the blond's comments, whether she was trying to help or not.

"It was your first time as a hero, everyone makes mistakes." Marinette said.

"Royal Phoenix was Chloe first time as a hero and she didn't lose." Alya bit out.

"Catastrophe also got away from her." Marinette reminded.

"Hey!" Chloe protested.

Marinette bit her lip, realising that she'd offended her other friend slightly with that comment. But this was about making Alya feel better, and hopefully herself in turn.

"What I'm saying is, this is all still relatively new to everyone, Royal Phoenix caught Catastrophe off guard, while he was more prepared for Lady Wi-Fi. Whoever Nymph chose to be her second champion could have ended up the same way." Marinette continued.

"They could have also not let their Tiānshǐ be destroyed." Alya said.

Marinette sighed, Chloe was right about Alya being stubborn.

"Alya-" She began.

"You don't understand." Alya cut in. "I felt it. When Catastrophe destroyed my Tiānshǐ, I could feel Lady Nymph's pain as it turned to dust, and her suffering was because of me!"

"Now you listen here!" Chloe forced her way into the conversation, grabbing Alya's face to make the girl look her in the eye.

"It was not your fault the Tiānshǐ was destroyed! Did you want your item to be broken?"

"No." Alya answered.

"Were you the one to turn it into dust?"

"No." Alya tried to look away, but Chloe kept her looking at her.

"Then it is not your fault." Chloe declared. "So, stop blaming yourself. It's pathetic."

"Chloe!" Marinette exclaimed.

To her surprise, Alya laughed.

"Yeah, I guess it is." She said, wiping away tears. "I guess I listened to too many of the wrong people."

"That's right. Now, let's get you clean up, and then we can enjoy some ice-cream to cheer us up." Chloe said.

Chloe dragged Alya back into her bathroom to clean her face of tears.

"What just happened?" Marinette questioned.

Nooroo popped out of her purse, despite how weak he was.

"Sometimes, it takes someone who's tactless to get through to someone who's stubborn." He said. "If someone's clinging onto their self-doubt, they need to be forced to let go."

"I suppose." Marinette said. "I'm just glad it didn't backfire."

"Yeah." Nooroo nodded.

He disappeared back into Marinette's purse as Chloe and Alya returned.

The girls settled down with their ice-cream after it arrived, choosing a bad romance movie so that they could make fun of it as they watched.

"You should be sleeping."

Marinette looked over to Nooroo from where she sat up in the bed she was given for the sleepover.

Both Chloe and Alya were asleep, the girls had spent the entire day watching movies and eating snack food before settling down for the night.

"Sorry, I'm not feeling all that restful." Marinette said.

"Are you still feeling the effects?" Nooroo asked, climbing onto Marinette's lap and into her hands.

"A bit." Marinette admitted. "It's fading but it's still there."

Marinette placed a hand over her chest.

"It's always been hard on my chosen when they lose their Tiānshǐ, but you will be well again, soon enough." Nooroo told her.

"Will this happen again?" Marinette asked, biting her lip. "If Catastrophe destroys another of my Tiānshǐ?"

Nooroo shook his head. "You will still feel the sadness of loss, but now that it's happened once, you can cut yourself off before you feel the pain through the connection."

"It's still so sad, for my Tiānshǐ to lose its life like that." Marinette said.

"I know." Nooroo said. "That is one thing that never gets easier. They may be just butterflies, but we all still share a connection and they are ours."

Marinette looked over at Alya.

"Will she be okay?" She asked. "Did she get any feedback? She said that she felt my pain."

Nooroo shook his head. "The connection with your Champion had already broken with the breaking of her item, losing her Tiānshǐ wouldn't have affected her, what she felt was just echoes. Though, that doesn't make her mental trauma or injury any less real." He said.

"Yeah." Marinette agreed. "Chloe may have snapped her out of it, but I can tell she still feels guilty. Even when you know something isn't true, you can't help how you feel."

"The best you can do is continue being there for her." Nooroo advised. "And act as a buffer for those negative comments she's getting.

"I'll offer to take over management of her blog until it dies down and do some comment control while I'm at it." Marinette said. "Though, perhaps I can do a little something more." An idea came to her.

"What?" Nooroo asked.

"You'll see." Marinette smiled as she dragged herself over to Chloe's stationary draw.

Alya was the first to wake up in the morning, being unable to return to sleep.

She was about to take out her phone to busy herself until Marinette and Chloe woke up when she noticed something in the corner of her eye.

Walking over to a side table, she saw a white butterfly lazily flapping its wings, perched on top of an envelope.

'To Alya' It said on the envelope.

The butterfly fluttered off as Alya picked the envelope up, circling around her.

Alya opened the envelope and pulled out a letter, which she began to read.

'Dear Alya

I know you feel guilt for what happened, but I am here to tell you that you have no need to.

I do not blame you for the loss of my Tiānshǐ, so no one else should blame you either.

You are someone who is strong and kind, that is why I chose you in the first place. And I know that you will use that strength and kindness to do great things, even if it is without my guiding hand. Remember that you are what you make yourself to be, not what others say you are.

Know that those who accuse you have no place to judge, and so what they say should be discarded. All that matters is the encouragement of your friends, who will be there for you where I cannot.

Lovingly

Lady Nymph'

Next to the signature was a drawing of a purple butterfly.

A tear splashed down onto it.

Despite her tears, Alya smiled, her heart feeling lighter. Marinette and Chloe had already helped to pull it from the depths she had let it fall into, Nymph's letter had just helped it that little bit higher.

"Thank you." She said to the butterfly circling around her head.

It circled around her once more before flying out of the window.

Through a crack in her eyelid, Marinette watched Alya with a smile.

She then closed her eye, settling back down. She was still very tired.

Chapter Text

Marinette's head bopped to the music her computer was playing as she worked on her latest personal project, carefully pulling the needle in and out of the fabric.

After finishing a set of stitches, Marinette put her work down to eat some lunch. As she bit down into an apple, she turned to look at her Kwami.

Nooroo's own food sat untouched in front of him, the Kwami slumped over as if all energy had been sucked out of him.

"Come on, Nooroo." Marinette pleaded to him. "You need to eat something if you're going to get better."

"I just don't feel like it." Nooroo mumbled.

Marinette frowned, her Kwami wasn't getting any better.

The music video playing on her computer finished, giving way to some news.

"There have still been no leads on the attacker of an old man. The man was found in the early morning a week ago by joggers and was taken to the hospital in a critical condition but has since been stabilised. If you have any information on him or his attacker, please contact the police."

"Marinette! Pause that!" Nooroo suddenly burst to life.

Marinette paused the video feed, her screen frozen on the image of an old man lying on a hospital bed.

"What is it?" She asked her Kwami.

Nooroo flew over to the screen, faltering on the way from lack of energy.

"I know him." Nooroo said. "He was at the temple before I became separated from the others in the disaster."

"Does that mean he's the Guardian?" Marinette asked.

"He could be." Nooroo said. "But either way, he could help us."

"Let's go then." Marinette said.

She scooped Nooroo up and put him in her bag, pushing over to the chairlift and taking it downstairs.

"So, you're here to see mister Fu?" The receptionist at the hospital. "What is your relationship with him?"

"I'm his granddaughter." Marinette lied. "He lives on his own, so I only just found out about his accident."

"And what's your name?"

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

"Oh. Okay." The receptionist said, giving Marinette the room number she needed.

Marinette frowned slightly as she wheeled towards the lifts. Sometimes there was an advantage to being a minority as one could take advantage of assumptions, but it didn't make it feel any better.

"Are you ready, Nooroo?" Marinette asked her Kwami.

Nooroo nodded from her purse.

Marinette pushed herself into the room, where the old man from the TV lay, slightly propped up on the bed, seemingly asleep.

"Um, Mister Fu?"

Fu groaned before opening an eye and looking at Marinette.

"Oh, hello." He said. "What are you doing in here? I don't think you're a nurse." He smiled.

"You're Fu Wang, right?" Marinette asked. "From the order of the Guardians?"

Fu sat up straighter, wincing slightly in pain.

"How do you know that?" He asked.

"Because he told me to find you." Marinette said.

She opened her purse and gently lifted Nooroo out, showing the Kwami to the man.

Fu gasped.

"Nooroo? Is that really you?"

Marinette pushed herself over to the bed, placing her Kwami on the Guardian's open palm.

"Hello, Wang." Nooroo said. "You've grown a lot since we last saw each other."

"I didn't know if I'd ever see you again." Fu said. "I'm sorry for what happened."

Nooroo shook his head. "It's in the past. Right now, we need to focus on the present." He said.

"Right." Fu agreed.

He then looked at Marinette.

"Since you have Nooroo with you, I'm guessing that you're Nymph." He said to her.

Marinette looked at Nooroo, he nodded his head, and nodded her own.

"I am." She said.

"I will want to know how you found him, but that can wait for another time." Fu said. "What we should focus on now is Catastrophe and the other Miraculous."

"What happened?" Nooroo asked. "How did the Cat Miraculous fall into the hands of evil and become corrupted?"

"It's not just the Cat Miraculous." Fu admitted. "It's all of them. I was attacked and they were taken."

"No!" Nooroo cried.

"I'm afraid so." Fu said.

"So, it's not just the ring I have to find then?" Marinette asked.

"Right now, we only know the location of the ring, with Catastrophe. The other Miraculous' will still be with who attacked me, which is a mystery. They will have the Fox, Bee and Turtle, ready to use at any time."

"What about Duusu and Tikki?" Nooroo asked.

"As far as I know, the one who took the others don't have them, but I have no idea where they are either." Fu said. "The Peacock Miraculous has been missing for as long as you have, while Wayzz managed to hide away the earrings during my fight with the thief before he disappeared, but I don't know where."

"So, I need to look for earrings? What do they look like?" Marinette asked.

"They are red with five black spots." Fu answered.

"That should be easy to find." Marinette said with sarcasm.

"Nooroo will be able to recognise them." Fu assured. "If we manage to find the earrings and also someone with a good heart to give them to, you will have one more in the fight against Catastrophe as well as a way to undo the corruption placed on the ring."

"The Miraculous can do that?"

"One of Tikki's powers is purification. So, in the right conditions, she would be able to undo what has been done to Plagg and his Miraculous." Nooroo explained.

"That's good. I hadn't thought about what I'd do with the ring once I got it, just getting it off Catastrophe." Marinette said. "What about the other Miraculous'?"

"They will be revealed in time." Fu said. "If you manage to retrieve the ring, it is doubtless that another Miraculous will be corrupted to get it back. With any luck, this stranger will reveal themselves and you can take all of the Miraculous' at once before they are all corrupted."

Marinette sighed heavily, it seemed a lot for her to be expected to do.

"Don't worry." Nooroo assured her. "If we manage to find the Ladybug Miraculous, you'll have an ally to fight beside. And, remember, even without another Miraculous, you are never alone, you're Champion is with you just as you are with them."

Marinette smiled at her Kwami.

The moment was ruined by Nooroo suddenly coughing.

"Ah, yes, I had noticed you were sick." Fu said. "I probably should have helped you first." He looked around. "I don't have my usual therapy equipment, but I'm sure we can make do."

Fu had Marinette wheel around the room, picking up some medical objects and deposit them on his bed, he then fashioned them into a makeshift gong and stick.

Marinette then waited as Fu banged the gong and held his hands over Nooroo, performing some sort of meditation.

"That should do it." Fu eventually said.

"That's it?" Marinette asked in wonder.

"Nooroo's energy was out of sorts, it just needed to be balanced. He should show improvement soon." Fu said.

Marinette took Nooroo from him.

"How are you feeling?" She asked her Kwami.

"Hungry." Nooroo said, accompanied by his belly rumbling.

Marinette and Fu laughed.

"I better get him some food." Marinette said. "Thank you."

"You are welcome." Fu said. "Come back soon."

Marinette nodded and pushed herself out of the room.

Marinette inspected the window of a second-hand shop, looking over the jewellery on display.

"Do you think this is the best way to find them?" Nooroo asked as he munched on the grapes from a fruit cup.

"It's the best place I can think for them showing up." Marinette answered. "It's most likely that they're just lying around in a tree or something, but hopefully someone found them and gave them to one of these shops. Is there anyway of tracking them down?"

"Unfortunately not." Nooroo answered. "If they are lying around in some random place, one of our butterflies will hopefully find and tell us."

He looked up to see one of his butterflies flying overhead, most of them were out scouring the city for any hint of the red and black earrings. But even with an entire army of searchers, the chances of finding the earrings was very small.

"I wonder if I can make a champion with the ability to find the Miraculous' for me." Marinette muttered to herself, not being serious.

"Hey, Mari! What are you doing?"

Marinette turned her head to see Chloe and Alya walking towards her.

"Hey. What are you two doing together?" She asked suspiciously.

Chloe and Alya may have become closer due to the sleepover, but Marinette hadn't expected them to be around each other of their own will just yet.

"Sabrina wasn't available, I can't remember why." Chloe said. "I saw Alya and thought hanging around her was better than being alone."

"Gee, thanks." Alya said sarcastically.

"So, what are you looking for? And why are looking in a second-hand shop?" Chloe asked.

"Oh, uh. I'm looking for a pair of earrings." Marinette said.

"Why not go to a jewellery shop then, they'll give you much better that anything here?" Chloe's nose scrunched up in distaste.

"It's something specific that someone I know lost, so I'm hoping they'll turn up in one of these shops." Marinette explained.

"What do they look like?" Alya asked.

"Red with black dots, they're meant to look like ladybug shells." Marinette said, hoping she wasn't risking anything in telling her friends.

"You certainly have your work cut out for you." Alya said. "Well, I happen to spot them, I'll tell you."

"Thanks." Marinette said.

"Anyway." Chloe interrupted. "I have something to show you." She sang.

"What?" Marinette asked.

"Follow me." Chloe said.

Chloe led Marinette and Alya through the city, as she pushed her chair, Marinette realised that the path was familiar. Eventually, they arrived at Sanctuaire de la Dame and Chloe pushed the gate open.

"Tada!" She held her hands open to the building.

"What?" Marinette asked, wondering why Chloe was showing her the building.

"Notice anything different?" Chloe hinted.

"Uh…" Marinette stared at the building. "Oh, the scaffolding's gone."

"Yep!" Chloe said happily. "They just finished renovations today. Your property is now perfectly liveable."

"Wait." Alya said. "Her property?"

"Yes, Marinette's property." Chloe said proudly. "She inherited it. But we tragically couldn't do anything with it due to renovations that needed to be done."

"You didn't say this was yours." Alya said to Marinette.

"I didn't want to seem like I was boasting." Marinette explained.

"Enough chat, let's go inside." Chloe said.

They opened the door using a key Chloe had, citing that Marinette said she could have a copy when asked by Alya.

The main hall wasn't much different that when Marinette had last been there, though there were some areas where work had been done such as the walls. And Chloe explained as they explored about the modern wiring and pipes that had been installed and the renovations that had to be done to accommodate for them.

"Ugh." Chloe complained as she took in the dust and dirt that caked everything. "Did they not bother to even brush after they were done? We'll need to hire a cleaning crew as soon as possible."

"What are you even going to do with this place?" Alya asked as she looked around.

"I don't know." Marinette admitted. "My family and I are happy where we live, so we're not going to move in. I do like the gardens, but I don't know what else I could use this place for."

"I'll tell you what we're going to use this place for." Chloe said. "A party. To celebrate the renovations finally being finished."

"I don't know." Marinette said hesitantly.

"Come on. You've got this huge building, you may as well use it." Chloe begged. "You might even get an idea for how to use this place while you're at it."

Marinette sighed. "Fine." She said.

Chloe smiled in victory.

"But…" Marinette help up her hand. "I want everyone from the college to be invited, no leaving anyone out, no matter how much you don't like them."

Chloe pouted. "Fine." She acquiesced.

Chloe then stepped out with her phone to begin the preparations.

"You should tell her no if you don't want a party." Alya advised.

"I would." Marinette said. "But I don't really mind. Like Chloe said, I may as well use it for something. The best I can think of is to rent it out to other people, but I have no experience in that area."

"Marinette the landlady." Alya joked, holding her hands out as if she was imagining it.

"Definitely can't see that." Marinette joked back.

Marinette pushed herself towards the new lift.

"Come on, we haven't checked out the top floors yet." She said.

Chapter Text

"Make sure to come."

"I want to see you there."

"Bring…something."

Chloe wandered around the courtyard, handing out invitations to Marinette's house warming party. Well, it was more that Sabrina handed them out while Chloe advertised the party.

Leaving Chloe to her party planning, Marinette took the lift to the next floor and wheeled into her classroom, where her classmates were already talking about the party.

"Will we have to bring anything?" Mylene asked.

"I wonder if we'll have to dress up." Rose said.

"It looks like everyone in the college is getting invited." Nino observed, looking over his own invite.

"Not everyone." Adrien commented.

Marinette took notice of his distinct lack of invite.

"I guess she still doesn't feel like going near him yet." She said to herself, wheeling over.

"Hey, Adrien." Marinette said, catching the boy's attention.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"I'd be happy if you came too." Marinette handed Adrien one of the spare invites she had in her bag.

"Oh." Adrien said. "Thank you." He then faltered. "Are you sure?"

Marinette smiled at him. "Of course. It's my party and I want everyone to attend. I better see you there." She said in mock seriousness, wheeling away.

Adrien watched as she parked her wheelchair and then used her crutches to lift herself to her seat, taking note of the determination on her face as she did so, sitting down and chatting with Alya.

"Looks like someone's lovestruck." Nino's voice startled him.

"What?" Adrien asked. "I'm not." He denied.

"Dude, you were smiling while watching her." Nino pointed out.

"So? She was being nice." Adrien defended.

"Whatever you say, dude." Nino said, clearly not believing him.

Adrien pouted while going over Nino's words, now thoroughly confused by his own feelings.

Chloe entered into the classroom, smiling happily, looking around the room at everyone holding their invites. She then frowned when she spotted a certain redhead with his head down at the back of the classroom, in fact, she didn't remember him getting an invite. Not wanting Marinette to think she deliberately excluded the boy, she grabbed one of the invites and headed to the back of the classroom.

As she walked, she saw that Nathaniel was bent over one of his sketch books like usual, doodling away. Curious as to what he was drawing, he quietened her approach to look over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" She asked loudly in his ear, smirking when he shot up in shock.

She took the opportunity to peer at the page he was working on.

There were two figures on each page, superheroes going off the costumes, one page had them back to back like they were fighting something and the other had them in an embrace. The female had Marinette's pigtails and metal braces around her legs, the other had red hair like Nathaniel's.

"You know that drawing someone without their permission is seriously creepy, right?" Chloe told Nathaniel.

Nathaniel quickly covered up his work.

"I was just using her as inspiration." He defended quietly.

"Inspiration?" Chloe said in disbelief.

She snatched the book from under him before he could stop her and showed the pages.

"This is pretty much Marinette with a mask." Chloe said. "And it's obvious that this other person is you. Are you really crushing so hard that you have to draw the both of you together?"

Nathaniel snatched the sketchbook back.

"It's none of your business." He said.

"A boy has no worth if he can't admit his feeling straight to a girl's face." Chloe said, folding her arms.

"I could." Nathaniel said defensively.

"Then why don't you?" Chloe goaded. "Marinette's right there. Go tell her how you feel. Unless you don't have the balls to do it."

Nathaniel went silent, looking down.

Chloe laughed. "Ha, knew you wouldn't have the-"

She was cut off by Nathaniel shooting up in his seat and walking over to Marinette.

"Oh, hey, Nathaniel." Marinette greeted. "What can I help you with?"

"Well, uh…" Nathaniel fumbled.

Marinette looked at him patiently.

"You see…would you…" Nathaniel became aware of the stares from everyone in the classroom, making it harder to speak.

"Would you…" Nathaniel quietly mumbled.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch what you said." Marinette said.

"Would you…Would you…" He tried again, looking up to see everyone staring at him. "Would you like to go on a date with me!?" He suddenly said loudly, surprising himself.

Marinette didn't respond at first, clearly shocked. Whispers of their classmates began to fill the silence.

Nathaniel quickly turned red, hiding his face.

"Sorry." He apologised. "It's alright if you don't want to, I shouldn't have asked you in such a way-"

"It's alright." Marinette cut him off.

Nathaniel looked up to see Marinette smiling at him.

"You can take me on a date." Marinette told him.

"Really?" Nathaniel breathed.

"Sure." Marinette smiled. "How about we go somewhere after college?" She offered.

"Yeah, okay." Nathaniel smiled. "I'll pick you up then."

On shaky legs, Nathaniel went back to his seat.

"Well," Chloe commented, still standing by his desk. "Turns out you do have the balls after all. Bravo. Here's your invite, by the way."

Chloe handed Nathaniel the invite and then headed back to her own desk.

It was lunchtime and Nathaniel sat on one of the college benches, still trying to process that he had an actual date with Marinette, many of his classmates were crowded around him.

"Man, I can't believe how you asked Marinette out on a date in front of everyone like that, you've got a lot of courage." Kim said in approval.

"I don't know, it kind of put her in a spot. Don't you think?" Mylene pointed out. "Having to accept or reject you in front of everyone."

"I didn't mean to put her on the spot like that." Nathaniel defended. "I just wanted to prove to Chloe that I could and didn't think things through."

"Ah." Everyone said in understanding.

"Well, regardless of that, you have a date." Kim dismissed. "Where are you planning of taking her?"

"Well…I…don't know, I wasn't really thinking about that sort of stuff." Nathaniel said, starting to panic. "Where could I even take her, what sort of stuff does she like?"

"Calm down." Ivan placed a hand on his shoulder. "Panicking won't help you."

Nathaniel took a deep breath. "Yeah, you're right." He agreed.

"You could take her somewhere really romantic, like to a classy restaurant or on a boat ride." Rose said eagerly.

"Don't you think that would be too much?" Juleka pointed out.

"I have read that going too far on the first date could intimidate your date and turn them off." Mylene agreed. "It's best if you go with something simpler."

"That still doesn't tell me where I could take her." Nathaniel said.

"How about the louvre?" Max suggested, looking at his phone. "They're having a fashion exhibit."

He showed Nathaniel his phone with the ad for the exhibit.

"That's perfect." Nathaniel smiled.

Across the courtyard, Adrien was trying very hard not to scowl as he watched the group help Nathaniel to plan his date.

"Tough luck, dude." Nino said in sympathy, patting his shoulder.

"I didn't even get a chance." Adrien mumbled to himself. "Why'd she even accept the date?"

"Marinette's a nice girl, she wouldn't have turned him down in front of the entire class like that." Nino told him. "Cheer up, though. There's a chance it won't work out."

"There is?" Adrien asked hopefully, causing Nino to shake his head at how obvious Adrien was being.

"Yeah. They may have similar interests in arts, but I don't really see Marinette and Nathaniel as a couple. If Marinette doesn't develop any romantic feelings for Nathaniel after a date or two, she'll tell him."

"So, they're date might not go well?" Adrien asked.

Nino shrugged.

"We'll just have to wait and see." He said. "Are you coming to lunch?"

"I wish, I have to go home." Adrien said. "I'll see you after lunch."

Adrien walked off, an idea forming in his mind as he climbed into the waiting limo.

"So, do you have anything in mind for our date?" Marinette asked Nathaniel as the two of them left college together at the end of the day.

"Well, there's a new exhibition at the louvre." Nathaniel said. "So, I was thinking that we could go there."

"Sounds good." Marinette smiled. "I've been meaning to go."

"Right." Nathaniel blushed. "Do you want to take a bus or…?"

"I'm fine with making our own way there." Marinette said. "I prefer the fresh air."

"Okay." Nathaniel nodded.

Behind the two of them, three girls spied out of the college doors.

"Why are we spying on them again?" Alya asked.

"To make sure that nothing happens." Chloe told her.

"Nathaniel seems like a nice guy, I don't think he's going to try anything with her." Alya rolled her eyes.

"You never know." Chloe said. "He was being creepy and drawing her in his sketchbook without her knowing.

"I still say you're overreacting." Alya said.

Chloe left the building, following the pair with Sabrina following behind. Alya reluctantly followed along, mostly to make sure Chloe didn't do anything.

Meanwhile, Marinette and Nathaniel continued making their way to the louvre.

"So, I'm guessing the party was Chloe's idea." Nathaniel started a conversation.

"Yeah, she was insistent, and I don't mind it." Marinette said. "I don't really have any use for the building anyway, I only keep it for the garden, so I don't see why Chloe can't throw parties there."

"Really? No use for a giant building that's also protected if I remember correctly?" Nathaniel asked.

Marinette shook her head.

"I'm thinking of maybe renting it out when I'm older." She said. "But that's about it."

"You could use it for a studio." Nathaniel suggested. "I mean, you are into fashion designing, aren't you?"

"I suppose, it would be nice to have more room to store all of my materials, my room does tend to get a bit cluttered when I'm working on a project. But I'd only need to use one or two of the rooms, that still leaves the rest of the building." Marinette said.

Nathaniel nodded.

"So, what are you doing at the moment?" Marinette asked.

"I'm currently focusing my studies on art and care." Nathaniel said.

"Care? I didn't realise you were interested in looking after people."

"I'm not really. But when that career councillor came in, he explained to me that it may not be the best idea to focus all of my career plans on art as things could get in the way, like artist's block or struggling to find someone to hire me. He told me that it would be a good idea to find a secondary profession that I can fall back on when I struggle with art, and since I have experience looking after my grandma, I chose care."

"Wow, I never thought of it like that. Do you think I'll need to find a second profession too?"

Nathaniel shrugged.

"I think people would be more willing to commission clothes than art." He said.

"Don't worry about it, I've heard that a lot of people have been able to make their own work online, so the both of us might not have to even worry." Marinette said.

"I guess you're right." Nathaniel shrugged.

The two of them talked more about different topics until they reached the louvre, bought their tickets and went inside.

…

When Adrien got home, he was told to do his homework and then left to his own devices by Natalie, which suited him just fine.

"Let's see how well their little date goes with a visit from Catastrophe." Adrien said once he was alone in his room. "Claws Out!"

Catastrophe left the Agreste mansion and quickly made his way over the rooftops of Paris, paying no mind to the screams of the people below who spotted him.

…

"Those were some really beautiful clothes." Marinette said and she and Nathaniel left the new exhibit. "Though, I've got to question how someone would even wear that one with all the hoops."

"Honestly, I've got to question how anyone would where any of that." Nathaniel said. "Put me in any one of those things and I'd feel ridiculous."

"Fashion can sometimes be more about wearable art than practicality." Marinette explained.

"I'd still feel ridiculous." Nathaniel replied.

They then both laughed.

"So, how about we get something from the shop and tour around the rest of the louvre while we're here?" Nathaniel suggested.

"That sounds good." Marinette said. "Though, I'll probably only be able to buy a tea with how expensive everything is here."

Nathaniel nodded in agreement.

The two went to the louvre café and giftshop, Marinette bought her tea while Nathaniel decided to buy one of the paint brushes there, he'd been needing to get a new one anyway.

Before Marinette could even suggest which exhibit they could visit next, screams were heard outside of the shop, people running rampant.

"What's going on?" Nathaniel asked.

He got his answer when they spotted Catastrophe casually strolling through the louvre towards them, people running away from him.

"Oh no!" Marinette gasped.

"Excuse me for interrupting your lovely date, ladies." Catastrophe grinned as he walked over to them. "But it's time for my next attack and I need some hostages to draw out some heroes."

Nathaniel positioned himself in front of Marinette.

"I won't let you touch her." He said more bravely than he felt.

"Aw, how cute." Catastrophe mocked, grabbing Nathaniel by the front of his shirt and lifting him up. "What are you going to do, draw me into submission?"

"Let him go!" Marinette demanded.

"Well, if the princess demands it." Catastrophe shrugged.

He threw Nathaniel to the ground, causing the boy to grunt as he made impact.

Catastrophe stalked over to Marinette, who stared back at him challengingly.

"You know, the proper reaction to me would be fear." Catastrophe told her.

"What, you're going to hurt someone in a wheelchair." Marinette challenged back.

Catastrophe didn't have time to answer as Nathaniel slammed into him, knocking the villain away from Marinette.

"Let's get out of here." Nathaniel said, holding the arm that he used to slam into Catastrophe.

He grabbed the handlebars of Marinette's wheelchair and began to push, but Catastrophe had already recovered and blocked their escape.

"Going somewhere?" He hissed at Nathaniel.

His attack was stopped by three fire extinguishers going off in his face, being held by Chloe, Alya and Sabrina.

"Get Marinette out of here." Alya ordered Nathaniel.

"Right." Nathaniel agreed.

He quickly pushed Marinette's chair and the two of them escaped out of the door.

"I hope the girls will be alright." Marinette worried as she was pushed along.

When Chloe, Alya and Sabrina's fire extinguishers ran out, the girls quickly bid their own retreat with the mist from the extinguishers hiding where they went from Catastrophe, Alya throwing her own extinguisher in the general direction of the villain before running for good measure.

As the girls ran they heard Catastrophe's roar of anger.

"We shouldn't have done that." Sabrina worried. "We need to get out of here."

"We need to find Marinette." Alya disagreed.

"Marinette's not going to get that far in a wheelchair." Chloe sided with Alya.

"She has Nathaniel with her, he'll protect her." Sabrina argued.

"Because he did such a good job before." Chloe said sarcastically.

"We're not going to do much better." Sabrina said reasonably. "It's best if we leave and wait for Nymph to choose her Champion."

The other girls were visibly conflicted, their self-preservation demanding that they leave with Sabrina while their concern for their friend told them to go after her.

"She and Nathaniel will probably be outside already anyway." Sabrina coerced. "We should join them."

She grabbed Chloe's arm and pulled her along, the blond reluctantly allowing herself to be taken towards the exit, Alya also reluctantly following.

"I could take him on if Lady Nymph made me Royal Phoenix again." Chloe muttered to herself as they left.

Nathaniel pushed Marinette's chair as hard as he could while constantly checking behind him to see if Catastrophe was giving chase.

"Why did I run this way." Nathaniel chastised himself. "The exit had been right there."

"Don't worry about that now, Nathaniel, we'll just have to find a place to hide." Marinette told him.

She was currently thinking of how she could separate from Nathaniel to become Nymph and make a Champion to stop Catastrophe, wondering if she would have to let Nathaniel in on her secret.

"Catastrophe may not even be after us anymore." Marinette continued. "I'm more worried about the girls, they're the ones who helped us get away."

"Hopefully they ran as soon as we did and had the common sense to run for the exit." Nathaniel said.

Nathaniel eventually came to a stop, pushing Marinette's chair so hard had been exhausting and he didn't know if he could run anymore.

"Do you think we got away?" Nathaniel dared to asked.

"Where are you? I'll hunt you down and string you up!" They heard Catastrophe's yell echo through the halls.

"You think that was for us or the girls?" Marinette asked.

"Either way, we're in trouble, and we won't get very far if he spots us." Nathaniel said.

He then spotted a door leading into an empty room most likely used for hiring out, and when he tested the handle it was thankfully unlocked, so he pushed Marinette inside.

"Stay here." He told her, pushing her chair until she was out of view of the door.

"Where are you going?" Marinette asked.

"If he is looking for us, we can't hide in here forever, so I'm going to draw him away from you." Nathaniel told her.

"Are you crazy?" Marinette questioned, grabbing his arm. "You'll get hurt."

"Better than you getting hurt." Nathaniel told her. "I can run away if he finds me, you can't."

He managed to slip out of her grip.

"I'll be fine." He told her.

His eyes betrayed just how afraid he really was.

He then left the room before Marinette could protest or he could lose his nerve.

"He's suicidal!" Marinette complained.

"But brave." Nooroo said. "We need to hurry, you can save him by turning him into a Champion."

"Right." Marinette said.

She wheeled over to the window and managed to open it, letting the swarm of butterflies that had been waiting outside into the room.

"Nooroo! Wings Rise!" She then called out.

Nooroo was pulled into her broach and the butterflies swarmed Marinette, leaving Nymph in her place when they scattered.

"Right." Nymph said, holding out her hand for a butterfly to land on. "Let's give Nathaniel some help."

Nathaniel panted as he ran through the Louvre, grabbing a pole to make a harsh turn. Catastrophe followed after him, calmly following his mad scramble like a cat stalking its prey.

"Come on, run a little faster." Catastrophe taunted. "I barely have to try."

Entering into a wide-open exhibit room, Nathaniel realised that he'd reached a dead-end, much to his horror. Thinking quickly, he ducked behind one of the displays just before Catastrophe entered the room after him.

"Looks like the little mouse has no where left to run." Catastrophe grinned. "So, where are you hiding?"

Nathaniel held his breath while trying his best to keep track of where Catastrophe was. If he was lucky, the villain would walk past his hiding place and he would be able to run back out the way he had come.

Catastrophe was obviously enjoying the situation, stalking through the exhibit and dragging his claws across the walls.

Nathaniel was then distracted from his escape plan by something fluttering in front of his face, a light purple butterfly. It danced in front of his face for a moment before landing on the paintbrush, that he had somehow managed to keep a hold of the entire time, sinking into it.

Nathaniel gasped lightly as he found himself in a field of white, a purple figure standing out from the white as she floated in front of him. Her smile brought comfort and carried away the fear he felt, he found himself smiling back.

"You willingly put yourself in danger to protect someone else." Nymph told him. "But now I can give you the power to protect yourself. Do you accept this gift?"

"I do." Nathaniel whispered, still entranced by Nymph.

Nymph and the white void faded away as purple light emerged from Nathaniel's paintbrush, enveloping him in a cocoon.

Catastrophe growled as he saw the light, understanding what it meant, and ran over, but the transformation was already complete by the time he reached Nathaniel's hiding space and he was kicked away by the new Champion.

The Champion wore a sleeveless white hoodie with black lines decorating it and a symbol consisting of red, yellow and blue circles within a black circle on his chest, a red short-sleeved shirt underneath, white elbow length gloves with black lines that only covered his ring and pinkie fingers, and black pants that faded to red at the bottom and were connected to his shoes. His hair was separated out at many places and tipped purple with a black beret on top, and the top half of his face looked line someone had spray-painted white and violet paint over his eyes.

"Who's the mouse now?" Illustrator asked confidently, twirling his paintbrush in-between his fingers.

Catastrophe growled and leapt at him only to hit a barrier created by Illustrator's paintbrush.

"Bad kitty." Illustrator said, painting a cage in the air using his paintbrush.

Said cage then fell down on top of Catastrophe.

But the cage didn't hold Catastrophe for long as he used his claw-blades to begin slicing through the bars. So, Illustrator painted several more cages, each bigger than the last, that fell on top of each other, creating several layers of bars.

"You may be able to trap him, but it means you can't reach his ring." Nymph communicated with Illustrator.

Illustrator narrowed his eyes, trying to come up with a way that would allow him to reach Catastrophe's ring while said villain made his way through the layers of bars.

He could try to draw chains around Catastrophe, so he'd be able to get to the ring without getting swiped at, but he doubted the villain would stay still enough for him to draw the chains since they were more complex to draw than a cage.

It was just typical, he now had the power to draw anything he wanted into real life, and he was blanking on what he could do with it.

And there was also the matter that their current battleground was the Louvre. Where Alix's family lived and worked, that held countless pieces of priceless art, and where Marinette was still hiding out in one of the rooms. Illustrator did not want to continue their fight here when Catastrophe managed to cut through his cages, lest irreparable damage occurred.

"Catch me if you can, kitty cat." Illustrator taunted before turning tail and running out of the room.

There was the sound of the bars of the final cage being broken as Illustrator ran.

"Where can I go?" Illustrator questioned himself, trying to think of a place to fight Catastrophe.

He needed somewhere open with not a lot of property to destroy and even less people around to get hurt. The question was whether he would reach a safe place to fight, as he heard Catastrophe gaining behind him.

Spotting the archway at the end of the hall that led into the main area of the louvre, Illustrator quickly formed an idea to buy himself more time. He held up his paintbrush as he ran and began painting in the air. At the end of the hallway the outline of bricks began appearing, filling up the archway.

Illustrator could practically feel Catastrophe scratching at his back as he finished the wall of bricks, which began to fill in with colour and become real. At the last moment, Illustrator made a running leap through drawn bricks just before they filled in, barely making it through in time as they finished filling in behind him. He heard a slam on the other side of the wall, Catastrophe obviously hadn't managed to stop in time. Illustrator had to grin at that.

"Question is, will he waste his cataclysm to get through it?" Illustrator questioned aloud.

Illustrator stared at the wall, but it didn't crumble to dust, meaning the villain had decided to find another way around rather than waste his power.

"Time to get a head start out of here then, but where can I go?" Illustrator questioned.

"Find somewhere where you have an advantage due to your powers but where Catastrophe has less to work with." Nymph advised him. "And make sure not to let him near you, otherwise he could break your brush."

"Somewhere I'll have the advantage, it needs to be wide open and not a lot of people around to get hurt." Illustrator said to himself.

He looked up around for ideas and spotted a postcard rack that had been toppled over, some of the cards displaying Paris' famous river.

"The Seine!" Illustation realised.

Illustrator didn't waste any time, as soon as he realised where he had to go, he drew himself a hoverboard (it was so cool that he could just bring something like that into existence), hopped on it, and flew out of the louvre through the broken glass ceiling no doubt caused by Catastrophe.

"I just hope he follows me and doesn't try for another hostage." Illustrator said to himself, stopping to hover above the louvre to see if Catastrophe had followed him out.

Illustrator waited.

"Where is he?" He said in frustration.

Staying still in the air while he waited turned out to be a mistake as Illustrator was suddenly tackled from behind, Catastrophe having climbed up the building behind him without the Champion noticing.

Illustrator grunted as he landed on the roof of the louvre, Catastrophe pinning him down.

"Looks like this chase has come to an end." Catastrophe grinned down at him.

Illustrator struggled under him but was unsuccessful in getting loose, and his hands were pinned down under Catastrophe's, meaning he couldn't paint anything to help him.

Catastrophe moved Illustrator's hands so that both wrists were captures in on hand while the other moved to take the Champion's paintbrush.

"Oh no. This is too suggestive for my tastes." Illustrator grunted.

Illustrator brought his leg up and Catastrophe cried out in pain and went stiff as it landed hard in between his legs.

"I guess your suit doesn't protect you there." Illustrator grinned.

He managed to free his hands and push Catastrophe off of him, rolling away while the villain was in too much pain to stop him.

"That's the second time that happened." Catastrophe wheezed as he climbed to his feet, nursing his pride.

Catastrophe glared daggers at Illustrator as the Champion drew himself another hoverboard and hopped on it.

"You're going to pay for that!" The villain promised murder.

"You'll have to catch me first." Illustrator baited, taking off.

Illustrator headed towards the sein, Catastrophe hot on his heels.

"Good news is, he's following me. Bad news is, if he catches me again I'm likely to die." Illustrator said to himself. "I'm alright as long as I stay out of his reach, right?" He asked Nymph.

"Unfortunately, no." Nymph answered him. "Aside from things that he can throw at you, he should have a staff capable of extending to an impossible length. The corruption must have changed his weapon to those claws, but they could be capable of extending as well."

"Great." Illustrator mumbled sarcastically.

As soon as the Seine came into sight, Illustrator took his brush and began drawing, the outline of his piece of work appearing down in the water.

Illustrator then landed on his barge boat as it finished materialising, Catastrophe landing on the opposite end a few seconds later. The boat then drifted away from the edge of the dock and down the river.

"Alright, no more running." Illustrator promised as he drew himself a shield. "We end this here."

Catastrophe laughed. "Finally."

Catastrophe wasted no time in attacking, his clawed blades clashing with Illustrator's shield. Illustrator ducked away and out of range, Catastrophe quickly attacking again.

It went on for a few minutes like that, Catastrophe attacking and Illustrator blocking and dodging out of the way, occasionally drawing himself a platform extension to the boat to dodge onto or a new shield after Catastrophe's claws managed to slice through his current one.

"Stop defending and fight!" Catastrophe order in frustration.

"I'm happy letting you waste energy." Illustrator smirked, his paintbrush pointed towards the floor behind him.

Finally, Catastrophe stabbed his claws through Illustrator's shield, wrenching it from the Champion's hand, which left the villain with the issue of the shield being stuck on his claws.

Catastrophe grunted as he waved his arm frantically, trying to dislodge the shield.

"Try retracting your claws." Illustrator recommended.

"Oh, yeah." Catastrophe realised.

His claws retracted back into the gauntlet on his wrist, the shield dropping to the floor.

"Thanks." Catastrophe said. "Now, back to the fight."

Catastrophe went to step forward but found that he couldn't move. Looking down, he found chains around his ankles, bolting him to the boat.

"You really think all I was doing was defending?" Illustrator asked, waving his brush around. "I just needed to get you to stay still for long enough to materialise those chains around you."

Catastrophe raised his arm, but before he could withdraw his claw blades again, he felt something heavy wrap around his arm. He brought his arm down to stare at the putty like substance wrapped around his gauntlet, frowning when he couldn't get his claws to come out.

"Now you can't cut through your chains." Illustrator said. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"I'll tell you what I'll do." Catastrophe snarled. "Cataclysm!"

Since Catastrophe's actual hand wasn't covered in the putty, he was able to summon his power of destruction to free himself.

This didn't surprise Illustrator. In fact, he was counting on it. Even with Catastrophe's claw blades taken care of, he didn't want to risk going near the villain in case his paint brush got broken. So, the plan was to have Catastrophe use his Cataclysm and then continue fighting for another five minutes until the villain's transformation wore off.

What Illustrator didn't plan for, however, was the Cataclysm's destruction spreading to the entire boat.

Illustrator drew himself another hoverboard, as the other one had been left behind at the docks, and hopped on it just before the destruction reached his side of the boat, saving him from getting wet as it crumbled away. Catastrophe was not saved from this fate, as he fell into the water when the boat crumbled away beneath him, the villain barely having time to realised that he had messed up before he fell.

Illustrator hovered above the water, waiting for Catastrophe to surface, but was kept waiting.

"Did he drown?" Illustrator questioned in concern.

"Quick, into the water, we can't let him die if he's trapped!" Nymph ordered urgently.

"Right." Illustrator said.

He quickly drew himself some scuba gear and dove into the Sein, searching through the murky water for any sign of the villain.

'Did he run?' Illustrator questioned.

"He must have realised his disadvantage in the water while being on a countdown." Nymph concluded as Illustrator surfaced from the sein. "Since he's gone, you can return to shore and I'll depower you."

"Wait, I need to do something first." Illustrator asked.

"Will it take long?"

"It shouldn't."

Illustrator hopped back onto his hoverboard and flew back to the louvre.

"There's a little damage I need to fix." Illustrator said.

He flew into the louvre and began to paint the broken walls and windows back into place.

"There, good as new." He said proudly.

Thankfully, none of the exhibitions had been damaged, so he didn't have to paint those together which would have not made them the original works anymore for him.

"I'm all set." He said.

Glowing light surrounded him as he turned back into Nathaniel, the Tiānshǐ emerging from his paintbrush and fluttering away.

Nathaniel looked down at the now regular paint brush in his hand and decided that he would reserve it for important artworks only, as a special good luck charm.

Nathaniel then gasped.

"Marinette!" He remembered.

He ran through the halls of the Louvre until he reached the room he'd left Marinette in, bursting through the door.

Marinette was right where he left her, looking up at his abrupt entrance.

"Nathaniel, you're alright!" She cried in relief.

"Sorry for leaving you alone like that." Nathaniel apologised, walking over to her.

Marinette punched him the arm, causing him to flinch in pain.

"Don't run off like that again, you're lucky you weren't hurt." She admonished him.

"You've been hanging out with Alix too much." Nathaniel muttered. "I know, it was dumb and I wasn't thinking of myself. But I was fine, Lady Nymph chose me as her champion and I chased Catastrophe away." He told Marinette.

"I'm glad she managed to help you." Marinette sighed. "But I won't be as forgiving the next time you go running off into danger, Nymph might be able to save you in time if you pull that again."

"I promise not to go running off into danger the next time Catastrophe shows up." Nathaniel put his hand on his heart as he opened the door for Marinette to push herself through.

"I'll hold you to that." Marinette threatened jokingly.

The two began to make their way to the exit, the Louvre still empty despite the attack being over as there was still debris everywhere and knocked over displays that needed to be cleaned up before the public could be let back in.

"You know, despite Catastrophe showing up, I enjoyed myself. But still…" Marinette said, trailing off as she tried to find the right words.

"I get it." Nathaniel smiled sadly. "You don't feel like that for me."

"You're a great guy, Nathaniel, and an even greater friend. But I'm not going to string you along. You deserve to find someone else who does feel that way for you." Marinette told him.

"Thanks, Marinette." Nathaniel said. "Honestly, today helped me sort out my own feelings for you too. You're so kind and courageous, a real role model, that's why I developed feelings for you. But those feelings aren't love in a romantic sense anymore, I guess that's why it doesn't sting as much as I thought it would to be rejected."

Marinette smiled at him. "Well then, friends?" She held out her hand to him.

Nathaniel looked at her hand unsurely before smiling himself.

"Friends." He agreed, shaking her offered hand.

With everything sorted, they emerged from the louvre where they were quickly attended to by paramedics to see if they had been hurt at all in Catastrophe's attack while giving their statement of what had happened to one of the officers at the scene.

"Marinette!"

The loud voice was Marinette's only warning as she was slammed into from the side, her wheelchair even tipping slightly from the force.

"I was so worried when I couldn't find you." Chloe said as she clung to Marinette's arm. "I thought that evil cat had taken you."

"I have to admit, you scared me too, girl." Alya said, standing in front of Marinette.

"No, I'm fine." Marinette insisted. "Nathaniel hid me away and then became a Champion to fight Catastrophe."

Chloe hummed and looked up at Nathaniel.

"Welcome to the club." Alya congratulated him

"Thanks." Nathaniel said. "I could only chase him off though, I didn't manage to get his ring."

"That's alright, neither of us managed it either." Alya said. "We'll just have to leave it to another of Lady Nymph's Champions."

"I have to admit," Chloe said to Nathaniel. "Protecting Marinette was a brave thing to do, and you were even chosen by Lady Nymph on top of that. I guess you have my approval."

"Thanks?" Nathaniel said unsurely. "But Marinette and I had a talk and decided that we're better suited as friends."

Chloe looked at Nathaniel in surprise before smirking.

"What, is Marinette suddenly not good enough for you now that you've become a Champion?" She asked jokingly.

"No." Nathaniel denied. "It's not like that."

He'd caught on that Chloe was joking, but still didn't want to face her wrath.

"Oh no. You've insulted my friend's honour." Chloe continued. "And for that you must pay. Sabrina, pen!"

Sabrina, who had been standing close by the entire time, reached into her bag and handed Chloe a marker.

"For your transgression, I shall give you the mark of shame!" Chloe said dramatically, uncapping the pen.

Nathaniel screamed and ran away as Chloe began chasing after him, fully intending to mark him. Marinette and Alya laughed as the two ran in circles around them, laughing themselves.

Chapter Text

"A little to the left. More left. No, that's too far. Up a bit…"

"Will you make up your mind already, my arms are getting heavy!" Nathaniel demanded.

"Fine." Chloe huffed. "There is good enough."

"Thank my lady." Nathaniel sighed in relief as he stuck the end of the banner in place.

With Chloe in charge of planning everything out, he wondered why he agreed to help prepare Marinette's mansion for the party.

"Anyone need drinks?" Marinette asked as she wheeled into the main hall with a tray of drinks on her lap.

Oh, yeah, because despite not having a crush on Marinette anymore, it was still hard to say no when she asked for something.

"Thanks." Nathaniel said, taking one of the drinks.

"How's the decorating coming along?" Marinette asked.

"Sabrina and I are almost there." Nathaniel informed her. "Chloe's 'supervising'."

"Hey, it's important that the two of you know where everything needs to go and get it positioned right." Chloe defended herself.

"Chloe's already done all the planning for the party, getting everything arranged an making the invites. So, I think she's done her fair share." Marinette sided with Chloe.

"Thank you." Chloe said pointedly.

"But at the same time, don't boss Nathaniel and Sabrina around, they don't need you lording over them." Marinette told Chloe.

"I wasn't." Chloe denied.

Marinette fixed her with a look that simply said, 'I know you', quickly quieting Chloe's defence.

"Okay," Alya said, walking through the mansion's doors. "My mum and Marinette's parents say that the food for the party is almost done, plenty of time before the party starts. I've recruited Kim and Ivan from our class to help with transport. I've also managed to find us a DJ, Nino."

"Thanks, Alya." Marinette said.

"It's no problem. I'm happy to help out with this party. Plus, it means I get to be here before the gates even open up to everyone else."

"First pick at the buffet table." Nathaniel agreed.

"You won't get a pick at the buffet table at all if the rest of the decorations aren't up in time." Chloe threatened.

"Okay, I'm getting to it." Nathaniel said, picking up another decoration.

"I still can't believe that you own this place." Alya said to Marinette as the other worked.

"Honestly, I still can't believe it either." Marinette laughed.

"At least we won't have any trouble fitting everyone in here." Alya commented. "Uh, is there anything valuable in the rooms. I mean, we've invited anyone who wants to come from the college, something's going to go missing or get vandalised if we're not careful."

"There isn't anything of worth here, and most of the rooms with anything remotely valuable are locked anyway, the party is going to be confined to the main hall and a few of the off-shoot rooms." Marinette reassured.

"We just have to hope the party doesn't get out of hand then." Alya said.

"I do too." Marinette agreed,

Despite not caring that much about Sanctuaire de la Dame, she would be upset if something bad happened to it.

An alarm on Marinette's phone went off.

"Ah, I need to get going." Marinette suddenly said. "I'm meant to be meeting someone today."

"Make sure you're back before the party starts!" Chloe called as Marinette wheeled herself out the door.

"I will!" Marinette called back.

Marinette pushed herself through the corridors of the hospital until she reached her destination.

"Hello, Master Fu." She greeted as she pushed herself into the old man's room.

"Marinette, it is good to see you again." Fu said.

"Hello, Master." Nooroo flew out of Marinette's purse. "How are you feeling."

"Much better now. Most of my injuries have been healed and I'll be ready to be released in the next few days." Fu told the Kwami.

"That's great news." Marinette said. "I'm sure that you can't wait to get out of the hospital."

"I am." Fu hummed.

Nooroo frowned. "Master, what's wrong." He asked.

"Nothing to worry yourself about." Fu told him.

"Master Fu, if something's wrong, you need to tell us." Marinette backed her Kwami up.

Fu laughed quietly. "I guess I should know better that to hide from those who can sense emotion." He said.

He then sighed.

"I don't know if I'll be able to go home." He admitted.

"Why not?" Marinette asked in concern.

"While I may have healed from the fight, some permanent damage has been done." Fu said sadly. "I'll need a cane to walk around for one thing, perhaps even someone to help me with household chores, so I've been told."

"That doesn't sound too bad." Marinette said.

"It's not just that though. I am very old, I would have needed these things with time anyway. But in my current situation I am vulnerable. With the Ladybug earrings still out there somewhere, the person who attacked me may return to find out if I know, the only reason I haven't been attacked now is because this is a public place. But if I return home, I will not be able to protect myself." Fu continued.

"That's not good." Marinette agreed. "I'm guessing a care home isn't an option."

"Absolutely out of the question." Fu crossed his arms. "The person could infiltrate the staff more easily there and put everyone in danger to get to me. Plus, there's no way I'm letting myself get put in a care home."

"Do you have any safehouses or allies nearby that you can hide out with?" Nooroo asked.

Fu shook his head.

"I have no safe houses and right now, my only allies are the two of you." He said.

"Only us?" Marinette hummed. She then gasped. "That's it!" She slammed a fist into her opposite hand as she came up with an idea. "Move into my place."

"I think you would have to ask your parents first." Fu raised an eyebrow.

"No, I mean Sanctuaire de la Dame, it's a property that I inherited." Marinette explained. "But I don't currently have any use for it. I mean, we're having a party with the entire college invited tonight, but after that there isn't going to be any use for it. So, you could move in there, that way the person who attacked you won't know where you are and you can be safe."

Fu stroked his beard in thought.

"It is a good idea." He agreed. "But also dangerous. If the thief manages to track me down again, they could work out your identity through association."

"Then we'll just have to be careful." Marinette said. "Until we can find another place for you to hide out at, Sanctuaire de la Dame is the best place for you to stay."

"The land also has plenty of protection enchantments." Nooroo chimed in.

"It does?" Both Marinette and Fu asked.

Nooroo nodded. "The mansion was originally built by a powerful magic user, who placed it on a lay line and added enchantments as it was built. And my previous master added her own protections to the property when she owned it. Most of them are dormant now, but if activated, they can turn Sanctuaire de la Dame into a fortress." He explained. "Within the boundaries, the thief wouldn't be able to track you using any spells and would have an extremely hard time just getting past the gate if they did find you."

"Why didn't you tell me about these protections earlier?" Marinette asked her Kwami.

"Sorry." Nooroo apologised. "But the enchantments would be hard for you to activate if you're not sufficiently knowledgeable in the uses of symbols and magic, and you already don't use the house, so I didn't think to mention it."

"I guess it's okay." Marinette accepted.

"If Marinette doesn't know about symbols and other magic, then I'll just have to teach her." Fu said. "Until then, I can activate those protections myself. It would be an honour to stay in your house."

Marinette smiled. "I'm just happy I finally have a proper use for it." The then frowned slightly. "Though, I wonder how I'm going to explain you moving in to my parents. And if then there's the matter of you moving in, we'll have to get all the stuff from your old house, stock up on food, I can't remember if the place has a fridge or freezer-"

"We'll take it one step at a time." Fu interrupted Marinette. "First, clear it with your parents. I don't want them visiting house and wondering why I'm there. Once that's done, I'll deal with the rest myself."

"Breath, Marinette." Nooroo put a tiny hand on Marinette's head.

Marinette took a deep breath and let it out. "You're right, I'm getting myself worked up." She said. "My parents know I've been visiting you, so hopefully it won't be too hard to convince them that something happened with your house and allow you to move in. My parents are kind and charitable, so hopefully they'll say yes."

"I'll make sure to pay rent if they say yes." Fu said.

"Oh, no. It's not any trouble, I don't mind you staying for free." Marinette denied.

"It wouldn't feel right just living in your property without giving you something in return, I don't want to be a freeloader." Fu said stubbornly.

"I guess I can see your point." Marinette acquiesced. "Tell you what, you can pay me in those lessons you were talking about." She came up with.

Fu sighed. "Fine." He agreed.

Marinette smiled in victory.

"But what about your parents?" Nooroo asked. "They're kind and giving, but they will wonder about Master Fu staying for free."

"I'll tell them that Master Fu is giving me Chinese lessons as payment, they should accept it." Marinette said.

"I can give you Chinese lessons on top of your magic lessons." Fu offered. "It will be useful for you to know the language when it comes to some enchantments and symbols."

"Really? That's great." Marinette smiled.

Hopefully, with a proper tutor, she'd finally be able to grasp her mother's language.

"So, any luck in finding the other Miraculous?" Fu asked.

"Unfortunately, no." Marinette shook her head. "I have my butterflies spread all throughout the city, but they haven't found anything yet."

"That's okay." Fu assured. "It is still early days yet."

Marinette sighed. "Will my Champions be able to defeat Catastrophe without the Ladybug Miraculous?" She asked.

"I am unsure." Fu answered honestly. "Catastrophe is obviously new to his powers, so he shouldn't have the destructive capabilities of an experienced wielder, but with his corruption, his capabilities are unpredictable, especially if the one who controls him knows how to make him stronger than he should be. And while the Miraculous battle is currently one on one, the thief could easily corrupt another Miraculous to turn the odds in their favour."

"Right." Marinette understood. "Why didn't this person just corrupt all of the Miraculous and send them out all at once?" She then asked.

"They can't." Fu answered. "The Miraculous are powerful and ancient objects, it would take a lot of magic to corrupt just one, and the power of more than one person to keep that corruption going for any sufficient length of time."

"Wait." Marinette said. "The corruption can wear off?"

"It can." Fu affirmed.

"They maybe all I need to do is keep fighting until the corruption wears off and then I can help the guy behind the Catastrophe mask." Marinette wondered.

Unfortunately, Fu shook his head.

"The person who corrupted the Cat Miraculous no doubt knows that their corruption won't stick and will reapply it when they see it weakening." He told her.

"And even if that wasn't the case, the fights between Catastrophe and your Champions still leave behind damage, and without the Ladybug Miraculous, that damage is permanent. Waiting until the corruption wears off could have devastating effects on Paris." Nooroo added.

Marinette hung her head. "You're right, waiting would just be too dangerous." She agreed.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll create the Champion that'll be able to take down Catastrophe soon." Nooroo landed on Marinette's head and patted her hair.

"I hope so, I don't want the fighting or destruction to go on any longer." Marinette said.

"The only way that can happen is to reclaim the Miraculous and to not give up." Fu told her.

"I'd never give up." Marinette declared. "And I'll recover all of the Miraculous."

"I know you will." Fu smiled. "Now, if you excuse me, my medicine has left me very tired."

"Alright, I'll see you when we have your accommodation sorted out." Marinette said, waving as she wheeled out of the room, Nooroo hiding in her purse.

"I'm afraid that you can't go, Adrien." Natalie informed her charge.

"But Natalie, everyone else will be there." Adrien protested. "And Chloe's the one running it."

"It's just not possible, Adrien." Natalie shut him down. "Your father isn't happy with your current behaviour and feels that you are falling behind in your studies."

"Maybe if he allowed me to have a normal life once in a while, I wouldn't be acting like this." Adrien shot back.

"Adrien, please, don't be difficult." Natalie pleaded.

"You think I'm being difficult, because I want to be a normal kid and go to a party?" Adrien laughed. "I'll show you difficult!"

Adrien stormed to his room, slamming the door loudly.

Natalie pinched her eyes, at a loss of what to do.

As soon as Adrien's door shut, he ran over to his window and threw it open.

"I'm going to that party whether they like it or not." He growled. "Claws Out!"

"Wow, this place looks great." Marinette said as she pushed herself into Sanctuaire de la Dame.

"Thanks, we just got done not that long ago." Nathaniel said from his place on one of the beanbags that had been brought in for the party.

"Nino's here and setting up his equipment." Alya reported.

"And the food is on its way." Sabrina added.

"Meaning that this party is almost ready to go." Chloe finished.

"Which is a good thing considering we've got a little over half an hour until the party starts." Sabrina checked her watch.

"Oh!" Chloe grabbed Sabrina's wrist to look at her friend's watch. "That's not much time at all. I need to touch up before I can consider myself presentable, all this work has messed up my hair."

Chloe hurried off to the closest bathroo, Sabrina quickly following behind her.

"She hardly did anything." Nathaniel complained again.

"Just let it go." Alya said, sitting on another beanbag.

Marinette smiled and wheeled over to where Nino was setting up his turntables.

"How everything going?" She asked the DJ.

"Almost set." Nino said. "Just plugging some things in and deciding which tracks to start with."

"That's good." Marinette said. "Thanks for doing this."

"No probs." Nino waved off. "Playing for such a big party will hopefully get me some more gigs."

"It's only everyone from college." Marinette said.

"Yeah, hosted at the mysterious house that's been part of Paris since before any of us were born. It's bound to give me some cred if I'm able to say I performed here." Nino said.

"If you say so." Marinette said.

Was Nino over-estimating what performing at Sanctuaire de la Dame would do for him, or did the property really come with that much fame. If it was the latter option, Marinette wondered if having the house-warming party was really that good of an idea after all.

'Oh, well. Too late now.' Marinette decided.

There was a knock at the front door and Alya opened it to reveal Marinette's parents, accompanied by Kim and Ivan, carrying the food for the party.

"Hi, honey!" Tom called over to his daughter. "Where do we put all this?"

"The tables over there!" Marinette called back, pointing to a line of covered tables to the side.

She pushed her way over to them as her parents and classmates unloaded the food onto the tables.

"Thanks for your help." Marinette said to Kim and Ivan.

"No problem." Kim and Ivan responded.

"So, do we get to explore the mansion?" Kim asked eagerly.

"Anywhere that isn't locked." Marinette confirmed. "Though there isn't much to see outside of the main hall."

"That's alright, I just want to look around." Kim said. "I'll be back before the party starts."

Kim then ran off to check out the mansion.

"Hey, we still have food to bring in." Ivan complained.

"It's alright." Tom patted the boy's shoulder. "It's only a few more plates, we won't need him."

"He should still help out." Ivan grumbled as he and Marinette's parents left for the rest of the food.

"Yay, pain au chocolat." Nathaniel smiled, picking up one of the pastries. "All the work has made me hungry."

"I think that you're going to need to eat more than that." Alya teased as she took a pastry for herself.

"What are you implying?" Nathaniel asked suspiciously.

"That you need to eat more." Alya pointed at him.

"I eat fine." Nathaniel defended himself.

"Dude, you're a walking twig." Nino joined in the teasing as he grabbed himself a plate and began filling it up to take back to his DJ booth with him.

"I am not, it's just genetics." Nathaniel's face was beginning to match his hair.

"Oh, are we teasing Nathaniel about his scrawniness?" Chloe asked as she and Sabrina returned.

"I am not scrawny, I am svelte." Nathaniel crossed his arms, getting pastry crumbs on himself in the process.

"Isn't that a common defence used by scrawny people?" Sabrina chipped in.

"Marinette, your friends are bullying me." Nathaniel moaned.

"Come on guys, that's enough." Marinette said, despite the fact that she was laughing at the teasing too. "Nathaniel, why don't you go check outside to make sure all the decorations in the garden are still up."

"Alright." Nathaniel sighed. "At least there the butterflies won't tease me."

With the joke over, Nino went back to his turntables while Alya helped Ivan and Marinette's parents set out the rest of the food.

Soon, everything was set up and the party was ready to begin.

"Come on in." Marinette invited, sitting by the open door as the crowd of people funnelled in.

Nino began playing music, inviting the party guests to start dancing with each other, while others went over to the food table or just chatted with each other.

"Hey, Marinette." Adrien said as he walked through the door after most of the guest had already arrived.

"Adrien, glad you could make it." Marinette said.

"Considering that you invited me personally, nothing could stop me from coming." Adrien winked.

Marinette was stunned for a second before rolling her eyes, deciding that Adrien was joking around.

"Well, considering that you're here because of me, you won't mind taking me onto the dance floor." Marinette said.

"Uh…" Adrien trailed off, not wanting to accidently offend Marinette again by bringing attention to the fact that she was in a wheelchair.

Marinette laughed at his reaction, causing Adrien's cheeks to heat up.

"What, you think I'm expecting you to pick me up and swing me around." She giggled.

Considering what happened the last time Adrien had offered to pick Marinette up, he could safely say that he knew Marinette wouldn't want that.

"I may not be able to dance in the traditional sense, but I can still have some fun being spun around on my wheelchair." Marinette said. "Come on."

Marinette turned and pushed herself towards the dance floor, Adrien following behind.

Watching them, Chloe pouted while Sabrina patted her back.

"Are you sure this is okay." Adrien checked as he grabbed the handlebars of Marinette's wheelchair.

"Yeah it's fine." Marinette said. "Just don't send me flying out my chair."

"I'll try not to." Adrien promised.

With that, he began pushing and pulling Marinette's wheelchair around the dance floor, popping it onto its back wheels and spinning around in circles, taking care not to hit the other dancers around them or fling Marinette out of her chair. The two of them laughed at their antics until Adrien became too tired to push Marinette around anymore and they made their way off the dance floor.

"I never realised how heavy wheelchairs are." Adrien said, rolling his arms as they made their way to the buffet table.

"I know." Marinette laughed. "It was a challenge for me when I first started out. But now I've grown stronger and gotten used to pushing myself around. I bet I could lift you above my head it I tried." She added jokingly.

"That might not be as big of an accomplishment as you might think, I'm lighter than most other boys my age." Adrien joined in the joke.

Adrien looked over the food spread, wondering what to have first.

"Grab yourself a plate and go sit down." Marinette told him, indicating to the area of the room filled with beanbags. "I'll join to soon."

"Don't need to tell me twice." Adrien said.

He began to fill up his plate with at least one of each piece of food before picking up the plate and moving towards the seating area, looking almost comical with how much food he had piled on his plate.

"I wonder if he's one of those skinny types who can actually pack away a load of food." Alya said as she joined Marinette at the table, watching Adrien go.

Marinette shrugged.

Adrien sighed as he sat down on a beanbag, carefully placing his food on the floor next to him and taking some of the food off the top to snack on.

"Hungry?"

Adrien looked to his side, having not realised Nathaniel had been in the beanbag next to him when he sat down.

"Oh. A bit." Adrien answered awkwardly. "Nathaniel, right?"

The red-head nodded.

"I don't need to guess your name." He said.

The two sat in awkward silence. Well, it was more awkward for Adrien, considering what he tried to do as Catastrophe.

"So, how's things with Marinette working out?" Adrien brought up.

"What? Why do you ask?" Nathaniel looked at Adrien quizzically.

"Well, you did blurt out your confession in the middle of class. I was curious." Adrien justified.

"Oh god, don't remind me." Nathaniel groaned, burring his head in his hands.

"Well," He eventually showed his face again. "We didn't end up together, we just weren't meant to be."

"Really?" Adrien asked excitedly.

Nathaniel scowled. "You don't have to sound so happy about it."

"Sorry." Adrien said bashfully. "I'm sorry things didn't work out." He added.

"It's alright." Nathaniel waved off. "We both agreed after the date that we just didn't have romantic feelings towards each other and agreed to be friends."

"I'm glad you could work things out then." Adrien smiled.

On the inside, he felt so light. And Nathaniel didn't seem nearly as annoying as he had before, Adrien guessed he'd just got a bad first impression.

Back with the girls, Chloe joined them at the table, though she didn't take any food like Marinette and Alya had done.

"So, you were having fun." Chloe said none-to-subtly.

"Are you angry at me, angry at Adrien or angry at yourself?" Marinette asked perceptively.

Chloe slumped.

"I don't know." She answered honestly.

She looked over at Adrien, pouting again.

"You know, he's not going to forgive you unless you make the effort to be forgiven." Marinette offered her advice.

"I know." Chloe said. "I just don't know how he'll react."

"Well, you'll never know unless you go over there and talk to him." Alya added.

"Maybe I'm more comfortable not knowing." Chloe said hesitantly.

"Chloe." Marinette said sternly.

"Alright, fine." Chloe relented.

Chloe took a deep breath and let it out, beginning to walk stiffly over to where Adrien was talking to Nathaniel.

But before she could even make it a quarter of the way there, the door to the front door slammed open to reveal a large and grumpy looking man followed by a stern and smartly dressed woman.

"Uh, call me crazy but I don't think they were invited to the party." Alya said.

The woman walked over to where Adrien was seated, followed by the large man.

"Adrien, please come home." Natalie said to her young charge.

"No." Adrien resisted. "I'm having fun here and making friends."

Natalie sighed.

"I know you are, Adrien, but your father is furious that you snuck out and wants you home immediately." She said.

"Well then," Adrien stood up to stare Natalie in the face. "He can just stay furious then. Because I'm not going."

"Adrien please, just come home, we can't leave without you." Natalie tried to appeal.

"Why don't you enjoy the party until I'm ready to go then?" Adrien offered. "You could use some loosening up, father works you too hard."

"Flattery isn't going to work." Natalie told him. "If you come home now, I'll do my best to convince your father to keep your punishment to a minimum."

"And bribery isn't going to work on me." Adrien shot back.

"If you're not going to come willingly, then you leave us not choice." Natalie said reluctantly.

Adrien yelled in protest as his bodyguard walked over to him and picked him up, throwing the struggling boy over his shoulder.

"Hang on, you can't do that to him." Nathaniel was surprised as he found himself standing up to defend Adrien.

"I'm afraid we can." Natalie corrected him. "We are employees of Mr Agreste, Adrien's father, and have been charged with bringing him home."

"Please, can't you let him stay." Marinette begged as she pushed herself over. "I swear nothing bad is going to happen at this party."

"I have no issue believing that Adrien would be fine here if he was allowed to stay, but his father has ordered for his immediate return." Natalie told her. "Now, if you excuse us."

Natalie and the bodyguard left, taking a struggling Adrien with them.

They left a silent party in their wake.

'I didn't get a chance to talk to him.' Chloe lamented to herself.

"I'm going to go to the garden for a bit." Marinette said. "I don't feel much like partying anymore."

"I'll join you." Alya said, agreeing with the sentiment.

Others also began to leave, though they headed for the front gate instead of the garden, the mood of the party thoroughly ruined for them by what had happened.

Meanwhile, Adrien struggled all the way back to the limo until he was forced inside.

On his finger, the Cat Miraculous pulsed stronger than it had before, and Adrien promised that he would not take his treatment lying down.

Chapter Text

Catastrophe's next attack following the party at Sanctuaire de la Dame was at the KIDZ+ tv station, during the contest to find a new weathergirl. The villain shown crashing into the room on the cameras, causing everyone to run away screaming.

Nymph chose Aurore Beauréal as her Champion, turning the would-be weathergirl into Sunny Daze.

"You've got some nerve interrupting the competition." Sunny Daze sent hail at Catastrophe.

"Why are you complaining, you'd already lost to the other girl." Catastrophe teased back.

"It's the principle of the thing." Sunny Daze said, popping open her umbrella.

The resulting gust of wind sent Catastrophe flying.

In the end, Sunny Daze was just too strong for Catastrophe, her control of the weather making it impossible for him to be able to reach her umbrella and break it. So, he used one of the Champion's wind attacks that sent him flying over multiple building to disappear before Sunny Daze could catch up to him.

A couple of days after that, Alix Kubdel was next up as Nymph's Champion, turning into Ace Blader after Catastrophe's attack interrupted her race against Kim. Catastrophe was certainly given a hard time against the Champion due to the advanced speed gifted to her.

"What's the matter, can't keep up?" Ace Blader grinned, running circles around the villain.

"Stay still, you little pest!" Catastrophe demanded as he once again failed to land a blow on Ace Blader as she zoomed by, hitting him upside the head.

"No can do." Blader responded.

Catastrophe gritted his teeth, trying his best to fight back against Blader's constant onslaught of attacks. Then he noticed that the Champion had trouble stopping once she had sped up.

"Cataclysm!"

He stuck his hand out just as Blader skated towards him for another hit, the Champion saw the hand but was unable to stop of turn away in time, the villain's fingers just barely managing to brush against one of her rollerblades, which was unfortunately the one that her Tiānshǐ was in.

"Ah!" Blader cried out as the loss of her rollerblade sent her tumbling to the ground, turning back into Alix halfway through her tumble.

Catastrophe watched the Tianshi climb out of the broken pieces that used to be Alix's rollerblade but didn't do anything other than that, letting it fly off back to Nymph.

"I wish I could say it was fun, but I'd be lying." He said to Alix, who was struggling to push herself up.

He then ran off, allowing Alix's classmates, who had been hiding, to help her up and check for any injuries from her tumble.

Catastrophe's following attack came in quick succession.

Max stepped up to the challenge to face him as the Gamer, but his mech stood no chance against Catastrophe's fury.

"Cataclysm!"

The villain was much faster than Gamer's cumbersome mech, able to evade the traps that were sent out and touch the mech with his destructive power.

Gamer fell to the ground as his mech disintegrated around him, Catastrophe approaching.

"Looks like its game over for you." Catastrophe grinned.

"Not true. A gamer always backs up their game file." Gamer quipped, reaching for his glasses to reload his mech back into existence.

He didn't get the chance though, Catastrophe anticipating that he had something else up his sleeve and pouncing, knocking Gamer's glasses with a punch.

"Looks like your game file's been deleted." Catastrophe said, stamping on the glasses and releasing the Tiānshǐ inside.

Catastrophe didn't stay to watch Gamer turn back into Max, jumping out of the football stadium.

When Mylene was endangered by Catastrophe's next attack, Ivan was chosen to become Nymph's Champion. Standing bigger than he already was and dressed in rock armour, Golem set out to protect her.

Catastrophe growled as his claw blades glanced off of Golem's rock armour, protecting the Champion from harm.

"You're going to have to try a lot harder than that." Golem said.

Catastrophe growled.

He had the advantage over Golem in that he was much quicker, but Golem's amour more than protected him against the villain's quick attacks.

Though, he did have one sure-fire way to get through the Champion's armour.

"You need to be careful." Nymph guided Golem. "You may be protected against his physical attacks, but his Cataclysm will destroy anything it touches, including your armour. You need to trick him into wasting it on something else when he summons it."

"Got it, my Lady." Golem said.

Golem held his love letter for Mylene clenched in his fist, reminding him of what he was protecting and fuelling his strength.

The Champion looked around the area for something he could use against Catastrophe's Cataclysm when it came.

"Cataclysm!"

Time was up, he had to use something or his amour would be dust.

Nothing was immediately around him, but he spotted that part of the pavement was upended from Catastrophe's unsuccessful attacks on him.

Moving as quickly as he could, Golem gripped the pavement that was sticking out and pulled, coming away with a healthy chunk in his hands.

Golem brought the chunk of pavement in front of him just as Catastrophe charged at him with his hand out, but the villain managed to pull back before hitting it, managing to save his power.

"So, you have yourself a little shield." Catastrophe laughed. "Then I'll just have to get around it."

Golem knew he had to play it smart, with Catastrophe being faster than him, the villain could reach his armour before he could block the attack. The Champion had spent the entire fight so far on the defensive, maybe it was time to change things up and go on the attack.

With no warning, Golem charged at Catastrophe, his ground shield held in front of him.

Caught off guard by the sudden attack, Catastrophe was forced to back up to avoid getting hit, jumping up into the air to avoid the follow up swing.

Golem then threw his piece of ground at Catastrophe while the villain was still in the air, making him unable to twist out of the way and catching the hand with his Cataclysm on it.

Catastrophe landed as the piece of ground crumbled to dust behind him, landing in a cloud of dust.

"Looks like you've lost your trump card." Golem said. "Ready to hand over your ring yet?"

"Yeah right." Catastrophe sneered.

He then turned tail and ran, knowing that he wouldn't be able to take Golem down now.

Golem tried to follow, but the advantage of his armour's protection came at the disadvantage of it slowing him down, and so the villain got away.

"I'm sorry I couldn't catch him, my Lady." Golem sighed.

"It's alright." Nymph comforted him. "You were given the power to protect, not to attack. Now, go check on her."

Nymph then recalled her Tiānshǐ.

When Catastrophe next came, attacking at the school itself, Mylene found herself separated from everyone else, hiding out in the bathroom while the villain caused chaos outside.

"What do I do?" Mylene shivered. "The others are still out there. But I can't do anything."

"But you could."

Mylene gasped, she had been so wrapped up in her fear that she hadn't noticed Nymph's Tiānshǐ fly into the badge on her bandana.

Mylene's vision was filled with white as the floating vision of Nymph appeared before her, the heroine's smile seeming to chase away her fear.

"It's okay to be afraid, anyone would be." Nymph comforted Mylene. "But to have courage is to stand up and fight despite being afraid. I can give you the power to have that courage, to turn the tables against Catastrophe and protect your friends. But if I give you this power, you must take Catastrophe's Miraculous from him without hurting him, as he is just as much of a victim of it as you are. Do you accept this responsibility?"

"I do." Mylene said determinedly.

Light enveloped Mylene and when it faded, a Champion stood in her place. Dressed in a padded vest and shorts, with elbow and knee guards, a whip clipped to her belt and a large tank on her back attached by a tube to a super-soaker-like gun in her hands.

"If Catastrophe insists on being a monster, then I'll just have to be the Monster Hunter." The Champion said.

Monster Hunter proved effective against Catastrophe, her whip and goo-gun allowing her to keep her distance while dealing damage. She managed to pin him by goo, but the villain Cataclysmed his way out of it and then ran like usual when he realised that he wasn't going to win before his timer ran out.

Following in his daughter's footsteps, Fred Haprele became Mr Mime.

He was a rather strong Champion, able to summon invisible constructs that allowed him to fight Catastrophe without issue, summon invisible walls to block his blades and then attacking back with an invisible sword.

But despite his strength, all it took was one slip up.

As Catastrophe flung himself at Mr Mime, the Champion summoned another invisible wall to block the attack, which sent the villain flying over his head, but as Catastrophe went over and behind him, he used his foot to get passed the defence and kick Mr Mime's hat off.

The hat flew into the air and landed on the ground, Mr Mime quickly reached for his hat, but just as his fingers made contact, Catastrophe's bladed gauntlet stabbed through it, managing to hit the photo tucked away inside.

Mr Mime was forced back into Fred as the Tiānshǐ fluttered out of the cap through once of the holes made by Catastophe's blades, flying high up into the sky.

"Ah, that was satisfying." Catastrophe sighed.

His ring then beeped, reminding him that he'd been forced to use his Cataclysm to escape a trap Mr Mime had put him into before he managed to stab the hat. Forcing him to run off rather than stick around.

Rather fed up of all the chaos being caused by the supervillain but being unable to do anything about it, as Catastrophe had proven more than once that he was capable of taking down the police force, Roger Raincomprix was more than ready to accept Nymph's deal when her Tiānshǐ came to him.

"Stop, in the name of the law!" Rogercop ordered Catastrophe.

"No one can tell me what to do, not even the 'law'" Catastrophe laughed. "Woah!"

He had to quickly dodge the laser handcuffs sent his way.

"No one is above the law." Rogercop said. "You are under arrest for endangering lives, massive property damage and breach of the peace."

"Endangering lives and the property damage, I fully accept." Catastrophe said. "But 'breach of the peace' seems very minor compared to those other two and far beneath me."

"Is it me, or does Catastrophe seem to have an issue with authority figures." Nymph questioned, noticing how determined Catastrophe seemed to get under her current Champion's skin more than her previous Champions.

"You will face the full extent of the law." Rogercop told Catastrophe.

"Easy, Rogercop, remember that Catastrophe is being controlled. You just need to get his ring off him, not actually arrest him." Nymph reminded him.

"Sorry, my Lady, but it will be up to the prosecutors to decide." Rogercop answered her.

Nymph sighed, realising that her Champion wouldn't shift on the matter. But she couldn't exactly argue since it was proper procedure and Rogercop was an actual police officer, even if mind-control by magical object did muddy the waters a bit.

"Don't worry, my Lady. I will do my duty and bring him in with the least amount of damage possible." Rogercop promised.

Nymph nodded. At least she could count on her Champion not harming Catastrophe in his pursuit of an arrest.

In the end, like usual, Catastrophe turned tail and fled when he realised that he wasn't going to win the fight before timing out after using his Cataclysm.

"My lady." Rogercop said before Nymph could recall her Tiānshǐ.

"Yes?"

"Please find a Champion who can finally defeat Catastrophe soon. I want this destruction plaguing Paris to end." Rogercop looked out over the areas that he and Catastrophe had fought in.

"I will do my best." Nymph promised him.

It was through Catastrophe's follow up attack that Nymph learned a new aspect of her capabilities.

"Juleka, I'm scared." Rose admitted.

The two girls were hiding under a bridge while Catastrophe caused his usual brand of destruction above them.

"Don't worry, as long as we're together, we'll be alright." Juleka smiled down at Rose.

Seeing that Rose still looked unsure, Juleka lent down and kissed her on the tip of the nose.

Rose's face scrunched up as she looked back up at Juleka before she laughed and returned the kiss in kind.

"You're right." Rose said. "We'll be fine together."

The two girls held up their wrists where matching bracelets sat, matching up the two halves of a heart together.

They then gasped when they spotted the glowing purple butterfly flapping its way over to them, landing on the joined heart.

"Yue-Lien," The smiling visage of Nymph appeared before them. "Your love for each other has reached me. Let it now become your strength, entwining you so closely that you can never be broken."

Juleka and Rose looked at each other and smiled, huddling in closer as a purple cocoon enveloped the both of them.

When it broke open, Yue-Lien stood there. Both wore purple and pink, one an inverse of the other, joined together by a long ribbon that was attached to the bracelets on their wrists and curled around their pinkies.

"Let's go up there and show Catastrophe the power of our love." Lien said determinedly.

"Right." Yue agreed.

They jumped out from under the bridge, facing down Catastrophe as they landed.

"Well, this is new." Catastrophe raised an eyebrow behind his mask. "I didn't realise Nymph could have two Champions, this seems a bit unfair."

"That's because we're two halves of a whole." Lien proclaimed.

"And together we have the strength to defeat you." Yue-Lien said together, pointing at the villain.

"We'll see about that." Catastrophe said, unsheathing his claw blade. "But word of advice."

The villain lunged at the girls.

"Don't leave your item so open to being destroyed!" He said.

Yue-Lien separated, the ribbon lengthening between them, leaving it wide open to being sliced. But just as Catastrophe was about to slice through it, it disappeared, and he slashed at nothing.

"You're going to have to try a lot harder than that to break our love." Yue said.

"Love?" Catastrophe scoffed. "Really?"

"You can laugh all you want." Lien said.

"But we'll show you how strong it makes us." Yue finished.

The two darted forward in perfect sync, attacking with their ribbon, which moved and lengthened to how they desired. They were also very agile, ducking in and out of Catastrophe's attacks while kicking and punching themselves.

Catastrophe growled as he once again aimed for the ribbon joining the two girls, but like last time it disappeared before he could slice it.

"I thought cats liked playing with string." Lien giggled.

"You're the ones not letting me touch it." Catastrophe shot back.

"You want to touch it?" Yue asked.

"Why didn't you say so." Yue-Lien said.

They darted around Catastrophe in a flurry of movement, leaving lengths of the trailing behind them in their wake until they came to a stop either side of the villain, yards of their ribbon littering the floor around him.

"What was the point of that?" Catastrophe questioned.

"This." Yue-Lien said.

The two Champions then pulled their ends of the ribbon, causing the ribbon on the ground to fly into the air as it was pulled taught.

Catastrophe realised that he was in a trap too late as the ribbon tightened around him, trapping his arms at his side and his legs together.

"We did it!" Lien cheered, looking at the villain as he struggled to get free.

"What now, my Lady?" Yue asked Nymph.

"You need to remove his ring." Nymph informed Yue-Lien. "But be careful, it's on the same hand as his blades and he still has his-"

"Cataclysm!"

Yue-Lien gasped as Catastrophe summoned his power, trying to angle his hand to touch the ribbon around him.

"No, you don't!" Yue-Lien exclaimed.

They quickly made their ribbon disappear again, just before the Cataclysm could touch it, but consequently releasing Catastrophe.

"Almost." Catastrophe growled.

"Now that he's summoned his Cataclysm, he only has five minutes left." Nymph told Yue-Lien. "Try and keep him busy for that long and don't let him use it on anything important like the bridge."

Yue-Lien nodded.

The bridge wasn't as important as others, but if it got damaged then it would take a long time to get repaired, especially considering all the other damage that had resulted from the Catastrophe fights that still wasn't fixed.

So, they had a choice, try and get Catastrophe to waste his ability on something unimportant to avoid excessive damage, or try and avoid him for five minutes straight him hopes that he wouldn't keep track of his countdown and de-transform in front of them.

"As much as avoiding him for five minutes would increase our chances of getting the ring, we can't risk Catastrophe damaging something important." Yue said.

"Right." Lien agreed.

They looked around for something for Catastrophe to waste his power on while trying to avoid it in a way that wouldn't result in the bridge getting hit instead.

"You know, for all the times you've terrorised Paris, I don't think we ever got a reason." Lien said conversationally.

"It's simple," Catastrophe replied, as if they weren't attacking each other. "I cause trouble to draw out Nymph and the other Miraculous, and then I can take them. Your 'precious lady' could end all this if she just handed hers over."

Nymph's symbol flashed in front of Yue-Lien's face.

"Yeah, that's not happening." They said.

"Suit yourself." Catastrophe shrugged.

In the end, a lamppost was sacrificed to the Cataclysm, Yue-Lien dangling their ribbon in front of it and then making it disappear just before Catastrophe could touch it.

Now they just had to make sure Catastrophe could run away and hide like he usually did, and like he was starting to do now.

"Where do you think you're going?" Yue-Lien questioned, giving chase.

Unfortunate, like always, Catastrophe got away. By the time Yue-Lien realised he had used a manhole cover, it was already too late to find him again.

She stared out the window, trying to come to terms with what she had been told.

"I can't believe this is happening." She said. "The Cat Miraculous, corrupted?"

"I don't really understand it myself. Nymph just said that the ring was corrupted and is what's causing Catastrophe to gradually destroy the city, she didn't mention how or why." The other occupant of the room explained.

"Nymph? So, the Butterfly Miraculous has really been found?" She questioned.

"I think so." The other person said, unsure on the names. "It creates Champions if that's what you mean."

She nodded.

She then sighed. "The Butterfly Miraculous is found, but then the Cat Miraculous is corrupted in the hands of evil. Oh, Plagg." She said. "How could this have happened? What about the others?"

"Others?" Her companion asked.

"The other Miraculous." She answered. "We were all with our Guardian, but if the Cat Miraculous has been corrupted and I was found by you, who knows what happened to them. What if they end up getting corrupted too?"

"Hey, don't worry." Her companion said, unsure as to how to comfort her. "Maybe Nymph already knows about them and is looking for them too. I mean, she's already trying to rescue the Cat Miraculous."

"Nooroo has been separated from us for so long, so it's likely he only knows about Plagg because Catastrophe is out in the open." She shook her head. "We'll need to tell her just to be sure."

"How?" Her companion questioned. "Nymph only chooses her Champions once and I've already been it. Maybe the Kaleidoscoop." They suggested.

She shook her head.

"It's not enough to just tell her. We need to help her too, to fight Catastrophe and reclaim the Cat Miraculous as well as find the others. And to do that, I need you to use the Ladybug Miraculous."

Her companion was shocked.

"You mean, I can use these to become a hero again?" They questioned, looking down at the earrings in their hand.

"Yes." She said. "I don't know you that well, but Ladybug is needed now. Can I trust you to use my Miraculous responsibly?"

"I…yes." Her companion said determinedly. "You can trust me. I'll become the best hero out there and fight alongside Nymph, well, her Champions anyway."

Her companion took the earrings and put them through their ears.

"I'm ready." They said.

She suddenly gave a small gasp.

"I hope you are." She said. "Because I can feel that the Cat Miraculous is active."

"You can?"

"I usually have to concentrate, but it seems that the corruption is making it very easy to tell. Now, go out there and stop him."

"Right." They stood up, ready to go. "Uh, how do I use these." They fiddled with the earrings.

"You say, 'Spots On!'"

"Tikki, Spots On!"

The newly transformed ladybug then jumped out the window.

Chapter Text

If there had to be one defining cause each time Catastrophe attacked, it would have to be Gabriel Agreste. Missed lunches, failed promises to meet, more fashion shoots and product placements instead of being allowed to hang out with his new friends. Each resulted in Catastrophe taking out his wrath on Paris as a result.

On some level, Adrien knew it was unfair, but he struggled more and more to make himself care anymore.

Of course, there were occasions where his father wasn't the inciting reason.

Like Valentine's Day.

"Dude, that is so cringy." Nino commented, reading the poem Adrien was writing over his shoulder.

Adrien scowled as he shielded his poem from view.

"It's a work in progress." He defended.

"'hair as black as night' 'bluebell eyes'." Nino quoted from the poem. "I think I can guess who it's for." He grinned at Adrien.

Adrien blushed. "It just for a friend, you can give Valentine cards to friends too, you know." He said.

"I know you can, but you don't generally put effort and a poem into a card for 'just a friend'." Nino continued to grin.

As if by magical, the girl in question wheeled herself into the room, causing Adrien to quickly hide his poem in his bag.

"So, get any Valentine's yet?" Alya asked as Marinette managed to get into her desk.

"Um…" Marinette looked away.

"A few then?" Alya guessed.

"More than just a few, there were so many that they fell out of her locker when she opened it." Chloe laughed. "Nothing on my haul, though."

"Ooh, Marinette, Miss Popular." Alya teased her friend.

"I'm pretty sure they were friendly valentines rather than actual confessions." Marinette waved off.

"They may as well be." Chloe said. "People shouldn't waste their time with anonymous valentines and just confess directly to someone if they expect their feelings to be taken seriously."

Unseen by the girls, Kim had sat up in attention.

"I'm guessing that your standards in men are high." Alya said.

"Incredibly." Chloe said proudly.

"Just remember that if someone does confess to you, don't be harsh in rejecting them." Marinette advised, knowing what Chloe was like from past Valentine's Days.

"If you say so." Chloe sighed dramatically.

"So," Alya said to Marinette. "Got anyone you'll be sending a Valentine to?"

Marinette hummed and then shook her head.

"I don't have anyone I'm interested in right now." She said.

Adrien felt his heart sink a little at the confession. Realistically, he knew that Marinette's words weren't a rejection in any way, but it still felt like they were.

That feeling stuck with him all throughout class, until it was lunch time and he decided that it was time to let them all out.

"Claws Out!"

Kim wasn't the first male to confess to Chloe, and it wasn't a surprise that such a thing would happen on Valentine's day.

But it was a surprise, and extremely funny, for her classmate's confession to go so wrong.

A chain reaction that left the boy dirty as he knelt before her with his gift still outstretched.

'Oh, that would make a great picture to post.' A mini-Chloe dressed in devil horns perched on her shoulder grinned gleefully.

Chloe reached for her phone in agreement, but then paused as an angel appeared on her other shoulder.

'Remember, you have to turn down people nicely.' The angel, who looked exactly like Marinette, told her.

'Come on, that's no fun.' Devil-Chloe complained.

Angel-Marinette glared at her, grabbing the halo above her head and flew after the devil while brandishing it, who cried out and ran. The two metaphors then disappeared.

Chloe groaned to herself as she left her phone alone.

"Listen, Kim." She put her hands together and pointed at the boy. "I have no interest in you. And likely never will. You're just too…simple."

"Oh." Kim looked down, pulling back his gift.

Chloe grimaced.

"But, I'm sure that someone will find your simpleness charming. Maybe try that geek you're friends with." She added.

"Yeah, I guess." Kim said.

The two were then interrupted by a commotion happening nearby.

"Catastrophe." Chloe frowned heavily.

"Man, I can't help but feel sorry for him." Kim admitted. "Despite everything."

"What?" Chloe looked at her classmate, disbelieving.

"Well, he's corrupted right?" Kim pointed out. "I hope Nymph's Champion gets through to him soon."

"Huh." Chloe said.

Not many saw Catastrophe as the victim, even with the Champions repeating Lady Nymph's message that he was under corruption.

"Anyway, we better get to safety." Kim said as he ran off, leaving Chloe alone.

"Weird guy." Chloe rolled her eyes and turned the other way.

She missed the purple butterfly as it chased after the athletic boy.

If Marinette's class had to judge Nymph's Champions, they'd have to judge Kim's Champion form as one of the weirdest.

Not because he looked especially strange, but rather because he was someone known for being athletic and his challenges, and he was now flying around Paris as a love-themed angel. It caught everyone who knew him off guard.

"Is this all you can really do?" Catastrophe said conversationally as he fought Guardian Amour. "Fly and shoot arrows? Because you're basically downgraded version of Royal Phoenix."

"I can do something very different." Guardian Amour promised. "Open up your heart!"

He fired another arrow.

"What does that mean?" Catastrophe questioned as he dodged it.

The fight went on for a while, Catastrophe was quick enough to dodge or destroy the arrows before they hit him, but Guardian Amour was able to stay in the sky, meaning the villain had to jump off of buildings to reach him.

Then, Guardian Amour finally managed to land a hit, firing arrows in rapid enough succession that one managed to slip through Catastrophe's defences.

Instead of piercing Catastrophe, however, it exploded into light on contact, making the villain freeze up.

Guardian Amour landed and cautiously walked over to Catastrophe, stopping a few feet away to keep his distance.

"Did it work?" Nymph's symbol appeared over her Champion's face.

"I think so, my Lady." Guardian Amour said. "Uh, Catastrophe."

Catastrophe looked up, tears beginning to drip over his mask.

"Why am I feeling like this?" Catastrophe questioned, holding himself. "What did you do to me."

"I only allowed you to see through the corruption controlling you." Guardian Amour told him.

"Oh, god, what have I been doing?" Catastrophe looked down at his clawed hands and his ring. "I've been hurting people."

Nymph's symbol appeared over Guardian Amour's face again as he began repeating the words she told him to say.

"It's not your fault." The Champion repeated. "You've not been in control, that ring has been. If you allow me to take it, I can help you."

"But I need it." Catastrophe insisted. "I can't be free without it."

"But look at what it's doing to you. Do really want to hurt people? Because the ring is making you do that."

Catastrophe was obviously confused and conflicted, the Champion's arrow may have helped the villain see through his corruption, but the corruption still had a hold of him.

"Are you really free when you're being controlled." Nymph tried for another angle.

"I…" Catastrophe's mind was wracked with turmoil.

From the shadows, the stranger was watching the fight.

"Well, this won't do at all." They said.

They brought up a hand and clenched it, shadows appearing around it.

Catastrophe's ring pulsed and he screamed at the feeling of something digging into his brain.

"Hey, are you alright?" Guardian Amour stepped forward before he could think.

He had to throw himself back to avoid Catastrophe's claw blades as they slashed at him, instinctively flying into the air to avoid further attack.

But instead of attacking again, Catastrophe turned around and ran without saying a word.

"Something happened to break the arrow's effects." Nymph said. "Quick, after him!"

Guardian Amour flew after Catastrophe but stopped when he noticed that one of the houses was beginning to crumble, a victim of Catastrophe's Cataclysm.

"Forget Catastrophe." Nymph reluctantly told her Champion. "Save the people inside."

Abandoning his pursuit of the villain, Guardian Amour flew over to the crumbling house to help those trapped inside. Thankfully, it was only two people and he was able to carry them both outside at once as half of the house finished crumbling into rubble.

"Sorry, my Lady." Guardian Amour apologised to Nymph as he looked over the damage done.

"You came close." Nymph reassured. "But whoever is behind all this reasserted their control, we couldn't have predicted it."

Light washed over the Champion as he was returned to being Kim.

Unknown to the former Champion or Nymph, the stranger was with Adrien once again, making sure that they undid Guardian Amour's work.

Catastrophe slammed into a wall, and then the opposite one of an alley, claws still digging into his skull.

His brain was a mess of pain and confusion, he couldn't think or even pay attention to where he was going.

He didn't even notice when he slammed into something softer than a wall until arms enclosed around him.

"Oh, precious child, what has been done to you?"

In a flash of green lightning, Adrien took Catastrophe's place and the agonising pain and confusion lessened.

"There, there, I'm here now." The one who'd given Adrien his Miraculous comforted him.

"What happened?" Adrien slurred, leaning into the embrace.

"I'm afraid that nasty Nymph's Champion caused you quite a lot of pain."

"I…I've done horrible things." Adrien struggled to speak. "He told me that I was being controlled."

"Now, now." He was comforted. "You shouldn't listen to Nymph or her Champions, they will tell you anything to get your ring, your one escape from your constricting life and a loving gift from me. You don't want to lose that do you? It would make me very disappointed."

"No, I don't!" Adrien burst out.

"I know you don't." He was calmed. "As for your actions, they're merely a necessary evil in order to return all the Miraculous' to their rightful place, it's Nymph's fault that she won't hand over the Butterfly Miraculous, not yours"

Adrien sighed in relief as the words took away his confusion and worry, leaving him with nothing but exhaustion.

"Oh, my child, you must be exhausted. Don't worry, I'll take you home."

Adrien closed his eyes and allowed himself to be picked up, knowing that he'd wake up in his own bed.

Chapter Text

Marinette hummed to herself as she pushed herself into the garden of Sanctuaire de la Dame. Master Fu, also in a wheelchair, was pushed in after her by Tom.

Thankfully, Fu wasn't permanently bound to his wheelchair like Marinette was, he just still had some injuries that needed time to heal and the hospital was insistent on releasing him in it.

Outside the gates, a mover's van had been parked, the drivers ready to bring in the belongings brought from Fu's old house once given the word.

"I cannot thank you enough for allowing me to stay here." Fu said to Marinette's parents as he was pushed into the building itself.

"It's no issue." Tom said kindly. "We trust Marinette to make her own decisions and if she wants to use this place to house those with no where else to go, we'll stand by her."

"Yes, Marinette was very kind to offer for me to stay here after I mentioned not feeling safe at my old home anymore." Fu said.

That was the story Marinette and Fu had decided to tell Marinette's parents, that the attack that had landed Fu in the hospital had left him too fearful to return to his own home, as that is where he had been attacked.

"Besides, you'll be giving my daughter Chinese lessons, so you'll be doing something for her as well." Sabine said. "I wish I'd managed to teach her mandarin while she was growing up, but it was always something that fell to the wayside and she could never remember much between what lessons we did do. Hopefully, having a proper teacher will give better results."

They chose a room for Fu on the ground floor that was close to the kitchen area, so he wouldn't have to move around much to get what he wanted.

"Will you be alright here, by yourself?" Sabine worried as the movers began bringing in Fu's things.

"I am well enough that I don't need a full-time nurse, but I do have one who is scheduled to drop in on me regularly to make sure I'm healing properly and taking my medicine. Over there, thank you." He placated Sabine before directing the mover to where he wanted some of his things. "And I've also been given a student volunteer to help me in the afternoons for things such as chores."

"And I'll make sure to drop by regularly for my lessons as well." Marinette added.

It took a while, but everything was eventually moved into Fu's new room, most of it put where Fu wanted it to be while some was still packed away in boxes.

"Are you sure you don't want us to help you unpack the boxes?" Tom asked once the movers had left.

"It's fine, you have already done so much for me." Fu denied. "Plus, I haven't decided where I would put them anyway."

"Why don't you go back to the bakery while I show Mister Fu around and get him settled in?" Marinette suggested.

"Well, if you're sure you'll be alright." Sabine said.

"Make sure to call us if you need anything." Tom said.

Marinette's parents then left to go back to the bakery, they had closed for the morning to help out, but needed to be back for the lunch rush.

"You have very kind parents, Marinette." Fu commented. "It's easy to see where you get your own kindness from."

"Uh, thank you." Marinette blushed slightly.

With her parents and the movers gone, Nooroo appeared from Marinette's purse.

"Right, let's get those protections activated." Fu said.

He grabbed his cane and got to his feet very slowly

"The first ones are this way." Nooroo said, floating away with the two humans following.

The three travelled around the mansion, Fu activating the various symbols hidden in the walls, and then out into the garden to activate the runestones buried in the ground.

Marinette hummed as she felt the buzz of magic in the air before it settled.

"I'm glad none of the protections were damaged by the repairs." She said.

"Yes, we were very lucky on that front." Fu agreed. "I feel much safer with all of these active."

Marinette nodded her head in agreement. "This place feels much safer to me as well."

The two humans and Kwami made their way back inside to where Fu's room had been set up.

"So, what's in the boxes?" Marinette questioned, wheeling over to them.

"Herbs, spices, plants and assortments of other things." Fu explained. "I use them to make magical potions and remedies."

"Potions exist too?" Marinette questioned.

"Yes." Fu walked over to a shelf and brought out an old-looking cook book. "You can create all sorts of effects with the right combination of ingredients, and a knowledge of magic of course, any old person wouldn't be able to put the ingredients together and make them work."

"Can you teach me?" Marinette asked eagerly.

"One step at a time." Fu laughed. "I'm already going to be teaching you protection magic and Chinese, and that's on top of your work as Lady Nymph, your clothes making and your school work. Adding potions to that list may be too much for you to work on at once."

Marinette sighed and pouted slightly. "I guess you're right." She agreed.

"Once you've gotten a hang of the protection magic, I'll start teaching you the potions." Fu assured her with a smile.

Marinette smiled back, but then an alert went off on her phone.

It was from the Kaleidoscoop, which had updated to say that Catastrophe was attacking again.

"Looks like we've got work to do." Marinette said to Nooroo.

The Kwami nodded.

Fu took a step back to give Marinette space for her transformation as the butterflies from outside flew in.

"Nooroo, Wings Rise!"

Todays inciting incident had been that Mr D'Argencourt hadn't allowed him to participate in fencing practice that day because Adrien had been late, telling him that if he couldn't be bothered to show up on time then he didn't deserve to be part of the group. Which was totally unfair to Adrien as it wasn't his fault he was late, his photoshoot had run overtime because the photographer kept insisting to redo it until he found the perfect picture. Apparently, Adrien's smile wasn't 'genuine' enough for him.

Thus, Catastrophe had shown up to teach him a lesson.

"Come on, don't any of you know how to fight?" Catastrophe laughed.

"That fiend." D'Argencourt growled as he hid with his students. "I'll teach him a thing or two."

He made to leave his hiding place to face the villain but was held back by his students.

"Don't!"

"He'll hurt you."

"You wouldn't stand a chance."

"I will not allow him to get away with his actions without a fight." D'Agencourt insisted, fighting against the hold his students had on him.

His students then gasped as they spotted the glowing purple butterfly fly towards them, landing on D'Argencourt's rapier and sinking into it.

"Admirable words." The visage of Nymph appeared before him. "But allow me to give you the power to actually do something. Just retrieve Catastrophe's ring without harming him."

"I swear by the sword, it shall be done, my Lady." D'Agencourt said, raising his rapier as purple light encased him.

Sir Blade emerged from the glowing cocoon, dressed in knight's armour.

"Come, my faithful squires, we shall cut down this villain." The Champion turned to his students.

…

Over with Catastrophe, he sighed as he kicked away a fencing helmet, thoroughly bored. Trashing the fencing class had been in no way as satisfying as he thought it would be.

"You shall face me, sir!" The voice of his fencing teacher called from behind him.

Catastrophe grinned at the thought of some entertainment, but that grin dropped when he turned around.

Sir Blade stood before him, with the rest of the fencing class also dressed in armour, though their armour was less elaborate than the Champion's.

"Okay, this has to be unfair." Catastrophe frowned at the number of opponents he would have to face.

"Charge!" Sir Blade ordered.

As if turned out, being able to empower the rest of the fencing team came at the expense of any special powers like Nymph's other Champions had. Sir Blade and his squires were like regular people dressed in amour, with the slight difference of being stronger, more agile and definitely more skilled with their swords than they were before.

So, despite their lack of powers, they still gave Catastrophe a difficult time through their skills and number.

"You guys are really starting to get annoying." Catastrophe grunted as he used his claw blades to block the attacking squires.

He grabbed one of the spare rapiers left lying around, which just so happened to be his, and used it to attack as well, though he was less proficient with it since he was using his left hand.

The fight went on with neither side truly gaining the advantage, until Catastrophe managed to separate Sir Blade from his squires by Cataclysming the ground beneath them to send them into the waterways and then luring Sir Blade up to the roofs, which was bad since all the villain needed to do was break the Champion's sword to defeat him, meaning that Sir Blade couldn't properly defend or attack without risking his sword being broken.

"Looks like I'm besting the master." Catastrophe laughed as he swiped with his claws.

Sir Blade managed to dodge out the way. Despite not wanting to risk using his sword, he was still from a profession that required quick dodging skills.

"I wouldn't count this as besting the master, as this is not a true fight." Sir Blade said proudly. "Whats say you put away your claws and pick up that sword again, then we can have a true sword fight."

"Tempting offer," Catastrophe hummed. "But I'll have to pass, seeing as I'm about to win as we are now."

He struck forward again, forcing Sir Blade to dodge backwards again, which was exactly what the villain wanted him to do as it caused the Champion to trip over the edge of the roof and fall off.

Catastrophe looked over the edge of the roof and spotted Sir Blade hanging onto the windowsill of the floor below, the Champion having let go of his blade to hold on, which had fallen all the way to the ground beneath.

Catastrophe quickly jumped off the roof, falling to the ground and landing with ease, walking over to where Sir Blade's sword lay.

"No!" Sir Blade cried out, letting go of the windowsill and falling to the ground, unharmed.

"Well, I wish I could say it was fun." Catastrophe shrugged as he raised up his foot to stamp down on the sword.

"Not so fast!"

The shout was all the warning Catastrophe received before a small object slammed into his side, sending him flying away from the sword.

Sir Blade, and Nymph through his eyes, watched in amazement as the object was then pulled back by a string, landing in the hands of a newcomer.

It was a girl dressed in red and black. She wore a black bodysuit with red spots on the chest, covered by a red, sleeveless, open jacket with coattails and black spots decorating it, and red gloves and boots also decorated with black spots. Her hair was tied up in a pony tail with red ribbon and a black and white eye-mask obscured her identity.

"Who…?" Sir Blade questioned.

"The Ladybug Miraculous." He heard his Lady say through their connection. "She has the Ladybug Miraculous."

The ladybug then walked forward and picked up the sword, handing it to Sir Blade as he approached.

"Don't worry, I'm here now." The ladybug said confidently.

"So, you're the Ladybug hero, then." Catastrophe said as he shook off the ladybug's attack. "You're a little late, I've been expecting you for a while, but you never showed."

"If you're disappointed that I haven't shown up until now, I can certainly make up for all the ass-kickings you missed out on." The ladybug said, spinning her object, which was a red and black spotted yoyo, in a circle.

Catastrophe grinned wildly, eager to take on the new opponent, but his ring then beeped, informing that he didn't have long until he turned back.

He looked at the ladybug, then Sir Blade, then the squires who had finally made it back to ground level and evaluated his luck.

"As much as I would like to stay and chat, now's really not the time for me." He said.

"Stop him!" Sit Blade ordered his squires when he realised Catastrophe was going to try and run again.

The squires quickly ran to cut off Catastrophe's escape points.

"Isn't that cute." Catastrophe said.

He then ran and jumped over their heads with the extra agility his Miraculous gave him.

The ladybug, however, was hot on his tail.

"I'm not letting you go that easily." She proclaimed.

Catastrophe snarled as he ran, trying to think of a way of losing the ladybug, and the Champion who wasn't far behind.

Seeing the hole that he had previously sent the squires through, he jumped in, diving into the water below.

The ladybug jumped into the hole after him, but as soon as she saw the water, she used her yoyo to latch onto the streetlamp outside of the hole, pulling herself up just short of the water.

Hanging from the yoyo, she scanned the water for Catastrophe, but there was no sign of the villain.

With no reason left to stay in the hole, the ladybug pulled herself up and out, meeting with the Champion, who had just caught up to her.

"Unfortunately, he got away." The ladybug said.

"Thank you for your aid, but who are you?" Sir Blade questioned, Nymph's mark appearing before his face.

The ladybug went to answer, but they were interrupted by the arrival of news crews, who were quick to appear now that the danger was over.

"We are on the site of the latest Catastrophe attack. But something is a little different this time as it seems that Nymph seems to have created multiple Champions this time around." One of the reporters, Nadja, said into the camera.

The ladybug frowned, walking over to Nadja.

"Oh, and here's the second Champion now." Nadja said, spotting her. "Will you be able to give us a few comments."

"I'll give you more than a few comments, I'll give you an announcement." The ladybug smiled.

She then jumped back so that she was elevated above everyone at the top of the college steps.

"Citizens of Paris!" She said loudly as the camera focused on her. "I am Belle Aube! And I am your new hero! I vow to protect Paris from the evil claws of Catastrophe, alongside Lady Nymph!"

The people gathered looked up at her in surprised before letting out cheers and shouts of excitement and encouragement towards the new heroine.

She then jumped back down again to land beside Sir Blade.

"Belle Aube." Nadja said, getting in close to the ladybug. "As the new hero of Paris, what will you do to help protect Paris against Catastrophe?"

Belle Aube grinned.

"How about this?"

She stepped back again and threw her yoyo into the air.

"Miraculous Cure!"

Everyone watched in amazement as hundreds of glowing ladybugs seemed to emerge from it, the silhouette of an object seemed to form within the loveliness before dissipating, sending the glowing ladybugs outwards. The loveliness washed over the ground and buildings, repairing things as they went, including the hole into the waterways.

Though the damage from the prior Catastrophe attacks had not been fixed, the damage from the current one had, which was enough to get the people cheering for the hero even louder than before.

"I can hardly believe my eyes." Nadja said into her camera. "Belle Aube has repaired the damage done by Catastrophe today. It's a miracle."

Belle Aube smiled and bowed to the cameras and crowd.

She was then overwhelmed by the number of people surging forward to shake her hand and thank her.

"It seems that Paris has had a most fortunate turn of events, my Lady." Sir Blade said to the Butterfly wielder through their connection.

"Yes," Nymph hummed in agreement. "I'm glad that the person who found the Ladybug Miraculous is using it for good. And that I'll have an ally from now on."

Belle Aube was struggling with the crowd when she heard her earrings beep, making her remember that using her powers put her on a timer.

"Uh, I've got to go." She said.

She pulled out her yoyo and latched it onto a lamppost, pulling herself out of the crowd and swinging away.

Everyone seemed disappointed at the sudden departure, but Nadja quickly turned her attention to Sir Blade.

"Does Nymph have any statements on the new hero?" She asked the Champion.

"Tell her that I look forward to working with Belle Aube to keep Paris safe." Nymph told Sir Blade to say.

Her Champion repeated her message before she recalled her Tiānshǐ, turning him and his students back to normal.

"Wings Down!"

Nymph's transformation fell away, leaving her as Marinette, Nooroo appearing from out of her broach to float beside her.

"It looks like the Ladybug Miraculous has been found." Marinette told Fu.

"I see." Fu stroked his beard.

"Thankfully, the person wielding it, Belle Aube, has vowed to work alongside me to stop Catastrophe."

"We have been very fortunate, for it not to have been found by the thief or someone evil. Though, we will have to wait to see just what sort of hero Belle Aube will be."

"I'm so happy that Tikki was found by someone who will use her Miraculous correctly." Nooroo said.

"So, what should we do about Belle Aube?" Marinette questioned. "I mean, should we invite her over and reveal our identities, or…?"

Fu shook his head.

"For now, we'll keep separate, at least until we can properly judge Belle Aube's character and whether she would be able to keep our identities and location secret." He said.

"I guess that makes sense." Marinette agreed.

"Her knowing about us may also become a risk if she ends up loosing to Catastrophe and getting captured by the thief. I have no doubt that they'd have the means to find out what she knows if they were able to get past my house defences and corrupt the Cat Miraculous." Fu added.

Marinette sighed.

"Well, at least with Belle Aube on our side, taking down Catastrophe will be easier." She said.

Fu hummed as he frowned.

"What's wrong, master?" Nooroo questioned.

"The thief has three other Miraculous at their disposal, with Belle Aube's arrival, they are likely to give another one out to 'even out the odds' as it were." Fu said.

Marinette groaned.

"Just when I thought things would be getting easier." She complained.

"Activating another Miraculous or not, it will be better now that we have Tikki's healing and creation abilities on our side. Now the damage of battle can be undone." Nooroo told his wielder.

"That is correct, Nooroo." Fu agreed. "Now, the question is, what to expect next."

Adrien shivered as he snuck back into his room, thankfully, having avoided detection.

He'd had the bad luck to de-transform while still in the waterways, meaning that he was completely soaked and cold on top of that.

What didn't help matters is that he must have banged his hand while diving into the waterways, as it felt like it was burning.

Adrien quickly stripped himself of his wet clothes and climbed into his shower, sighing in relief as the hot water warmed him up.

While standing under the spray, Adrien investigated his hurt hand. He couldn't see and scratches or bruising, yet the burning feeling only seemed to increase.

Once fully warmed up, Adrien hopped out of the shower to dry off and get dressed into some new clothes, scratching his hand along the way.

Adrien was then surprised by his bedroom door bursting own, revealing Adrien's bodyguard with Natalie behind him.

"Adrien." Natalie seemed to sigh in relief. "You're safe."

"Yeah." Adrien said. "I ran back here as soon as Catastrophe attacked."

"You should have waited for us." Natalie told him. "And you should have told us where you were."

"I thought it'd be better to head straight back here rather than wait around. And I think I left my phone in my bag back at fencing in the panic, so I couldn't call." Adrien said.

"Well, I guess you did the right course of action, considering the circumstances." Natalie relented. "But from now on, make sure you keep your phone on you at all times so that we knew where you are when the next attack comes."

"I will." Adrien lied.

"I'll go inform your father that you are safe in your room." Natalie said. "Can you go retrieve Adrien's belongings?" She said to the bodyguard.

The bodyguard nodded and they both left, closing the bedroom door behind them.

With the two of them gone, Adrien quickly went back to scratching his hand, the burning reaching unbearable levels now.

He stopped scratching when his eyes spotted that his ring was smoking.

"What the…? Is this going to explode?" He questioned, holding his ring hand away from his face.

The ring then began to crackle with lighting, causing Adrien to shield his eyes with his free hand as it became too bright.

Suddenly, the pain in his hand went away and the lightning and smoke disappeared, causing Adrien to lower his hand to see what had happened.

There, floating before him, was some sort of creature. It seemed to be made out of both ink and smoke, with a large head and a tail, and its eyes were completely green like Catastrophe's were.

"Finally, out." The creature sighed. "It was so cramped in there."

Adrien stared at the creature in utter confusion.

"Hey kid." It waved at him.

"What are you?" Adrien finally managed to question.

"You can call me-" The creature cut itself off. "Actually, I can't remember my name, I can't remember much actually."

"Can you remember why you were in my ring?" Adrien pointed at his Miraculous, which was now a plain grey rather than black.

"I'm a Kwami, I remember that." The creature said. "I'm what gives that ring of yours its power."

"Why are you only coming out now?"

"Geeze, you're just full of questions." The Kwami said. "Something was keeping me in there, a heaviness that I could hardly move through. But then I felt something familiar and followed it out. And now I'm here."

Adrien continued to look at the Kwami.

"So, does that mean that Nymph has a Kwami too?" He asked.

"I don't know who that is." The Kwami said. "Is she someone I'm meant to know but can't remember?"

Adrien shrugged in response to the question, meaning neither were going to get their answers.

"I'm hungry." The Kwami suddenly said. "I need something to eat."

Adrien sighed.

"I'll see what I can have brought up from the kitchen." He said.

The stranger watched their TV, which was broadcasting the arrival of the new hero, Belle Aube, wielder of the Ladybug Miraculous.

They snarled and turned the TV off, rising to their feet at they went to their work room.

"So, now the Ladybug Miraculous is active as well and working against me." They said to themselves.

They stalked over to the magic cage that held the Fox, Turtle and Bee Miraculous' within, regarding them with a scowl.

"No matter, I still have more Miraculous than they do. I merely need to hand out another so that my dear Catastrophe won't be overwhelmed." They said.

They walked over to the stone table they had used to corrupt the Cat Miraculous and frowned.

"However, I don't have enough magic to both corrupt and control another wielder to my command. Keeping Catastrophe loyal is already costing me a lot." They stated.

They then hummed and regarded their remaining Miraculous again.

"What I need is someone who will readily disregard their morals without my interference but who I can manipulate into following my orders, even if it takes a bit of my remaining magic to do some 'convincing'." They said.

They looked over the Miraculous, wondering which would be best to even out the odds once they had chosen who to recruit next.

"Celebrate for now heroes." They said. "For I will have all the Miraculous' in my possession soon enough."

Chapter Text

When Marinette showed up to college alongside Alya the following morning, she expected the everyone to be abuzz with gossip about Belle Aube like her friend was.

And they were to an extent.

But there were also plenty of students talking about someone called 'Lila'.

Rose was talking to Juleka about how this Lila had met Prince Ali and been taken on his private jet.

Nino was talking excitedly to Kim and Max about how this mystery girl knew some Hollywood directors and would recommend him to a particularly famous one.

"Why did Jagged Stone write a song about Lila when he could have written it about me?" Chloe huffed as she and Sabrina met Marinette and Alya.

"Because your life isn't interesting enough to base a song off of." Alya teased the blond.

Chloe was aghast. "My life is perfectly interesting enough to base a song off of." She claimed.

"Right, I'm sure lyrics about your perfect hair would be enough to fill up a verse alone." Alya continued to tease, flipping her hair in imitation of Chloe.

"There's more to me than that!" Chloe was getting angry. "Right, Sabrina?"

"Of course, there is." Sabrina quickly agreed. "A song about you would fill up a book."

"I'm confused." Marinette interrupted. "Who's Lila?"

"She just started today." Alya said, pointing over to a girl with brown hair talking to Adrien. "She even gave me an exclusive interview for the Kaleidoscoop, cause she got to meet Lady Nymph in person once! Watch!"

Alya showed her phone to Marinette, showing Lila laughing in the video.

"What?" Marinette questioned.

She had no recollection of meeting anyone in person as Lady Nymph, let alone anyone who looked like Lila in her life.

Alya mistook her questioning to be enquiring further about Lila.

"Lila's got the most incredible life." She said. "And now she's going here. She's totally awesome!"

"Oh, please." Chloe scoffed. "I bet that she's not actually that great."

"My Kaleidoscoop getting the highest number of hits it's ever had says otherwise." Alya said, showing off the number of hits her blog was getting.

Chloe scrunched up her nose.

"So what?" She huffed, crossing her arms. "I'm the one who kickstarted your blog in the first place."

"Sounds like someone's jealous." Alya sang.

"Me? Jealous? Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!" Chloe exclaimed.

"Okay, calm down you two." Marinette said placatingly. "What exactly has this Lila girl been saying?"

Alya, Chloe and Sabrina then launched into the various stories that were passing around the college.

Adrien was really starting to get impatient.

This new girl had shown up, rumours abound about her flying around the college, and then she had decided to bother him.

"Anyway, I've been a bit busy with the charity work I've been doing and haven't had much time to catch up on what I needed to learn for when I join my classes. And I've heard that you're very smart. So, I was wondering if you could help me out on my history homework, make sure I'm doing everything right?" Lila continued on from what she was saying.

"Lila," Adrien said as kindly as he could, trying to keep some level of civility. "I'm flattered that you think I'm so smart, but I don't think I'm the best person to ask about this. I've got a lot on my schedule and it's prone to change at the whims of my father. You could try Max though, he's smart and has more time to spare than me."

"Oh, uh, I already asked Max." Lila said. "And he said he was busy. He told me to ask you, actually."

"Uh, huh." Adrien said, not convinced.

"And I'm sure we can organise some time." Lila said. "We just need to quickly go over our homework to make sure I'm doing things right. We can even go somewhere while we do it, like getting ice-cream, my treat."

While the offer of ice-cream did tempt Adrien, the way Lila seemed very intent on getting physically close to him dwarfed that temptation.

"I don't think my father would agree to me hanging out with a stranger." He refused.

"Then why don't you let me talk to him?" Lila suggested. "I'm sure that once I've talked to him, he'll realise that I'm a perfectly amazing person that you can hang out with."

Adrien stifled a groan and debated whether or not Lila would accept a flat out 'no', as she didn't seem to be taking the hints that he wasn't interested.

"So, this Lila has done all these things?" Marinette questioned as her friends finished telling her about the new girl.

"Yeah." Was the reply.

"And this doesn't seem the least bit suspicious to you?"

"Um…"

"I know it's a bit unfair to question what someone says, but the amount of things Lila is claiming seems ridiculous. What evidence do you have to back up her claims?"

Her friends remained quiet, realising that they didn't.

"Alya." Marinette addressed the blogger. "Lila claims to have met Lady Nymph personally, but Lady Nymph has never appeared in person to anyone before. If she did, I think she'd join in the fight alongside her Champions rather than stay in the shadows. If Lila ended up in trouble, Nymph would have made her or someone near her a Champion."

"Oh, yeah." Alya said, realising that the interview on her blog hadn't been fact checked.

"And from my interactions with Jagged Stone, I don't think he'd write a song about a specific teenage girl, even if everything else about her was true. For one, it isn't his style, and for another, Miss Rolling would point out the bad publicity it could bring him before he'd written a single lyric."

"Ha, I knew Jagged Stone couldn't have written a song about her." Chloe claimed.

"As for Lila's other claims, they could be equally untrue, I recommend you get some evidence before you believe them." Marinette recommended.

"She…" Alya gasped. "What a liar! I can't believe that I fell for her lies so easily!"

She quickly took down Lila's interview from her blog, not wanting it to be up for a second longer.

"I seems that everyone's been swept up in Lila's lies." Marinette said, remembering how many students were gossiping about Lila. "Apart from Adrien, she seems to be making him uncomfortable." She noted, pointing at the boy. "Should we go and rescue him?"

"Definitely." Chloe agreed, forgetting her current standing with Adrien. "I need to give that liar a piece of my mind."

"Oh no." Marinette sighed, realising what she had just started.

Chloe marched off towards Lila with Sabrina following behind.

"I'm coming too." Alya said, leaving Marinette to wheel after them.

Adrien was getting ready to blow up at Lila, when rescue came from an unexpected source.

"Hey, Lila."

Lila turned, annoyed at the interruption.

"What?" She said.

"I've got a few questions about your ridiculous claims." Chloe said. "Mainly, how could anyone believe them?" She pretended that she hadn't herself.

"They're not ridiculous, just because a lot of things have happened to me, doesn't mean they're not true." Lila defended.

"If they're true, then you won't have any issues providing proof." Chloe challenged smugly.

"Why should I need to provide proof? It's not like how I live my life affects yours." Lila crossed her arms.

A crowd was starting to gather now.

"Doesn't affect us?" Alya raised an eyebrow. "How about that interview you gave me? Hundreds of people have seen you lying about knowing Nymph on my blog and now people will distrust anything I put up on my blog because of you."

"First of all, you're the one who put that interview up, so that's your fault." Lila pointed out. "And second of all, I wasn't lying."

"Lady Nymph has never been seen in person, she empowers people when they're in danger. So, why would she rescue you personally rather than give you a Tiānshǐ. For that matter, what danger were you even in?" Alya argued.

"Well, I'd fallen off a bridge while rescuing a child who had climbed up there. And Nymph was close by when it happened, so she came to rescue me herself. And for your information, I have been Tiānshǐsed, a couple of times now." Lila gloated.

"Lady Nymph never empowers a Champion more than once." Chloe joined in. "What makes you so special?"

"I guess Nymph just trusts me more, which isn't a surprise considering all the charity work I do. That, and I am a quite effective Champion." Lila said.

"I know the civilian identities of all of Lady Nymph's Champions, I certainly don't recall you ever showing up to try and defeat Catastrophe." Alya was starting to get really angry now.

"Nymph's focus isn't only on defeating Catastrophe." Lila waved off. "There's also other events outside of Paris that she empowers me to deal with. You've just never heard of me because everything I've done has happened when there weren't any people around who had phones to record me in action with."

"So, you don't have any proof to your lies?" Chloe smirked, though she was seething inside.

"And you have no proof that anything I say is lies. And have no reason to be bulling me like this." Lila hung her head like she was about to cry, shuffling closer to Adrien.

The sight of Lila being upset turned everyone's attentions to Alya and Chloe, some glaring at them.

"Please, if I wanted to bully you, I can think of far worse things than calling out your lies." Chloe said matter-of-factly.

Alya, however took notice of the looks the two of them were getting.

"Not helping." She muttered under her breath to everyone.

"Alright, I think it's time for everyone to calm down." Marinette interrupted as she wheeled over, having finally caught up.

The crowd parted to let her through.

"Whatever is going on, it should definitely not be taking place in a public area, for either side." Marinette said. "You all need to go away and calm down so that you can approach this subject calmly and on a more equal understanding." She advised. "Now, I believe that our teachers will be waiting impatiently for us to get to our lessons."

As if Marinette was the principle herself, the crowd dispersed and headed towards their first classes.

Marinette turned around and headed back towards her own class with Chloe, Sabrina and Alya following behind as they talked to her.

"Who's that?" Lila questioned, staring at Marinette as she left.

"That's Marinette." Adrien explained happily. "Cool, isn't she?"

"She was able to take control easily." Lila found herself agreeing.

She would have to look into Marinette more closely.

But for now, she turned her attention back to Adrien.

"I'm sorry for the scene I ended up causing." She said, looking away. "I know that I can't prove that I know Nymph, I wish everyone could know her as closely as I do."

"You really know Lady Nymph?" Adrien was interested.

"Yeah." Lila was suddenly very happy. "We're like that." She crossed her fingers to symbolise closeness.

"Do you know who she is?" Adrien asked eagerly. "And what about Belle Aube?"

Lila looked unsure.

"We probably shouldn't talk about this stuff here." She said, looking around. "How about we meet in the park to talk about it later?"

"Uh, sure." Adrien said. "I need to get to fencing practice anyway."

"Okay, I'll meet you afterwards in the park then." Lila waved as Adrien left.

"It's a date." She said to herself.

She then turned and walked down the stairs towards the college doors, a plan formulating in her mind.

"Why'd you interrupt?" Chloe demanded.

"Yeah, we had her on the ropes." Alya agreed.

"Really, because all I saw was two girls picking on the new girl because they didn't believe her tall tales." Marinette said.

"We weren't picking on her." Both girls defended.

"Chloe wasn't picking on her." Sabrina chimed in.

"I know you weren't, but that's what it looked like to everyone else." Marinette told them. "You were so concerned in exposing Lila, that you didn't notice how it looked to others. Try and think your actions through next time instead of charging off."

"You're right." Alya agreed.

Chloe looked at her like she had just said the most insane thing.

"You're just going to drop it?" She questioned.

"Of course not." Alya huffed. "I'm just going to make sure that I have evidence of Lila's lies next time."

"Right." Chloe said. "We won't let her worm her way out of it next time."

Marinette sighed. "At least try to understand her side, so we don't have a repeat of what just happened.

Chloe was about to respond when she noticed Lila leaving the college rather than going to class, making her suspicious.

She fell behind Marinette and Alya as they went on ahead, grabbing Sabrina.

"Sabrina, follow Lila and see what she's up to." Chole whispered to Sabrina.

Sabrina looked hesitant. "But…what about class?"

"I'll make up an excuse for you." Chloe said. "Now, go."

"Okay." Sabrina relented, going down the stairs to follow Lila.

Chloe caught up with Marinette and Alya at the classroom door.

"Where's Sabrina?" Marinette questioned.

"She just remembered that she had to do something." Chloe said, going to take her seat.

Classes eventually let out and Marinette found herself in the middle of a scheming Chloe and Alya, wishing that the students left in the art room would leave it sooner so that she and the rest of the Art Club members could go in and she could get away from her weirdly obsessed friends.

"I'm not finding anything on Lila's history, let alone any of her 'accomplishments.'" Alya said, looking at her phone.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she's just some nobody." Chloe smirked.

"Chloe, check your behaviour." Marinette sighed, pointing at the promise on Chloe's wrist.

Chloe fiddled with it and looked away.

"I'm not doing anything bad, just exposing a liar." Chloe defended.

Marinette just sighed.

Chloe's phone then buzzed.

"Oh, good." Chloe said as she looked at her phone. "Sabrina got back to me on what Lila's been doing."

Marinette quickly worked out what she meant.

"Seriously, you had Sabrina follow Lila?" She asked, exasperated.

"I saw her sneaking out of college, so Sabrina followed her to see what she was up to. She didn't say anything about not wanting to do it." Chloe said. "Now, what has she found out. 'Lila went around, visiting a few jewellery shops, until she bought a pair of earrings in one'."

Chloe's phone showed the picture Sabrina had taken.

Out of curiosity, Marinette leaned over to see what the picture was.

She then gasped when she saw a close up of the earrings in Lila's hand.

"She has them." She said before she could think.

Chloe and Alya looked at her.

"I mean…uh…the earrings my family member lost that I was looking for. They look a lot like them." Marinette quickly covered up.

The other girls hummed as they analysed the picture, thinking of something else.

"What is she up to?" Alya questioned.

"Sabrina will find out." Chloe said.

"No." Marinette interjected. "You've already made Sabrina do enough of your dirty work today."

Chloe groaned. "Fine."

"I'll be going myself anyway, a good reporter does her own research." Alya said. "Where is she?"

"Heading to the park." Chloe said, reading Sabrina's status update.

"Alright, let's go." Alya said. "Marinette, you stay here. I don't want Lila to see us."

The two girls then raced off, leaving a confused Marinette alone.

"Nooroo." She called on her Kwami. "Do you think Lila's Belle Aube."

Nooroo shook his head. "Those weren't the Ladybug Miraculous." He said.

"They weren't?"

"I managed to get a look at the picture from your purse, I'd recognise the other Miraculous anywhere and that isn't them." Nooroo said. "Though, that makes me wonder why this girl was seeking out something that looked like them."

"Considering all the things she's probably made up today, personally knowing me being the main thing, I can hazard a guess." Marinette said unhappily.

She then looked at her phone, a message from Nathaniel telling her that the art room was now available.

"Well, a lie that big, she's bound to be found out in no time." Marinette said. "And hopefully all her other lies will be found out as well. Especially with Chloe and Alya hounding her."

She then started wheeling herself towards the art room.

"Hey, Marinette."

Nooroo quickly hid back in her purse.

"Adrien, hi." Marinette stopped to greet the blond boy. "What are you still doing at college?"

"I just finished my fencing practice." Adrien explained. "Mr D'Agincourt has been extra strict today, considering what happened yesterday."

"Oh, yeah. I'm glad we've got a new hero to protect Paris now." Marinette said.

"Yeah." Adrien said, unenthusiastically,

"Don't you like the new hero?" Marinette frowned.

"No, it's not that." Adrien rubbed the back of his head. "It's just, I'm reserving judgement until we've seen more of her."

"I guess that makes sense." Marinette agreed.

"So, what are you still doing at college?" Adrien asked.

"Art Club." Marinette answered. "Anyone who wants a creative environment can go into the art room outside of lessons and express themselves however they want."

"That sounds fun." Adrien said.

"Do you want to come along?" Marinette offered. "You already know everyone there, but it could be a chance to get to know them better, and maybe to some experimenting with the different art stuff."

"I'd…I'd love to." Adrien blushed slightly.

It sounded like it would be amazing, making friends and finding something new he could do, and with Marinette there to top it all off.

But then the coldness of his ring reminded him where he needed to be.

"But, unfortunately, I already promised to meet with someone else, and I'd rather not let them down." He said, sadly.

"It's okay." Marinette comforted. "The art room stays open for a long time, so you could still visit after your meeting, or some other day."

"I'll try my best to come." Adrien said.

"Good, see you later, then." Marinette waved again before continuing on her way to the art room.

"See you later." Adrien replied before, reluctantly, making his way to the park.

Peaking from behind a tree, Alya and Chloe watched Lila sit down on a bench in the park. The girl took out a jewellery box and opened it before taking out her phone and bringing something up on the screen, looking in between the two a few times before she seemed satisfied, taking a pair of earrings out of the box and putting them in her ears.

The two then ducked behind the three more when they noticed Adrien approaching

"Oh, hi." Lila said, turning off her phone and putting it away.

"Hey." Adrien said, sitting down next to her. "So, how well do you know Lady Nymph?"

"Really well." Lila boasted. "Like I said, she saved my life and has made me her Champion many times. I wish I had a picture to show you. My Champion form, Gossamer, was so strong and beautiful."

"Won't she be making you a Champion again?" Adrien questioned.

"Well, she doesn't need to now, I've found a better way to help out."

Adrien raised an eyebrow, wondering what that way was.

"Anyway, enough about Nymph. What do you think about the new hero, Belle Aube?"

"Well, I'm not really sure." Adrien answered. "I'm waiting until I know her more before passing judgement. I'd rather talk more about Nymph, like how well you know her."

"Well, I think that you might get a chance to learn more about Belle Aube." Lila said, not wanting to move away from the topic of the new heroine.

"What makes you say that?" Adrien asked.

"Oh, nothing." Lila waved off. "But it's a bit funny isn't it. Belle Aube makes her big debut, and then the very next day, I start college. It's a nice little coincidence. You could say it makes us connected in a way."

Lila made a show of tucking her hair behind her ear.

And Adrien caught sight of exactly what she wanted him to see.

"Wait, are those…" He questioned, holding out a hand slightly.

"Oh, these." Lila acted surprised that he had noticed them. "They're something that I was given not long ago"

"Are you…are you Belle Aube?" Adrien asked.

Lila gasped. "Oh, no." She said. "Adrien, you mustn't tell anyone that I'm her!"

"I won't." Adrien promised.

He had to fight to keep the grin off of his face. He had found out Belle Aube's identity only a day after she had appeared. Now all he had to do was sneak off to become Catastrophe take them from her while she was unprotected.

"What!"

Lila and Adrien looked towards the direction the scream but saw no one, deciding that it was from something that wasn't their business and going back to their own conversation.

Meanwhile, Chloe and Alya ran out of the park, having overheard Lila's claims and left before they could reveal themselves.

"There is no way that a liar like that could ever be a hero!" Alya exclaimed. "And she deliberately showed off her earrings to him, she wanted Adrien to think that she was a hero!"

"Yeah. She definitely isn't Belle Aube. She's just lying again to take advantage of Adrien!" Chloe said. "I'm going to tell my daddy about this!"

Chloe stormed off, leaving Alya to stew in her own anger as well.

"So, Lila." Adrien said. "You, uh, want to come to my place sometime? I'd love to see how you become Belle Aube."

"Well, I don't think that I should transform outside of battle. But I'd love to go to your house and spend more time with you." Lila said, moving closer to Adrien. "Or maybe we could go to the movies."

"Well, that sounds great." Adrien forced himself to say.

He was really struggling with his want for the Ladybug Miraculous and his want to get away from Lila.

"You know, it's actually a relief that you know now, having someone to trust makes me feel so happy." Lila grabbed onto his arm as she leaned against him.

'You're doing it for the Miraculous, you're doing it for the Miraculous, you're doing it for the Miraculous!' Adrien repeated in his head as he forced himself to smile at Lila's advances.

The two were then surprised by a figure landing in front of them.

It was Belle Aube.

"Hello there." The spotted heroine had an obviously forced grin on her face, if the fire in her eyes was anything to go by. "I was just passing by when I couldn't help but overhear your conversation."

Adrien looked from Lila to Belle Aube and back again, realising what it meant.

"You're Belle Aube, huh?" Belle Aube continued on like she was having a regular conversation. "That's weird. Because if you're Belle Aube, who does that make me? Actually, that doesn't make me anything, because you're a liar!"

"So, you were lying to me this entire time?" Adrien questioned Lila, forcefully pushing away from her. "You were just using me?"

"Of course, she was." Belle Aube scoffed. "And I'd bet she's never become a Champion, let alone met Lady Nymph."

"I can't believe you." Adrien scowled at Lila, who was beginning to cry. "You're nothing but a pathetic lair."

With that, he turned and ran off.

"Adrien, wait!" Lila reached out for him. "How dare you?!" She turned to Belle Aube.

Lila then ran off in the opposite direction before Belle Aube could respond.

With a shrug, and the feeling of relief, Belle Aube swung off to find a place to de-transform.

"I can't believe I let myself get fooled like that." Adrien growled.

"You are a bit dumb, kid." The Cat Kwami appeared. "Anyone could see that the girl deliberately showed off her earrings. You fell right into her trap."

Adrien scowled at him.

"Well, I'm not going to let her get away with it." He said. "Claws Out!"

The kwami was pulled into his ring and he transformed into Catastrophe.

Catastrophe then ran back the way Adrien had come, only to find the park empty of both Lila and Belle Aube.

He growled and stomped his foot, looking around to see what he could do to draw Belle Aube back out.

He turned to look at the college, remembering Marinette telling him about the Art Club that was there.

Still lost in his anger, Catastrophe didn't think twice when turning and walking towards the college and where the art room was.

Marinette sat in the art room, pattern drafting for the current outfit she was working on.

"I wonder how Lila met Prince Ali." Rose said as she worked on her own project.

"Rose, you've already met Prince Ali yourself, why are you getting so excited?" Marinette looked up as she finished lining up her pattern master to a curve.

"Yes, but I've never flown in his private jet." Rose said. "I bet it was amazing."

Marinette sighed and drew the curve onto her pattern.

The others in the group continued to talk about Lila until the topic of Alya and Chloe came up.

"I'm not surprised Chloe went after Lila, but I didn't think Alya would be the type to join in." Alix said.

"Alya can be stubborn at times." Marinette said. "Once she realised that Lila had nothing to back up what she said, especially the interview for the Kaleidoscoop, she got mad and decided to dive in head first in confronting Lila."

"So, it was a misunderstanding?" Rose asked.

"More like an over-reaction and an inability to read the situation." Marinette shook her head. "Think about what Lila's been telling everyone, that she knows all these famous people, that she's done all these amazing things, and then try remember if Lila gave any proof for what she's said."

That caused everyone to pause as they tried to recall why exactly they had believed Lila's words.

"Exactly. So, until Lila can actually present some proof, I wouldn't recommend believing what she says."

Everyone suddenly felt very sheepish, realising what they'd been doing.

"Good to see you're able to talk sense into people." Nathaniel commented, looking up from his own work.

"You saw past Lila's lies too?" Marinette asked him.

"I didn't really care." Nathaniel answered honestly. "But then I heard her talking about Lady Nymph and knew she was lying."

"How?" Marinette raised an eyebrow, wondering how Lila could have given herself away during the confrontation with Alya and Chloe.

"Lila referred to her as just 'Nymph'." Nathaniel explained. "Anyone who comes in contact with her refers to her as 'Lady Nymph', whether they're aware of it or not."

"Oh." Marinette said.

She had been aware of her former Champions referring to her as such but hadn't thought about it until now.

"You're right, she didn't." Rose said.

"Meaning that Lila was never a Champion." Alix concluded.

"That's low." Juleka said.

All former Champions held Lady Nymph in some form of reverence. So, finding out that Lila had lied about her was an insult to them.

"Well, considering how much she's lied, she'll get found out eventually." Marinette said. "It's best just to get people to think logically about her claims and wait for her to expose herself for now."

The group conceded to Marinette's advice, going back to their projects.

"I don't know how we'd manage without you, Marinette." Nathaniel chuckled.

"You'd do fine." Marinette waved off. "So, what have you been up to lately?"

Nathaniel groaned. "Mum's making me volunteer." He said.

"Really." Marinette laughed.

"Yeah. After I said that I was considering Health and Social Care, she decided that I needed to volunteer as a carer so that I'll already have work experience when I start learning. She wouldn't let up on it until I agreed to do it for a few weeks. So, now I'm going to be stuck looking after some old guy I don't know after school and on the weekends." Nathaniel complained.

"Maybe it won't be so bad." Marinette said.

"I doubt it. I'll probably get some guy who will complain about me the entire time I'm there or something." Nathaniel said glumly.

Then, they were all surprised by the classroom door suddenly bursting open very loudly.

"Hello, everyone." Catastrophe walked into the room. "Mind if I join the club?"

Marinette gulped in fear, moving her hand to her purse, where Nooroo was hiding.

Chapter Text

A de-powered Belle Aube sat in her room, being shamed by Tikki.

"You shouldn't have confronted her like that." Tikki told her.

"She deserved it." Belle Aube rebutted. "If she didn't want to be called out, then she shouldn't have lied about being me."

"But calling her out in public like that and humiliating her." Tikki continued.

"I know types like her. She won't stop, so she needs to be called out in ways she can't recover from." Belle Aube said.

Tikki sighed at her wielder's stubbornness.

She could easily see the wielder matching up with another of her fellow Kwamis much better than her. But Tikki wasn't exactly in the position to find a wielder who was better suited to the Ladybug Miraculous, so she had to work with wielder who wasn't as suited to her as her previous wielders.

There was then a sudden beeping, coming from Belle Aube's phone.

It was the Villain Alert App

It was something created after it became apparent Catastrophe's attacks would be a regular thing. The App would immediately start beeping if an attack warning was issued, telling people that they would need to stay inside until the attack ended, and would give constant updates of where Catastrophe was so people could evacuate the area if need be.

It also served as a good alarm to tell heroes when they were needed.

"I think Catastrophe noticed you when you yelled at Lila." Tikka worked out.

"Lecture me later." Belle Aube moaned. "Tikki, Spots On!"

The Art Club were huddled in the corner of the art room, some clinging onto Marinette's wheelchair from where she was positioned in the middle of them, Mr Haberkorn stood in front of all of them as if the art teacher could protect them.

Catastrophe wasn't that interested though. He paced around the room, occasionally going to the window to show the police he was still inside and would harm the club if he saw them try to come in, while waiting for Belle Aube and Lady Nymph's Champion to show up.

Problem was, Lady Nymph herself was unknowingly one of the hostages.

Marinette needed to find a way to escape so she could transform and create a Champion, something that would already be hard enough for an able-bodied person, but almost impossible for someone restricted to a big and slow wheelchair.

Catastrophe hummed as he looked over at the clock.

"No sign of any heroes yet." He said. "Maybe they need some incentive." He looked over at the group.

The villain walked threateningly over to them.

"You will not touch my students." Mr Haberkorn said, making sure he was between Catastrophe and the students.

"If you insist." Catastrophe shrugged.

He then grabbed the art teacher by the front of the shirt and lifted him up, turning to go back to the widow.

Marinette didn't know what made her do it, maybe she briefly forgot that she wasn't Lady Nymph in that moment, or the fear that her art teacher would be dropped out of the window, or just sheer stupidity.

But regardless of the reason, she had lurched forward in her chair and grabbed Catastrophe's tail.

Catastrophe yowled as his tail was yanked on, whipping around to glare at Marinette, who was holding it tightly and only just realising what she had done.

"Let him go." Marinette found herself saying with a shaky voice.

"Let go on my tail." Catastrophe ordered with a hiss.

"Not until you put Mr Haberkorn down." Marinette continued to dig her grave without control, even tightening her grip on the tail.

Catastrophe scowled and pulled back on his tail, but Marinette wouldn't budge.

So, he pulled harder, finally getting his tail back but also pulling Marinette out of her wheelchair in the process.

"Ow." Marinette complained as she pushed herself off the floor with her hands.

"Marinette!" The group gasped, making forward to help pick her back up.

But Catastrophe had beaten them to it, dropping his hold on the art teacher to pick Marinette up and put her back in her wheelchair.

"Uh, thanks." Marinette said unsurely.

"You should be more careful." Catastrophe said. "And don't pull on my tail." He added with a growl.

He then walked back to the window, forgetting the art teacher, who quickly went back to his students to check if Marinette was alright.

"I'm fine." Marinette insisted as the others checked her over for any damage from her fall.

She looked over at Catastrophe, analysing him.

Marinette hadn't expected him to help her, especially after she had pulled his tail. Meaning that whoever was beneath the mask was still a good person despite the corruption of his ring.

Any maybe she could use that to her advantage.

"Aghh!" Marinette suddenly lurched forward in her chair, gripping the area between her hips.

"Marinette!"

"What's wrong?"

Her friends worried.

Catastrophe practically raced back over.

"Where are you hurt?" He asked.

"It's my period." Marinette gasped out. "It hurts."

"Oh, uh…" Catastrophe was suddenly very unsure. "Do you…need anything?"

"Can I go to the toilets? I don't have anything to protect my clothes right now." Marinette quickly asked.

"Toilets, as in away from this room?" Catastrophe looked suspicious.

"Would you rather I bleed everywhere." Marinette deadpanned.

"No! No, I don't." Catastrophe said. "But I'll take you there, just so you can't escape."

He looked back at the rest of the club, realising he'd have to leave them alone in order to keep an eye on Marinette, as talking them all with him wouldn't be practical.

Thankfully, for Catastrophe, there was an art supply room that was just big enough to fit everyone in it.

"Sorry if you're claustrophobic, but I'll let you out when we come back." Catastrophe said as he pushed them all into the small space.

Marinette shot them all an apologetic look as the door closed on them, which was then locked with the keys Catastrophe had taken from the art teacher.

"Right." Catastrophe said. "Let's get you taken care of."

As Marinette had to pretend that she was still in pain, she had to let Catastrophe push her to the toilets, rather than pushing herself.

They went down the lift and through the courtyard, Marinette spotting that the front door had been barricaded by Catastrophe to stop the police from using it.

"So, uh…will you need any help? Not that I think you need help, you can obviously do things on your own." Catastrophe rambled as they arrived at the toilets.

In that moment, Marinette found it hard to connect this Catastrophe to the one who had been terrorising Paris.

"No, I'll be fine." Marinette smiled at him.

She pushed herself into the disabled toilet and closed the door behind her, locking it for good measure.

Catastrophe raised no protest, staying outside.

"Finally, we're alone." Nooroo sighed in relief as he flew out of Marinette's purse.

"We don't have long, though." Marinette said quietly, so Catastrophe wouldn't overhear. "I'll have to make a Tiānshǐ and trust it to find a Champion on its own."

Nooroo frowned. "That's not a good idea, both the Tianshi and your Champion need guidance from you. But we, unfortunately, don't have much choice."

"I'll tell it to seek out one of my former Champions, but that'll be the best I can do." Marinette sighed. "Nooroo, Wings Rise."

The transformation was less flashy than usual, as her butterflies weren't there to envelop her like usual, just a wave a light purple light.

Once Lady Nymph sat on her throne, she reached a hand up to her Miraculous and summoned a butterfly out of it. As a precaution for situations such as her one, a butterfly would always remain in the Miraculous to be pulled out at any time.

With the butterfly perched on her finger, Lady Nymph brought it up to her lips and transferred her power into it, creating her Tiānshǐ.

"There's no time to find you a person. Find the closest former Champion that isn't in danger and re-empower them." The heroine whispered to it. "Now, hide until Catastrophe is far enough away."

The Tiānshǐ fluttered up to the ceiling to hide out of view of the door.

"Wings Down." Lady Nymph said.

When Marinette was once again sat in her wheelchair, she wheeled over to the door and opened it.

"All set." She told Catastrophe, who had been waiting patiently outside.

"Just like that?" Catastrophe questioned.

"Do you have in depth knowledge of how periods work or something?" Marinette raised an eyebrow.

"No." Catastrophe became embarrassed and dropped the subject.

Marinette chuckled at his response.

She had learned a while ago that if she wanted to get out of a situation, especially one involving males, all she had to do was mention her period, as it made everyone uncomfortable and unwilling to question the subject any further.

Marinette pushed herself back towards the art room with Catastrophe following behind.

Unseen by the villain, the Tiānshǐ fluttered out of the disabled toilet, flying off to find a Champion.

"You know, you can be pretty nice when you want to be." Marinette said conversationally. "Even gentlemanly."

"You think so." Catastrophe blushed slightly.

"Yeah." Marinette insisted. "You helped me up when I fell down, allowed me to take care of personal matters even though I'm currently your hostage, and you've just generally been nice to me. So, why are you a villain?"

"I…I have to be." Catastrophe explained. "In order to keep my powers, to keep my ring."

He looked down at the ring on his finger.

"Are your powers really worth all that you're forced to do, though?" Marinette pressed.

"I need them." Catastrophe insisted, stroking his ring. "Without them, I…I don't want to talk about this anymore. Let's get back to the art room."

Marinette sighed in defeat.

Just as the two reached the lift, they heard a thump behind them.

"Let M-the girl go!"

Catastrophe whipped around to face Belle Aube.

"Ah, I've been waiting for you." He grinned. "I've been itching for a fight now that I'm not on a timer."

"You mean you're not going to run away like usual?" Belle Aube spun her yoyo around.

Belle Aube and Catastrophe then ran at each other, clashing with yoyo against claw blades.

With Catastrophe distracted, Marinette took the chance to get back to the art room on her own and free the others.

"It's Belle Aube!" The crowd gathered outside to college cried out, spotting Belle Aube and Catastrophe as their fight progressed to the roof.

"Get ready to rescue the hostages as soon as Belle Aube has driven Catastrophe away from the college." Officer Raincomprix ordered his troops.

Not that far away, Lila watched in contempt as the people cheered Belle Aube on.

Stalking away, she came across a poster on an advertisement board at the opposite side of the college.

Lila didn't have a problem with the poster itself, a drawing of many of the Champions that had protected Paris against Catastrophe with the silhouette of Nymph and her logo behind them. Her issue was with the fact that someone had graffitied Belle Aube into the poster.

"My chances with Adrien, gone! I hate you, Belle Aube!" Lila shouted, chucking her bag at the poster.

She then looked up, catching a glimpse of Belle Aube's yoyo as the fight progressed between the hero and villain.

"She's nothing special." Lila said. "Just someone playing dress up. I could be a much better hero given the chance."

In her anger, Lila almost missed the glowing, purple butterfly that fluttered out of the college, making its way down the street.

"A Tiānshǐ." Lila gasped.

She then grinned. "This is exactly what I need." She said.

She ran towards it, frowning when it continued to fly away from her, towards some unknown destination. But Lila wouldn't let it reach its destination, this was her chance and she wasn't going to let it go because Nymph had someone else in mind.

Lila managed to catch up to the Tiānshǐ and snatched it out of the air, pulling back her hair and pushing it into her earring.

Lila grinned triumphantly as she felt the power of the Tiānshǐ fill her but paused when she didn't hear anything.

From her look into what happened when someone became a Champion, she knew that Nymph was meant to appear before her to speak words of encouragement and ask that she take Catastrophe's ring from him. Yet, no one appeared before her.

No matter, she still had the power, and that was all that mattered.

"It's time to show Belle Aube and all of Paris that I'm the only hero they'll need." Lila smirked as purple light enveloped her.

It was time for Gossamer to turn from fiction, into reality.

Belle Aube grunted as she was thrown against a wall, quickly diving out of the way of Catastrophe's claw blades as they came down where she had been.

"Looks like someone's too inexperienced to be going up against me." Catastrophe taunted. "Just give me your Miraculous, it'll make things easier for both of us."

"The day I do that, is the day you learn how to use a hairbrush." Belle Aube shot back.

She then launched her yoyo at Catastrophe.

"Come on, Lady Nymph, where's your Champion?" Belle Aube muttered aloud as they fought.

It was the shadow that tipped Belle Aube that something was heading towards them, quickly disengaging from Catastrophe and flipping away. Which also tipped Catastrophe off that he would need to move.

An advertisement board landed where they had just been not even a second later.

Belle Aube and Catastrophe looked up in the direction the board had come from, spotting a figure flying in the sky.

It was a female wearing an orange and black costume, with chest armour a belt and the knees, elbows and wrist being a deeper shade of orange. Her face was covered with an orange mask, some sort of bug-eyed goggled sat on her head and she hovered in the air with four bug-like wings.

She was obviously Lady Nymph's new Champion.

"Hey, watch where you're throwing next time!" Belle Aube snapped at the flying female.

"I saw an open shot and I took it, it's not my fault you were in the way." The Champion raised her hands in mock surrender as she landed. "Name's Gossamer, and I can take it from here."

That caused both Belle Aube and Catastrophe to react.

"Wait, you're…" Belle Aube pointed at Gossamer as she realised who was beneath the mask.

"Looks like I'm not a liar after all." Gossamer smirked at the spotted heroine.

She then shot forward, aiming at Catastrophe with a fist held back and using her wings to increase her speed.

"Woah!" Catastrophe cried out, dodging just in time.

Gossamer punched down on the ground as a result of Catastrophe getting out of the way, creating a hole in the roof that they were standing on.

"Hold still!" Gossamer told him, aiming to punch him again.

The two danced around the roof, Gossamer leaving more and more holes as she attempted to get Catastrophe with her super strength.

One of the attacks ended up landing very close to Belle Aube as she tried to assist in the fight.

"Watch where you're punching!" Belle Aube shouted at Gossamer. "Are you crazy?"

"If you don't want to get hurt, then stay out of my way and let a real hero work." Gossamer shot back, pushing Belle Aube out of her way.

Belle Aube grunted as she fell down from the force of the push.

"Why would Lady Nymph make her of all people a Champion?" Belle Aube questioned as she stood up.

Looking around the roof of the college, Catastrophe realised just how much damage Gossamer was doing in her determination to attack him. And the college was one of the few placed he really didn't want to be shut down from the damage.

'I need to get this fight away from her.' He thought.

"You've got some fancy punches, but let's see how good your flying is." Catastrophe taunted the Champion as he turned tail and ran.

"Get back here!" Gossamer and Belle Aube shouted as chased after him.

Down on the ground, the police officers quickly moved into the college to extract the students inside now that the threat had moved away.

After Belle Aube had shown up, Marinette was able to make it back to the art room and free her friends and teacher from the supply room. Though, they were all still stuck in the art room itself, as it was still too dangerous to leave with the fight going on outside.

A problem for Marinette as she couldn't become Lady Nymph and see who her Tiānshǐ had found to become a Champion.

"I can't hear anything outside anymore." Nathaniel commented as he approached the door.

"Nathaniel, be careful, a stray attack could come through the door." Mr Haberkorn warned.

"Maybe they've gone elsewhere." Nathaniel suggested.

He peaked through the window on the door, trying to see if he could spot the heroes or villain, but instead he saw the police making their way through the barricade that blocked the door to the courtyard.

"We can leave." Nathaniel said, opening the door.

Everyone rushed out in relief, meeting the police halfway and getting taken outside where paramedics were waiting to check them over for injuries.

"I'm fine." Marinette insisted as she was checked over. "Can I please just go home?"

She really needed to get somewhere where she could be alone and transform into Lady Nymph.

Unfortunately, the paramedics were being thorough and insistent in following their procedure. Which Marinette couldn't fault them for, but it was still an inconvenience for her.

When Marinette was finally given the okay to go home, given that her house was literally right across the road, it felt like an age had passed even though it was only a few minutes.

She raced up to her room so fast that Nooroo was surprised her wheelchair didn't tip over

"Finally." Marinette sighed in relief once she was alone in her room.

"I hope our Champion is doing well." Nooroo said.

Marinette leant down and locked the trapdoor to her room, ensuring that her parents wouldn't be able to get in and find out about her secret identity.

"Let's find out who our Tiānshǐ found." Marinette said. "Nooroo, Wings Rise!"

This time, Marinette's butterflies were there to cover her as she transformed, coming in through her skylight and bedroom window.

Lady Nymph then connected with her Champion.

"Hello?"

"Hello?"

"Wah!" Gossamer exclaimed at the sudden voice invading her head.

Catastrophe and Belle Aube both looked towards her in confusion before seeing Lady Nymph's mark appear in front of Gossamer's face, realising that Lady Nymph must have startled her, though they wondered why.

Shrugging it off, they went back to fighting with each other while Gossamer was busy communicating with Lady Nymph.

"I am Lady Nymph." The hero introduced herself to her Champion.

"Uh, hi." Gossamer said. "Why didn't you introduce yourself before?"

"I was, unfortunately, indisposed." Lady Nymph told her. "Do you know what I need you to do?"

"Of course, beat Catastrophe, take his ring. Easy." Gossamer said. "Speaking of which."

Realising that the fight had continued on without her, Gossamer re-joined.

She flew over to a lamppost and pulled it out of the ground, holding it like a bat and charging at Catastrophe.

"Out of my way." Was the only warning she gave Belle Aube as she swung the lamppost.

The lamppost managed to hit Catastrophe, the villain barely able to cushion himself with his arms first, sending him flying through the air for a good few metres.

Unfortunately, Belle Aube happened to have had her yoyo wrapped around Catastrophe's claw blades when this happened, so she was also sent flying, yanked along by her yoyo.

Belle Aube then had to dodge out of the way to avoid Gossamer's next swing at Catastrophe, which she had been in the way off, purposely letting go of her yoyo to avoid being yanked along again as it was still tangled around Catastrophe's claws.

Belle Aube practically growled at Gossamer, wondering how she would get her weapon back.

"Gossamer!" Lady Nymph said sternly to her Champion. "You need to work with Belle Aube to take down Catastrophe, you're going to hurt her at this rate."

"Well, she's the one who keeps getting in my way." Gossamer argued back.

"Then communicate what you're going to do so that won't happen." Lady Nymph told her. "Now can you please retrieve Belle Aube's yoyo for her?"

"She's the one who was dumb enough to lose it in the first place." Gossamer muttered.

But she did as told and grabbed Belle Aube's yoyo on her next attack.

"Here's your toy." Gossamer said, flying over to Belle Aube and shoving it into her chest. "Try and keep hold of it this time, because I won't bother retrieving it again."

Belle Aube caught her yoyo before it could fall to the floor, scowling at Gossamer.

Lady Nymph frowned as she regarded her current Champion.

It had been a surprise to find that the new girl, Lila had become her Champion, especially since she had told her Tiānshǐ to seek out one of her former Champions, not a new one without her guidance.

And there was a reason the Tiānshǐ shouldn't have found a new Champion by itself.

Lady Nymph's connection to her new Champion was weak. When each of her Champions fought, it was like she was there with them, but with Gossamer, it was like she was just an observer.

Nooroo had explained this to Marinette back when this all began.

"A reason to join your cause…without a proper reason the connection between the Champion and wielder is very weak." Nooroo had told her.

There was no denying that Lila had drive, as proven by her powers and actions. But that drive did not align with Lady Nymph's, they did not share the same motivation as heroes, and as a result, they did not connect the way Lady Nymph did with all of her other Champions.

"She's reckless." Lady Nymph noted. "And she doesn't seem to like listening to me." She sighed. "Let's just hope the battle ends before something bad happens and I'm forced to do something."

Catastrophe sliced the lamppost Gossamer had been using into pieces and then kicked her away, then met the yoyo coming at him with his claws, Belle Aube's weapon bouncing off his.

Belle Aube then ran and jumped into the air with the intention of bringing her foot down on Catastrophe.

Only for Gossamer to charge in to punch him. Resulting on Belle Aube's foot coming down on the Champion instead.

"Are you so incompetent that you can't attack the right person?" Gossamer snarled at Belle Aube.

"You're the one who flew in while I was about to hit him." Belle Aube shot back.

Catastrophe looked between the two girls, they seemed to be fighting each other just as much as they were fighting him.

Still, they were fighting him, no matter how much they got in each other's ways.

"Gossamer, please work with Belle Aube." Lady Nymph pleaded to her Champion, who opted to ignore her.

Not far away from the fight, a pair of eyes watched in intrigue, particularly Gossamer.

"With how she's acting, soon Lady Nymph will have to act herself." They predicted. "And the results will be interesting."

It all came to a head when Catastrophe called upon his attack.

"Cataclysm!"

Seeing this, Belle Aube decided to call upon her own power, hoping that it would work to counteract Catastrophe's.

"Lucky Charm!"

Like with the Miraculous Cure the day before, ladybugs were summoned from her yoyo as she threw it up into the air, but instead of spreading out, they formed into an object that then fell into Belle Aube's hands.

"Deodorant?" Belle Aube questioned, holding a red and black spotted spray can. "I know Tikki said that it was a bit random, but I have no idea how this would help me."

"Maybe your powers are trying to tell you something." Gossamer smirked at her, causing Belle Aube to frown. "But while you're freshening up, I'll take down the actual threat."

"Be careful attacking him, we don't want his destructive touch causing damage that Belle Aube can't undo." Lady Nymph warned her Champion, thinking of the people in the houses around the fight.

In fact, Lady Nymph realised that one of the houses was her own, as the fight had moved to near the bakery.

"You won't need Belle Aube once I'm done with him." Gossamer said.

She ran over to where some cars were parked on the side of the street and picked one up, flying into the air before throwing it down at Catastrophe.

Catastrophe, of course, dodged out of the way.

But that left the car heading straight for the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

"Stop that car!" Lady Nymph yelled at her Champion, fearful that her parents would be in the section the car was heading towards.

Just before the car could smash into the bakery, Belle Aube's yoyo wrapped it, the spotted heroine pulling with all her strength The car thankfully stopped before it could hit the bakery in full force, through it did break the front windows.

Belle Aube sighed in relief when she saw that she had stopped the car in time.

But she didn't have time to breath, as Gossamer had already thrown another car at Catastrophe, who just so happened to have been sneaking up on Belle Aube while she recovered from the strain of stopping the first car.

Not given enough time to dodge this time around, Catastrophe ended up using his Cataclysm on in, but not before part of the car hit Belle Aube as it went passed her.

"Agh!" Belle Aube cried out in pain as she was knocked to the ground, clutching her side.

"That is it!" Lady Nymph roared. "You are going to get someone killed with your reckless behaviour!"

"Nymph, I'm sorry, I'll stop." Gossamer pleaded, suddenly very fearful under the anger she felt coming from Lady Nymph.

"You give me no other choice, I take away the power given to you!" Lady Nymph said.

"No. No!" Gossamer denied.

But she could do nothing as purple light washed over her, reverting her back into Lila, the Tiānshǐ flying out of the girl's earring and up into the sky despite Lila's attempts to grab it again.

Belle Aube groaned as she got to her feet. Thankfully, due to the magic of her suit, she was only bruised from the car hitting her rather than injured like a normal person would be.

"I knew Lady Nymph wouldn't choose a person like you to be her Champion." Belle Aube said to Lila.

She then turned around to face Catastrophe, who looked ready to fight again.

So, Belle Aube held up her can of deodorant and a disposable lighter than had fallen out of the car before it had been destroyed.

Catastrophe's eyes widened as she flicked on the flame and pushed down on the spray button, creating a flame thrower.

He screamed as Belle Aube chased him around with the flame thrower until he finally ran off.

"Ah, I'm too tired to chase him." Belle Aube waved off when she contemplated chasing him further.

Her timer would likely run out before she could catch him anyways.

She then looked around the battlefield, taking in all the damage.

"Let's get all this fixed, then." She said. "Miraculous Cure!"

Belle Aube threw the can of deodorant into the air, where it burst into thousands of glowing ladybugs that spread around Paris, fixing all of the damage that came from the fight and healing Belle Aube of the damage inflicted on her by the car.

Belle Aube spared one last glance at Lila, who was still standing in the middle of the road, before swinging off back home.

It didn't even take a minute for the reporters to arrive, questioning the people who started emerging from their homes on what they saw of the fight.

"That girl over there was the Champion, but she was depowered before the fight was over." One of the citizens told a reporter, pointing a Lila.

Several other citizens said the same thing, that Lila had been depowered by Lady Nymph before Catastrophe had been chased off by Belle Aube.

Which of course, turned the reporters on Lila.

"Can you tell us why you were depowered before the fight was over?"

"What made Lady Nymph lose trust in you?"

"What it's like being the first Champion to be depowered without Catastrophe being chased away?"

The reporters continued to ask question after question.

"I…uh…it wasn't…" Lila fumbled for an excuse, too shocked and stressed to effectively come up with one on the spot.

She couldn't stop the tears that were beginning to appear.

"That's enough now, you're stressing the girl out." A voice interrupted.

A woman pushed her way through the crowd that had formed around Lila, resting her hands on the girl's shoulder.

"Come along, dear." The woman said kindly.

She guided Lila through the crowd, shielding her from the cameras, taking her along the streets,

"You can stay with me until the vultures have gone back home to roost." The woman offered.

Lila couldn't find the will to reject the offer, following the woman to a house along the Seine.

"Sit down, dear, you look tired." The woman instructed Lila once they were inside.

Lila sat down on one of the soft chairs, looking around the living room unsurely.

"Tea?" The woman questioned.

"Yes, please." Lila said.

The woman went into the kitchen and soon returned with a cup of tea, handing it to Lila.

"Now, what was that fight about?" The woman asked as she sat opposite Lila.

"I don't know what you mean." Lila avoided, sipping her tea.

"I saw what happened, what Lady Nymph did to you." The woman said.

Lila gritted her teeth.

"And you seemed to particularly dislike Belle Aube during the fight. You must have a reason." The woman continued.

"She humiliated me!" Lila burst out, quickly silencing herself.

"How?" The woman prompted.

Lila remained silent, taking another sip of her tea.

"You can tell me. I promise not to tell anyone." The woman said kindly.

"Well." Lila found herself say. "I may have exaggerated a few things when I started school today, making people think things about me."

"There's nothing wrong with that. It's not like you were hurting anyone." The woman said.

"Exactly." Lila agreed, glad the woman was seeing it from her perspective. "Anyway, a boy I like mistook me for Belle Aube when I showed off my earrings, and I didn't correct him because he thought I was cool. But then the real Belle Aube showed up and yelled at me, humiliating me in front of him."

"So, when Lady Nymph made you her Champion, you took a little revenge on Belle Aube?" The woman asked.

"I wanted to prove that I was a better hero than her. But then Nymph betrayed me and depowered me in the middle of the fight because I wasn't working with Belle Aube." Lila cried.

"Hey, it's okay." The woman comforted. "After what Belle Aube did to you, I can't fault you for not working with her. And Lady Nymph wasn't fair in depowering you for that."

"Thank you." Lila said. "But now I'm going to be the laughing stock of Paris because I'm the first person she depowered in the middle of a fight. I wish I had the power again, to prove how strong I am, and that Nymph was the one in the wrong."

"You would, wouldn't you?" The woman said. "Well, I could give you that power."

"You could?" Lila raised an eyebrow.

The woman reached into the draw beside her and took out a box, giving it to Lila.

"This is the Fox Miraculous." She told Lila. "It grants its wielder the power of illusions.

Lila looked at the box in awe.

"And I can have it? I can use it to become a better hero that Belle Aube or Lady Nymph?" She questioned, going to open the lid.

The woman put a hand over hers, stopping her.

"You certainly want to get back at those two, don't you?" She asked.

"Of course I do, they humiliated me." Lila said.

"And you'd be willing to do anything to get back at them, wouldn't you?" The woman asked further.

"I would." Lila agreed.

"Then, how about, instead of becoming a hero, you become a villain?" The woman suggested.

"A villain?" Lila looked at the woman.

"Yes." The woman said. "You see, it's a bit unfair that the hero side has both Lady Nymph and Belle Aube. So, we need someone to help my dear Catastrophe and even out the playing field."

"You're a villain?" Lila asked.

"By circumstance." The woman said. "But if you don't want to join our side, I understand. You can leave at any time."

Lila sighed in relief.

"Though," The woman interrupted her thoughts. "You would have to give the Fox Miraculous back."

Lila's grip tightened around the box in her hands, unwilling to let it go.

"The choice is yours." The woman said.

She smiled but is seemed less kindly than before.

Lila looked at her and then down at the box in her hands.

Inside the box lay the key to the powers she could use to become as strong as the heroes and make them pay for humiliating her. But she would have to do so as a villain.

Which was the better option, the power to get what she wanted or basic morals?

"I'll do it." Lila said, looking up,

The woman's smile turned kindly again.

"Good." She said. "Welcome to my family, so to speak."

"Glad to be a member." Lila smirked. "Though, do I get a name to call you."

"You may call me Xue Ying, the Guardian of the Miraculous." The woman said. "Now, why don't we introduce you to your powers?"

Lila nodded, opening the box in her hands.

"It feels wrong that I had to depower Lila like that." Marinette told Master Fu.

After the Gossamer incident, Marinette had sought the old man out for advice.

"You may feel horrible, but was is actually the wrong thing to do?" Fu offered his response in the form of a question.

"Well, I don't think so." Marinette said. "She was causing too much damage and harm, and she wouldn't listen to me, I had to do something to stop her."

"Then you were not wrong." Fu told Marinette simply.

Marinette groaned.

"This has happened to my former butterflies as well." Nooroo told Marinette. "Where they had to depower a Champion who became too dangerous. It's always best to stop the danger they present."

"You're right." Marinette sighed. "Still, I feel sorry for what I did. Considering the backlash Alya got for being the first person to lose to Catastrophe, who knows how much Lila is going to have to go through. And she doesn't even have any friend here like Alya did to help her move past that."

"That is unfortunate." Fu agreed.

"I'll try and talk to her tomorrow." Marinette suggested to herself. "Give her someone to talk to and make sure she isn't taking it too hard."

"You're really nice, Marinette." Nooroo said, perching on Marinette's hand. "The nicest butterfly I've ever had."

Marinette giggled.

"Thanks, Nooroo." She said.

The mood was suddenly broke by Nooroo gasping loudly.

"What is it, Nooroo?" Marinette asked in concern.

"It's the Fox Miraculous," Nooroo said in fear. "It's been activated in the hands of evil."

"What?" Marinette and Fu exclaimed.

"But I didn't feel the corruption." Marinette said, remembering how she felt when the Cat Miraculous was corrupted.

Nooroo shook his head. "It wasn't corrupted." He said. "Whoever has been given it will be in full control."

Marinette and Fu were startled by the information.

"It is just as I feared." He said. "Our thief has handed out a second Miraculous and has found someone willing to fight for them without the need for corruption."

"What do we do?" Marinette questioned.

"You must continue to fight." Fu advised. "And prepare for the arrival of the Fox villain, whoever they may be."

"Right." Marinette agreed.

Whatever happened next, she would be ready with her next Champion.

Chapter Text

Like the day before, Lila was the talk of the college.

But unlike the day before, it was in a decidedly less positive light.

"What can you expect from a girl who lies all the time?" Chloe wasn't pulling any punches in addressing anyone who would listen. "Did the see how violent she was? Of course, Lady Nymph depowered her after that."

"Chloe, check your behaviour." Marinette groaned. "No matter what Lila did, nothing comes from drumming up hate."

"How can you say that?" Chloe gasped. "Didn't you notice how she almost destroyed your home and almost killed Belle Aube through her actions?"

Marinette couldn't find a response, as Chloe was technically right.

So, she settled for shaking her head.

"You agree with me, right, Alya?" Chloe turned to her partner throughout Lila's lie-fest of the previous day.

Alya, however, wasn't as eager as she was yesterday.

"I don't really know." She replied. "Lila definitely deserves some blowback for her actions, but a lot of the stuff I'm seeing on the Kaleidoscoop is going really far."

"Why should you-" Chloe broke herself off as she realised that the situation was hitting too close to home for Alya.

She then huffed, not giving up on her position, but managed to keep what she wanted to say on hold as she gripped her promise tightly.

Then, everyone went quiet

Turning to see the reason for the absence of sound, the group spotted Lila coming into the courtyard.

Lila was then immediately swarmed by the students, everyone clamouring to ask her questions that nothing could be made out, just a loud cacophony of noise.

"Okay, enough!" Lila's voice emerged as the loudest, quieting the people around her.

For someone who was no doubt facing a lot of backlash for what had happened, Marinette found that Lila looked remarkably calm, almost like yesterday hadn't happened.

"It seems that I need to clear up some misunderstandings here." Lila spoke clearly.

"'Misunderstandings'?" Chloe scoffed. "Lady Nymph depowered you in the middle of battle."

"She did." Lila agreed. "But that was due to circumstances out of both of our control."

"What?"

"I don't know the exact details, but Nymph told me that something came up on her end of things that forced her to stop giving me power, despite Catastrophe still being a threat." Lila spun her newest lie. "Which is a shame. Nymph told me that I came the closest out of all of her Champion to finally beating Catastrophe, and probably would have if she hadn't been forced to depower me. So, instead, Belle Aube just let him get away to continue his destruction instead."

Marinette frowned at Lila's clear and obvious lies, especially not liking that she was once again being used to advance them, but at the same time, she couldn't fault the girl.

If their roles were reversed, Marinette couldn't say that she wouldn't also lie to reduce the amount backlash against her, though she obviously wouldn't go to the degree Lila was going.

"You can seriously be saying you were depowered for anything other than how bad of a Champion you were." Chloe said, offended.

"I'm sorry. But I guess that you don't believe the word of Nymph." Lila raised an eyebrow.

"I don't believe the word of you." Chloe bit back. "You're making it up."

"And you're projecting." Lila responded. "Unless you have some way of connecting with Nymph outside of being her Champion, which I doubt you will be again, you have no way of knowing what Nymph said to me. You really want a reason to be openly horrible to me, don't you?"

Chloe gave an offended and dramatic gasp as the students murmured to each other.

Once again, Chloe's prior history was working against her.

"I don't need to stand here and take this. Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous! Sabrina, we're going." Chloe said.

She then began walking again, turning her head to notice that Sabrina hadn't automatically followed.

"Sabrina!"

"Oh, coming." Sabrina said, following after Chloe.

Lila smirked slightly at her victory.

"Now, if we've cleared up that confusion…"

"Actually, I have a question."

Everyone turned to face Adrien, who had arrived unnoticed at some point.

"How come you lied to me about being Belle Aube?" He asked.

Maybe it was too malicious, but Adrien didn't feel like letting Lila get away with lying and trying to take advantage of him.

The crowd looked back at Lila with wide eyes at the new information presented to them.

Lila didn't let anything show on her face as she was silent for a few seconds before answering.

"If you recall our conversation, Adrien." Lila said calmly. "I never claimed to be Belle Aube. You're the one who made the assumption all on your own."

"Considering you deliberately showed off those ladybug earrings and then didn't correct me, you can't claim that you didn't lie." Adrien hissed back.

"I got those earrings in honour of Belle Aube to show my support." Lila continued to lie smoothly. "And considering how eager you were to believe I was Belle Aube, I couldn't exactly get a word in to say I wasn't. And then you get angry at me for your own assumptions and storm off before I could defend myself."

"There was plenty time where you could have corrected me, but you just kept feeding into the lie instead." Adrien said.

"I did no such thing." Lila acted offended.

"Yes you did." Alya butted in.

Backlash or not, she couldn't stand to see Lila continue her lies any further.

"I saw you." She said.

Lila gasped. "Wait, you were spying on us?"

"Oh, uh." Alya realised what she had just given away.

"I can't believe you were spying on a private moment like that." Lila cried "Did you want more material to bully me with or something?"

"Hey, it wasn't like that. Stop twisting my words!" Alya exclaimed.

"Calm down, Alya." Marinette pushed herself over to her friend and placed a comforting hand on her arm. "I think we've had enough for now." She addressed everyone.

She then pushed herself over to Lila.

"You want to come with me?" She indicated her head to away from the crowd.

The students went back to their prior activities as Lila followed Marinette out of the courtyard, Alya and Adrien glaring before going elsewhere.

"So, what did you want?" Lila asked once the two girls were in a more secluded place. "To harass me like your friends?"

Marinette frowned at the accusation but brushed it off.

"Sorry about them. They can be very…passionate about their views and stubborn about sticking to them." She said.

"Well, they need to work on their attitude." Lila said.

'They're not the only ones.' Marinette thought.

"Anyway, I wanted to check if you were alright." She said instead.

"Huh?" Lila looked at Marinette in surprise.

"Even if Lady Nymph de-powering you wasn't your fault…" 'Which I know for a fact was.' "I know that you'll have to have faced a lot of harassment for what happened. And I wanted to make sure that it wasn't getting to you." Marinette explained.

"Oh," Lila said. "I didn't realise someone would…" Her words trailed off. "I'm doing alright." She then answered.

"Are you sure." Marinette asked sceptically.

"Well, I've stayed away from the internet and the news. I don't care to find out what they're saying about me for what Nymph did to me." Lila found herself admitting.

"I guess that's the best thing you can do." Marinette said, ignoring the dig at her alter-ego. "If you stay strong and show people that you're unaffected, it'll go away quicker. Which shouldn't be a problem for you, since you seem to be good at handling it already."

"Thanks." Lila smiled. "But don't worry about me. I found a way to show people just how strong and unaffected I am."

She raised her hand and placed it on her chest, touching the necklace that lay underneath her clothes.

"I'm glad." Marinette smiled. "But if you ever feel like it becomes too much, you can come and confide in me, if you want."

Lila's cheeks became tinged with red, unnoticed by Marinette.

"Yeah, I'll think about it." She said, looking away.

"By the way, I heard that you needed someone's help with catching up on your work." Marinette said. "I'd be happy to help."

This startled Lila even further.

The work thing had just been something to try and get close to Adrien, something she didn't want to do anymore considering he'd tried to expose her lies. But here Marinette was offering instead of being asked.

"Sure." Lila said. "It's not that big a deal though. I have perfectly good grades, it was just to make sure my work was correct with the change in what I was studying."

"I don't mind checking over you work, I understand the need to make sure." Marinette said. "How about we meet up in the library at lunch." She suggested.

"Yeah, that sounds fine." Lila responded.

"Cool. I'll see you then." Marinette said, wheeling away. "We should get to class before the bell rings."

Lila stood, watching Marinette as she wheeled away.

She brought a hand up to touch one of her slightly red cheeks, trying to process her thoughts.

"Looks like someone's got your attention." A small head popped out of her jacket.

"Shut up, you." Lila replied, shoving it back into her jacket and heading to class herself.

"You can't be serious."

Predictably, it hadn't taken Chloe and Alya long to find out about Marinette's arrangement with Lila.

"Marinette, she's a liar!" Chloe exclaimed. "She'll just end up taking advantage of you."

"First of all, please give me more credit than that." Marinette crossed her arms. "I'd like to think I'd be able to spot if someone was taking advantage of me and say no, Chloe". She put emphasis on the girl's name. "Secondly, I want to judge Lila for myself, to see if she really is that bad."

"She is." Chloe and Alya deadpan.

"Come on, did you see what she did as Gossamer?" Chloe continued, "She's a psychopath. It'd be dangerous to go near her."

"Chloe, check your behaviour." Marinette rolled her eyes as she used her hand to prop up her head.

That caused Chloe to go quiet and subconsciously move her hand to her promise-ribbon like before.

Marinette really didn't like reminding Chloe about it, preferring that Chloe use its presence to regulate her own behaviour rather than Marinette forcing the good behaviour onto her.

"Anyway, I'm class president." Marinette said. "So, I should help her get settled and with her work."

The other two girls sighed, realising that Marinette was being just as stubborn as them on the subject.

"Fine. But promise me that if Lila starts trying to get you to do things for her or lies about things, you won't let yourself get taken advantage of." Alya sighed.

Chloe spoke before Marinette could. "You're asking this of the girl who made you realise Lila was lying in the first place." She pointed out.

That cause Alya to pause before she laughed right alongside Chloe. "Yeah, I guess you're right about that." She said.

Marinette smiled. "Don't worry. I'm giving her a chance, but I won't let her use me." She reassured.

Unknown to the girls, Adrien was listening in on their conversation from his seat, frowning when he heard of Marinette's meeting with Lila.

Class ended and everyone went their separate ways for lunch.

Everyone except Adrien, who resolved to follow Marinette as she pushed herself towards the college library.

"You know, I'm pretty sure this is called stalking." Adrien's Kwami commented.

"It's not." Adrien defended himself. "I'm just going to make sure Lila doesn't try anything like she did with me."

"This girl seems like she's smarter than you, so I don't think that'll be a problem." The Kwami grinned.

Adrien scowled at the reminder of how Lila played him.

"Shut up." Was the only comeback he could think to say.

Lila was already waiting in the library when Marinette turned up.

"Hey, Lila." Marinette greeted. "So, what specifically did you want to go over?"

Lila dug into her bag and brought out her college tablet and a work book.

"The literacy assignment, mostly." Lila responded.

Marinette hummed and began reading over what Lila had written.

"You're on the right track." Marinette concluded after reading. "I think you just need to do some rewording in a few places. Like here…"

Marinette began highlighting some sentences for Lila.

Spying on them, Adrien couldn't help but notice that Lila wasn't even attempting to pay attention to the tablet unless Marinette looked up.

"She's just staring at Marinette." Adrien said, gripping the bookcase he was hidden behind tightly.

"You're seeing things, kid." His Kwami yawned.

"Thanks, this will be a real help." Lila said as Marinette finished. "With all the things that I do, it's easy to get behind on my school work."

"Uh, huh." Marinette hummed.

"So, what do you do?" Lila decided to ask.

"I'm into fashion design." Marinette said. "I currently only make things in between my work, but I'm planning on becoming a proper fashion designer."

"That's so cool." Lila made herself sound impressed.

Her thoughts quickly went to what the advantages of having a fashion designer as a friend would be.

"You know…" Lila began. "Because of travelling around the world so much, I've been to my fair share of fashion shows and even met the designers in person and got to know them. If you want, I can try and get you tickets to the next big fashion show that comes to Paris."

Marinette sighed.

"Lila, you don't have to make things up to impress me." She said as gently as she could. "I'd be willing to be your friend without all that."

"What?!" Lila exclaimed. "I'm not lying!"

She stood up to act offended, forcing tears into her eyes.

"I can't believe that you're taking their side. I thought you could be different." She cried.

Marinette, however, was unaffected.

"Drop the act, Lila." She mentally rolled her eyes. "You're upset at being called out, not at being called a liar."

Seeing that her crocodile tears weren't going to get her anywhere, Lila dropped the upset façade to look annoyed.

"So, you think you have me figured out." She wiped away the fake tears. "Are you going to try and do anything about it like your friends?"

Marinette took in a deep breath and then let it out to calm herself.

"Lila, let me ask you something? Where do you think this will all end up?" She asked.

"Huh?" Lila was caught off guard by the question.

"Because here's how I see things playing out. At some point, people are going to find out about your lies, with or without my friends and I exposing them." Marinette looked Lila dead in the eyes. "And then no one will believe a word you say ever again. No matter how honest you're being, no matter how much you're hurt, people will believe that you're lying and believe the lies of others over your truths."

There was a rattling sound and it took Lila a moment to realise that it was her, the table shaking as she gripped it. She dropped back down into her seat and looked at her unsteady hands.

No one calling out her lies had ever managed to affect her so deeply.

Marinette placed a hand on Lila's back, patting it.

"It wouldn't get that bad, would it." Lila tried to rationalise. "I mean, I'm not hurting anybody."

"Well you need only look at me for evidence." Marinette shrugged. "For all I know. You could know other fashion designers, but I automatically assumed you were lying because of all the other lies you've made."

"Oh." Lila said.

"And considering how easy your lies are to disprove, you getting found out is going to happen sooner rather than later." Marinette said.

"You're right." Lila looked at her.

'I guess my lies are too easy to find holes in. I need to be more careful in the future, need to think them out more so that they can't be disproven.'

Marinette was unaware of Lila's thoughts, thinking that Lila agreed with her on how bad her lying was. So, she smiled and patted the girl's back.

"If you want people to like you, you need to do it under your own power, rather that what people think you are." Marinette encouraged. "Actually do the things you claim to do. Then, no one can say that you're a lair."

"Yeah," Lila nodded, face relaxing. "That sounds like a good idea."

'If I do stuff like charity work, it'd make what I say more believable and harder to disprove. Because I actually do it, I'd just be bending and embellishing the truth slightly.'

Lila smiled at Marinette. "Thank you, Marinette." She said. "You've really helped me."

Marinette smiled back. "I'm happy to help." She said. "Sorry I had to be so harsh."

Lila shook her head. "I needed it." She insisted. "So, is that offer about being my friend still available?"

"Of course." Marinette assured.

She then cried out as she was wrapped in an unexpected hug from Lila.

"Really? Oh, we're going to be the best of friends, I can just tell." Lila said.

"Yeah." Marinette said uncomfortably, letting Lila hug her.

Behind the bookcase, Adrien growled at the sight of Lila hugging Marinette, who was clearly uncomfortable with the contact.

"I don't believe for a minute that she's going to stop lying." He hissed. "She's just saying it to take advantage of Marinette. I need to help her."

Adrien moved to leave his crude hiding space, only to be held back by his Kwami tugging on his shirt.

"If you go over, they'd realise you were spying on them, which neither of them would like." The Kwami tapped Adrien's head to get him to think.

Adrien scowled but stayed back.

Lila's phone rang as she pulled away from Marinette, alerting her to a message.

"Oh." Lila said after reading the message. "Sorry, but I've got to go, Marinette. That was my aunt, reminding me that I had to help her with something."

"It's okay." Marinette said.

"Thanks for helping me. See you later." Lila waved as she left.

Adrien looked back at Marinette before following Lila out the door, determined to see if she was up to something.

Alone in the library, Nooroo popped out of Marinette's purse.

"Are you sure about befriending this girl? She seems to make you uncomfortable." He asked.

"I guess she does, a little." Marinette admitted. "But Chloe was that way to begin with as well. And if I could help Chloe through being friends with her, maybe I can help Lila too."

Adrien groaned as he sat alone in his room. His Kwami off exploring somewhere.

He had followed Lila from the college, watching as she suddenly darted into an alley he knew to be a dead-end, only for her to have mysteriously disappear when he looked.

Then, his bodyguard showed up and her had no choice but to allow himself to be taken home until the second half of classes began.

With nothing better to do, not really wanting to do his out of college studies like he was instructed to do, Adrien turned on the news.

"-o news so far on who exactly broke in a stole the painting…"

The news headline read about a break in at the Louvre, with one of the most famous painting held there being stolen.

"Huh, who's want to steal a silly paining? Doesn't even look that good." Adrien's Kwami appeared.

"It's about the value others put into it, rather than any value it holds itself." Adrien said.

"Wait! I believe the thief is on top of the Louvre now, holding the painting!" The newscaster said.

Adrien watched as the camera trailed up and focused in on someone balancing on top of the Louvre pyramid.

"What?" Adrien cocked his head to the side when he realised who it was.

"It's Belle Aube!" The newscaster exclaimed.

Belle Aube didn't say anything and just laughed obnoxiously.

She then jumped impossibly high into the air and used her yoyo to swing away, the police on the scene quickly running after her.

"In a shocking turn of events, Belle Aube, the hero who swore to protect Paris only a few days ago, seems to have turned thief." The camera focused back on the newscaster.

"What?" Adrien repeated. "This doesn't make sense. She fought me, why would she steal?"

"Things aren't always black and white, kid." Adrien's Kwami commented. "People have different levels of morals. They can use their powers to stop the bad guys who threaten people, but at the same time, use their powers for self-gain. There's a word for it that I can't quite remember."

"You mean an anti-hero?" Adrien said.

"Yeah, that's it." The Kwami said happily.

"You say you don't have any memory, yet you know these things?" Adrien questioned.

"I'm slowly getting things back. Each time you de-transform, a little more of me comes out each time." The Kwami said.

"Huh, so the more I use this, the more you get your memory back." Adrien looked at his ring. "Any hint of your name yet?"

"Yeah, it's Plagg." The Kwami answered.

Adrien was surprised. "When did you remember this?" He asked.

"After the Gossamer fight." Plagg answered.

"And you didn't tell me, why?" Adrien rubbed his eyes with his fingers.

"You didn't ask." Plagg shrugged.

Adrien didn't feel like arguing with Plagg any further. At least he had a name to call the Kwami now.

When Adrien entered into afternoon classes, everyone was abuzz with gossip again, this time over Belle Aube not being as much as a hero as they originally thought.

"We have only had a few encounters from Belle Aube, so it isn't hard to believe that she would also use her powers for self-gain as well as stopping Catastrophe." Max said.

"But if she was going to steal, why would she announce to Paris that she was there to help us?" Alya argued back. "Why would she present herself as a good and noble hero like Lady Nymph if she was going to steal so openly? It doesn't make sense."

"It must have been to lull Paris into a false sense of security." Lila theorised.

She was sitting in Chloe's seat, as the girl in question wasn't there yet to force her to move and Sabrina didn't look too bothered about it.

"That doesn't make sense either." Alya argued back. "Why blow that trust on a painting of all things?"

"While I was Nymph's Champion, she advised that I be wary of Belle Aube." Lila ignored the question. "Saying that I needed to careful and couldn't trust her until she had proved herself as a hero. I guess Nymph was right to be cautious."

That made Alya and the rest of the class go quiet. A good chunk of the class now knew that she was a liar, but with Belle Aube's recent actions, they couldn't tell if this was a lie or not.

A few seconds later, Marinette wheeled into the classroom.

"What's going on?" She questioned.

"Nothing much." Lila shrugged off. "Just the usual talk about Belle Aube being a thief."

"Right." Marinette said with a frown.

She really didn't want to get involved with that discussion, she was still trying to work things out for herself.

Marinette then noticed where Lila was sitting after getting to her own seat next to Alya.

"Uh, Lila, that's Chloe's seat." She pointed out.

"Don't worry, I'll move when she shows up." Lila said. "Until then, Sabrina doesn't seem to have any issues with me sitting here. Do you?"

Sabrina shook her head at the question.

Marinette let the issue go, hoping Lila really would leave the seat without fuss when Chloe showed up.

It turned out to not be an issue though, as Chloe didn't turn up for afternoon class, a message from her saying something about a sudden appointment. So, with no reason to move, Lila stayed in the seat next to Sabrina and in front of Marinette for the entirety of the afternoon lessons.

The lessons passed and soon it was home time, allowing everyone to split off to do various activities.

"You want to do anything this afternoon?" Nino asked Adrien.

"I hear that there's a fair nearby." Adrien said.

His phone then rang, causing him to groan as he read the message sent to him.

"Change of plan, my father needs me for an emergency meeting of some sort." He said. "I'll catch you later."

"Sure thing, bro." Nino waved as he left.

Adrien's bodyguard was waiting out front, so Adrien had to take the back exit that students weren't meant to use. He then travelled to a location familiar to him at this point.

At a house by the Seine, Adrien knocked on the door.

"Come in!" A voice called.

Adrien opened the door, and walked in, entering into the living room where Xue Ying waited for him.

"Adrien, how are you?" Xue Ying asked kindly.

"I'm fine, thank you, Master Xue." Adrien said.

"Please, take a seat, have some tea." Xue Ying invited.

Following her orders, Adrien sat down.

"Now, Adrien." Xue Ying began. "It's been a while since I gave you that ring, and I can't help but notice that you've yet to hand me a single Miraculous in return."

"Well, uh…" Adrien fumbled, gripping his ring hand. "I've been trying." He insisted.

"I know you have." Xue Ying assured, keeping her smile warm. "With every Champion you beat, I come closer to tracking down their master. However, it has been a few battles since you managed to defeat a Champion, and things have only become harder for you with the introduction of Belle Aube."

"Yes, Master Xue." Adrien looked down.

"That is why I have decided that you need help." Xue Ying clapped her hands together for emphasis.

"Help?" Adrien questioned.

"Yes. As the Guardian of the Miraculous, I can hand out more than one. Which is exactly what I've done." Xue Ying indicated behind him. "Adrien, meet your new partner in crime."

Adrien turned and his eyes widened when he saw who it was.

"Lila!"

"Adrien!"

The two teens stared at each other in shock.

Lila spoke first.

"You're Catastrophe?!" She exclaimed.

She knew Xue Ying had called her to meet her new villainous partner, but she never expected it to be Adrien of all people.

Adrien turned back to Xue Ying.

"She's meant to be my partner?" He questioned.

"Yes." Xue Ying sipped her own tea.

"I can't work with her." Adrien protested. "She lied and tried to use me. How do you know she won't just run off with whatever Miraculous you give her?"

Xue Ying set down her tea cup.

"I have confidence in Lila, she has shown to be quite adapt at her task already." She said. "So, I expect you to get over whatever grievances you have with her and work together to bring me back the Miraculous."

"But-" Adrien tried to speak.

"Do I make myself clear, Adrien?" Xue Ying said sternly.

Lila snickered as Adrien hunched in on himself.

"Yes, Master Xue." He said.

Xue Ying sighed and got up, kneeling in front of Adrien.

"I know that this isn't ideal for you, Poppet. But you must remember that I know what's best." She said gently, putting her hand on Adrien's cheek so that'd he'd look at her.

"Yes, Master Xue." Adrien repeated.

"Good boy." Xue Ying kissed Adrien on the forehead.

She then stood.

"Now, both of you, to work." She ordered Adrien and Lila.

Marinette pushed herself into the side door of her home, wheeling over to the stairs so that she could park her wheelchair in its usual space and climb into the chair lift.

As she went through the familiar routine, she overheard her mother and a customer who she recognised as a regular talking.

"My children are very scared at the moment." The customer said. "Paris is barely managing with one hero against one villain. Who know what's going to happen with one hero against two villains?"

"Thankfully, Belle Aube doesn't seem to have threatened anyone like Catastrophe, yet." Sabine sighed.

"If we're lucky, Belle Aube will just be a thief, and not join Catastrophe in destroying Paris." The customer said.

"Either way, I ought to go out there and give both of those villains a piece of my mind." Sabine said.

"Ha." The customer laughed. "All bow down in fear against the mighty mother dragon and her glare of disappointment." They joked.

"I'm not that bad." Sabine said.

"Really, and I guess those young hooligans you had a 'talk' with just started behaving on their own accord." Marinette could practically hear the customer raising an eyebrow.

Marinette didn't hear anymore of the conversation as the stair lift took her up to the living area.

Her dad was apparently in the bakery himself, as the living area empty, allowing Nooroo to come out of her purse.

"What's going on?" Marinette questioned Nooroo as she pulled herself the short distance to the set of stairs to her room. "Nothing about Belle Aube is making sense right now."

"I'm not sure myself." Nooroo admitted. "I can tell you that Belle Aube isn't completely evil, as I would have been able to tell if the Ladybug Miraculous entered the hands of evil."

"That's a relief." Marinette said as she entered into her room.

"But Miraculous' have entered the hands of not entirely moral people before without setting off this sense." Nooroo continued. "Thieves, tricksters, all sorts have managed to use the Miraculous before, despite the Order of the Guardians' best effort, but because they didn't use their powers to hurt people or still used their powers to help people while also using them for self-gain, they weren't considered 'evil'."

"So, Belle Aube might have been telling the truth about fighting Catastrophe, but is still using her powers to steal?" Marinette questioned.

"It seems that way." Nooroo shrugged.

Marinette groaned.

"Well, I guess I'll have to just accept things for now. I can't exactly fight both Catastrophe and Belle Aube at the same time." She said.

"We can focus on getting her Miraculous back after Catastrophe has been defeated." Nooroo said.

Marinette only groaned harder and buried her head in her arms.

"Why does everything have to be so complicated." Nooroo could barely manage to make out.

Nooroo landed on her head to pat it.

He had to agree that it really wasn't fair that all of this was lumped onto a single teenage girl.

Marinette's pity party was interrupted why the villain-alert on her phone going off.

"Guess I should have expected him to show up." She huffed, opening the app.

It took her to a news report showing where Catastrophe was, the camera showing him wrecking some cars.

"Ahahaa!"

"What?!" Marinette exclaimed.

Standing right next to Catastrophe was Belle Aube, laughing at the destruction being caused.

"It looks like Belle Aube really is a villain." The news reporter said.

"That's right!" Belle Aube seemed to have overheard the reporter. "It's come to my attention that Catastrophe is meant to be my partner. And destroying things is much more fun than saving your pathetic lives!"

"What will we do under the assault of two villains?" The reporter said. "Nymph, please help us!"

"So, she is a villain?" Marinette questioned hopelessly.

"This doesn't make sense." Nooroo frowned. "I would have sensed the Ladybug Miraculous entering the hands of evil as well. "There's something we're missing, but I can't quite remember what."

"Whatever we're missing about this situation, we still need to stop them." Marinette sighed.

Nooroo nodded and flew over to Marinette's trap door and locked it, the usual precaution to make sure her parents couldn't walk in on her transformed.

"Nooroo, Wings Rise!"

Butterflies washed over Marinette as Nooroo was sucked into her broach, transforming her into Lady Nymph, settling around her room once they were finished.

"Right, who can fight against two villains?" Lady Nymph hummed.

She closed and eyes and concentrated.

Many lights shined, some dim and some bright. But the brightest she was currently aware of was coming from right below her.

"Mum?" Lady Nymph gasped, opening her eyes.

The heroine held out her hand and one of her butterflies landed on her finger, she then held the butterfly to her lips and transferred her power into it.

"Maybe mum will be strong enough to take them out." Lady Nymph said as her Tiānshǐ flew off.

Downstairs, Sabine was watching the news with a frown.

Her eyes then widened when she spotted purple out of the corner of her vision, turning in time to see a Tiānshǐ land on her wedding ring and sink into it.

"Mu…Mrs Dupain-Cheng." An image of Lady Nymph appeared before Sabine. "If you want to help, I can give you the power to do so."

For some reason, Lady Nymph didn't look Sabine in the eyes and her image wasn't as clear to the older woman. Still, Sabine saw no reason to refuse her offer.

"Don't worry, I'll talk some sense into those two." Sabine assured.

Sabine could make out a smile from the blurred image of Lady Nymph.

Purple light emerged from Sabine's ring and it wrapped around her.

When Sabine broke out of the cocoon, she was dressed in a traditional Chinese qipao that was white and purple with a phoenix embroidered on it, along with matching trousers and shoes. She would have looks like a normal, if very traditional, Chinese woman, if it weren't for the petal-like wings coming from her back.

"It's time for Xin Jing to teach them a lesson." The Champion proclaimed, running out of the bakery.

The wings on Xin Jing back began to flap like a hummingbird's wings and she took off into the air, towards where Catastrophe and Belle Aube were causing destruction.

The two villains spotted Xin Jing as she approached.

"You're on your own." Belle Aube said to Catastrophe as she ran off.

"Deal with Catastrophe first, he's the bigger threat." Lady Nymph instructed her Champion.

"Right." Xin Jing agreed.

A small staff materialised in her hand, which then extended to be as tall as her. She twirled it around before adopting a fighting pose, showing Catastrophe that she knew how to wield the weapon she was holding.

"Fancy." Catastrophe grinned, extending his claw blades. "Reminds me of my own weapon before I traded it in for an upgrade.

Xin Jing attacked first, forcing Catastrophe to go on the defensive.

The difference between the two's capabilities was clear, while Catastrophe had the deadlier weapon, Xin Jing was the more skilled fighter. The Champions weapon also regenerated, so whenever Catastrophe managed to slice it, it would grow back to full size.

"I think it's time to take a small step back from the situation." Catastrophe said.

He then turned tail and ran, Xin Jing quickly flying after him.

But after a minute of chasing, Xin Jing managed to lose the villain after he double back on her.

"He hasn't used his Cataclysm, so I doubt this is him running from the fight." Lady Nymph said.

"So, he's leading me somewhere." Xin Jing nodded.

There was suddenly the sound of wire being pulled and Xin Jing whipped around to see Belle Aube landing near her.

"So, you were hoping to spring a trap?" The Champion aimed her staff at the ladybug.

Belle Aube quickly held up her hands in surrender.

"Wait! Wait!" She begged. "Please listened to me! I'm being framed!"

"What?" Xin Jing questioned, not lowering her staff.

"The Louvre, with Catastrophe, that wasn't me." Belle Aube said. "Someone or something is using my image to do those things."

"And how do I know you're telling the truth, young lady?" Xin Jing asked.

"Please, you have to believe me. I would never betray Lady Nymph. I swore to protect Paris." Belle Aube cried.

Xin Jing hummed. "If you aren't able to prove you're not a villain, I'll need you to hand over your Miraculous, at least until we can prove that you're innocent."

Belle Aube gasped and her hands went protectively to her earrings.

"Wait!" Lady Nymph commanded her Champion.

Xin Jing paused in her advancement towards Belle Aube.

"I just remembered, the Fox Miraculous." Lady Nymph said. "It entered the hands of evil yesterday. And it has the power to cast illusions."

"So, the person using this Fox Miraculous is the one behind this?" Xin Jing asked.

"I believe so." Lady Nymph said. "Meaning Belle Aube is telling the truth about being impersonated."

Xin Jing dropped her fighting stance and smiled at Belle Aube.

"Lady Nymph believes that you are innocent." The Champion informed the hero.

"Really?" Belle Aube said in relief. "Thank my Lady."

"However, she believes that Catastrophe still has a partner." Xin Jing continued. "Someone using the Fox Miraculous, which grants the power of illusions."

"The Fox Miraculous." Belle Aube contemplated the words. "I think Tikki mentioned that."

"Now that this misunderstanding has been cleared up, we need to find Catastrophe and his partner and re-take both of their Miraculous." Xin Jing said.

"Right." Belle Aube agreed. "But this Fox-person is going to be mine, I won't let them get away with trying to smear my image like that."

It didn't take long for the two to find Catastrophe, confronting him again.

"Well this is a surprise, you're really so ready to work with her again?" Catastrophe tried to play it calm when he saw them again, but Xin Jing was able to pick up on the underlying nervousness.

"Sorry to say, but this little ruse of yours didn't work very well." Belle Aube snarled. "Come out, Fox! We know about your little trick and it's not going to work anymore!" She called out.

Catastrophe suddenly slumped and let out a sigh.

"I knew this plan wouldn't work." He said, hand on his hip.

"If I remember correctly, you were supposed to find and keep Belle Aube busy so I could do more damage." A female voice said.

The two heroes whipped their heads around to face the speaker, who was leaning against a wall.

She wore an orange and white suit and mask, with fox-style ears coming out of her head and a sash around her waist that formed a tail behind her.

"And you counted on Lady Nymph not knowing about your Miraculous." Catastrophe bickered back at the Fox villain.

"Whatever, we can lay blame on you later." The new villain said, turning to face the two heroes. "For now, let's just take these Miraculous."

"Come and get them, Fox." Belle Aube scowled.

"Oh, where are my manners?" The female villain fake gasped. "I haven't formally introduced myself, have I?"

She made a running jump, flipping over the heroes' heads to land next to Catastrophe in a bow.

"My name is Volpina." She said. "The only villain needed to take you down."

"Hey!" Catastrophe frowned, offended by Volpina's remark.

Belle Aube was the first to attack, going right for Volpina, leaving Xin Jing to deal with Catastrophe.

"Ooh, did I do something to offend you?" Volpina smirked as she knocked away each strike of Belle Aube's yoyo with the flute she carried.

"You'll pay for impersonating me." Belle Aube declared, attacking with more ferocity.

Volpina only continued to grin, though it was slightly forced as she was struggling to keep up with the wild attacks of the yoyo.

"Hey, Cat, take the angry lady." Volpina backed over to Catastrophe, shoving him in the direction of Belle Aube while she took over fighting Xin Jing.

"Out of the way, it's her I'm after." Belle Aube said to the villain.

Catastrophe brought his claw blades in front of him.

"Sorry, but I guess you're facing me now." He shrugged.

This proved to be the wrong thing to say as Belle Aube immediately attacked him.

The heroes and villains fought for a few minutes, neither side letting up in their attacks or defence.

Xin Jing seemingly had no powers beyond her flight, though Catastrophe and Volpina knew she had to have something up her very big sleeves, but she made up for this by being a very skilled fighter, meaning Volpina struggled to keep up.

"I think it's time to add some confusion to the situation." Volpina eventually decided, darting away from Xin Jing. "Keep them busy." She instructed Catastrophe.

"Uh…" Catastrophe looked back at the two heroes.

It was enough of a pain to fight either one of them, but both at the same time was another matter entirely.

"Cataclysm!" Unable to think of anything else, he called on his attack to keep them at bay, holding out his destructive touch threateningly at them.

Volpina spun her flute in her hand before bringing it to her lips and playing, a ball of orange light manifesting on the end.

"Mirage!" She called up, holding her flute in the air.

Belle Aube and Xin Jing were forced to shield their eyes as the light enveloped the area.

When they opened their eyes again, many clones of Volpina and Catastrophe surrounded them, far too many to count.

"Lucky Charm!" Belle Aube called out her own attack, hoping for something to counteract Volpina's illusion.

A red and black spotted piece of fabric fell into her hands.

"A scarf?" Belle Aube questioned.

Volpina laughed.

"Well, at least you can look fashionable for your defeat." She said. "Go!"

The clones ran towards them.

"Hiyaa!" Xin Jing struck out at a Catastrophe, only for it to turn into orange light and disappear.

The same happened to a group of Catastrophes and Volpinas as Belle Aube's yoyo struck through them.

"These are just illusions, they'll disappear when touched." Lady Nymph explained to her confused Champion.

Xin Jing relayed the information to Belle Aube as they struck down more clones.

"If they can't do anything, why make them?" Belle Aube grunted as she tried to dissipate another Volpina clone, only for it to dodge out the way.

She got her answer when she was hit in the back by the real Volpina, who quickly disappeared back into the crowd of her clones.

"It's to confuse us." Xin Jing said. "We need to destroy all these illusions so that they can't."

This was easier said than done, however, as there were still many clones running about and they had learned to stay out of the way of the attacks in order to keep existing.

"Do you have any uses for that scarf yet?" Xin Jing asked as she saw Belle Aube's earrings go down to four spots.

"No." Belle Aube gritted her teeth. "Do you have any powers beyond your fancy moves?"

To her surprise, Xin Jing nodded her head.

"I can create elemental attacks." The Champion explained. "But they're very powerful and hard to control, which it why I haven't used them. It seems my Lady put too much power into me."

"Elemental?" Belle Aube thought over what that meant.

She then looked around, her eyes landing on some sort of construction truck, which looked like it carried sand inside of it.

She also took note that only one of the Catastrophes had Cataclysm active on his hand, meaning that one was the real Catastrophe and he hadn't used the attack yet.

"I have a plan." Belle Aube said. "On my signal, I want you to summon a wind attack."

"Right." Xin Jing agreed.

Belle Aube turned and ran in the direction of Catastrophe, taking him by surprise when she slapped him over the back of his head as she ran past.

"Tag, you're it!" She called over her shoulder.

Catastrophe growled and ran after her.

Belle Aube stopped a few feet away from the construction truck and Catastrophe reached for her, he then gasped as she ducked and grabbed his arm over her shoulder, pushing forward with all her strength.

Catastrophe's destructive touch transferred into the truck as his hand hit it, turning it to rust and releasing the large amount of sand inside.

"Now!" Belle Aube shouted to Xin Jing, taking her scarf and wrapping it around her face.

"Wind, answer my command!" Xin Jing called out as she held her hand above her.

The force of the wind hit suddenly, an instant cyclone enveloping the area.

The sand from the destroyed truck was picked up by the wind as Belle Aube's plan unfolded.

The plan turned out to be two-fold. First, the sand swirling through the area stuck each illusion, banishing them all in an instant. And second, it blinded the two villains, the sand getting in their eyes.

Belle Aube was protected from the sand by the scarf around her face while Xin Jing was at the eye of the cyclone, and so was untouched by the sand.

Xin Jing dropped her hand as the cyclone dyed, allowing Belle Aube removed the scarf.

"Uh, this sand is everywhere." She complained, shaking herself and the scarf in a futile attempt to rid herself of the sand.

The hero and Champion met as they walked over to the real Catastrophe and Volpina, who were trying their best to blink the sand out of their eyes.

"I think it's time that you two hand over your Miraculous." Xin Jing said in her mothering voice.

"I wouldn't-" Volpina stopped to cough. "I wouldn't count on it."

The two heroes reached forward to grab at the villains.

Only for the villains to turn around and throw the sand they had been holding in their eyes.

"Ah!" Belle Aube and Xin Jing cried out in pain as the sand hit their eyes.

With their vision impaired, they could do nothing but listen to Volpina and Catastrophe's retreating footsteps and coughing.

Belle Aube attempted to swing out her yoyo blindly in hopes of striking them, but only managed to topple a lamppost.

Belle Aube stomped her foot when her vision had cleared enough to see that the villains were gone.

"I got sand in my hair for nothing." She said angrily.

"This certainly is a mess." Xin Jing looked around sand-layered area before looking pointedly at the scarf in Belle Aube's hand.

"Oh, right." Belle Aube remembered. "Miraculous Cure!"

She threw the scarf up into the air where it exploded into magical ladybugs that washed over the area, fixing all the damage.

Belle Aube sighed in relief as they washed over her and removed all the sand, returning it to the newly-restored truck with the rest of the sand.

"Belle Aube, freeze!"

The two heroes jumped and turned around to see that the police had arrived.

Police who were still under the impression that Belle Aube was a villain.

Belle Aube opened her mouth to defend herself, only for her earring to beep loudly in her ear, reminding her that she only had a minute left until she de-transformed.

"Go, dear, I'll set everyone straight." Xin Jing placed her hand on Belle Aube's shoulder comfortingly.

Belle Aube smiled back in appreciation before using her yoyo to swing away.

"Hold your fire, officers, she's not a villain." Xin Jing said as she walked over to the police to explain the truth behind the events.

"…villain known as Volpina. According to Lady Nymph's latest Champion, Volpina has the power to cast illusions, and had used this power in an attempt to frame Belle Aube. Thankfully, the truth has now been revealed and the painting stolen by Volpina was returned to the Louvre by Belle Aube's Miraculous Cure."

Marinette listened to the news on her phone as she pushed herself towards Sanctuaire de la Dame.

"Hey, Marinette." She heard over her headphones.

Popping the earbuds out, Marinette turned to face the speaker.

It was Nathaniel, who walked up to her alongside an older woman that Marinette recognised as his mum.

"Hey, Nathaniel." Marinette greeted the red-head. "Where are you off to?"

"To meet the old guy I'll be helping for the next few weeks." Nathaniel groaned.

"Nathaniel, please be more polite." His mother scolded.

"Yes, mum." Nathaniel replied. "So, what about you?" He asked Marinette.

"I'm visiting a friend." Marinette answered. "We seem to be going the same way, so we can go together until we need to split."

"That sounds nice." Nathaniel said.

Nathaniel and Marinette happily talked to each other as they walked/wheeled, Mrs Kurtzberg walking slightly behind them.

"Mum's the nurse in charge of this guy's care, so I ended up getting put with him as his helper." Nathaniel told Marinette.

"I guess that makes sense." Marinette said.

"We're here." Mrs Kurtzberg interrupted the conversation.

Both teens were surprised to find themselves outside of Sanctuaire de la Dame.

"He lives here?" Nathaniel questioned.

"Yes, I believe Mr Chan was allowed to stay here by the owner of the mansion." Mrs Kurtzberg said.

Nathaniel looked at Marinette.

"Yeah." Marinette rubbed the back of her head. "He couldn't go to his own home anymore, so I offered that he stay here."

"Oh, you're the owner?" Mrs Kurtzberg asked, surprised. "Could you let us in, then."

"Sure." Marinette said.

She unlocked the gate and then the front door after a trip through the front garden.

"M-grandpa?" Marinette called out unsurely. "Your nurse is here!"

Since people would question why Marinette let a seemingly random person live in her mansion, she and Fu had agreed to pretend to be related in front of other people.

"In here!" Fu called out from the room he had taken as his own.

They entered into the room where Master Fu, or 'Mr Chan' as he had dubbed himself to hide from the villains, was waiting.

"Hello again, mister Chan." Mrs Kurtzberg said. "I'd like to introduce you to my son, Nathaniel. He'll be helping you after school and during the weekends.

"It is nice to meet you, Nathaniel." Fu held out his hand.

"Nice to meet you too, sir." Nathaniel replied politely, shaking his hand.

"Now that you've been introduced, I need to get back to work." Mrs Kurtzberg said. "Have fun."

She then left, leaving Fu, Marinette and Nathaniel into the room together.

"So…" Nathaniel said, unsure of what he was supposed to do. "Is there anything you need me to do."

"You don't need to be so nervous, Nathaniel." Marinette said. "Grandpa is really nice."

"I'd like to think I am." Fu joked. "As for your help, Nathaniel. If you would be so kind as to help me unpack the rest of my things, some of them are too heavy for me to move by myself."

"Uh, sure." Nathaniel said.

Marinette watched as Nathaniel helped Fu move the jars of plants and other items out of their boxes and onto the designated shelves, contemplating what her newest discovery meant.

It would be more difficult to talk to Fu about Miraculous matters or let Nooroo fly free around the mansion with Nathaniel there, but at least it was someone that she knew.

She just had to hope Nathaniel wouldn't see anything.

Marinette sweat dropped.

"I just jinxed myself, didn't I?" She said aloud.

Chapter Text

Marinette frowned as she read over what she had written for the third time.

Her class had an essay due the next day, and while she had finished hers, she was still trying to perfect it. It was one of those situations where she knew that there was an issue with her work when she read it as a whole, but her brain refused to identity the exact problem and allow her to fix it.

Which was why she was currently working from college instead of home, hoping the educational setting would kick her brain into finding the issue.

"You need a break." Nooroo suggested.

The library was empty save for them, so he could be out in the open as long as they kept an eye on the doors.

"But I haven't done more than a few grammatical corrections." Marinette bemoaned her lack of progress.

"Sometimes it takes stepping away from an issue and returning to it with a fresh mind to solve it." Nooroo said wisely.

Marinette sighed. "I guess you're right." She said, pushing away from her work.

Pushing herself out the library door to get some fresh air, she spotted the fencing club down in the courtyard. Half of the people there were dressed in regular clothes save for a chest-guard and helmet.

"Oh, yeah, Adrien mentioned that try-outs were today." She hummed.

"My previous wielder was a fencer." Nooroo commented, sitting on Marinette's lap to stay out of sight of the people in the courtyard.

"Really?" Marinette was interested.

Nooroo nodded. "Quite a few of my chosen were fencers or swordsmen in some way. Some already knew how to wield a sword while others learned after I was given to them, so they could use my weapon better." He explained.

"But your weapon is a cane." Marinette was confused.

Nooroo giggled slightly, realising that the subject of Lady Nymph's weapon was never really addressed due to her position.

"There's a rapier inside of the cane." He said.

"Oh." Marinette said, making a mental note to check out her cane the next time she transformed.

Turning her attention back to the fencing club, Marinette spotted Adrien amongst the team as expected, and recognised Lila's clothes on one of the potential recruits. Marinette took note that Lila had been trying out a lot of new activities lately, which she took as a good thing.

Adrien looked up from the teammate he was talking to and spotted Marinette, smiling and waving up at her.

As Marinette waved back, Adrien started to walk up the stairs towards her.

Nooroo was quick to hide in Marientte's purse before Adrien reached her.

"Hi, Marinette, I didn't expect to see you here." He said. "Cheering on one of the potential recruits?"

"How do you know I'm not here to try out myself?" Marinette raised an eyebrow.

Adrien just smiled good-naturedly, knowing she was joking.

"But no, I'm just here trying to do work." Marinette said. "Thought I'd take a break and watch the fencing team for a while."

"Ah." Adrien said in understanding.

"Fencing looks really interesting, though." Marinette said. "I'd definitely be down there with the recruits just to give it a try, if I could."

Adrien hummed, trying to think of how to respond. Thankfully, Marinette spoke again.

"So, any favourites from the recruits so far?" She asked.

"No." Adrien shook his head. "Try outs haven't started yet. Though, that hasn't stopped some of them boasting about how the spot 'will be there's for sure'. Especially Lila." He couldn't help but add the dig at the girl he was forced to work with.

"She been saying she already knows how to fence or something?" Marinette frowned.

"No." Adrien admitted. "But she has been saying that 'her parents said she always has a knack for picking up new activities quickly'. Basically saying that she'll pick up fencing and become a pro within a day."

Marinette rolled her eyes along with Adrien.

"My comfort is that Mr D'Argencourt doesn't care about boasting and will only choose the actual best." Adrien said.

"Well, maybe Lila will have the pure talent to be on the team." Marinette teased.

"Please don't joke about that." Adrien moaned.

Marinette laughed and soon Adrien was laughing as well.

"Agreste, if you're quite done flirting!" Mr D'Argencourt called up from the courtyard.

Both teens quickly blushed at being called out and all the eyes that were suddenly on them.

Without a word, Adrien went back down the stairs to join his team, hiding his red face behind his mask.

It took a minute for Marinette to get her face back to normal, not helped by Nooroo's chuckling, before she was able to watch the fencing practice without issue.

She couldn't help but laugh a bit herself, in pity, when she saw that Adrien was paired with Lila. While both individually were her friends, it was no secret that they hated each other, though their interactions could best be described as 'civil hatred'.

Marinette ended up focusing on Lila and Adrien's fight out of all the students. Surprisingly, Lila did pick on the basics of fencing without too much issue, though was clearly still just a novice compared to Adrien, who was forcing himself to go easy on the new recruit.

"Wait, why does Lila get the point, Adrien hit her first?" Marinette questioned when she saw Lila get a point.

"The rules of fencing can be a bit hard to understand if you don't have experience." Nooroo said. "When one side has priority from taking initiative, the opponent can only parry or riposte, any other action doesn't count even if the opponent touches the attacker first."

"Everything happens so fast, how can people tell?"

"Sometimes they can't, that's why abstaining is an option."

Their conversation was interrupted by a figure in red appearing at the entrance to the courtyard, demanding to be part of the fencing team and challenging Adrien to fence.

"Looks like the open spot on the team has just been taken." Marinette commented when she saw how skilled the mysterious fencer was.

Marinette watched as the fight progressed, moving so fast that she couldn't keep track. Then, the two fencers unhooked from the scoring box and began moving more freely, fighting towards the stairs and then up them, clashing blades all the way.

"Uh, oh. Better get out the way." Marinette said when she noticed the fight progressing towards her.

Pulling off her wheel breaks, Marinette pushed herself backwards into the library. Nooroo, going back into her purse.

From inside, Marinette watched the fight reach the top of the stairs and then continue into the library where she was, Adrien and the mysterious fencer still going at it.

Thankfully, the fighters seemed to have enough awareness of their surroundings to not go near the corner Marinette had pushed herself into. Their fight disturbed books and even caused one of the book carts to go out the door.

"Let's finish this off!" The mysterious fencer announced.

The two lunged at each other, blades clashing and then coming in contact with the other person.

They broke apart and Marinette was surprised when the fencer turned to her.

"Who got the first hit? Who?" They demanded.

"Uhh…" Marinette said unsurely.

Mr D'Agencourt appeared at the door, looking as though he had gone through some sort of beating in the minute since Marinette had last seen him.

"Who touched first? Tell us now!" He also demanded.

"I don't know." Marinette admitted, feeling pressured. "I think…maybe Adrien?"

This made Mr D'Argencourt immediately perk up and announce victory for his 'academy', while the fencer left after shaking Adrien's hand.

Adrien removed his helmet and looked at Marinette.

"Are you sure, Marinette?" He asked.

"I don't know." Marinette freely admitted. "You were both moving so fast that I couldn't tell. I just guessed."

Adrien chewed his lip as he thought.

"I think he hit me first." He admitted to his teacher.

"The referee has last word." Mr D'Agencourt dismissed him proudly.

"A referee who has no experience." Both Adrien and Marinette muttered under their breath, both finding it unfair to the unknown fencer.

Not taking his teacher's decision as an answer, Adrien ran off after the fencer for a rematch, wanting to earn a proper victory.

Marinette sighed as she was left alone in the library again.

"Maybe it's a good think that I can't join fencing, if this is the sort of thing that happens." She said.

"Yeah, that really was crazy."

Marinette looked up to see Lila coming through the door.

"Looks like I'll need to train hard to keep up once I get on the team." Lila said.

"You're sure of yourself." Marinette said.

"Of course I am. Not to toot my own horn, but I think I'm the best of the new recruits. That open position is as good as mine." Lila said confidently.

"What about that fencer in red?" Marinette questioned.

Lila laughed slightly. "They ran off, after getting bested by Adrien, I don't think they'll be back." She said.

"I don't know, Adrien ran off after them for a rematch." Marinette said. "I wasn't exactly the best referee considering the circumstances. So, they could still get the place if they win the rematch."

Lila frowned as she hummed.

"I've got to go back to the others. Practice makes perfect, after all." She said, leaving.

Instead of going back to the courtyard, Lila made her way into a secluded part of the college, opening her jacket to allow her Kwami out.

"You're seriously going to attack over this?" Trixx sighed.

"Why not?" Lila shrugged. "I won't stand a chance if that fencer gets his rematch. And Adrien can't exactly get his rematch when we're fighting Belle Aube and Nymph's Champion. Now, Trixx, Let's Pounce!"

Volpina quickly ran off after the fencer, who was pretty easy to find considering Adrien was chasing her, landing on the bonnet of the limo to make the driver stop.

The fencer, who turned out to be a girl of Japanese descent, stepped out of the back of the limo, eyes widening slightly when she realised who Volpina was before frowning.

"Miss, please get back in." Her driver instructed.

"No need to do that." Volpina grinned. "I noticed that you were new to this city. So, why don't I show you around?"

From his own limo, Adrien growled at seeing Volpina, jumping out the door, ready drag the fencer, who was named Kagami, away from the villain. But Xue Ying's words about how he and Lila had to attack together rang out clear in his head, making him groan and run for a place to transform instead.

Belle Aube arrived on the scene just as Catastrophe did, rescuing Kagami from Volpina's clutches. And, not unexpectantly, Kagami was then chosen by Lady Nymph to become Riposte. The two working together to drive the villains away.

Belle Aube then swung away, leaving Riposte to be turned back into Kagami back at the college

"So, that's what it feels like." Kagami said to herself as she watched her Tiānshǐ fly away.

She called for her chauffeur and waited, getting surprised when Adrien approached her, offering her back her saber, which she refused since she had still lost.

"Personally, I think the point was yours." Adrien told her.

"That's not what your friend saw." Kagami said.

"Marinette is a great person, but she doesn't really know anything about fencing. She told me that she was just guessing." Adrien pointed out.

"Hmm. I guess under those conditions, the win was indecisive." Kagami relented. "So, I can accept your decisive match."

"I'm glad you managed to sort things out." Marinette wheeled over to them. "I'm sorry for the hassle I caused you, I shouldn't have guessed the winner." She apologised to Kagami.

"I wasn't your fault. It was the fencing instructor who took the word of someone inexperienced in fencing." Kagami said.

"You were really cool by the way." Marinette complimented. "I wish that I was able to try it out for myself."

"You could, if you want." Kagami informed Marinette, surprising both her and Adrien.

Kagami took out her phone and showed an image to the two of them of two fencers in wheelchairs.

"Though, it may be hard to find wheelchair fencing nearby, you could take up fencing if you wanted." Kagami said.

"Wow." Marinette said. "Well, that's certainly something to look out for." She said.

Kagami's chauffer arrived, prompting her to leave after agreeing to be in touch with the date of the decisive match.

"Stop looking so smug!" Catastrophe demanded.

"Oh, so you wanted me to leave you to get your ring taken?" Volpina smirked, high on her victory.

They almost hadn't taken down Nymph's latest Champion, 'The Owl', aka, their headmaster. No matter what item on him they destroyed, they could find the one housing his Tiānshǐ.

But then a verbal slip-up by The Owl, had allowed Lila to work out that his item was back at the college.

So, she ran off to go break it.

Leaving Catastrophe to deal with the Champion and Belle Aube all on his own.

Catastrophe had been tied up and just about to have his ring taken when Volpina smashed the computer holding the Tiānshǐ, reverting The Owl back into their headmaster and freeing Catastrophe from grappling rope that had been holding him.

Volpina had then come back to save Catastrophe from Belle Aube, both villains bidding a retreat due to their countdowns.

"You could have told me that you were running off. You just suddenly turned tail and ran, leaving me alone to fight." Catastrophe growled as he was forced to de-transform.

Volpina didn't take notice of Plagg appearing from the ring and then disappearing into Adrien's pocket due to her back being turned.

"Hey, my plan worked, didn't it?" Volpina said uncaringly. "I released the Tiānshǐ, meaning Master Xue is one step closer to finding out where Nymph is hiding."

"That is no longer the case."

Adrien and Volpina jumped at the angry voice, turning to see Xue Ying, who did not look happy at all.

"What do you mean?" Volpina questioned. "I thought you said that beating the Champions allowed to track down Nymph through magic or something."

"Unfortunately, it seems as though Lady Nymph has gained some protections since her last Champion was defeated." Xue Ying crossed her arms. "Meaning she has either based herself in somewhere that is warded, or someone with knowledge of protection magic has found her.

"What do we do about Lady Nymph, then?" Adrien asked.

"You two are continue fighting. Belle Aube still has a Miraculous to take, and if we're lucky she will know Lady Nymph's identity and it can be extracted from her. If not, with both the Ladybug and Cat Miraculous' in hand, they will have the power to bring me both the Butterfly and the missing Peacock Miraculous."

"Right." Adrien and Volpina said.

"By the way." Xue Ying said. "If you are to bring me Belle Aube's Miraculous, you would have better chances by actually working together, rather than just attacking at the same time." She looked pointedly at the two teens.

"It's not my fault." Adrien quickly defended. "Lila's the one who refuses to work with me and just does her own thing without communicating."

"Well, I don't feel comfortable working with you." Volpina shot back, "You always glare at me and refuse to work with me yourself. I feel like you're going to betray me at any second."

Xue Ying sighed, switching demeanours.

"Adrien." She walked over to the boy. "I know it's hard to trust and work with Lila after what happened. But I am not asking that you forget all of that and be friends with her, only that you work alongside her to take down the heroes, for the greater good." She rested her hands on Adrien's shoulders as she looked into his eyes. "Do you think that you can do that, for me."

Adrien looked down.

"Yes, Master Xue." He said, feeling like a scolded child.

"That's my boy." Xue Ying said affectionately, ruffling his hair.

She turned and walked over to Volpina.

"And Lila, I know that it's hard for you as well." Xue Ying cupped Volpina's chin to make the girl look her in the eyes as she finally timed out and transformed back. "But I have faith in you and know that you'll succeed, as long as you communicate with your partner while you work. You only make it harder for yourself when you don't. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Master Xue." Lila replied.

"Good." Xue Ying moved her hand to cup Lila's cheek and kissing her on the forehead.

She then removed her hand and walked away.

"Make me proud." She called behind her.

The two teens watched her go.

"I've got to get home." Adrien coughed.

"Yeah, sure. Bye, I guess." Lila said, watching as Adrien also left.

Leaving her alone with the Kwami that was floating beside her.

"You know that Xue Ying is manipulating you, right?" Trixx said.

"She's not, she just thinks that she is." Lila huffed. "I'm the one using her, I'm completely in control of the situation."

"Or maybe she's the one letting the other think that she's in control." Trixx rolled his eyes.

Lila tisked, hand going up to grasp the Miraculous around her neck.

"Are you honestly okay with being a villain because you were told to?" Trixx tried.

"I'm not doing this because Master Xue told me to." Lila denied. "I'm doing this because I want to."

"You want to be a villain? Do you know what tragedy can occur once you're found out?" Trixx continued.

"No, because I won't be found out." Lila denied. "I'm too strong and smart for that. I'll get those Miraculous and I'll win."

"And then what?"

"I'll…" Lila trailed off. "You need to be quiet." She then ordered the Kwami. "You're being too mouthy.

Trixx frowned but didn't say anything.

Eventually, Lila made her own way home.

"Nathaniel, can you hand me the honeysuckle?" Fu asked, checking his book with a mortar and pestle in hand.

"Uh, sure." Nathaniel took a few seconds to browse through Fu's supplies before locating the jar filled with honeysuckle, which had been freshy plucked by him from the garden outside.

While the cost of living in Marinette's mansion was covered by Fu's lessons to her, there was still the matter of other living expenses such as food and utilities, which Fu paid through selling his herbal remedies. And as Fu's afternoon and weekend assistant, Nathaniel frequently helped him make them.

Fu took a handful of the honeysuckle and began prepping them to add to the rest of the mixture.

"So, how many people buy these remedies of yours?" Nathaniel asked off-handily as he returned the jar to its place.

"You'd be surprised." Fu responded. "With the increase of 'natural health' nuts, more and more people have been buying off me. Of course, my remedies actually work, so it's good that they're coming to me rather than some con-man."

"I suppose that's true. Mum always complains about how she gets parents who insist that their 'natural cures' are the best way to protect their children. Uh, no offence." Nathaniel said.

"None taken. Most 'natural cures' are complete nonsense. Mine have actual logic behind them." Fu waved off.

"If you say so." Nathaniel said, not wanting to argue.

"So, how have things been going for you at college?" Fu asked conversationally as he mixed in the prepared honeydew.

"The usual. Trying and failing to understand science, getting lots of homework, being forced into hanging out with people 'for my own good'." Nathaniel complained.

"It is good to build up a strong social circle. Good friends are invaluable." Fu advised.

"I know." Nathaniel rolled his eyes.

He was a hardcore introvert, but he'd be lying if he didn't say he enjoyed being with others every once in a while.

"Oh, and Chloe's been extra insufferable lately." He added.

"Ah, Marinette's blond friend? What's she been doing?"

"She been going on and on about 'how many people have been approaching her to sell her merchandise'." Nathaniel did a poor imitation of Chloe's voice.

"Merchandise?" Fu asked.

"Yeah, with real heroes and villains being in Paris, toys and other things have started emerging. Of course, you've got the Lady Nymph and Belle Aube stuff, but former Champion are also being approached for the rights to use our Champion forms in stuff." Nathaniel explained.

"Have you been approached?"

"A few of times, yeah." Nathaniel rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "I'm not really comfortable with my image being mass produced, but mum convinced me that it'd be a good idea to take the royalties and put them in a savings account."

"Sounds wise. Though, money should not be important than your own comfort." Fu said.

"It's fine, I won't be on that much stuff anyway. Chloe, or rather Royal Phoenix, is the one who will be on everything, considering how many offers she's bragged about getting. Though, I guess that makes sense, since she was Lady Nymph's first Champion."

"That can't be good for her ego." Fu joked.

"It isn't. Why do you think she's been insufferable?" Nathaniel replied. "She's been bugging me about putting her into my comic as well."

"Comic?"

"Ah…" Nathaniel blushed slightly. "Well, I draw a lot, things like comics. So, I've started drawing some comics about the heroes of Paris in my free time."

"That sounds nice. Do you think you'll publish it at some point?"

"Maybe." Nathaniel shrugged. "I'd need some help with the writing though. I kinda suck with the story and dialogue aspects."

"I'm sure that you can improve with practice." Fu assured.

"Maybe." Nathaniel shrugged again. "By the way, your pot's about to boil over." He pointed.

"Ah!" Fu turned around to save his remedy.

"Juleka and I got our first licencing offers today?" Rose squealed happily to her classmates.

"That's cool, did you accept?" Alix asked.

"Not yet." Juleka answered.

"Our parents are trying to find a professional who can help us work out the deal, so that we don't get cheated." Rose said

"Man, I should have thought about that, who knows how much I could have got given." Kim complained.

"Maybe it will be wise to ask the teachers about educating us on the matters of licencing and managing finances, considering that so many of the class have been made into Champions, and thus asked about using their Champion forms." Max advised.

"Sounds boring." Kim complained.

"The most important things usually are." Max deadpanned back.

"My daddy hired the best professionals in the business to deal with my licencing offers." Chloe boasted. "So, I'm definitely getting the best deals."

"Why do you care about how much of the cut you get, you're already rich?" Alix moaned.

"Well, it feels better to spend money that I earned myself." Chloe explained off-handily.

"I'm not going be touching the money I get. It's all going into a savings account." Ivan said.

"Same here." Nathaniel and Mylene said.

"When I start getting offers, I'm going to put all of the money towards charity." Lila boasted.

"That sounds really nice, Lila." Mylene complimented.

"Yeah, nice sentiment, if you get any offers." Chloe snarked.

Lila elected to be the 'bigger person' and ignore Chloe's comment.

"Well, people in less fortunate situations will need the money more than I will." Lila said. "I actually plan to start working with a few charities. Oh, maybe we can start our own!" She exclaimed as she got an idea. "Gather all the Champions and show that we're still heroes even without Nymph giving us power."

"That's a great idea Lila." Marinette smiled.

"I know, right." Lila grinned as she latched onto Marinette.

"What sort of things would we do?" Kim asked.

"Well, we could…" Lila began to list off things that they could do to help others.

"How about we have an official meeting about it, after talking to the staff." Marinette advised.

"Okay. I can go speak to the headmaster now." Lila agreed. "Want to come with?"

"I would, but I've already made plans." Marinette turned her down with a sad smile.

"Oh, okay. I understand." Lila said. "Hey, Sabrina, do you want to help." She immediately turned to the shy girl.

"Sabrina's coming with me." Chloe answered before Sabrina could.

"I think you should let Sabrina answer for herself." Lila put her hands on her hips.

"Why, the answer's going to be the same?" Chloe questioned.

Lila turned back to Sabrina. "Do you want to help me with the charity organising, or whatever Chloe has planned?" She asked.

"Well, uh…" Sabrina struggled to reply.

"Sabrina, stop delaying. You're going to make us late." Chloe demanded.

"I'dliketostaywithLila." Sabrina burst out.

"What?" Chloe asked in offended shock.

"You heard her." Lila said smugly. "She's like to stay and help me."

Lila put an arm around Sabrina as Chloe spluttered.

"Sabrina, you're my friend." Chloe said.

"And she's my friend as well." Lila declared.

"I am?" Sabrina gasped, looking at Lila.

"Of course you are." Lila said. "Why wouldn't you be?"

"I'm Lila's friend." Sabrina whispered to herself happily.

"Sabrina!" Chloe exclaimed.

"Aren't you going to be late to something?" Lila reminded.

"Come on, Chloe. Sabrina's allowed to have other friends and be around other people." Marinette said, pulling Chloe away.

Chloe scowled but left with Marinette and Alya.

Sabrina looked upset at Chloe leaving.

"It's alright, I'm your friend now, remember." Lila comforted with a triumphant grin. "Now, let's go speak to the headmaster."

Adrien growled as he stormed into his room.

"So, you can't have a party. Why not just sneak out and have one?" Plagg suggested to him. "That sounds like way more fun than another fight."

"I'm not in a mood for a party anymore." Adrien snapped back. "If he wants to keep ignoring my birthday, I'll make him pay attention."

He lifted his hand up, but at the last second remembered that he had to tell Lila about his plan to attack.

"This is annoying." He huffed, shooting his reluctant ally a text before transforming. "Plagg, Claws Out!"

He jumped out his window and met with Volpina at their agreed location.

"Awe, is little kitty throwing a strop about not getting a birthday?" Volpina said in a baby voice.

"Knock it off." Catastrophe told her. "I need you to create an illusion of me as Adrien, in danger."

"We could just use the real you, it'd be more convincing." Volpina suggested with a smirk.

"Yeah, that'll happen when I trust you not to drop me for real." Catastrophe deadpanned.

"You really have so little trust in me?" Volpina acted hurt.

"I wouldn't trust you to look after a hamster." Catastrophe said. "Now, let's get this over with."

…

"I hope Adrien likes the scarf." Marinette said, pushing herself along.

"With how much effort you put into making it, I'm sure he will." Alya assured.

They were just coming back from delivering the present to the Agreste mansion, posting it through the delivery box. Marinette had been intending to give it to Adrien at college, only for her own absent-mindedness to strike again and make her forget it at home.

"Hey, is that Nino?" Marinette questioned, spotting their friend in the park near her home.

"I wonder what he's doing sitting on his own." Alya said. "Let's go over and talk to him." She suggested.

They went over to Nino to find him aggressively blowing bubbles.

"Whoa, what's got you so worked up?" Alya asked.

"It's Adrien's dad." Nino complained. "I went over to see if I could convince him to let Adrien have a birthday party, since he's never had one before, only for him to decide that I'm a 'negative influence' on Adrien and order that we can't be friends anymore."

"What?! That's messed up!" Alya exclaimed.

"I know, right?" Nino said. "I wasn't being rude or anything."

"Poor Adrien." Marinette sighed. "I hope he's not too hurt about this."

"Well, his 'father' didn't seem to care about his opinion very much." Nino said, crossing his arms.

Their conversation was interrupted by feeling the ground shake slightly.

Looking up, they spotted Adrien's bodyguard running over to them.

"Uh, hey." Marinette greeted. "Do you need something?"

The bodyguard did some motions, not speaking.

"Are you wondering where Adrien is?" Marinette eventually worked out.

The bodyguard nodded.

"Last I saw, he was with his father about fifteen minutes ago." Nino said. "Wait, did he run off?"

But the bodyguard was already leaving, resuming his search for Adrien.

"We can help him find Adrien." Marinette said, recognising the bodyguard's panic over needing to find his charge.

"Should we, though?" Alya questioned. "He likely ran off for a good reason."

Marinette hummed, trying to work out what the best course of action would be.

Her thoughts were interrupted by all three of their phones going off.

"The villain alert!" Alya gasped.

She quickly ran off in the direction the alert said the danger was, causing both Marinette and Nino to sigh.

"I'll go after her and try to keep her out of trouble as best as I can." Nino said. "You get back inside."

"Right." Marinette agreed as Nino ran off after Alya.

Thankfully, it was just a matter of crossing the street to get into her home. Then transporting herself between her wheelchairs and stairlifts to get into her room, locking the trapdoor behind her.

Nooroo emerged from Marinette's purse with her phone, turning to a news channel for her.

"Oh no!" He gasped as he looked at the news.

"What?" Marinette took the phone off him.

The video showed Adrien being dangled from a tall building by Catastrophe and Volpina.

"It could be an illusion." Nooroo said.

"With Adrien missing from home, it could just as easily be real. Either way, I need a Champion to fight those villains." Marinette said. "Nooroo, Wings Rise!"

Butterflies covered Marinette and her wheelchair, turning her into Lady Nymph on her throne.

"Right, who to pick?" Lady Nymph closed her eyes and extended her reach.

She felt a bright light that was running very fast, a light that was familiar to her.

"Nino." She smiled.

She lifted her hand up for a butterfly, but then paused.

Not so far away, there was a brighter light, one filled with a strong need to protect above all else.

"Huh, I guess he really cares about Adrien." Lady Nymph said, holding up her hand again.

A butterfly landed on her finger and she brought it up to her lips, transferring her power into it, then extended her hand to allow it to fly away.

"Fly away little Tiānshǐ and give him the strength he needs."

…

"I'm sorry sir, but civilians are not allowed to cross this line." The police officer stopped Adrien's bodyguard from moving any further.

The bodyguard scowled as he looked up as where his charge was being dangled over the edge of the building, trying to get passed the police officer again.

"Sir, please stop. I know that you are concerned about the child, but you need to let the professionals handle this." The officer told him.

The bodyguard was just about to shove the officer out of the way and damn the consequences when a purple butterfly landed on him.

"I have felt your need to protect this person in danger and I can give you the power to do so, I just need you to retrieve the villains' Miraculous'." Lady Nymph spoke to him, showing a projection of the Cat and Fox Miraculous'.

"Hmph." The bodyguard nodded in agreement.

Light enveloped him in a cocoon that he broke out of seconds later.

"What?" The police offer said as he looked at the new Champion.

"What?" Questioned a shocked Lady Nymph.

"What?" Catastrophe and Volpina said as they peaked over the building.

The bodyguard looked no different than before, same suit and hair style, not even a change in skin colour.

Nevertheless, he marched passed the police officer and into the building, breaking the door open as he went.

Belle Aube arrived soon after to aid him in taking down the villains, chasing them off after the reveal of Adrien just being an illusion

…

Marinette met with Alya, Nino and Chloe outside of the college before the classes started.

"I wonder if Adrien will be allowed to come in today, after what happened." Alya commented.

"He can't be kept from school though." Marinette frowned.

"Adrien was home-schooled before, remember. His father could decide to do it again." Chloe said.

Thankfully, the usual limo arrived outside the college and Adrien stepped out, wearing the scarf Marinette had made him.

"Hey, dude, nice to see you're alright." Nino went over to greet him happily.

"Yo, nice scarf, Adrien. It's off the chain." Alya complimented knowingly.

"Yeah. Can you believe my dad got it for me.?" Adrien said, holding his scarf.

This caused everyone else to pause.

"All I ever get from him is pens." Adrien continued unawares. "It's a nice surprise."

"But-" Chloe began to protest, only for Marinette to yank her down to her level by the arm and clap a hand over her mouth.

"You've got to tell him that you're the one who knitted the scarf." Alya said to Marinette quietly as Adrien and Nino had their own conversation.

Chloe removed Marinette's hand from her mouth. "Yeah, you can't just let his dad steal your work like that." She agreed.

"But he seems so happy about his dad." Marinette shook her head. "I don't want to spoil it for him."

"Aw, Marinette. You're amazing." Alya said, hugging Marinette. "But what are you going to do about your present? He's gonna think you didn't get him anything."

"I'll just say it got lost and buy him something." Marinette shrugged. "It won't have the same effort put in, but it'll be something."

"Bullshit." Chloe scowled. "You may be happy to let this happen, but I won't let this injustice stand."

Alya and Marinette watched as Chloe stormed over to the limo and stood in front of the driver's window to glare at Adrien's bodyguard.

"Listen here, I've got a message for Mr Agreste." Chloe said loudly. "Marinette put a lot of time and effort into making that scarf for Adrien. And then your boss decides to steal said present off a teenage girl to claim it as his own instead of putting in the effort himself and getting a present for his own son. He should be ashamed of himself, stealing someone else's work like that. The only reason I'm not telling Adrien the truth, is because my friend says it makes him happy to think that his father got it for him."

The bodyguard looked at Chloe in shock, then looked passed her at a slightly embarrassed Marinette.

He then nodded agreeing to pass the message on.

"Good. And if this happens again, my father will make sure that it won't happen a third time." Chloe said.

She then turned on her heels and marched back over to Marinette and the others.

"Come on." She said, walking passed them and into the college.

"What was that about?" Adrien asked, having not heard Chloe's words to his bodyguard, only her shouting.

"Nothing to be concerned about." Alya waved off. "Let's get to class before the bell rings.

…

Morning classes and lunch passed without issue.

Marinette was just about to enter the college for afternoon classes with Alya and Chloe when she was approached by Adrien.

"Hey, Marinette, I just wanted to say thank you for my birthday present?" Adrien said.

"Birthday present?" Marinette questioned, confused.

Had Adrien figured out the truth?

"Yeah." Adrien said as he brought out a hand-made hat from his bag. "My bodyguard said it got lost when sorting the mail, but he found and gave it to me. It really nice of you to make me a present, Marinette."

"Oh, you're welcome." Marinette blushed slightly.

She looked over at Adrien's bodyguard behind him, who flashed her a thumbs-up.

Marinette smiled back. She may not have made the hat, but Adrien still believed that she made his birthday present, even if it wasn't the scarf.

Chapter Text

It was a regular day at Francoise Dupont, with students streaming out of the building after the final bell had rung. Though, a few of the students had stayed behind for their own reasons.

"So, are we going to the Art Club now?" Adrien asked Marinette as she eased herself down into her wheelchair.

"Yep." Marinette answered, handing her crutches to Adrien.

Adrien quickly took them and attached them to the back of Marinette's wheelchair for her.

"Let's go then. Lead the way." Adrien said, eagerly.

Marinette couldn't help but giggle at how Adrien was practically jumping up and down on the spot.

"Excited, are you?" She teased him as they left the classroom.

"Yeah. It took me a while to wear Natalie down into letting me stay behind and join the club, so I'm happy to finally join." Adrien said. "I was on the verge of sneaking off to join."

"They need to learn how to let you be a normal kid." Marinette said.

"Mind telling that to my father?" Adrien joked.

"I would say it directly to his face." Marinette proclaimed.

Adrien laughed. "I would love to see that. Though, it would probably result in not being able to see you anymore." He said.

"I'd like to see him try and stop me from seeing you." Marinette scoffed.

"Famous fashion designer, Gabriel Agreste. No match for the firesome pixie, Marinette." Adrien laughed harder.

"Pixie?" Marinette pouted. "You think I'm a pixie?"

"Of course. You're small, petite and cute, and you wouldn't look out of place with a pair of wings. You are a pixie."

"You think I'm cute?" Marinette picked out the word with a blossoming smile on her face.

"Ahh…" Adrien turned red as he realised what he'd just let slip. "Well, you see…the thing is…Hey, who's that over there!"

Adrien quickly deflected, pointing at someone lurking under the stairs.

"Huh?" Marinette turned to see who he was pointing at.

It took her a few seconds to recognise them.

"Oh, that's Marc." She answered.

"I've never seen him around before. Is he a new transfer?" Adrien questioned.

"No, they've always been here. I think." Marinette said. "They're just quiet and don't usually draw attention to them-self. Come on, let's go say hello."

The two went over to Marc, who was writing in their notebook.

"Hey, Marc. How's it going. Not hanging out with anyone else?" Marinette greeted.

"Oh, hey, Marinette." Marc said shyly. "Classes are done for today, so everyone else probably went home."

"Ah." Marinette said. "Well, our class has a spare hour and some of us are heading to the art room. You should come and check it out."

Marc looked unsure. "Uh, sure…Why not?" They said.

Marinette spied the book in Marc's hand.

"And maybe you'll finally let me read you're writing." She added.

"Yeah, I don't know. Maybe." Marc said.

"Awesome. See you later, then." Marinette smiled brightly as she and Adrien continued on their way to the art room.

"He looked very uncomfortable." Adrien noted.

"Yeah." Marinette sighed. "I'm trying to coax them out of their shell, but it's slow going. I'm sure that once I convince them to join the art club, they'll open up much more with like-minded people around to encourage them. It seemed help Nathaniel."

They arrived in the art room, the regulars already present and setting up their workstations.

"Hey, Adrien. Nice to see you here." Alix waved from the prop wall she was stood in front of.

"Hi." Rose and Juleka waved.

Nathaniel was already too deep into his drawing to notice them.

"Ah, I see we have a new student." Mr Haberkorn walked over.

"Hi, I'm Adrien." Adrien introduced himself.

"Welcome, Adrien." Mr Haberkorn smiled. "So, do you have any areas you specialise in?"

"Uh, not really." Adrien admitted. "The most I do creative wise is modelling. But I'm not looking to do that right now."

Mr Haberkorn hummed. "Well, this club is just as much about discovering new skills as it is developing them. Feel free to use anything in this room, and don't forget that there are other students here who can introduce you to their own art forms." He said.

"Thank you, sir." Adrien said.

"Come on, I'll show you the storeroom." Marinette said, pushing herself over to the door that Adrien vaguely remembered pushing everyone in the room through back when he'd held the club hostage as Catastrophe.

Inside the room, there were various art supplies, including paper, card, clay, foam heads, glue, paint, etc.

"Wow, this is a lot of stuff. I don't know where to start." Adrien looked around the storeroom.

"How about some basic drawing?" Marinette suggested.

She pointed at some paper and pencils for Adrien to grab while she took a posable mannequin off the shelf. The two then went back into the main room and set up at one of the tables.

Marinette began on her designing while Adrien tried his hand at drawing the mannequin in different poses. He knew the basics of how to draw and some of the techniques, but it still took him time to get things right.

"Remember to sketch lightly and not press too hard with the pencil." Marinette advised when she saw the mess Adrien was making of his paper from the countless rubbing-out while trying to perfect his drawing.

"Oh, right." Adrien mumbled, remembering the basic trick.

From his table, Nathaniel finally moved, taking the paper he was working on and showing it to Mr Haberkorn.

"So, what do you have today, Nathaniel?" The art teacher asked the red head as he took the paper Nathaniel had been working on.

"It's a team-up between Illustrator and Belle Aube fighting Catastrophe and Volpina." Nathaniel explained. "Just a little scenario I made up where Lady Nymph's Champions get to keep their powers, so we can all keep on being heroes."

"If only that were true, and entire army of Champions could take down those villains easily." Mr Haberkorn laughed.

Overhearing the conversation, Adrien bit his lip. He and Lila would definitely be no match for an entire army of Champions, so it was a good thing that Lady Nymph was only capable of creating one at a time, as far as he knew.

"Yeah, it would make the hero side too over-powered. So, I gave Illustrator a handicap in that he's not as strong without Lady Nymph powering him. He has a limit of how much he can draw and erase. And I guess it would be the same for the other Champions, though I haven't really thought about them yet." Nathaniel said.

"It sounds like a great idea. You should make a full comic book out of it." Mr Haberkorn recommended.

"Yeah." Nathaniel shrugged. "But I'm only good at drawing stories. Any time I try writing, it sounds bad."

"Then you should try teaming up with a creative writer." Mr Haberkorn said.

"Maybe…But, I don't know anyone who's into that." Nathaniel said.

"Don't worry buddy." Alix said as she paused her spray-painting of the fake wall, taking off her face mask. "There's got to be somebody out there just waiting to meet you. Red Please."

Nathaniel took the red spray-paint from his desk and threw it over to the pinkette.

Marinette looked up from her designing and smiled as she spotted someone peering in from the door.

"Marc, you made it!" Marinette exclaimed happily.

With speed that shouldn't have been possible from someone confined to a wheelchair, Marinette raced over to Marc and dragged them inside before they had a chance to retreat.

"Come meet everyone." Marinette insisted. "This is Marc, the person I told you about. The one who's always writing."

Marc looked away as they hid their book in their jacket.

"Uh…I'm sorry. I didn't want to disturb you." Marc mumbled self-consciously.

"Welcome to room 33, you're never disturbing anyone here." Mr Haberkorn smiled at the teen.

The art teacher then went around the room, introducing Marc to everyone there.

Nathaniel waved at Marc once the introduction finished at him.

"Welcome." He said. "You'll find that this is a great place to be, you can develop here and speak your mind without people making fun of you. Usually." He ended with a dig at Alix, who had made her own dig at him for his love of drawing superheroes during the introduction.

Alix shrugged while grinning in response.

Marc noticed the drawings Nathaniel was working on and went over to look at them.

"I-I saw your drawings on the school website but they're nothing compared to the real thing." Marc said. "The movement, the expressions, the attitudes. They're all so-" They cut themselves off as they realised Nathaniel was looking at them.

"Thanks. That's nice." Nathaniel smiled, happy to hear compliments of his work.

"Uh…" Marc stepped away as he realised how close he was to Nathaniel. "Sorry…but it's true. I've never seen drawings so-"

"So boring!"

Chloe stepped into the room.

"All he ever draws anymore is himself as Lady Nymph's Champion, when there are so many Champions to choose from, like me. Talk about self-absorbed." Chloe laughed.

"Chloe Bourgeois is complaining about someone being self-absorbed." Alix scoffed. "Are you sure you didn't look in the mirror."

Chloe scowled at Alix.

"Now Alix, let's not incite a hostile work environment." Mr Haberkorn intervened before turning to Chloe. "I've already told you, Chloe, if you have an art project to work on, you're quite welcome here. Otherwise-"

"As much as a would love to grace everyone here with my artistic talent, I'm actually here on business." Chloe said. "Rose, Juleka, I need your help with…" She looked over at Marinette. "Something urgent."

"Why can't you just get Sabrina to do it like you usually do?" Alix questioned with a deadpan.

"Because…!" Chloe trailed off. "She's not available at the moment."

"So, what do you need." Rose asked, preventing any awkward silence from occurring.

"It's private, I'll explain on once we're there." Chloe said.

Rose and Juleka looked at each other before shrugging and following Chloe out of the room.

"I wonder what that was about?" Marinette wondered.

Adrien shrugged.

Though he did know partially, as Lila loved to brag about how Sabrina was choosing to follow her around instead of Chloe, meaning Chloe had lost her lackey.

"By the way, Marc." Mr Haberkorn went back to speaking to their newcomer. "You've shown up at the perfect time. Marinette told me about how you're always writing and Nathaniel here is looking for a script writer."

The suggestion only served to turn Marc into a bumbling mess.

"Uh, me? A script writer. Oh no, I don't write that kind of stuff. I mean, I don't write anything interesting, honestly." Marc began backing away as they fumbled for words. "Sorry, gotta go. Thanks for everything."

Marc then ran out of the classroom.

"No, Marc!" Marinette called after him.

She pulled herself away from her desk and pushed herself as fast as she could after Marc, but by the time she made it out the door, Marc had already ran off.

Marinette sighed.

"Oh, Marc." She shook her head and looked down.

She then spotted a book on the floor, the same notebook Marc had just been holding.

"They must have dropped it in their rush." Marinette said aloud.

"Wow, he has some serious anxiety." Adrien said, coming up from behind Marinette.

Marinette hummed.

"Hey, Adrien, can you pick that book up for me, I think it's Marc's." She asked.

"Sure." Adrien picked it up and looked at the cover, doing a doubletake as he read the title on the front. "Diary of…Lady Nymph."

Adrien and Marinette looked at each other.

Marinette and Adrien looked around as they snuck into the disabled toilets, pulling the door closed behind them and locking it.

"Marc can't possibly be Lady Nymph, can he?" Adrien questioned.

The anxious boy was the furthest thing from Lady Nymph that he could think of, but maybe that was part of the disguise.

"I don't think they are." Marinette said, knowing for certain that she and Marc weren't one in the same.

With the book on her lap, Marinette opened it and began reading aloud.

"'It brings such light to my heart to see my Champions fighting for what they care for even without my guidance. To see Illustrator and Lady Wi-Fi working together to fend off Catastrophe and Volpina and defend Belle Aube while she was recovering, reminds me of why I choose my Champions and defend Paris. With my Champions, both old and new, I know I shall win.'"

"What?" Adrien grew even more confused. "Illustrator and Lady Wi-Fi being active at the same time? That never happened. That sound more like…Nathaniel's comic."

Marinette nodded. "It's not exactly truth, but it's fun to read. Just like Nathaniel's comics."

"Lady Nymph certainly seems to be an inspiration for creators." Adrien said with a frown that Marinette didn't see as she was still reading.

"Marc writes exactly the same kind of stories Nathaniel draws. They were totally meant to work together!" Marinette said with devotion.

Marinette unlocked the toilet door and pushed herself out with a grin on her face.

"Come on!" She called to Adrien.

"Uh, why do I feel so unsure about this?" Adrien questioned to no one in particular.

"Just go along with it, kid." Plagg grinned from inside Adrien's pocket. "I want to see where this leads."

They found Marc in the locker room, digging through their locker frantically for what was no doubt their lost notebook.

"Looking for this?" Marinette wheeled over to them, notebook in hand.

Marc let out a sigh of relief as they took back their notebook, before gasping.

"Did you read it?" They asked.

"No." Adrien immediately denied.

Marintte paused before sighing. "Yeah." She admitted. "Sorry. It was too tempting."

"Oh, how embarrassing." Marc turned away. "So, so lame."

"No, it's not." Marinette quickly said. "You should turn it into a comic book. Why don't you team up with Nathaniel?"

"I'm sure he wouldn't like it." Marc denied.

"You should have him read it before jumping to conclusions." Marinette suggested.

"But what if he doesn't like it?" Marc asked, hiding their face in their book. "I'll be so embarrassed. I'll have to change schools so that I never run into him again."

"You're overreacting." Adrien told Marc. "Even if he doesn't like it, it wouldn't be the end of the world. And I doubt he would laugh at it since he draws comics while you write stories, which aren't so different."

"But what if he judges me on my writing?" Marc worried.

"Don't tell him it's your writing until after he's read it then." Adrien suggested with a shrug.

"That's a great idea." Marinette said. "I can give him your notebook to read and see what he thinks, then report back to you."

"Do you think it'll work?" Marc asked unsurely.

"Trust me on this." Marinette nodded confidently.

Leaving Adrien with Marc, Marinette went back to the art room, setting Marc's notebook on her workspace and rubbing out Marc's name with a mischievous grin.

Nooroo popped his head out of Marinette's purse to look at his wielder, one look at her face making him realise that her intentions went beyond just pairing up an artist with a writer.

"Marinette, no." Nooroo said quietly.

"Marinette, yes." Marinette replied, gently pushing Nooroo back into her purse as she pushed herself around.

"Nate, someone gave me this for you." Marinette told Nathaniel as she placed Marc's notebook in front of him.

"Who's someone?" Nathaniel questioned.

"I can't tell you just yet. It's a secret." Marinette whispered. "Read it, and then we'll talk."

She then went back to her desk to watch Nathaniel's reaction.

Nathaniel read the title on the notebook and gasped. "Diary of Lady Nymph." He covered his mouth. "For real?"

He looked over at Marinette, who smiled back, before starting to read the book.

Marinette, Marc and Adrien were hiding under the stairs, watching Nathaniel as he sat on the opposite set of stairs, reading Marc's notebook with a content look on his face.

"Do you think he likes it?" Marc asked unsurely.

"Look at his face, of course he does." Marinette assured.

"He looks like he's enjoying reading it." Adrien agreed.

"You know, it's rude to spy of people." A sudden voice made all of them jump.

They turned around to see Alya there.

"Alya." Marinette said, clutching her heart to slow it down. "We weren't spying. Well, we were, but not for bad reasons. It's for Marc, because Nathaniel's reading their book and we want to make sure it's going well. And I don't really think you're one to be talking about spying on people."

Alya laughed, holding her hand up in surrender.

"Relax, I'm not saying you're doing anything bad." She said. "I was just wondering what you were doing."

"Marinette's trying to get Marc with Nathaniel." Adrien explained, not realising how he made it sound as Marc blushed at his wording.

Alya looked from Marc to Nathaniel, and then at Marinette. "I see. Well, good luck with that." She smirked.

"Wait, why are you here?" Adrien asked.

"I'm looking for Max and Kim. Rose said that they're likely to be in the computer room." Alya explained.

"I wasn't aware that you hung out with Max and Kim." Adrien said.

"It's for, uh, a class project." Alya suddenly went ridged.

"What class project?" Adrien eyed her suspiciously.

"Uh, that's classified." Alya said, eyes darting to Marinette. "Anyway, I've got to go."

Alya ran off.

"Huh, what's with everyone acting odd today?" Marinette asked.

"Yourself included." Adrien didn't miss the chance to tease.

"Hey." Marinette said, pretending to be offended.

"Well, you do seem oddly insistent on getting Marc and Nathaniel together." Adrien continued to tease, still unaware of his wording.

Marc blushed harder.

"Please stop saying it like that." They pleaded.

Marinette met Nathaniel outside of college, the boy still reading Marc's notebook.

"How's it going, Nate?" Marinette greeted him. "So, what do you think?"

"It's seriously amazing." Nathaniel smiled. "But how did you get a hold of it."

"First, I want to know if you're willing to meet with the one who wrote it and trusted it to me." Marinette said.

"Is it…who I think it is?" Nathaniel asked Marinette suspiciously.

'Does Marinette know who Lady Nymph is?'

"I can't tell you anything. Please don't insist." Marinette said, not knowing that Nathaniel was on a different page to her.

"Sure." Nathaniel winked, understanding the importance of secret identities to heroes. "Of course."

"Awesome. You're going to make someone very happy." Marinette cheered, clapping her hands together.

Nathaniel tried to hand the book back to Marinette, but she refused it.

"You can hand it back to the author later today, in person." Marinette grinned.

"Seriously?" Nathaniel questioned. "This is a dream come true."

He had wanted to meet the person who inspired him face-to-face ever since she first spoke to him.

Then, doubt started to creep in.

"This isn't a prank is it, Marinette?" Nathaniel frowned.

"Meet at the Place des Vosges Square Fountain." Marinette told him with a wink. "Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

She then turned around and wheeled away.

"I guess Marinette wouldn't be the type to lie about Lady Nymph." Nathaniel reasoned with himself. "And if anyone could be trusted with a secret identity, it would be her."

Clutching the notebook eagerly, Nathaniel began to walk towards the park.

Marinette quickly made her way up to her balcony, mindful of her butterflies that had rested there, using her phone to zoom in on where Marc sat at the fountain.

"Final phase of operation 'Comic Book', Nooroo." Marinette said eagerly.

Nooroo sighed. "Marinette, something tells me that this isn't going to end well." He warned. "I think Nathaniel has the wrong impression."

Before Marinette could reply, her phone went off with a call from Adrien.

"Hi, Adrien." Marinette answered. "Are you in position?"

"Yeah." Adrien answered from where he was hiding in the bushes at the park. "But, why am I being dragged into this again."

"Because, if tropes have taught me anything, just when two people are about to meet and work things out, something comes along to stop them or causes a misunderstanding." Marinette answered. "You're there to make sure no one interrupts Marc and Nathaniel. I want this moment to be perfect for them."

Adrien paused.

"We are still talking about them making a comic book together, right?" He questioned.

"Of course." Marinette answered nonchalantly. "Oh, it's go time."

Marinette hung up on Adrien and pressed record on her phone as Nathaniel and Marc met in the park.

Marinette watched eagerly as they began to talk, while Nooroo just shook his head.

The Kwami then frowned as he picked up on Nathaniel's growing anger and Marc's confusion and panic.

"I knew this would happen." He sighed. "Marinette, they're having a misunderstanding."

"Oh no." Marinette bemoaned as Nathaniel looked up at her from the park. "Why the most common of all romantic tropes?"

Nathaniel pointed up at Marinette while scowling at Marc, the anxious teen trying his best to explain.

Nathaniel's anger came to a head as he opened Marc's notebook with one hand on each side.

"No!" Marinette gasped as she realised what Nathaniel intended to do.

Nathaniel paused as he looked into Marc's horrified eyes, scowling as he let go of one side of the notebook and tossed it away instead, storming off immediately after.

Adrien quickly leapt out of his hiding space as Nathaniel left, going over to Marc.

"Are you alright, Marc?" He asked.

"I knew he wouldn't like it." Marc said. "And now he hates me because he thinks I tricked him. I'm the worst."

"Uh, it's not your fault." Not having experience comforting people, Adrien fell back on the common responses. "We just need to explain the truth to him. Though, I think he needs some time to cool off."

He frowned, watching as Nathaniel's distant form disappeared around a corner.

"Marc, I'm so sorry." Marinette panted as she pushed herself over to the two, having made it out of her house in record time thanks to a little help from her army of butterflies.

"It's alright, Marinette, you were only trying to help." Marc said, though their words sounded hollow.

"No, I was the one who took the secrecy angle too far, I should have told Nathaniel that your notebook was just creative writing, then this misunderstanding wouldn't have happened." Marinette insisted.

"Well, no point now." Marc mumbled.

"No, we're going to sort this out. I don't want Nathaniel mad at you for something that isn't your fault." Marinette said.

"Wait, where is Marc's notebook?" Adrien asked.

The three teens looked around the park, searching until they spotted Marc's notebook open and facing down in a puddle.

"Oh no." Marc gasped as they ran over to their notebook.

They picked it up and examined the damage.

Thankfully, the puddle had been shallow, but many of the pages were still wet, causing the ink to run.

Marc stared down as their ruined notebook, falling to their knees as tears began to gather in their eyes.

Adrien stared at the distraught Marc and the ring on his finger began to burn, making him scratch at his hand.

How dare Nathaniel do this to Marc? Misunderstanding or not, it didn't excuse the destruction of something Marc clearly valued very much.

"Adrien."

He should hunt Nathaniel down, making sure that the redhead was sorry.

"Adrien." Marinette said louder.

"What?" Adrien snapped out of his thoughts.

"I want you to take care of Marc." Marinette told him. "Take them to my place, my parents will help calm them down. And we should have a stack of old newspapers that can be used to dry out Marc's notebook."

"Oh, okay." Adrien said, Marinette's voice clearing his thoughts. "What about you."

"I'm going to track down Nathaniel and make him understand. And then I'm going to make him apologise." Marinette said firmly. "I need you to stay with Marc until we get back. Can you do that?"

"I will." Adrien promised without hesitation.

"Good." Marinette nodded.

"Come on Marc." Adrien said, guiding the fragile teen to Marinette's while said girl wheeled off in the other direction.

"It could take a while to find where Nathaniel went." Nooroo popped out of Marinette's purse.

"For most people. But Nathaniel will be feeling a lot of negative emotion right now, and I can use that to find him." Marinette said.

Marinette pushed herself back into the college to find the best secluded spot that she could, which turned out to be the disabled toilets again.

"Nooroo, Wings Rise!"

In a flash of light, Lady Nymph sat on her throne.

Closing her eyes, she reached out to feel the emotions of Paris, ignoring all the bright lights she usually looked for, instead feeling for those with negative emotions.

A shudder went through her as she felt the anger and sadness that many of the citizens of Paris were feeling for various reasons, shifting through them for the right one.

She let out a sigh of relief as she finally found a match and was able to let go of the connection, pulling herself out of the pool of negativity.

"Wings Down!" Lady Nymph said. "He's at the Louvre." Marinette said to Nooroo.

Nathaniel sat on a bench in the Louvre as Alix skated around him, going over what had happened between him and Marc.

"Maybe you should have given Marc a chance to explain." Alix suggested.

"What's the point? He wanted to tease me. Like everybody else." Nathaniel said.

"I still don't buy it. If it was anyone else setting this up, I could agree, but the Marinette we know would never make fun of people like that." Alix said.

Nathaniel hummed.

"You think I jumped the gun a bit?" He asked.

"You missed it by a mile." Alix told him.

Nathaniel dropped his head into his hands and let out a loud and forceful groan.

"Why is this so complicated." His complaint was muffled by his hands.

"If you bothered to develop socially before now, it wouldn't be so hard." Alix pointed out.

"But staying secluded in my room is so much easier." Nathaniel managed to joke slightly.

"Easy is boring." Alix put her hands on her hips.

"Nathaniel?"

The two friends turned to see Marinette pushing her way in.

"Marinette." Nathaniel looked at her dully.

"Before you say anything, Marc and I didn't intend to make you think that their notebook was actually Lady Nymph's. Marc just didn't want you to judge them on their writing if you didn't like it." Marinette explained.

"Told you." Alix said.

Nathaniel groaned louder.

"I really should have seen that it was a misunderstanding." He moaned. "I'm an idiot."

"No objections here." Alix said, causing Nathaniel to glare at her.

"What happened, Nathaniel? I've never seen you that angry before." Marinette asked softly as she came to a stop next to Nathaniel.

"I thought you two were making fun of me, like what happened before." Nathaniel said.

Marinette and Alix looked at each other, both understanding what their friend meant.

They hadn't gone to the same Primary School as Nathaniel, but his behaviour starting college had made it clear that it wasn't a kind place for him.

"But you know people are different, and you can't assume the worst." Marinette said.

"Sorry." Nathaniel sniffed. "I guess that I've been hurt so many times, I see potential enemies before I see potential friends."

"I understand Nathaniel, but that's not a healthy point of view to have." Marinette said.

"I know." Nathaniel looked down.

"But you've been getting better." Marinette comforted.

"I have?" Nathaniel questioned.

"Yeah." Alix joined in. "I mean, we're friends. When we first met, you wouldn't say a word, now you have plenty of people you can call friends."

Nathaniel mulled over her words. "I guess you're right." He said. "I haven't really thought about it."

"Though, you obviously still need some ironing out." Alix added.

"Yeah." Nathaniel agreed. "I guess I can work on it."

"Well, you can start with apologising to Marc." Marinette told him.

"For the misunderstanding?" Nathaniel questioned.

"That, and you managed to ruin their notebook when you threw it." Marinette informed Nathaniel.

Nathaniel looked at her in shock before slapping his palm to his forehead.

"Let me guess, that notebook of his was something really valuable, and I destroyed it because I got mad." He groaned.

"I'm afraid so." Marinette nodded.

"Great, as if I wasn't a jerk already." Nathaniel complained. "I'm the worst."

He proceeded to bury his head in his hands.

Marinette and Alix looked at each other again over Nathaniel's stooped back.

"Come on, emo boy." Alix grabbed Nathaniel by his arm and began hoisting him to his feet. "Stop wallowing in despair and deal with your problems like a big boy."

"But what can I do, he'll hate me for what I did. And I deserve it, I wanted to rip his book in half at first." Nathaniel seemed determined to wallow.

"You apologise." Marinette joined in, pushing Nathaniel so that he couldn't sit back down again. "Preferably with a gift to show that you're sorry."

"But what can I give him?" Nathaniel asked as he allowed himself to be pushed along by the girls.

"Use that artistic brain of yours. Come on." Alix said.

Adrien sat uncomfortably next to Marc as the teen meticulously folded up sheets of newspaper and gently inserted them in between the wet pages of his notebook.

Marinette's parents had lefts snacks but couldn't stay with them due to being needed in the bakery.

Adrien really wished that they could have stayed, they'd be much better at comforting Marc than he could be.

"Will the newspaper work?" Adrien asked as Marc finished.

"It'll help absorb the water out of the pages without drying the paper out completely and damaging it further. I'll have to wait and see the extent of the damage." Marc replied numbly.

Adrien clenched his fists at how sad Marc looked.

He had only known the writer for less than a day, but still found himself getting angry on their behalf. He still wanted to hunt Nathaniel down, but Marinette's words about staying with Marc while she dealt with Nathaniel kept him where he was.

Adrien phone then suddenly buzzed in his pocket.

"Oh no." He said to himself.

He had a good guess as to who the message was from.

'Maybe if I don't look at it, I can plead ignorance. I mean, it could be from someone other than Lila.' Adrien thought.

Marc and Adrien waited in silence, the later getting increasingly restless, especially as his phone gave off another message alert.

Finally, they heard the door open downstairs.

"Mum, dad, I'm home!" Marinette's muffled voice came from downstairs. "Are Marc and Adrien still here?"

Adrien left the living area to see Marinette pulling herself out of her wheelchair and onto the stairlift, frowning when he spotted Nathaniel standing awkwardly at the doorway alongside Alix.

"Should he really be here?" Adrien went down the stairs to meet Marinette.

Nathaniel hunched in on himself when hearing Adrien.

"He's here to apologise." Marinette explained. "I sent a message saying that we were coming."

"Oh." Adrien said.

So, that's what his messages were.

Marinette pressed a button on her stairlift and began ascending, Adrien, Alix and Nathaniel walking up the steps after her.

"Oh, hello, Marinette." Marc stood as they saw Marinette enter the living space on her indoor wheelchair.

They then flinched and looked away when they saw Nathaniel enter in behind her.

"I believe that Nathaniel has something to say to you, Marc." Marinette prompted the artist.

Nathaniel cleared his throat in an effort to get rid of the lump that had appeared in it.

"Uh, Marinette explained what happened to me. I'm…I'm sorry that I took it the wrong way and blew up at you like that." Nathaniel apologised.

Marc looked up in surprise, not expecting the apology.

"Really?" They asked.

"Yeah. I should have let you explain." Nathaniel rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, I could have done a better job explaining. If I'd just been straightforward and shown you my book myself, this wouldn't have happened." Marc replied.

"No, it's okay. I get how scary it can be showing your work to others." Nathaniel refused to let Marc take blame.

The two were silent, wondering what they could say next.

Alix elbowed Nathaniel in the side pointedly.

"Oh, uh…Marinette said that I managed to damage your notebook when I threw it. Sorry about that too. I, uh, got you this." Nathaniel stumbled with his words.

Going over to Marc, Nathaniel presented them with a paper bag.

Marc gasped quietly, cheeks tinging pink as they took the bag.

"You got something for me?" They repeated.

"Yeah, well, it's only fair since I damaged your notebook." Nathaniel felt the need to explain.

Marc reached inside the paper bag and took out a cardboard box with a plastic front to show the contents inside.

"A calligraphy kit?" Marc looked at their gift.

"Marinette said you were a writer, so I thought it would be appropriate. And the kit comes with a new notebook as well." Nathaniel said.

"I love it. Thank you." Marc smiled.

Looking at Marc, Nathaniel found himself blushing in response.

"Yay, we worked everything out in the end!" Marinette cheered.

"Good thing, I don't think I could have taken the moping if it didn't." Alix commented.

"So, now that everyone understands. Why don't you two start working on a comic together?" Marinette suggested.

"I…uh…I mean, would you mind doing that, Nathaniel?" Marc asked.

"Sure, we could try it out. It could help my comics to have a writer." Nathaniel replied. "I left most of my stuff back in the art room, though. So, we'll need to go there."

"Alright." Marc said.

The two left together, waving to Marinette, Adrien and Alix, saying their goodbyes.

"Well, that was fun." Alix said dryly. "I didn't expect to help a friend through his issues today."

"Well, since you're here, want to hang out with Adrien and me?" Marinette offered.

Alix's phone went off with a message and she checked it.

"I would have. But Ivan's saying that he wants my opinion on something special, I'm guessing for Mylene. Catch you tomorrow." Alix said, leaving herself.

"I guess it's just us then." Marinette turned to Adrien.

But Adrien was looking at his own phone with a scowl.

With Marinette saying that she'd messaged him, he assumed it was safe to check his messages. But while one of the messages had been from Marinette, the other really had been from Lila.

"Sorry. My dad wants me back home now. Says I've been out too late." Adrien said, making his own way to the door.

"Out to late, but it's only early afternoon." Marinette frowned.

"Yeah, well, that's my dad for you." Adrien said, disappearing out the door.

Alone in her house, Marinette sighed.

"Why is everyone busy today?" She questioned.

"Don't worry. After everything, I think you need a rest anyway." Nooroo said, flying out of Marinette's purse.

"Yeah, you're right." Marinette sighed again.

Maybe she could go back to the art room after a little rest.

Nathaniel and Marc walked the short trip to the college building in silence, stopping short at the doors.

"Uh, thank you again for the calligraphy set." Marc said the first thing that came to their mind.

"Do you have anything to use it for?" Nathaniel asked. "It's alright if you don't end up using it."

"I haven't done proper calligraphy before, but I think it'll be interesting to try. Maybe I can use it for final prints of my writing or something." Marc said, taking one of the pens out of the box to examine it.

"When did you start writing?" Nathaniel enquired.

"I've been writing in some form or another for a while. But I've really gotten into writing based off of the comics to publish online lately." Marc blushed slightly as they realised what they confessed. "I hope you don't mind."

"I don't." Nathaniel assured. "In fact, I'd love to read them. It'd be interesting to see what you interpreted from my drawings."

"Oh, I could show you." Marc offered. "I have some more notebooks back home that I wrote them in."

"You could bring them in tomorrow." Nathaniel suggested.

"Or, we could go to my house now instead." Marc offered shyly.

"You want me to come to your house?" Nathaniel questioned with a look of surprise.

Marc nodded.

"Geeze, your romantic tension is so thick, it's making me nauseous." A voice interrupted.

"Hey!" Nathaniel exclaimed, turning to face the speaker.

Both Nathaniel and Marc took a step back in shock as they realised Volpina was standing next to them.

"So, here's the deal. I want a hostage to draw out Belle Aube." Volpina said as if she was discussing the weather. "So, eeny, meeny, miny, you."

Volpina flicked her finger in between Marc and Nathaniel, ending with her finger pointing Nathaniel.

The two teens barely had any time to react as Volpina grabbed Nathaniel by the wrist and dragged him away.

"Nathaniel!" Marc cried after the redhead as he was taken.

"Hey, let go!" Nathaniel struggled against Volpina's grip as she dragged him onto a roof top and began tying him up.

"Just sit down and behave." Volpina told him. "And you'll get to walk away without a single bruise."

"A little late for that." Nathaniel snarked back, rubbing his wrist.

He could already tell that the villain's tight grip on his wrist was going to leave a mark.

Volpina ignored him, instead turning to Catastrophe as he arrived.

"You're late." Volpina scolded her reluctant partner.

"I can't check my phone all the time." Catastrophe snapped back. "How long till the heroes show up?"

"Well, I snatched this one in front of his friend and we're out in the open. So, it shouldn't be long." Volpina said.

Catastrophe looked at Nathaniel before closing his eyes and groaning.

"Because of course." The villain muttered to himself.

Marc was still standing at the doors of the college in shock.

"Marc? What are you doing standing here?" Mr Haberkorn appeared from the courtyard. "The villain alert has just gone out. You need to get inside."

"Volpina appeared and took Nathaniel." Marc explained as the art teacher grabbed their shoulders and guided them inside. "She just took him while I stood there."

Mr Haberkorn frowned. "I heard they'd taken a hostage. Don't worry, Belle Aube and Nymph's Champion will save him." He said.

"Did the alert say if Nathaniel was hurt or not?" Marc asked in concern.

Mr Haberkorn shook his head. "The alert doesn't do specifics like that."

Marc bit their lip and clutched one of their arms as they worried for Nathaniel's safety.

The teacher and student were almost to the art room when a glowing purple butterfly came fluttering over to them.

"Oh my." Mr Haberkorn gasped.

He watched as the butterfly landed on the calligraphy pen Marc still held in their hand and a glowing shape appeared in front of their face.

"You want to save someone you care about and I can give you the power to do so." Lady Nymph appeared before Marc's eyes only. "I shall give your words more power than any other, to give them form and defeat evil as a hero. Do you accept?"

"Yes, my Lady." Marc said softly.

Mr Haberkorn stepped back as Marc was enveloped in a glowing cocoon, which then broke open to reveal Lady Nymph's Champion.

The Champion was dressed in what could only be described as origami-clothes, made up of colourful paper. They wore no mask, but their skin had turned as pale as paper, their features looking as if they had been outlined in colourful inks.

"Get inside until the villain attack is over." The Champion told Mr Haberkorn.

"Right." The art teacher agreed. "Good luck, Marc."

The Champion smiled. "It's Playwright." They said.

Mr Haberkorn nodded and went into the classroom.

"Okay." Playwright said to themselves, twirling their pen in their hand. "Let's see what I can do.

They took a sheet of paper from the many layers around their wrist, and using their pen, wrote on it the words 'glider', before throwing it out in front of them.

The paper glowed before expanding out and turning into an origami style glider.

"Alright." Playwright smiled, jumping on the glider and taking to the skies.

When Lady Nymph's Champion arrived at where the villains were holding Nathaniel hostage, Belle Aube was already fighting them.

"I can't believe I have to deal with the two of you right now. I was busy." The spotted hero complained.

"If you hand over your earrings, you could be on your way." Catastrophe said.

"Not on your life, mangey cat." Belle Aube tossed her yoyo.

Playwright took one of the papers around their arm and wrote on it the word 'shield., transforming it into an origami shield.

With their shield in hand, they charged forward, slamming the shield into Volpina, who had been trying to sneak up on Belle Aube.

"Oh, great. A paperboy." Volpina snarled as she recovered from the attack.

"By order of Lady Nymph, I command you to hand over your Miraculous." Playwright said in the most confident voice they'd ever used.

"Or what, you'll give me a papercut?" Volpina goaded.

"Something like that." Playwright said as they took another sheet of paper and wrote 'sword' on it, taking their new weapon in hand.

Volpina hummed and looked at her flute, then over at Catastrophe and his claw blades.

"Hey, switch!" She called to her partner, running in his direction.

"Hey, come back here!" Playwright called after her.

Belle Aube tossed her yoyo at Catastrophe again, only for it to be blocked by Volpina.

"Use your knives to deal with paperboy, I'll deal with her." Volpina ordered Catastrophe.

The Cat villain frowned at his partner but turned to face the incoming Playwright.

"Wait, is that…?" Catastrophe looked at the Champion's face, recognising it. "Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be?" He muttered. "Well, I can't hold back."

Catastrophe readied his claw blades and clashed with Playwright, the blades cutting deep into the paper sword.

"Scissors beats paper." Catastrophe grinned.

Playwright allowed the villain to take their sword from their grasp, pulling away to a safer distance on their glider.

"What do I do, he's just going to cut through anything I create." They wondered.

"Don't forget that Belle Aube is with you. Catastrophe and Volpina may try to make it one-on-one, but you need to work together." Lady Nymph instructed.

"Right." Playwright said.

Pulling out several pieces of paper, Playwright wrote the word 'attach' on them, throwing them in the direction of Volpina.

"What?!" Volpina exclaimed as the paper wrapped around her and her flute, making it hard to move and impossible to play her flute.

This made her wide open for a direct attack by Belle Aube, sending her flying.

Belle Aube looked towards Playwright and Catastrophe, taking note of the Champion's glider.

"Stay in the air!" She commanded, casting her yoyo at the glider.

The yoyo wrapped around the glider and Belle Aube yanked on it, pulling her into the air like a swing, allowing her build up enough momentum to smash Catastrophe in the face with her foot.

"Now this is more like it." Belle Aube grinned. "What else have you got, what's-your-name?"

"The name's Playwright." The Champion told her. "And my paper obeys whatever I write on it."

"Right. Let's see how well this works together." Belle Aube said. "Lucky Charm!"

This time, the item was a bottle of glue.

"Finally, something straight forward." Belle Aube sighed. "Here, time to make some fly-paper." She threw the bottle at Playwright.

"Ahh." Playwright said in understanding, working out her plan.

After that, the fight didn't last long. Playwright wrote the words 'fly and attach' on countless pieces of paper before spreading glue on them while Belle Aube fended off Catastrophe and Volpina, sending the glued-up paper at the villains. The paper stuck to the villains fast, slowing down their movements, gumming up their weapons and even blind them at some points. And the glue remained on them even after they managed to rip the paper off, sticking them to whatever they touched, including themselves and each other.

They still got away in the end. Catastrophe using his Cataclysm to clean the glue and paper out of Volpina's flute, allowing her to cast and illusion long enough for them to run without being followed.

"One of these days, they're not going to be able to run." Belle Aube groaned when she'd seen that the villains had done another runner. "Anyway, I've got to go. Miraculous Cure!"

Belle Aube then ran off herself as her second ability cleaned up all the paper-mache littering the area, leaving Playwright alone with Nathaniel.

"Are you alright?" Playwright asked the redhead as they freed him.

"I'm fine, Marc." Nathaniel assured.

"Oh, you recognise me?" Playwright's blush was much more noticeable with their white skin.

"Yeah. You were really cool out there." Nathaniel complimented.

Playwright rubbed their arm and smiled.

"We should get down to the ground so that Lady Nymph can recall her Tiānshǐ." They said.

Playwright stepped onto their glider and offered Nathaniel their hand, which he accepted.

Marinette, Marc and Nathaniel were in the art room with Mr Haberkorn, going over their ideas with the art teacher.

"I'm glad to see that you two have decided to work together." Mr Haberkorn said. "I look forward to reading the comics you'll produce. Do you have anything planned?"

"I've had a plan for a comic series for a while now, but the lack of writing was stopping me before." Nathaniel said. "An origins series, of Lady Nymph's Champions."

"That certainly sounds like a bold idea." Mr Haberkorn said. "Lady Nymph has made a lot of Champions by now."

"It won't be much, some will likely only be a page long." Marc said.

"Whatever you end up making, I'm sure it will be amazing." Marinette encouraged.

"Thanks, Marinette." Nathaniel and Marc said.

"You're finally a doing a comic about the Champions?"

The four artists in the room looked up to see Chloe.

"About time." Chloe said. "Since it only makes sense to start in chronological order, you can start with Royal Phoenix."

Nathaniel let out a loud sigh. "I guess you're right." He said reluctantly.

"Of course I'm right." Chloe said. "And since it's me you're writing and drawing, I'll be supervising to make sure you get it right."

Nathaniel and Marc looked at each other in silent communication, starting to regret their creative choice.

"Come on then, you need a better setting than this stuffy classroom to start with." Chloe demanded.

"Actually, I prefer the work environment here." Nathaniel said.

"Nonsense, the attack took place at my home, so we should be there." Chloe said.

"I'll be closing up the classroom anyway, children." Mr Haberkorn said.

"You heard him, let's go." Marinette started pushing herself.

Nathaniel and Marc sighed in defeat, picking up their bags and leaving the room with the others.

The four teens had just exited the college doors when Chloe turned to Marinette.

"No offence, Marinette, but it'll be just us." Chloe said. "This feels a bit personal, so I want it to be just us."

"Oh, okay." Marinette said in disappointed acceptance.

Nathaniel and Marc just looked confused.

"Thank you for understanding." Chloe hugged Marinette. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow." Marinette pouted as Chloe led a reluctant Nathaniel and Marc away.

Chloe, Nathaniel and Marc entered the hotel and went into a communal area, where they were surprised to find all of Nathaniel and Chloe's classmates waiting.

"Wait, I thought you wanted privacy for the comic." Marc said in confusion, ducking behind Nathaniel at how many new faces there were for them.

"We can focus on the comic later." Chloe waved off. "We're here for something more pressing."

Alya stood up from the group.

"Now that we're finally all here." She said. "We can take care of the rest of our plans."

"Which would have happened sooner if you thought to gather us at once rather than one at a time." Alix commented dryly.

"I'm confused. What are we planning?" Nathaniel asked, thoroughly confused.

"Marinette's birthday, of course." Alya and Chloe answered.

Chapter Text

"Marinette."

"Mmgh…"

"Marinette."

"Noooo…."

"Marinette, you need to wake up."

"Five more minutes, please."

"…Your mum is staring at me."

"What!?"

Marinette pushed herself up in her bed, wildly looking around for her mum, only to find herself alone with Nooroo in her bedroom, the kwami in question smiling in triumph.

"Geeze, Nooroo." Marinette put a hand to her heart as she flopped back down in bed. "Don't do that."

"Sorry, but you weren't getting up." Nooroo justified.

Marinette groaned, grabbing her phone to look at the time.

"It's too early." She pouted.

"You promised that we'd visit Master Fu before college today." Nooroo reminded his wielder.

Sighing in defeat, Marinette pulled herself out of her warm covers and went about her morning routine, still in her half-asleep state.

"You shouldn't have spent so long working on that dress last night." Nooroo chastised when he saw how tired Marinette was.

"But I only had a few things left to do, I couldn't just leave it unfinished when I was so close." Marinette justified her late bedtime.

Rolling over to her desk, Marinette picked up the standing calendar on it and ticked off another day, smiling when she saw the drawn cake in the next box.

"Just one more day 'til my birthday." She sang happily.

Nooroo came to sit on Marinette's shoulder, looking at the calendar as it was set back on the desk.

"Fifteen already." He mused. "Only another year and you'll be able to…smoke, was it?"

"No, the minimum age for things like drinking and smoking is eighteen now." Marinette informed her Kwami. "It's driving that I'll be able to do next year. Though, I don't think I'd be doing that anytime soon. I'd need to get a car specially made for wheelchair users and that's going to be expensive, we wouldn't have the room and most shops are within a close range anyway."

"I guess that makes sense." Nooroo said.

Once fully dressed, Marinette pulled herself into her chairlift and descended down into the living area, before taking the second chairlift to the ground floor.

"You're downstairs early." Tom commented as Marinette lifted herself into her wheelchair.

"I'm going to see Mr Fu to see how he's doing before college." Marinette told her dad. "I'll take some pastries for breakfast."

"Sure thing, pumpkin." Tom said, loading some of the broken pastries from a box into a bag for Marinette.

Since people wouldn't want to buy broken or malformed pasties, it was a rule that the Dupain-Cheng family had to eat them before they were allowed to pinch any of the sellable products.

"Here. I've put in a little extra for Mister Fu as well." Tom said, packing the paper bag of goods into the bag attached to the back of Marinette's wheelchair.

"Thanks, dad." Marinette said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Pressing the button to open the shop door, Marinette pushed herself out and began making her way to Sanctuaire de la Dame.

Butterflies greeted Marinette as she entered into the garden, fluttering around her excitedly and landing in her hair.

"Hello." Marinette greeted them happily.

Sorting through her keys, Marinette inserted the front door key only to find it already unlocked.

"Huh, was Master Fu out in the garden this morning?" Marinette wondered as she pushed her way inside.

"Master Fu, I'm here!" Marinette called out.

There was an exclamation, followed by a thud and the sound of things falling.

"Master Fu?" Marinette called out in worry.

"Oh, uh. I'm fine Marinette!" Fu called back from his room. "I just burned myself on some hot tea and knocked over some of my books.

"Oh, okay." Marinette accepted as she wheeled towards Fu's room.

As she moved, her keen ears managed to pick out Fu saying "…hide…quickly…" In a hushed tone.

Pushing through the doorway, Marinette found Fu alone in the room.

"Were you, talking to someone?" Marinette asked.

"No, no." Fu denied, slightly wide-eyed. "I just talk to myself in my old age."

"Uh, huh." Marinette said.

She felt Nooroo begin to make his way out of her purse, but gently pushed him back in.

"I brought some pastries from the bakery." Marinette said, reaching around to grab her bag off the back of the wheelchair.

"Ah, your parents are such kind people." Fu smiled and accepted the paper bag after Marinette had taken out her share.

"So," Marinette popped a chunk of croissant into her mouth. "Do you have any plans for today?"

"Just making my remedies as usual." Fu said.

"No special plans, or any events?" Marinette drilled further, eating another chunk of croissant.

"Well, I am going to be making a special remedy that will cause a very strong smell as it's being made. So, I advise that you stay away for the next days or two." Fu advised.

"Really?" Marinette smiled. "Then I guess my lessons will be on hold for the next couple of days too."

"Oh, yes." Fu said, sitting upright as he remembered his and Marinette's lesson schedule. "Sorry, I forgot to tell you. My memory is going in my old age." He laughed forcefully.

CLANG!

Fu's and Marinette's heads turned towards the door that connected Fu's room to the kitchen.

Marinette frowned.

"I thought you said that no one was here." She said.

"Oh, well…"

There was the sound of scuffling before Nathaniel forcefully lurched into the room, looking very surprised.

Marinette just caught the flash of a set of fingers before they disappeared back behind the door frame.

"Nath." Marinette smiled. "I didn't know you were here."

"Oh, yeah, well, I am meant to help Mr Chan." Nathaniel fumbled for an excuse.

"I thought you only help him in the afternoons, though." Marinette smiled knowingly.

"Mr Chan asked me to help with a thing this morning."

"Thing?"

"Yeah, a thing. Right, Mr Chan?" Nathaniel foisted off the responsibility of coming up with an excuse onto Fu.

"Ah, yes. I needed him too…" Fu looked around, spotting a book near him and picking it up. "Bring me this book from the library."

"I see." Marinette accepted, even though she remembered seeing that book that last time she had visited. "Well, I better get to the college. See you there, Nath."

Marinette smiled as she heard the sighs of relief behind her as she left.

"Is it me, or were they acting very suspiciously?" Nooroo popped out as soon as it was clear. "I was picking up nervous energy from them.

"Oh, they were." Marinette continued to smile. "They're trying to keep a secret from me."

"Why are you happy about it?" Nooroo asked in confusion.

"Well, think about it. What is it tomorrow?"

"Your birthday."

"Yep. And all my friends have recently started acting suspiciously, disappearing with sudden excuses, keeping secrets, and now pretending that there wasn't more than just Master Fu and Nathaniel there."

"I don't get it. Is something wrong with your birthday?"

Marinette laughed.

"Don't you get it?" She said. "They're going to throw me a surprise birthday party."

"Really? That's nice." Nooroo smiled along with Marinette. "Though, how's it meant to be a surprise party if you know about it?"

"They don't know that I know, so it'll still be a surprise." Marinette explained.

"But you will know, so you won't be surprised." Nooroo remained confused.

"Maybe not, but I'll act surprised. It's part of the fun." Marinette said.

"If you say so." Nooroo decided to drop the issue to save himself a headache.

Adrien walked happily into the college building, spotting Nino and walking over to his friend.

"Finally. I need to talk to you, dude." Nino said before Adrien could open his mouth in greeting.

Nino grabbed Adrien's arm and dragged him into the male toilets.

"Okay, what do you need to talk about?" Adrien asked as his got his arm back.

"Dude, do you know what tomorrow is?" Nino asked.

"Uh, Sunday?" Adrien said unsurely.

"It's Marinette's birthday." Nino told him.

"What? Why didn't you tell me?" Adrien exclaimed, shocked that he had missed something so important.

"We wanted to, but you've been too busy to get a hold of." Nino defended.

"Couldn't you have sent a message or something? Now I barely have any time to find Marinette a gift." Adrien groaned.

"Don't worry, dude, it's already been sorted." Nino comforted.

"It has?" Adrien asked.

"Yeah, the class is coming together to give Marinette one big group present, rather than each of us getting an individual present. Alya and Chloe are heading it, so just give them some money when you see them, it doesn't have to be a specific amount." Nino said.

"Oh, a group gift. What's it going to be?"

Nino shrugged. "I don't know, the girls are being hush-hush about it, say they don't want to risk one of us blabbing to Marinette and spoiling the surprise." He said.

Adrien frowned. "I'm not sure about a group gift if I don't know what they're going to get." He confessed.

"Well, you can get your own gift for Marinette instead." Nino suggested. "It isn't mandatory that you do the group gift."

"I'll get Marinette my own gift then." Adrien said, before pausing. "Uh, what should I get Marinette?"

"You don't know her well enough to know what she likes?" Nino raised an eyebrow.

"Of course, I do." Adrien defended. "I know she's into fashion and likes making clothes, and other things. It's just, Marinette went through the trouble of making me a gift for my birthday, so I want to make sure my gift to her is special as well."

"Why don't you buy her a ring?" Nino smirked.

"Lay off." Adrien shot back. "I'm serious."

"Well, Marinette likes all things cute, but from what Alya's told me, she probably has enough of that. Maybe you can get her something crafty, like some nice fabric or something." Nino advised.

"Yeah, I guess. But what would be meaningful enough?" Adrien questioned himself.

Nino just smirked and shook his head at Adrien.

"Well, wonder that in class, the bell is about to go." He said, pulling Adrien out of the toilets and towards their classroom.

The subject of what to get Marinette haunted Adrien through class, making it hard for him to concentrate on his work. His notes were more crossed out gift ideas than notes on the actual lessons.

"This shouldn't be rocket science, kid." Plagg commented after classes had let out for the day.

"I have no experience with this sort of thing." Adrien justified. "I've never had people to gift things to apart from my parents, Natalie and the Gorilla. Chloe was always happy with whatever jewellery I got her, and I never got an impression as to whether the adults liked what I gave them or not. I don't want to accidently get Marinette something she'll hate."

"Just get her fabric like your friend suggested. She's a fashion designer, isn't she?" Plagg suggested.

"But then it would just be me buying something rather than putting in effort like she did." Adrien refused.

Plagg groaned and flew back into Adrien's pocket, tired of the conversation already.

Looking around as if the world could provide him an answer, Adrien's eyes landed on Nathaniel and Marc, who were talking to each other. A lightbulb went off in his head as he realised who he could ask for help.

Adrien walked over to the two teens, overhearing their conversation as he drew near.

"…it really suits you." Nathaniel said.

"You think so?" Marc blushed. "I guess it is cute. Though it has a major flaw, look at this."

Marc's hand went to the pockets of the denim skirt she wore over some leggings, stopping at only a centimetre in.

"Fake pockets." Marc complained.

"Why would something have fake pockets?" Nathaniel wrinkled his nose.

"I have no idea. I just went to put my phone in them only to find out that I couldn't. I don't get why you would go through the trouble of making something that looks like it has pockets and not just put in actual pockets." Marc continued to complain.

"I thought that the issue was that female clothing didn't have pockets or the pockets were too small. At least, that's what Marinette said when she started making her own clothes." Nathaniel said.

"It's like the makers of female clothing don't want us to be able to carry things in anything other than bags." Marc frowned.

"Hey, Nathaniel. Hey, Marc." Adrien greeted.

"Hey, Adrien." The two paused their conversation to greet Adrien.

"Marc, can I borrow your boyfriend for a bit, it's kind of urgent?" Adrien addressed Marc while grabbing Nathaniel.

Both Nathaniel and Marc froze at what Adrien had called them.

"Uhh…" They said.

"Great, thanks." Adrien took it as an agreement, rushing off while pulling a still stunned Nathaniel behind him.

"So, you want to get Marinette something special because she made you something for your birthday, and you have crafty and cute as your basis?" Nathaniel clarified once Adrien had bothered to explain the situation to him.

"Yep." Adrien said.

"Why don't you make her something in return then?" Nathaniel asked.

"Because I suck at making things." Adrien groaned. "I have nowhere near enough experience in making anything to match the hat Marinette made me."

'You mean scarf.' Nathaniel mentally corrected Adrien, having heard about the present switch on Adrien's birthday.

"Well, if you need something cute and crafty, an art shop is your best bet." Nathaniel informed Adrien.

"Uh, isn't the art shop that way, though?" Adrien pointed in the opposite direction Nathaniel was leading him.

"That's the big brand art shop." Nathaniel said. "It's nice enough and good for buying a lot of materials, but if you want something more personal, we're going to this one."

Nathaniel brought Adrien to a rather old-fashioned looking building, complete with vintage shop signs, they even had a quill and inkwell as the logo.

The inside looked more modern that the outside was, with the displays showing some current art supplies, but there were also old-looking things as well, either as products or just decorations.

"Nathaniel, back again already?" A young woman at the counter greeted.

"Hi, Casey." Nathaniel waved. "I'm helping Adrien find something for a gift."

"Ah." Casey said in understanding. "Well, call me if you need anything."

"Come on, let's walk around to see if we can find anything." Nathaniel said to Adrien.

There was a little bit of everything in the shop; paper, pencils, modelling clay, fabrics, brushes, make-it-yourself kits, etc. Since it was a small shop, it didn't have everything, but there wasn't much point in having everything an artist would need because of the large art shop not too far away, and because a lot of stuff could just be bought online.

Walking around the shop, Adrien still couldn't find anything that he could give to Marinette, there were plenty of hand-made things, but he didn't find them suitable enough.

"Struggling?" Casey came out from behind the counter to help Adrien.

"I'm trying to find something that I can give for a friends birthday." Adrien explained.

"And he wants it to be special." Nathaniel added on from where he was looking at some supplies.

"Special, huh?" Casey said. "Have you tried the books?"

Casey guided Adrien over to a bookshelf, full of many different craft books.

"Let's see here. This one's a good one." Casey pulled out one of the books and handed it to Adrien.

"'Cloth Dolls'." Adrien read the title.

The picture showed a cloth doll with yarn hair and a painted face.

Opening it up, he found instructions on how to make various dolls with the patterns included.

"You could make your friend a doll, I found it easy to pick up as a beginner." Casey suggested. "We have the calico, paints, wool and fat quarters you'd need to make them."

Adrien found a page showing a rather cute doll with yarn pigtails and freckles. If he used black yarn for the hair and blue paint for the eyes, it could easily be a doll of Marinette.

"Yeah, I could make one of these for her." Adrien smiled, already planning on buying the book and supplies.

"I don't know." Nathaniel disagreed as he came over. "I think it'd take you too long. He's only got until tomorrow."

"Aye, that isn't enough time." Casey agreed. "It takes a while to understand the instructions and get the painting and sewing right."

"Oh." Adrien pouted.

So much for that idea.

"You'll just need something simpler." Casey said, searching through the bookcase again and handing another book to Adrien. "These are pretty quick and easy."

"'Sock Animals'." Adrien read the new title and flipped through the pages.

He stopped at a page showing how to turn a pair of fuzzy socks into a cute cat.

"This. I want to make this." Adrien found himself saying.

"Cute." Nathaniel hummed as he looked at the page. "I think Marinette would like it."

Adrien took the two books given to him to the counter, along with the materials the books said he would need, smiling happily as Casey bagged his purchases.

"Come back anytime." Casey waved goodbye as Adrien and Nathaniel left the shop.

"Don't forget to buy a new pair of socks for that cat. No one's going to want a toy made from worn-out socks." Nathaniel advised.

"I know that." Adrien said defensively, like he wasn't quickly reorganising his plans to include going to a clothing shop before heading home to make Marinette's present.

"Well, I'm going back to Marc, have fun with your crafts." Nathaniel said.

"Have fun with your boyfriend." Adrien responded.

Nathaniel stood straight as he turned red.

"Marc isn't my boyfriend." He said.

"Oh." Adrien said, realising his mistake. "But I thought you two were together."

"Yeah, well…got to go." Nathaniel said quickly, running off.

"Wow, and I thought you were the only awkward one." Plagg laughed from Adrien's pocket.

Once returning from the shops, Adrien locked himself in his room. Spreading out the materials on his desk while reading through the 'Sock Animal' book.

"This doesn't look too hard." Adrien said confidently as he read the instructions for making the sock cat.

"Famous last words." Plagg muttered as he ate a slice of camembert.

The first thing Adrien had to do was trace out the template from the book, which was easy enough for him to do.

But before he could place the templates to the socks and start cutting, there was a knock at his door.

"Adrien, it's time for your Japanese lessons." Natalie entered his room.

"I'm sort of busy with something." Adrien said, indicating to his work.

Natalie eyed the socks and open book.

"You can do your crafts later Adrien." She said. "You're already on thin ice with your father over your behaviour lately. He won't be happy to find out that you're skipping important lessons to cut up socks."

"I'm making a present for my friend Marinette, it's her birthday tomorrow." Adrien pleaded.

Natalie sighed.

"I can't do anything about your Japanese lessons, nor your following scheduled photoshoot. But if you prove that you're up to date on your piano playing, I can see about cutting that lesson short, just for today." She said.

Adrien groaned. "Fine, it's better than nothing." He relented, reluctantly getting up from his desk to follow Natalie.

The Japanese lessons was the usual paint by numbers, just showing off that he remembered his current vocabulary and answering different questions in Japanese.

The photoshoot was a gruelling affair, more of the usual standing and posing. Though, of course, his photographer wasn't happy considering he could pick up how much Adrien didn't want to be there, saying that it was translating into the photos and making them 'worthless'.

Thankfully, like Natalie promised, all Adrien needed to do for his piano lessons was to show that he knew his current set and was on track, then he was let go early to do his own things.

By the time Adrien got back to his room, after being forced to eat his dinner after his piano lessons first, it was late afternoon.

"I barely have any time to do this now." Adrien complained as he started cutting up the first sock.

As it turned out, it wasn't that hard. What it was, was long and monotonous.

Adrien didn't have a sewing machine in his room, and he doubted he'd get any results from his father if he asked if there was one in the house, leaving him to painstakingly hand-stitch everything together.

And as a novice, it took him a very long time to do, especially when he made mistakes and had to undo his stitching again.

Then there was that frustrating time where he managed to accidently rip the body of the cat, forcing him to cut another from the spare socks he'd thankfully thought to get.

Adrien worked long into the night, even sneaking back to his desk after Natalie had made him to go to bed, until he finally managed to put the cat together. Then, he spent the rest of the night embroidering on the facial features.

"What do you think?" Adrien yawned as he offered his work to Plagg to appraise.

"The ears are lopsided, the legs are uneven and it looks like it's winking." Plagg answered honestly.

Adrien scowled at Plagg, hiding the sock cat from view as if the insults would damage it.

"What would you know?" Adrien responded bitingly.

Adrien grabbed the colourful wrapping paper he had also bought and wrapped it around the sock cat, ready to give Marinette in the morning.

Which was only a couple of hours away according to Adrien's clock.

"I am going to be so tired." Adrien complained as he collapsed into bed, not even bothering to take off the clothes he had been wearing for over a day at this point.

Well, at least he had Marinette's present finished in time.

Marinette was up before Nooroo this time around, happily crossing off the box with the cake on her calendar.

"Morning, Marinette." Nooroo yawned as he rose from the pile of fabric scraps that he used as a bed.

"Morning, Nooroo." Marinette greeted back eagerly as she collected her clothes from her dresser.

"It's a special day for you." Nooroo commented, looking over at Marinette's window and giggling quietly.

"Yep, I can't wait to see what everyone has planned for me. Their secrecy has left me hyped." Marinette said. "It's going to be a little bit of a pain to wait the entire morning for the surprise party."

"Why wait?" Nooroo questioned, starting to unlatch Marinette's window.

"Because Alya's coming to pick me up to take one of her little sisters to the dentist." Marinette answered.

Nooroo paused in confusion.

"Is going to the dentist on your birthday a common human tradition?" He asked.

"No, it's a secret code." Marinette smiled. "Alya's just using the 'dentist' excuse to bring me to the party."

"I guess that makes more sense than visiting the dentist for someone else's little sister." Nooroo said, succeeding in getting the window open.

"What the-ahh!" Marinette exclaimed as butterflies flooded into her room and swarmed around her.

Her alarm quickly turned into giggles as the butterflies landed all over her, tickling her with their wings and feelers.

"Okay, okay." Marinette laughed. "You want to wish me a happy birthday too."

Eventually, the butterflies flew off of Marinette, though a few still lingered around on her hair.

"Come on, little butterflies, I want to have a bath." Marinette tried to gently swat the remaining butterflies away.

Eventually, Marinette was able to shoo away her butterflies long enough to get cleaned and dressed, pulling on some of her nicer clothes in preparation for the party.

"You look really pretty, Marinette." Nooroo complimented.

"Thank you, I made them specifically to wear for a party. It just so happens that my party is their first outing." Marinette said, smiling proudly as she wore her work.

You could say that it was a bit dangerous for her to wear both butterflies and the colour purple as part of her outfit, but it just felt right for Marinette to wear. Besides, if anyone did make the connection, they were more likely to see her as a fan of Lady Nymph than Lady Nymph herself.

"Now, what jewellery should I wear." Marinette wondered as she pushed herself over to her jewellery box.

Despite not wearing jewellery much beyond simple studs, Marinette's owned plenty of jewellery. Almost all of it hand-made, and most of it just waiting in the box until she found someone who wanted to buy it.

Sticking with her theme, Marinette picked out hooked butterfly earrings, along with a braided leather bracelet. But sorting through her collection of necklaces, Marinette only frowned.

"I guess I'll have to go without a necklace today, nothing seems to match right." She said.

Next on the list was Marinette's hair.

"I think this one would suit you very well." Nooroo said, pointing to a hairstyle in one of Marinette's fashion magazines.

Marinette hummed and then smiled.

"Perfect. And it gives me the chance to use that hair stick Lǎo yé and Lǎo lao sent me." She said, going to the box that held all of her hair accessories.

"It's really pretty." Nooroo commented as Marinette removed the hair stick from the box.

Ironically, the head of the stick had been carved to look like a butterfly, with purple glass beads dangling off it. It had given Marinette a slight surprise when she received it, before realising that the design being a butterfly was just a coincidence.

With Nooroo's help, Marinette managed to twist the back of her hair into a stylised bun, leaving some bangs at the front to frame her face, with the hair stick sticking out at an angle.

"You look like a princess." Nooroo clapped his tiny hands.

Marinette blushed at the compliment.

The entire process of getting ready had taken the rest of the morning, but it still left Marinette with a few hours until Alya was due to call to take her to the 'dentist'.

"Maybe I shouldn't have gotten ready so early." Marinette bemoaned as she looked at the time. "Why did my surprise party have to be in the afternoon?"

"Oh." Nooroo said in realisation. "I haven't given you a present yet."

"You got me a birthday present?" Marinette perked up. "What is it."

"This a special ritual we kwamis perform on someone's birthday." Nooroo said, floating up into the air.

Marinette watched as Nooroo did a little dance, which stirred up the butterflies still in Marinette's room to flutter around him, humming a tune. Then, he spat some goo into Marinette's hands.

"Happy birthday, Marinette!" Nooroo said.

Marinette's face wrinkled slightly in disgust at the goo, being reminded of that time Manon had handed her some mysterious slimy thing, and also wondering why Nooroo had waited until she got all dressed up to give it to her.

"Oh, you don't like it." Nooroo drooped at Marinette's face.

"Yes, yes, I love it." Marinette quickly said to spare Nooroo's feelings. "Uh, what is it?"

"A Kawagatama." Nooroo said.

Marinette watched in amazement, and relief, as the goo disappeared to reveal a small purple stone with a hole in it, looking like one half of the Tao symbol.

"It's a great symbol of friendship among us Kwamis. It's a magic resin made from the hair of our current and past Miraculous holders." Nooroo explained.

"Wow." Marinette said, turning the Kawagatama over in her hand.

She then held it over her chest and got an idea.

"I know just what to do with it." She said.

Marinette pushed over to her shelves and pulled out the box dedicated to her jewellery work, producing a length of string that already had clasps attached to it. It then only took a few seconds to thread the string through the hole of the Kawagatama and then secure it around her neck.

"There, now I have a necklace that suits me." Marinette said happily.

"Oh, Marinette." Nooroo cried, hugging Marinette's cheek.

A couple of hours later, Marinette headed down to wait in the bakery, so that she wouldn't have to wait for her to go through the process of using the stairlifts once Alya called.

"It's Marinette!" Marinette heard her mum whisper-yell as she lifted herself from the stairlift into her wheelchair.

There was a commotion in the kitchen as Marinette's parents obviously struggled to hide something before she came into view.

"Hi, mum, dad. You doing anything special?" Marinette grinned.

"Special? No." Tom denied. "Just doing business as usual. Making bread and all the baked goods for customers."

"But it's an afternoon on a Sunday. Why are you making anything?" Marinette had fun grilling her parents as if she didn't know already.

"We're trying out some new recipes." Sabine quickly said.

Marinette was tempted to ask what recipes, but her parents were saved by a knock at the door.

Marinette rubbed her hands together.

"Just on time." She said. "Coming to take me to my party, it's-" She rolled over to the door to open it. "Alya!"

"Hey, girl. Ready to head to the dentist?" Alya asked.

"Sure." Marinette played along.

"Great, let's go." Alya said. "See you later, Tom, Sabine!" She called to Marinette's parents, being on a first name basis with them.

Alya walked slightly ahead of Marinette, so that she could lead the way as Marinette pushed herself along.

"So, you're dressed fancier than usual today." Alya said.

"I just felt like dressing nice today." Marinette responded, still pretending that she didn't know what was going on. "Besides, you're dressed nice for someone going to the dentist too."

Like Marinette, Alya was also dressed up compared to her usual attire.

"Yeah, I guess neither of us have any room to speak." Alya laughed.

As they travelled, Marinette noticed that they were travelling a familiar path.

"Why are we going to Sanctuaire de la Dame, I thought we'd be picking up your sister?" She asked.

"Well, Ella always gets nervous when going to the dentist, so I asked Mr Chan for one of his remedies to help keep her calm." Alya gave the excuse.

They reached the mansion and travelled through the front garden with no issue. But as soon as Alya opened the door to let them in, she took off and disappeared into one of the rooms.

"Alya?" Marinette called after her.

"Marinette, in here, quick!" Alya called out urgently.

Marinette smiled and looked down at Nooroo inside her purse.

"This is it." She whispered to him.

"Remember to act surprised." Nooroo whispered back, even though he still didn't get it.

Marinette pushed her way into the room, which was very dark with the curtains drawn over the large windows. Her keen eyes allowed her to make out silhouettes in the darkness.

"Alya?" She asked again.

"Happy Birthday, Marinette!"

The lights suddenly came on as all of Marinette's friends burst out of their hiding places.

Marinette gasped as if surprised before letting the grin she had been fighting onto her face, taking in the state of the room in awe.

The last time she had visited Sanctuaire de la Dame, the room had been as empty as the rest of the rooms in the mansion, with the exception of Fu's room and kitchen. But now it had been painted with pastel colours, and fitted out with shelves, a very long tiltable desk, another desk that was the perfect size for a sewing machine, a wall organiser, hooks, clothing racks, a large ironing board that dropped down from the wall, etc.

It was the perfect sewing room any seamstress could ask for.

"Wow, you did this all for me?" Marinette found herself tearing up.

"Yep, it's a birthday present from all of us." Alya said.

"You've mentioned a few times about not having enough room at home to do your work, so I came up with the idea." Chloe came up to Marinette.

"We came up with the idea." Alya corrected. "You gave the thought and all of us chipped in."

"This is all too much." Marinette said. "You all must have spent so much money, even collectively."

"You may think, but with our combined assets, we were able to make it work." Max said. "Most of the furniture was already here in the other rooms, it just required cleaning and moving them, and our combined donations covered the rest of what you see here."

"Well, if you're sure you all didn't spend too much." Marinette was placated.

"No more that you spend on us for our birthdays." Mylene assured.

"Thank you so much, it's perfect." Marinette thanked her friends. "I'll have to start moving all my materials and stuff over."

"Well you can do that tomorrow." Alya said. "We have got the afternoon planned out."

"But first, let there be cake!" Kim cheered.

Nino flipped the light switch again and everything went dark, the door to the sewing room then opened to Tom and Sabine carrying a cake topped with lit candles.

Marinette started giggling uncontrollably as her classmates and family started to sing her happy birthday, some of them deliberately singing badly. There was also flashes of light as pictures were taken, no doubt from Alya's phone.

Marinette blew out her candles as her friends cheered, being handed a huge birthday card signed by all of them as well.

Instead of turning the lights back on, the curtains were opened to let light into the room.

"Here you go, birthday girl." Tom handed his daughter the knife to cut herself a slice of the cake.

"Great as always, Mr and Mrs Dupain-Cheng." Marinette's classmates complimented as they received their own slices of cake on paper plates.

"So, what's the plan for this afternoon, then?" Marinette asked Alya.

"We're going to be heading to the Bounce!" Alya announced.

"The Bounce?" Marinette questioned, cocking her head to the side.

The name sounded familiar, but she didn't recognise it.

"It's this hot club for teens that just opened," Kim said excitedly.

"And it's the new place for all the upcoming musicians to get their start." Nino added. "I've heard that there are record managers already scoping out the Bounce."

"Sounds fun." Marinette said. "When do we leave?"

"Now." Chloe answered.

"Have fun, kids." Tom said as the children prepared to set off after finishing their cake.

As the classmates began to set off towards 'the Bounce', Nino gravitated towards Nathaniel.

"Hey, do you know where Adrien is? He wasn't here for the party and I'm not getting through to him on his phone." Nino asked the artist.

Nathaniel shrugged in response.

"I haven't seen him since yesterday." He answered. "But given how much he wanted to get Marinette a present, I don't think he'd be missing deliberately."

As if summoned by his name, Adrien came running down the street to meet their group.

"Where have you been? You missed Marinette's present and cake." Alya asked.

"I'm so sorry I'm late, I slept in, and then I had to get past Natalie and the Gorilla." He panted.

"Well, you're here now, dude." Nino said. "And we're heading to the Bounce."

"Do you want to come?" Marinette asked.

"Oh, cool. Uh, lead the way." Adrien said

The group set off again, this time with Adrien.

"So, did you finish Marinette's present in time." Nathaniel quietly asked Adrien.

"Yeah. I stayed up late working on it, which is why I ended up sleeping in." Adrien answered, showing off his wrapped gift. "I'll give it to Marinette once we get to wherever it is we're going."

"Is there a card?" Nathaniel asked.

Adrien almost stopped. "I forgot to get Marinette a card." He said.

"Oh well." Nathaniel sighed. "I'll be too late now."

"But there needs to be a birthday card." Adrien insisted. "But I can't leave either. I have no idea where the Bounce is and what if Marinette thinks I'm ditching."

Nathaniel groaned. "Is getting her a card really that important to you?" He asked.

Adrien pouted and nodded at him, teary-eyed.

"If you stop looking at me like that, I'll go get you a card." Nathaniel offered.

"Really?" Adrien perked up.

"Yeah, just stop with the pouting, you'll attract your fangirls."

"I wasn't pouting." Adrien insisted.

"You were." Nathaniel deadpanned. "See you soon."

Nathaniel broke away from the group.

The Bounce turned out to be a large building next to the Seine, the ground floor underground with a domed glass ceiling.

A band was playing on the stage as the crowd cheered and danced.

"You know, I don't think I've ever felt as at home as I do now." Nino commented. "We're at the centre of the Freewave."

"Freewave?" Marinette questioned.

"It's a musical movement all about free music, music from the soul with no limit on the way you play or what instrument you use." Nino explained happily.

"Nice to meet a fellow Freewaver." A boy dressed in blue walked over to them, carrying a guitar on his back.

"Oh, everyone, this is my brother, Luka." Juleka introduced.

"Nice to meet you, I've heard about many of you from Juleka." Luka said. "You must be Marinette. Happy Birthday." He said to the birthday girl.

"Thank you." Marinette smiled back.

"Enough with introductions." Chloe got impatient. "I want to see if this club lives up to the hype."

The classmates ended up spreading out throughout the club, mostly splitting into their usual friend groups.

"I've heard Rose and Juleka playing some of your music, it sounds good." Nino complimented Luka.

"Thank you. I would like to hear your music in return." Luka said. "I'm not too confident about our music just yet, we need someone like a keyboard player for the right accompaniment."

"Oh, Adrien, you play the piano, don't you?" Marinette said.

"Yeah, the keyboard is a bit different in sound, but I know how to play it too." Adrien said.

"That's lucky." Luka said. "Maybe you could try and play with us some time."

"That sounds like a great idea." Rose said.

"I don't know." Adrien said unsurely.

"Please try it out, Adrien. I'd love to see you all play together." Marinette pleaded with big eyes.

"By which I mean yes, I'll try it out." Adrien immediately corrected himself.

Everyone around them hid their smiles at how obvious Adrien was.

"Ugh, is no one in this club good enough." Chloe bemoaned as she looked around.

The club itself wasn't bad, and the band currently playing could be called good, it was the company Chloe found lacking. All the boys around seemed to be at that stage in their lives where they thought they were big shots who could show off, and also drowned themselves in so much deodorant that it had Chloe hacking from just being near them.

"Not enjoying yourself?" A heavily accented voice broke Chloe from her thoughts.

Turning to her right, Chloe found her cheeks tinging pink at the girl who had spoken.

She had mousey-brown curled hair and tanned skin, with eyes that were almost a golden brown, wearing a black dress covered by a pink crop jacket. She was older than Chloe, but not more than a couple of years.

"I'm struggling to find anyone appealing." Chloe answered the girl.

"I can understand how a girl as cute as you would struggle to find someone matching your standards." The girl winked.

Chloe found herself at a loss for words, struggling to process that such a compliment had come from another girl.

"So, would you care to dance with me instead?" The girl offered her hand.

"I…I've never…" Chloe stumbled.

"Never danced with a girl before?" The girl finished for her.

Chloe nodded her head.

"Then, I am honoured to be your first." The girl smiled.

The girl took Chloe's hand and pulled her into the crowd of teenagers, where others were dancing to the music, the blond's head too full of static to process what was happening.

If you asked Adrien, Luka was a pretty alright guy.

He seemed very passionate about his music, got along well with his sister and others, was kind and welcoming, and had seemed happy about Adrien playing with his band despite not knowing very much about him.

But, right in this moment, Adrien was ready to put Luka on par with Lila in terms of dislikes.

"Your designs are very well done, Juleka's descriptions don't do them justice." Luka complimented Marinette, leaning too close to her for Adrien's liking as Marinette showed off her sketchbook.

They had just met, yet they were comfortable being in each other's personal space like they had been friends for much longer.

"Thanks. I better get to hear your music in person, since you've seen my designs." Marinette said back.

"I would be happy for you to hear me play. Perhaps you can come along when Adrien plays with us, if he's alright with it." Luka suggested.

"Huh, what? Oh yeah, it'd be fine." Adrien said when eyes turned to him. "Luka, can I speak with you in private, please."

"Sure." Luka shrugged.

He followed Adrien to a more isolated part of the club, where none of their friends were around.

Adrien's ring finger burned with an itch, but he just put his hand over it as he turned to face Luka.

"So, Luka, what are your feelings for Marinette?" Adrien asked.

Luka's eyes widened in surprise before lowering in understanding.

"Marinette is a nice girl," He answered honestly. "She has a very strong and beautiful melody in her heart and I would like to get to know her more."

Adrien gritted his teeth as the itching grew.

"But, only as a friend for now." Luka added.

The itching was forgotten in Adrien's surprise. "Huh?"

"It is very clear to me that you have feelings for Marinette. Your own melody is almost in sync with hers, the perfect accompaniment, with a little bit a tuning." Luka said.

"Oh." Adrien said in relief. "Is it that obvious?"

"You practically sing your feelings for her." Luka chuckled. "It's surprising that you aren't together already."

"Well, I don't know how she'd react, I don't want to risk her saying no." Adrien found himself confessing.

"You should confess your feelings soon." Luka warned. "Marinette has a tune that will attract others too her, and they won't wait for you to get a handle on your feelings and confess like I am. And if I do start gaining feeling for Marinette, I won't wait forever for you to do it first."

Adrien held back a growl at the warning, feeling it like a threat.

"You'll regret more the things that you didn't do than the things you have done." Luka continued to give advice. "You'll regret more not confessing to Marinette and her ending up with someone else, than confessing to her and maybe getting turned down."

"Right." Adrien calmed down again. "You're right. Thanks, Luka."

"You're welcome." Luka smiled. "Good luck with Marinette."

With Luka's advice in mind, Adrien walked through the club, eventually finding Nino.

"Nino, I'm going to confess to Marinette." Adrien said to his friend.

"It's about time." Nino muttered. "When you going to do it?"

"I don't know. I mean, do I just go up to her, what if she doesn't take my confession seriously and thinks I'm joking?" Adrien worried.

Nino sighed. "Have you given Marinette her present yet?" He asked.

"Not yet." Adrien shook his head. "I'm waiting on Nathaniel getting back with a birthday card, since I forgot one."

"Oh, yeah. I noticed that he'd disappeared when we got here." Nino said.

A figurative lightbulb then went off above Nino's head.

"I'll go find him." He said.

Nathaniel wasn't anywhere in the club, but Nino found him entering into the club only a couple of minutes later.

"Hey, Nino. Do you know where Adrien is?" Nathaniel asked, holding a blank birthday card.

"Yes, but you're going to help me out with a plan first." Nino grinned, looking at the card.

Adrien was fiddling with his present to Marinette when Nino came rushing over.

"Marinette said she's going to be leaving soon. Sign the card quickly and give it to her." Nino said urgently.

This successfully startled Adrien, making him quick to sign the card so that he could give it and his gift to Marinette before she left. If Adrien wasn't in such a rush to sign the card with his name, he might have noticed that there was something off about the birthday message in the card.

As soon as Adrien signed the card, Nino took it off him and stuffed it into an envelope before handing it back to Adrien.

"She's over there." Nino pointed to were Marinette was.

"Right." Adrien said.

Weaving through the crowd, Adrien reached Marinette, where she was sitting with Alya and a few of their other classmates.

"Marinette, I have a present for you." He said.

"Ooh, Adrien got you a present." Alya said to Marinette.

"But I already have the sewing room." Marinette said as she took Adrien's gift and card from him.

"Adrien wasn't part of it, said he wanted to get you his own present." Nino said, sitting on one of the cushioned benches next to Marinette.

Marinette tore of the wrapping paper to reveal the sock cat, eyes widening slightly as she looked it over.

'Oh, no. Plagg was right, it looks terrible.' Adrien thought, suddenly seeing his work in a new, unfortunate light. 'Why would Marinette want something so badly made, I couldn't even get the ears straight-'

"Aw, it's so cute." Marinette said, cuddling the sock cat to her cheek.

Adrien let out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding.

"Really?" He asked.

Marinette nodded. "I'm going to call it Bagpuss." She decided.

"Don't forget about the card." Nino nudged.

"Oh, right." Marinette said, placing Bagpuss on her lap so that she could open her card. "'Dear Marinette, Happy Birthday.'" She read aloud. "'You are very cute, and I like you a lot, so will you please…go out with me?'"

Marinette turned bright red as she read the last part, not even realising that she had also said it aloud.

Adrien also turned bright red, turning his head to look at Nino accusingly.

Nino raised an eyebrow and shrugged.

"Adrien…" Marinette looked down. "Adrien, are you serious?"

"Well…you see…thing is." Adrien stopped. "Yes." He said. "Marinette, I have liked you for a while now, and would like to try dating, if it's okay with you."

Marinette looked up with a smile.

"Then I would love to go on a date with you." She answered.

Adrien grinned so wide that it almost split his face.

"About time." Alya said. "I was about ready to pull a Marinette and force you two together."

"Alya." Adrien and Marinette moaned at the same time, before laughing at their synchronicity.

"Speaking of dates, look out onto the dance floor." Alya said, pointing.

The small group followed her finger to see Chloe dancing with a slightly older girl.

And it wasn't two friends dancing, the girl had Chloe's hands in hers as she led them in the dance.

The two stopped as the song they were dancing too finished, and then began making their way over to the group.

"You dance quite well for it being your first time with a girl." The mystery girl complimented Chloe.

"Hey, Chloe." Marinette greeted her friend. "Make a new friend."

"Ah, yeah, I guess." Chloe said, breathing heavily from the dancing she'd been doing.

"Well, as much as I would love to stay and dance the night away with such a beauty, it is time for me to leave." Mystery girl said, curling her hand into Chloe's. "But I would love to see you again. Would you like a date?"

"Oh, uh, I guess." Chloe mumbled, not fully realising what she was agreeing to due to the mess her mind currently was.

"Lovely." Mystery girl said happily. "We can meet for lunch tomorrow, at the Lock Bridge."

Mystery girl lifted up Chloe's hand and kissed the back of it gently.

"Call me." She winked and blew a kiss before walking off.

"Wow. You sure know how to find them, Chloe." Alya whistled in appreciation. "Chloe?"

"Did I just agree to go on a date, like a 'date' date, with another girl, that I just met?" Chloe questioned quietly, opening her hand to reveal that mystery girl had left her a piece of paper with her name and phone number on it.

"Yep." Adrien answered.

Chloe's face went red, then redder, heat radiating off her in waves.

"I think she's broken." Alya laughed. "Anyone got any marshmallows?"

Marinette rolled forward, taking the piece of paper from Chloe.

"Zoe Cain." She read.

Looking at Chloe, who was still frozen despite the blushing heat she radiated, Marinette laughed.

This had to be the best birthday to date.

Chapter Text

Marinette's birthday came to an end, all of her friends and classmates leaving and going their separate ways, with the exception of Alya, Chloe and Marinette herself.

As had become tradition between Marinette and Chloe on their birthdays, a sleepover had been organised, with Alya being invited this year around.

It was a good thing Alya was included too, as Marinette doubted her ability to help guide Chloe to her house, the blond still not quite processing what had happened.

"So, a girl asked you out on a date, it's no big deal." Alya rolled her eyes at Chloe's behaviour as she changed into her sleepwear.

"But it's the first time a girl ever asked me out." Chloe said. "And she was so flirty about it too. I mean, I don't even know if I like girls."

"Considering how hard you blushed when she winked at you, I'd say that you at least have an interest." Alya said.

"But I know that I like boys." Chloe rejected.

"That just means that you're Bisexual, Chloe." Marinette informed.

"Oh, right." Chloe said, remembering that there were options other than strictly 'gay' or 'straight'.

"You're getting oddly worked up about this Chloe, usually you're all 'I get asked out at least once a day'." Marinette said, quoting one of Chloe's brags.

"I'm not getting worked up." Chloe denied. "You would be the one getting worked up if you were asked out."

"I have been asked out." Marinette responded with a grin.

"What?" Chloe asked, surprised.

"Oh, yeah, you weren't there." Alya said. "Adrien asked Marinette to go out with him. It was a bit cheesy too, asking through his birthday card to her."

"You're going out with Adrien?" Chloe gaped at Marinette.

"Yep." Marinette said happily. "We haven't arranged our first date yet. I think we'll be working that out tomorrow."

"Well, despite our own issues, I suppose Adrien is of good enough standards for you." Chloe sniffed.

"So, he doesn't need to be chosen as Nymph's Champion first?" Alya raised an eyebrow.

"It'd be a nice bonus if he was, but Marinette can't be expected to wait around forever for it to happen." Chloe said as if she was making some big exception to a rule.

"Oh, how generous of you." Alya said with good-natured sarcasm.

"So, getting back to you." Marinette said to Chloe. "You'll be meeting her at the Lock Bridge for Lunch, right?"

"Yeah." Chloe said.

The blond then suddenly brightened as she got idea.

"Hey, you and Adrien could go on a double date with us." She said to Marinette.

"What?" Marinette spluttered slightly.

"A double date." Chloe repeated.

"I don't know." Marinette unsurely. "What if Zoe doesn't want a double date? She doesn't know us. It could be awkward."

"Actually, I think it's a good idea." Alya sided with Chloe, much to Marinette's surprise. "This Zoe girl is a stranger. It'd be safer if you and Adrien were also there."

"Oh, I hadn't thought about it that way." Marinette hummed.

Chloe bit her lip, she hadn't thought about it that way either.

"I'll talk to Adrien tomorrow to see if he's fine with it." Marinette said. "And hopefully Zoe will be fine with it as well."

Chloe just groaned into her pillow in response.

The next day saw a return to the usual, with the same lessons Monday always had.

But Chloe found it almost painful to sit and wait for the hours until lunch. Whether she was eager to see them over, or reluctant to see them go, she didn't even know.

One person who was certainly eager to see them go was Adrien, who practically jumped from his seat as the bell for Lunch rang out, darting over to Marinette as she packed away her things and began to manoeuvre her crutches.

"So, how about we go somewhere for lunch?" Adrien asked his girlfriend (was it too early to call her that?). "You can choose."

"Actually, Chloe's invited us out on a double date with the girl she met yesterday." Marinette said.

"A double date?" Adrien questioned. "With Chloe? I don't know."

"Come on, Chloe wants some support." Marinette pleaded.

Marinette unknowingly activated her secret power, her pout.

One look and Adrien crumbled before its might.

"Fine, but if we can get a separate table, we are." Adrien relented. "It's already be awkward just having Chloe and a girl I don't know there."

"Yay!" Marinette cheered. "Thank you, Adrien."

Adrien smiled at how brightly she shone.

"Whippshh!" Nino made a sound affect with his mouth, miming holding something.

Alya giggled at him.

Marinette lowered herself down into her wheelchair and pushed over to where Chloe was waiting for her.

"Adrien agreed to the double date." Marinette informed her.

"Yeah, I, uh, heard." Chloe said, refusing to look directly at Adrien.

His blow up at her was still fresh in her mind.

"So, shall we go?" Marinette asked.

"Yeah." Chloe agreed.

Chloe led the way out of the college, Marinette and Adrien following her side-by-side.

Alya watched from the college entrance, smiling proudly after them.

"Where are they going?"

Alya looked to her side, surprised to find Lila there.

"What?" Alya asked, wondering why Lila was bothering to talk to her, given their previous encounters.

"Those three, what are they doing going off together?" Lila pointed at Adrien, Marinette and Chloe, barely hiding a scowl.

She didn't like talking to Alya either, but her curiosity outweighed her dislike.

"Adrien hasn't hung out with either of them together before." Lila said.

"Well, if you must know, they're going on their dates." Alya said smugly.

"Dates?" Lila's eyes widened.

"Oh, haven't you heard?" Alya asked like it was common news. "Adrien asked Marinette out yesterday. And Chloe managed to snag herself a date as well."

"Marinette and Adrien are dating?" Lila gasped.

"That's what I said." Alya said, bringing out her phone to look at it.

She would have missed the scowl that successfully made its way onto Lila's face if she hadn't caught it in the blackened reflection of her phone screen.

When she looked back up at Lila to check the girl's expression, the scowl had turned into a smile that Alya could tell was fake from a hundred miles away.

"Oh, that's so great for them. I hope things work out." Lila said. "I'm going to go for my lunch now."

Lila didn't say goodbye as she walked off, in the same direction the trio had gone, even though Alya remembered her always going a different direction when leaving college.

"Oh, no." Alya said, suddenly realising that perhaps she shouldn't have told Lila about the dates.

"What's got you so worried?" Nino approached Alya.

"Nino, I need your help." Alya latched onto Nino's arm.

"Uh, sure." Nino said. "What do you need?"

"I just told Lila about Marinette and Chloe's dates, specifically Marinette and Adrien. And I think she might try something to ruin their dates." Alya said.

"Why would you think Lila would do that, it doesn't make sense?" Nino looked at Alya like she was slightly mad.

"Have you seen how Lila acts around Adrien and Marinette? She and Adrien practically try to set fire to each other with their glares, and Lila is, like, sickly sweet with Marinette, and overly clingy." Alya said like it was obvious.

"Just because Lila doesn't like Adrien, it doesn't mean she'll do something to stop his date." Nino said. "The only reference you have is the 'tall tales' she supposedly makes."

"Well, I still don't trust her." Alya remained stubborn. "I'm going to keep an eye on them to make sure she doesn't try anything. Come on."

No matter Nino's protests, he found himself dragged along by Alya as she headed after her friends.

Zoe was already waiting at the Lock Bridge when the trio arrived, leaning calmly against the railing.

Chloe coughed deliberately to get her attention.

"Oh, my cutie came." Zoe smiled.

Chloe blushed.

"And you brought some friends. I remember seeing you at the Bounce yesterday. I'm Zoe Cain." Zoe turned her attention to Marinette and Adrien.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

"Adrien Agreste."

Marinette and Adrien introduced themselves.

"So, are you seeing your friend off on her date?" Zoe asked.

"Well, um…" Chloe mentally slapped herself.

She was a Bourgeois! She was strong and confident. She did not fumble over her words, no matter who it was.

"Seeing as we are going for lunch together, which Marinette and Adrien are also doing, I thought it sensible to double up for our date." Chloe said clearly.

Zoe looked at Chloe in slight surprise before smiling.

"Of course. We shall be a quartet of love, even if we are paired off." Zoe agreed.

Chloe, Marinette and Adrien internally sighed in relief.

"I have to perfect cosy café in mind for our dates." Zoe continued.

Zoe skipped forward and took Chloe's hand in hers, before turning around and pulling Chloe along, leaving Marinette and Adrien to follow.

Zoe led the way to a café that Marinette knew but had never been too. Though it wasn't a rule, the café was known to be for couples, making it one of the top choices for people going on dates.

The bell above the door gave a tinkle as Zoe pushed it open, guiding Chloe inside and holding it open to allow Marinette to push herself through.

Down the street, Alya and Nino watched the four enter the café.

"Ah, I can't follow." Alya bemoaned. "I'll stick out like a sore thumb in a couple's café."

"If you'll stick out, Lila will too. So, I think their dates will be safe." Nino reasoned with Alya. "Can we go get our own lunch now?"

Alya frowned, then spotted the nice bench opposite the café, with a sandwich shop next to it.

"Yeah, we can get lunch, as long as we sit there." Alya pointed at the bench.

Nino looked at the bench, and then the same sandwich shop Alya had seen.

"Fine." He relented.

At least he'd get food and a nice seat while going along with Alya's antics.

As per Adrien's prior conditions, he and Marinette sat at a different table than Chloe and Zoe, so both couples could have their relative privacy while still being near.

"So, where are you from?" Chloe asked Zoe to start a conversation.

"I just recently moved here from Greece." Zoe answered.

"Ah, that's why you have a thick accent." Chloe said. "Why'd you move?"

"To pursue my passion." Zoe said. "Paris has one of the best dance schools in Europe. And I intend to be the best."

"You dance? What type?"

"All of them." Zoe smiled. "Or, at least close to it. I practice many styles of dance, everything from ballet to freeform. How about you? You certainly seem to have a form fit for dance."

"I don't really dance, no." Chloe said. "I do gymnastics, but that's more of a hobby than a 'passion'."

"Then what is your passion?" Zoe asked.

"I-" Chloe pursed her lips as she tried to think what she wanted. "I'm not really sure yet. Though, I'll definitely aim for a leadership position. I could become the Mayor of Paris, like my daddy."

"Your dad's the mayor of Paris?" Zoe's eyes widened in surprise.

"He is. Did you not know that?" Chloe was confused, sure that her connect to the mayor was something almost everyone knew.

"I just came to Paris not long ago, and don't pay much attention to that sort of thing." Zoe waved off.

"Oh." Chloe said.

Deep inside her, she felt something that could be akin to relief.

Zoe didn't want to be with her for her father.

The idea hadn't even crossed Chloe's mind until just now, but perhaps she had been subconsciously expecting it.

Adrien and Marinette found themselves sitting in an awkward silence, half-heartedly reading the menus to distract themselves.

But then the waiter came and took their orders, leaving them with no distractions.

"So…" Adrien said. "You do a lot of fashion design, right?"

"Yeah, and making."

"There's a difference?" Adrien questioned.

His father may be a famous fashion designer, but Adrien didn't pay much attention outside of what was needed to be a model.

"Designing is all about the drawing, the patterns and stuff, making is actually putting it all together. It's actually something I'm going to have to look out for when I move onto higher education, since a Fashion Degree will help me get work, some Fashion Design courses only focus on the design aspect while others focus on both design and making."

"Come to think of it, I don't think my father makes any of the stuff he designs, he just draws it and sends it to other people to make." Adrien said in thought.

"Well, I intend to make the stuff I design, it wouldn't feel right to just draw and then get someone else to do it, that's why I'm going to keep my eye out for a course that does both. What about you, Adrien?"

"Huh?"

"What are you going to do when you move onto further education?" Marinette reiterated.

"I…" Adrien paused. "Well, I'm already doing modelling." He offered half-heartedly.

"Do, you think you'll keep doing it?"

"Well…I…I haven't done anything else. I'm sort of expected to do it."

Marinette frowned slightly.

"Adrien, do you enjoy modelling?" She asked carefully.

"Yes." Adrien answered. "Well, I do sometimes." He corrected himself after a pause. "It can get really stressful, it's not just standing around and doing poses, it's a lot of work, and I have to make sure I stay in shape as well. Sometimes I just want to quit, say no more when I'm tired, but then I'd disappoint father."

Marinette took Adrien hand between hers.

"Adrien, if you don't want to work, you shouldn't have to." Marinette told him. "The things you do outside of class are supposed to be fun, not work."

"But aren't you going into fashion for a job?" Adrien asked, confused.

"Yeah, but that's my choice. I'm going to do something I love doing." Marinette said. "What do you love doing?"

"Well, I like fencing, but I don't really see myself competing professionally." Adrien rubbed the back of his neck. "I've seen how much Kagami trains."

Adrien thought some more.

"Like I said, I do like modelling occasionally. And learning the piano and languages are fun sometimes, but I can't see myself doing all that long term either. I guess I don't know what I want to do. Sorry." Adrien lowered his head, fingers subconsciously reaching for his ring hand.

"It's okay if you don't know." Marinette assured. "It wasn't until about a year ago that I really set my eyes on doing fashion, and sometimes I'm still unsure."

"Thanks, Marinette." Adrien smiled. "You always seem to help."

"I try my best." Marinette smiled back.

"So," Adrien said. "Do you have any projects you're working on now?"

"Just some personal projects, making clothes with prints and designs, some bags, some jewellery, and that sort of stuff. I'm trying to bulk out my stock for my online shop, it's easier to make a load of stuff beforehand and then put it for sale all at once, than putting them on the shop as they're made." Marinette said.

"So, you already make money by yourself? That's so cool." Adrien praised.

"It's not much." Marinette downplayed. "And I'm hardly the only person in the class, let alone the school, who makes money online in some form or another. I know Nathaniel does art commissions, and Max does tech support for people."

"Man, this is making me feel behind everyone else, like I should be trying to do this too." Adrien slumped onto the table.

Technically speaking, he made money from his modelling, but he didn't see any of it as it all went to his father. Though, Natalie claimed that the money was just being stored in a savings account that Adrien would get when he was older.

"Well, you could sell your little sock animals." Marinette suggested.

"Really?" Adrien questioned.

"Yeah," Marinette turned and delved into her bag, bringing out the sock-cat Adrien had made her. "This one is just so cute, I'm sure you'd be able to sell them."

Adrien smiled as warmth boomed in his chest at how much Marinette loved his gift for her.

"I don't know." Adrien said doubtfully. "The cat doesn't look all that good. I don't think people will buy a poorly made toy when they can just go to the shop to get a better one."

"You just need to practice it." Marinette assured Adrien. "When I start something new, I always make mistakes, the stitching won't be straight, the armholes won't match, the patterns don't align, it just won't work. But by trying again and again, I get better at doing it."

"I guess that I could try." Adrien said.

There were other sock animals from the book that looked interesting to make, and there was still that cloth doll book as well. Though, he'd have to get a sewing machine before he tried to make anything again.

"Great, I'd love to see what you make." Marinette said.

In that moment, Adrien couldn't stop smiling, even if he wanted to.

"You'll be the first I show." He promised.

Chloe rubbed at her wrist as she talked to Zoe, frowning as she felt something fall away.

"Ugh, not again." Chloe complained as her promise ribbon fell to the table.

"What's that?" Zoe asked, looking at the ribbon as Chloe picked it up.

"This? Oh," Chloe looked down, unable to meet Zoe's eyes in that moment. "It's something important to me."

"It looks like an ordinary ribbon." Zoe said, seeing how the red ribbon didn't even have any patterns on it.

"It is." Chloe admitted. "But it means more than that. I…I wasn't exactly the best person, and it cost me, so Marinette gave me this to show that I could do better. It's my promise."

Chloe allowed Zoe to take the ribbon to look it over, the older girl rubbing it between her fingers to smooth out the creases in it.

"I'm having an issue of it falling off though, I don't want to tie it tight because that'll damage it, but the loose knot I have it in keeps slipping away." Chloe explained.

"You could weave it into a bangle." Zoe suggested. "Or wrap it around a bracelet."

"Actually, that sounds like a good idea." Chloe said, suddenly realising that she'd missed an obvious solution to her problem.

"Glad you like it." Zoe smiled. "We can go to a shop after lunch to get a bracelet to wrap it around, if you want."

"That sounds nice." Chloe said.

The idea of spending more time with Zoe than just lunch made Chloe's chest feel light.

Just as Zoe was about to hand the ribbon back, there was the sudden shattering of glass.

Everyone in the café turned to see Volpina stepping through the window that she had just broken.

"Hello, everyone." Volpina said as if she wasn't a wanted villain walking into a café she'd just broken into.

This prompted everyone to start running, trying to get as far away from Volpina as possible.

Adrien shot Volpina the dirtiest look he could manage as he stood up from his table.

"Sorry to interrupt your date." Volpina waltzed over to Adrien and Marinette, clearly not sorry at all from her smirk. "But I think you know the drill by now."

"Ahh!" Marinette exclaimed as Volpina lifted her out of her wheelchair.

"Put her down!" Adrien demanded.

"If you want to do something about it, come meet us outside. You wouldn't want to disappoint anyone, would you?" Volpina grinned widely at Adrien.

Adrien growled, knowing that he didn't have much choice in becoming Catastrophe and joining Volpina in the attack to avoid angering Xue Ying.

Shifting Marinette to a princess carry, Volpina left the café to parade around her captive.

Marinette lamented her luck at being held captive, and thus unable to transform, yet again. And to double her bad luck, she was without either her wheelchair or crutches, making it much harder for her to eventually get away.

And, of course, Volpina had to bring her to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

"There we are." Volpina said proudly as she set Marinette down. "Isn't this a much better sight than that boy making goo-goo eyes at you?"

Marinette decided that the question was rhetorical.

A few minutes of silence later, Catastrophe joined them, and he looked pissed.

"What are you thinking!?" Catastrophe stormed over to Volpina.

"Ah, ah, ah." Volpina wagged her finger. "Remember who's here."

Catastrophe snarled as Volpina pointed at Marinette, realising that he couldn't shout at Volpina for interrupting their date without risking his identity.

"Why'd you even kidnap her?" He complained instead. "There were plenty of other people in that café who you could have used for the attack. And you chose the person in the wheelchair."

"Well, that just means that she's less trouble. Can't run away or get in the way." Volpina said.

Out of the corner of his eye, Catastrophe saw Marinette frowning. He had no doubt that she'd be complaining if the two of them weren't villains.

"Well, you could have at least had the decency to bring along her wheelchair as well." Catastrophe huffed.

"Lug that heavy and awkward lump of metal and a person to the top of the Eiffel Tower? I don't think so." Volpina shot back.

Their argument was interrupted by a familiar yoyo wrapping around Volpina.

Belle Aube had arrived.

As soon as the villains were distracted with Belle Aube, Marinette began dragging herself towards where the lift was.

It was humiliating to drag herself around like this, not to mention how much it was dirtying her clothes and hurting her hands. But if she wanted to get away and create a Champion, she had to do it.

Eventually, Marinette made it to the life and was faced with a new issue. The lift-call button was far out of her reach from her position from the floor.

"Ugh." Marinette grunted as she tried to pull herself up enough to reach the button.

Unfortunately, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't reach the button. And there wasn't anything around that she could try and use to extend her reach either.

Marinette looked around to see if the two villains and heroes were watching her.

"Nooroo-" She began to call on her Kwami.

She was cut off as Catastrophe landed beside her with a thud.

"Oh." Catastrophe looked at her, then the lift doors. "Yeah, I don't think here is the safest place for you. Let me help you with that."

Catastrophe pressed the lift call button and the doors opened, the lift already thankfully being on the top floor.

Hoisting Marinette under her arms, Catastrophe dragged Marinette inside the lift, setting her against the lift wall and pressing the down button.

"Uh, bye." Catastrophe said awkwardly as he stepped out, the lift doors closing to separate them.

"That was weird." Marinette commented as the lift descended downwards.

"Another sign of the good person Catastrophe really is under that corruption." Nooroo said brightly as he floated out of Marinette's purse. "If we're lucky, this means that the corruption is fading."

"You mean that Catastrophe could snap out of it on his own?" Marinette asked.

"I don't know." Nooroo shrugged. "But regardless of how he treated you, he's still attacking Belle Aube."

"Right." Marinette nodded.

The lift doors opened and Nooroo quickly hid, but thankfully the floor was empty. Everyone in the tower likely having evacuated as soon as Volpina began climbing it to the top.

"The coast is clear." Marinette said. "Nooroo, Wings Rise!"

Zoe huffed and put her hands on her hips.

She was ever so slightly lost.

Like the other people in the café, she had ran out as soon as Volpina showed up, grabbing onto her date's hand, primarily concentrating on getting them away from the danger zone.

But she hadn't exactly paid attention to where she'd been going, and somewhere along the way, Chloe's hand had slipped from her grasp, leaving her lost and alone.

Well, not technically alone, as there were other people who had followed her direction in getting away from the villain. A few were even looking for their friends like she was for Chloe.

Zoe took a hand from her hip and inspected the ribbon she still held.

Volpina had shown up before she could hand it back to Chloe, meaning that Zoe had accidently taken something precious to the girl she had been on a date with. And though Zoe had given Chloe her number, Zoe did not have Chloe's number, meaning that she could have a hard time finding Chloe again.

Not that Zoe would let that stop her.

"Perhaps you can be my glass slipper, of sorts." Zoe mused to the ribbon she held.

"A Tiānshǐ!"

Zoe looked up as a person shouted out, pointing into the sky.

People began to get excited at the sight of the glowing purple butterfly making its way towards them.

"I wonder who it's going to." A teenager, that Zoe had the vaguest of recollections seeing before, said.

Ah, yes. She had heard all about Lady Nymph, her Tiānshǐ and Champions before coming to Paris. Though, this would be her first time seeing it.

So, it was a surprise when the Tiānshǐ fluttered over to her, sinking into the ribbon in her hand.

Belle Aube took a cautious step back as the villains closed in on her.

She was struggling, with both villains against just her, forcing her to mainly be on the defensive.

"Come on, where's your Champion, Lady Nymph?" Belle Aube muttered under her breath.

"Looks like you've reached the end. No more platform left." Volpina taunted.

The villain was right, as one more step back would send Belle Aube off the edge of the Eiffel Tower.

However, Belle Aube had something the villains didn't, her yoyo.

Reaching her arms out to the side, Belle Aube allowed herself to fall back, dropping down the tower. She then threw out her yoyo, managing to grapple on the metal beams and break her fall, quickly abseiling the rest of the way down to the ground.

Looking up, she saw the villains quickly jumping down the tower after her.

"That was cool, the way you dropped down the tower like that?"

Belle Aube spun to see a young lady behind her, quickly recognising her as Zoe, since the lacy mask didn't do much to hide her face.

"You-uh…who are you?" Belle Aube pretended that she didn't already know who Zoe was.

"Skóni, at your service." The new Champion curtsied with a wink at Belle Aube.

The Champion's costume was relatively simple compared to the costumes of past Champions, looking more like she was going to a dance show than fighting villainy. She wore a black, sleeveless crop top, a skirt made of many strips of pink fabric of different shades, black ballet slippers, a purple lacey mask, and a long purple ribbon around her bicep.

If it wasn't for the silver dust that was suspended in the air around Skóni and pooled at her feet, it would have been hard to identify her as a Champion.

"Ah, so Lady Nymph finally sent her Champion. It was getting a bit too boring without one." Catastrophe said as he reached the ground.

"She doesn't look like much." Volpina snorted. "Like an overgrown Tinkerbell."

Skóni raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?" She said, as if Volpina was a child claiming she could beat an adult up. "Well, shall we test what this Tinkerbell can do?"

The villains charged and Skóni began to dance.

The silver dust around the Champion began to shift with her movements, wrapping around her as she span and striking out as she threw out her arms.

Volpina and Catastrophe shielded their eyes as the dust crashed into them, sending them back a few feet and almost unbalancing them.

"So, your dust can move to form physical attacks?" Belle Aube asked her temporary partner.

"Yes, it moves as I do." Skóni said as she continued to dance.

The two sides continued to attack each other, Belle Aube and Skóni weaving in and out of each other while Catastrophe and Volpina attacked or defended.

Catastrophe aimed his claw blades at Belle Aube's back, but Skóni spotted his attack in time and raised her arms in a swooping motion, her dust gathering around Belle Aube and pulling her out of the way.

Belle Aube was pulled into Skoni's arms, who then jumped with her dust allowing them to travel up high as Catastrophe tried to follow up his attack.

Belle Aube returned the favour when she pulled out of Skóni's arms while grabbing onto one of her arms and using their combined bodyweight to swing them away from Volpina, who had snuck up behind them, trying to grab the ribbon that was almost certainly the Champion's item.

"You have good form." Skóni complimented Belle Aube. "Are you a dancer as well?"

"No, but I'm getting the feeling I should be." Belle Aube responded.

"Well, come visit me, I'll give you lessons anytime." Skóni winked.

"Uh…Lucky Charm!" Instead of responding, Belle Aube summoned her object.

A long silk scarf fell into her hands.

"Fashionable." Skóni commented.

Flute music sounded out as Volpina summoned her favourite use for her Mirage, multiple Volpina and Catastrophe illusions.

"Uh, this again." Belle Aube complained.

She then looked at Skóni's dust, which had settled back around the Champion now that she had stilled, remembering how she had dealt with this particular illusion the first time.

"Would your dust be able to take out her illusions." Belle Aube asked Skóni, hopefully.

"Not all at once." Skóni shook her head. "My dust can't reach too far from me, and if I want it to have any impact, it needs to be compacted together, not scattered out."

"Right." Belle Aube said.

Well, there went that idea. Still, Skóni could still dispel any illusions that came too close.

"Those two are completely out of sync." Skóni suddenly said.

"What?" Belle Aube questioned.

"Catastrophe and Volpina, they're working separately. Catastrophe's already accidently dispelled some of Volpina's illusions on his own by running through them, and Volpina clearly hasn't communicated her plan. They have zero harmony in their movements." Skóni pointed out.

Belle Aube hummed in thought and then brightened, looking at the silk scarf in her hands.

"Hey, I think we should have that dancing lesson now." She said, wrapping one end of the scarf around her wrist and hand.

"Huh?" Skóni said, looking at the scarf as the other end was offered to her. "Oh." She said as she understood the heroine's intentions.

Skóni took the scarf and wrapped the other end around her own wrist and hand, binding the two together at the wrist with only a bit of slack scarf between them.

"Well, then, shall we dance?" Skóni grinned.

Skóni took the lead in the dance, but Belle Aube was soon able to keep up and they became equal partners. As they danced, Skóni's dust surrounded them, following their movements and taking out every illusion they came across. While Belle Aube frequently threw out her yoyo, the momentum of the dance giving it more force and leaving a trail of silver dust behind it. The combined dance and attacks made quick work of the illusions and even managed to hit the real Volpina and Catastrophe a few times.

With the illusions gone, the real Volpina and Catastrophe attacked, but through their dancing the heroes managed to dodge their attacks, the silk scarf preventing them from pulling too far apart, using it to pull each other out of the way of attacks.

Catastrophe grunted as a combination of yoyo and silver dust hit him in the gut, while a kick of dust from Skóni sent Volpina flying back a fair few feet.

"You need better illusions, Volpina." Catastrophe grunted. "Volpina?"

Catastrophe turned to see that Volpina was running away, too concerned with her timer running out to continue the fight.

"Wow." Belle Aube said, admittedly amazed that Volpina would abandon her partner without warning.

Catastrophe looked at Belle Aube and Skóni as they undid the scarf from their wrists and hands, both obviously still willing to fight even though Belle Aube's own time was running out.

He still had his full power, but he wasn't willing to risk it.

"Uh, uh." Catastrophe said with a shake of his head, turning tail and running across the bridge.

"Get back here!" Belle Aube demanded.

Belle Aube and Skóni began chasing after Catastrophe, not wanting to let him get away.

"Cataclysm!" Catastrophe called on his power and ran his hand along the side of the bridge as he ran, causing the brick to crumble away as the decay spread.

"Woah!" Belle Aube and Skóni skidded to a stop as the bridge crumbled away in front of them.

Belle Aube grabbed Skóni and used her yoyo to pull them back the way they came as the brick fell into the water below their feet.

By the time the decay had stopped spreading, almost the entire bridge had fallen into the Seine, successfully separating the heroes from Catastrophe.

Technically speaking, Skóni could use her dust to get them across, but Catastrophe would be long gone by the time she got them over.

"Ugh." Belle Aube groaned as she set Skóni down. "Them running away is really annoying."

Taking the silk scarf, Belle Aube threw it into the air, summoning her Miraculous Cure to repair the bridge back to normal.

"Well, it seems as though the villains are defeated for the day." Skóni said. "And thus our duties are done. A shame though, I would have liked to spend some more time with the second cutest girl in Paris." Skóni winked again.

"Oh, I'm only the second?" Belle Aube said as if she was offended. "Then who's the first, you?"

"Ask me that a few days ago, and I would have said yes. But now I put myself at a more modest third." Skóni said humbly.

"Really?" Belle Aube was surprised. "Who's the first then?"

"The cute little blond that I was on a date with, of course." Skóni answered. "Speaking of which, I need to go find her."

Blowing a kiss, Skóni began running off, reverting back into Zoe as she ran, the Tiānshǐ fluttering into the sky. Leaving a stunned Belle Aube behind.

After the attack was over, it took a while for Marinette to be found in the lift after the employees returned to the Eiffel Tower.

Thankfully, the tour service for the tower had spare wheelchairs for disabled visitors, sparing Marinette anymore dragging herself around or being forced to be stationary.

From there, it was a simply a matter of getting questioned by the police and giving her statement, same as any victim of Volpina and Catastrophe's hostage taking.

By the time it was all said and done, it was almost time for afternoon lesson.

Though, there was a complication, as Marinette couldn't take the tower's wheelchair, meaning she was forced to wait for someone to fetch hers from the café where it had been left.

"Marinette!"

Marinette looked away from the employee who had been staying with her to see Adrien, Ayla and Nino jogging over, Adrien pushing her wheelchair in front of him.

"Guys, you brought my chair." Marinette said happily.

"Yeah, once we heard where you were, we ran over, Adrien was already pushing your chair when we met him." Alya said.

"Thank you, Adrien." Marinette smiled.

"Well, I just knew that you'd be needing it." Adrien said.

Marinette transferred herself over to her wheelchair, allowing the employee to fold up and take away the one she had been given.

"I, uh, also brought you a sandwich." Adrien handed over a brown bag. "You didn't get to eat back at the café, and we don't have time to go anywhere else."

"Thank you, Adrien." Marinette said again. "This is really sweet of you."

Adrien smiled.

"Do you want to reschedule our date for this afternoon?" Marinette asked.

This caused Adrien to stumble.

"You mean, you still want to go out with me?" He questioned.

"Yes."

"But we were attacked by Volpina on our date. The same happened when you went on a date with Nathaniel and you didn't go out with him." Adrien pointed out.

"Yes, but I just didn't have that connection with Nathaniel. And I like spending time with you." Marinette assured. "I'm not going to let something like a villain attack get in the way of us dating."

Adrien let out a big sigh of relief.

"I'll have to check with Natalie about my schedule. But I'm definitely up for a second date." Adrien said.

"Come on, love birds, we better get back to class before we're late." Alya said.

Adrien and Marinette blushed, remembering that they had an audience.

The four of them began making their way back to college.

After bidding goodbye to her Tiānshǐ, it thankfully didn't take Zoe long to find Chloe.

"There you are." Zoe said happily. "I was worried that I lost you."

"Yeah, it's apparently very easy to get lost in a crowd of people running from a villain attack." Chloe said. "Look at what they did to my clothes and hair."

Chloe pointed to her messed up clothes and hair from being pushed around from all the people running from Volpina.

"I'm glad that you're not hurt." Zoe said. "Here, I believe this belongs to you."

Zoe handed Chloe back the ribbon that had now served as both of their Champion items.

"My promise!" Chloe took the ribbon and held it to her chest in relief.

"It seems to be a very lucky ribbon. It brought me back to you again." Zoe said.

Chloe paused, looking at her ribbon.

"Zoe, are you serious about dating me?" She asked, unsurely. "You're not just thinking a short-term relationship, are you?"

Zoe closed her eyes, laughing slightly.

"I can understand how you think that." She said. "I've had girlfriends in the past complain about how friendly I am with other girls, and I did ask you out as soon as I met you. But today I learned about you, and I want to learn more. I find you very interesting and want to spend time with you."

Chloe blushed at her words.

"Then, I guess we can continue dating." She said. "And maybe I could try out a dance class with you, just to learn more about you as well."

Chloe was suddenly captured in a hug, Zoe happily squeezing her.

"I'm glad." Zoe said.

Chloe continued blushing as she smiled. "Yeah, I'm glad too." She said.

They separated, but Zoe took hold of Chloe's hand.

"Come on, I'll walk you back to your college." Zoe offered. "We can even stop by that bakery next to it to make up for missing the café food."

The two girls began walking, hands held all the way.

Chapter Text

Marinette bopped her head to the beat of Ivan's drums, along with the others who played.

"~Gotta keep rolling

~Let your soul lose control again~

~Make yourself complete~

~Ye-ah~"

Rose sang, it was extremely gentle compared to her usual method of singing.

"That sounds really great Rose." Marinette complimented. "What's it called?"

"Oh, it's not a song." Rose informed the designer. "It's our sound-check. We use it to make sure everything is working and to warm up our vocals."

"Ah, I guess that makes sense." Marinette nodded.

She couldn't imagine screaming into the mic straight away would be good for the throat.

"By the way, when's Adrien going to get here?" Rose asked.

"I don't know." Marinette frowned, looking at her phone. "He was meant to be here by now."

She really hoped that it wasn't because of issues with Adrien's father again.

"So, do you play any instruments, Marinette?" Luka asked as he played his guitar.

"No." Marinette shook her head. "The most I could do was play the recorder when I was younger. I'm terrible with finger placements and keeping track of where I am on the music sheet."

"Ah." Luka said in understanding. "A shame, you sound like you could create some very sweet music."

"Marinette can sing!" Rose called over.

"You have a very nice singing voice." Ivan agreed, remembering music class.

"Yeah, for nursery rhymes for Manon." Marinette denied. "I'm not so keen on actual singing."

"Come on, you'd just need some vocal training." Rose said.

"We can't force Marinette to sing if she's not comfortable, otherwise it wouldn't be enjoyable for her, and that would affect her singing." Luka told Rose.

"Thanks, Luka." Marinette smiled at the older boy.

"You're welcome. But if you ever do feel like singing, I can play with you. Not for anything serious, just as an activity as friends." Luka offered.

"What's this about Marinette singing?"

Everyone turned as Adrien entered Couffaine houseboat.

"You're a bit late." Ivan commented.

"Sorry, I had a hard time getting away from my father and my piano lessons." Adrien explained.

"Well, you're here now." Luka said. "We have a keyboard set up for you."

Adrien happily went over to the keyboard, going through a few riffs and tunes to acclimate himself to the instrument.

"So, what am I playing?" He asked.

Juleka handed Adrien a music sheet with the worked out piano chords for the chosen song written on them.

Kitty Section mostly worked through memorising music and improvisation, rather than music sheets, but until they got a feel for Adrien's style of play and saw if he could improvise like them, they would be working from a scripted song they'd made.

Adrien read through the music, playing the chords dictated in his keyboard, eventually getting what he was expected to play. Once Adrien was acclimated, the rest of the band began to play.

Marinette was ashamed to admit it, but her attention wavered as her friend continued to play and attune themselves to each other, mind drifting to the various projects she had in the works and what her next steps would be for each of them.

"Marinette!" A voice interrupted everyone.

"Oh no." Adrien pulled a face.

Lila jogged lightly along the path to the Liberty, not even hesitating as she invited herself into the boat.

"I've been looking all over for you." Lila said happily, latching onto Marinette.

"Hello, Lila." Marinette sighed.

"Hi, Lila." Rose and Juleka greeted.

Lila looked up, as if only just noticing the band.

"Oh, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" She asked with deliberate obliviousness.

"Yes." Adrien said bluntly.

"Oh, sorry." Lila gave a dramatic apology. "I just needed to talk with Marinette about something."

"Well, Lila, I'm sort of with the others right now. We're trying to see if Adrien will make a good addition to Kitty Section." Marinette said, hoping Lila would get the hint.

"Don't worry, I won't be long." Lila ignored the hint. "I needed to talk to you about doing a commission. I need help making some designs for 'Champions for Life', that charity I was talking about doing. And you're the best person I can think of to help me."

"You're really going through with doing the charity, I'm so proud of you." Rose piped up happily.

"Yeah, come to us any time and we'll help out." Ivan offered.

"Thank you guys so much." Lila said, clapping her hands together.

"Yeah, it's really good that you're doing this." Marinette agreed. "Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to help you with any designing. All my commission slots are full up with some big projects."

"Aw." Lila slumped.

"Maybe try asking Nathaniel." Marinette suggested. "He does commissions too, and he's better at doing art than me anyway."

"Well, I don't want to bother him, since he seemed very busy the last time I saw him." Lila pouted.

"I wish I could help Lila, but I just don't have the room in my schedule." Marinette repeated.

Lila gave a loud sigh. "Well, I guess I can ask Nathaniel, in case he isn't actually busy." She relented.

Kitty Section and Marinette expected Lila to leave the boat and find the artist after she'd said that, but she remained in place, partially leaning on Marinette.

"I think I saw Nathaniel in the park when I was coming here. He might still be there if you go now." Adrien said pointedly.

"Oh, right." Lila pouted again.

She reluctantly moved to leave the boat.

"Oh, by the way, Adrien." Lila turned so that only Adrien could see the smirk on her face. "Our Chinese teacher is wanting to speak with you as soon as possible."

Adrien froze.

"See you later." Lila called, walking away.

"Lila's taking Chinese lessons?" Marinette questioned.

"Do you take them with her, Adrien?" Rose asked.

Adrien didn't reply.

"Adrien?" Marinette asked in concern. "Are you alright?"

"Uh…" Adrien snapped to attention. "I just realised that I'm missing my lesson with my Chinese teacher." He said.

"I thought that you were always on top of your schedule." Ivan said.

"Yeah, this particular lesson has been changed around from my usual time." Adrien lied. "So, can we rain check on another time to play?"

Luka looked at his other band mates.

"You play well, and I can tell that you'd fit in with us with some more practice." Luka spoke for them. "But we should make sure your schedule isn't going to get in the way of practice."

"I understand." Adrien said, eyes downcast. "We can message each other about my schedule and if I have enough time to play with you guys. See you all some other time."

Adrien hopped off the boat and began making his way to what was, presumably, his Chinese lesson.

Marinette stared after him, wondering why Adrien seemed so hesitant about his Chinese lesson.

"I'll head home too. I need to work on my projects." She said.

When Adrien stepped through the door, the normally homely atmosphere of Xue Ying's home felt oppressive.

"Adrien." Xue Ying greeted from her chair, calmly drinking her cup of tea.

"Master Xue." Adrien bowed. "You needed to talk to me?"

"Come, sit, Adrien." Xue Ying directed, motioning to the seat opposite her.

Adrien did as told, sitting in the chair that almost seemed to dwarf him.

"So, I hear that you've become very close with one of your classmates." Xue Ying said, pouring some tea into a second cup.

"You mean Marinette? Yes, she's very nice." Adrien said, accepting the cup as it was handed to him.

"And you have feelings for her, that go deeper than your other friendships?" Xue Ying continued.

"Yeah-uh-yes." Adrien said. "We've actually started dating."

"I see." Xue Ying took a sip of her tea, peering over the rim of her cup at Adrien.

"Not to be rude, Master Xue. But why are you interested in my relationship with Marinette?" Adrien asked.

"Because, Adrien, I'm worried for you." Xue Ying said.

"Worried?" Adrien was surprised. "You don't need to be worried about Marinette. She's a really sweet girl who wouldn't hurt anyone." He smiled as he talked about his girlfriend.

Xue Ying narrowed her eyes at his smile.

"And I'm sure she is." Xue Ying said. "However, that is not what I meant."

"Then, what did you mean?" Adrien asked in confusion.

"Adrien, why did I give you that ring?" Xue Ying asked her own question instead of answering.

"Uh, to recover the other Miraculous." Adrien had to think about his answer.

His reason for being Catastrophe had faded into the back of his mind.

"And how do you do this?" Xue Ying questioned further.

"I…act as a villain to draw the heroes out, so I can take their Miraculous." Adrien answered hesitantly.

"That is correct." Xue Ying said. "It is an unfortunate method, but one that must be taken in order to return the Miraculous to their rightful place, one that must be done no matter the cost. No matter the relation."

"Master Xue, what are you getting at?" Adrien asked.

"What I'm worried about, Adrien, is whether your relationship will get in the way of returning the Miraculous to me." Xue Ying stated.

"What?" Adrien startled. "No. Of course, it won't."

"Is that so." Xue Ying stirred her tea. "Because Lila told me that you interfered with the hostage taking to draw out the heroes, because Marinette happened to be the hostage in question. You never had any issues until your…girlfriend got involved."

"Lila's never been exactly happy about by relationship with Marinette, she deliberately targeted her because we were on a date. Plus, Marinette can't walk, she couldn't exactly run away." Adrien defended.

"And if Lila had grabbed Marinette by coincidence, would that have changed your behaviour?" Xue Ying challenged.

Adrien didn't answer.

Xue Ying set down her tea and stood up.

"I understand, Adrien." She said. "You care for this girl and don't want to see her hurt. But, unfortunately, that interferes with your role as a villain. Catastrophe won't be very effective in returning my Miraculous if you're too concerned with this girl's safety over attacking the heroes."

"I won't let my relationship get in the way." Adrien insisted.

"Are you sure." Xue Ying questioned, stopping in front of Adrien. "Because if I can't trust you to give it your all, I may have to gift your ring to someone else. And take away the freedom it gives you."

"No!" Adrien cried, grabbing his ring hand. "Please no!" He begged.

"Shh…shh." Xue Ying comforted. "That won't happen as long as you don't let me down."

Xue Ying gently eased Adrien's ring hand out from underneath his other one, stroking her thumb over the ring.

Unseen by Adrien, wisps of magic travelled into his ring from her thumb, darkening it.

"As long as you remember that your first loyalty is always to me, and returning my Miraculous, the ring will continue to be yours. Just don't let your relationships get in the way." Xue Ying said gently.

Adrien nodded.

"Oh, come here, Poppet." Xue Ying opened her arms and embraced Adrien.

After a minute, Xue Ying released Adrien, allowing him to sit back as she returned to her own seat.

"Now, I have a job for the two of you." Xue Ying said.

There was movement Adrien's side and he looked over in surprise to find Lila standing there.

"How long have you been there?" Adrien questioned.

Lila didn't answer but smirked, making Adrien sure that she had witnessed everything, which served to build his anger against her.

"It seems that Paris have gotten a little too attached to their temporary heroes." Xue Ying said, holding up a tablet

She turned it around to show a page from the 'Kaleidoscoop'.

'Statue dedication to Lady Nymph and Belle Aube to be unveiled.' The headline read.

"Destroy it." Xue Ying ordered.

Marinette hummed and non-distinct tune as she moved her fabric through her sewing machine.

Because she didn't have proper use of her legs, her sewing machine wasn't like other machines that were controlled by a foot pedal. Instead, hers was designed to sew automatically at the press of a button, with other buttons to control the speed. It taken her a while to properly get a handle on her sewing machine when she first tried it, as it didn't allow her full control and she had to pay more attention, but she eventually got the hang of it and no longer struggled.

Nooroo was helping Marinette by pulling the length of fabric that was coming out of the machine, stopping it from bunching up behind it.

The Kwami was proudly wearing a knitted outfit Marinette had made for him, out of concern for him feeling the cold as the weather got colder outside, complete with a hood. Marinette found it funny how he refused to take it off ever since he got it and was already planning an entire wardrobe of miniature clothes for the Kwami.

"Marinette!" Alya burst through the bedroom trapdoor.

With no time to hide, Nooroo dropped where he sat, playing doll.

"There's this thing called knocking." Marinette groaned. "Why do people seem to forget it around me?"

Alya paused, and then knocked on the open trap door with a grin.

"Oh, you're so funny." Marinette said sarcastically.

"Girl, why are you not ready to go yet?" Alya asked.

"Go where?" Marinette asked.

"The statue unveiling, of course." Alya said.

"Ah, the statue. I completely forgot." Marinette smacked her head.

She had been so busy working that she'd forgot.

"Give me a few minutes." Marinette said.

She shut off her sewing machine and pulled away from her desk to get ready to go out again.

While waiting for Marinette to get ready, Alya spotted Nooroo on her desk, picking him up curiously.

"Hey, this little guy is cute. Where'd you get him?" Alya asked.

Marinette gasped when she saw Nooroo in Alya's hands.

"It was a gift from my nana, during her travels abroad, I don't know where exactly." Marinette lied, taking Nooroo from Alya and putting him in her purse. "Anyway, I'm ready to go."

Sparing no more thought to Marinette's weird doll, Alya walked down the stairs, patiently waiting for Marinette to get on and off her stair lifts.

By the time Alya and Marinette arrived at the statue unveiling, a large crowd had already gathered.

"Excuse me, make way for those who can't see over you." Alya said as they pushed through the crowd.

Thankfully, everyone there was decent enough to let Marinette through, realising that she'd need to be at the front in order to see, which had the added benefit of also letting Alya to the front.

"About time you two got here." Chloe said when she spotted Marinette and Alya.

Chloe was already at the front, Zoe standing beside her.

"Well, we're not late." Alya huffed.

"You're hardly one to talk, I had to practically drag you here." Zoe said to Chloe.

"Hello again, Zoe." Marinette waved at Chloe's girlfriend.

"Hello, Marinette." Zoe greeted. "No Adrien today?"

"He's busy with other things." Marinette shook her head.

"Ah, a shame." Zoe said. "But I know the feeling of being too busy for things. My dance sometimes leaves little room for other things."

"Hey, guys."

Everyone turned at the quiet voice, finding Nathaniel and Marc approaching them.

"Hey. Eager to see the statue?" Marinette asked her friends.

"Yep." Nathaniel and Marc answered.

"Mr Chan even let me go from my duties early." Nathaniel said. "He said that he didn't want to come along, for some reason, though."

"He's probably too old to stand in a crowd." Marinette said.

"More friends of yours, asteri mu?" Zoe asked Chloe, using a Greek term to address her.

"More like friends of Marinette, who is my friend." Chloe said.

Zoe laughed slightly.

"Zoe Cain." She held her hand out for Nathaniel and Marc to shake.

"Nathaniel."

"Marc."

"So, what do you two do? You have a similar air of art that Marinette has." Zoe asked.

And by 'air of art', Zoe meant that she saw the ink stains on both of their hands.

"Well, I like to draw a lot and do art." Nathaniel said.

He turned to Marc to let him answer for himself.

"I-I do writing. Creative writing, that is." Marc managed to answer.

"An artist, huh?" Zoe focused on Nathaniel. "Do you do commissions?"

"Yeah." Nathaniel answered.

"Nathaniel has his own website where he puts his art and commission slots, if you want to check it out." Marinette advertised for her friend. "Marc's even started putting his creative writing on there as well."

Nathaniel and Marc blushed slightly as Marinette spoke.

"I think I'll check it out." Zoe hummed. "Anyway, I'm a dancer. So, if you ever need any pose referencing for dancing characters, come to me and Chloe."

"Chloe?" Nathaniel questioned.

"Yep." Zoe said happily, throwing her arms over Chloe's shoulder. "She's agreed to start taking dance lessons with me. We'll be a dancing duo in no time."

"Well, it makes sense to try out dancing." Chloe shrugged. "I'll no doubt catch onto it quickly."

Before they could continue talking, there was a call of attention to the podium next to the covered statue as the Mayor stepped up to it.

"This is going on the front page of the Kaleidoscoop." Alya said excitedly as she raised her phone up to record.

"For many months now, our fair city has been attacked by villains." Mayor Bourgeois said. "But we have not been left without our protectors, who have risen to the challenge each time without fail. And though they themselves are not here for us to honour today, it is only proper for Paris to pay homage to those who protect us from evil."

Mayor Bourgeois raised his hands, signalling for the cloth covering the statue to be pulled down.

"Lady Nymph and Belle Aube." He finished his sentence.

Everyone gazed in awe at the statue.

It showed Lady Nymph emerging from a cloud of butterflies, her arms held out wide as if to embrace those in front of the statue. Belle Aube was above her, feet supported by the cloud of butterflies, her yoyo flung out.

Though Marinette knew that the statue was very well made, she couldn't help but feel a little annoyed that while the Belle Aube statue looked exactly like the heroine, the Lady Nymph statue was only similar to her in the costume. The face and body structure of the Lady Nymph statue was that of a woman, not Marinette's teenage self.

"The statue is amazing. But Lady Nymph doesn't look like I remember her." Nathaniel echoed Marinette's thoughts.

Chloe laughed. "You don't exactly have any room to talk." She mocked the artist good naturedly. "Your comic version of Lady Nymph looks as close to how I remember her looking as that statue does."

"She doesn't look like how I saw her either." Alya agreed, switching from her video to taking pictures of the statue.

Unknown to the group, the sculptor behind the statue, Theo, overheard their talk, since they were so close to him.

"I had to take artistic liberties when it came to making the Lady Nymph statue." He went over to them to explain.

"Oh, you made the statue?" Marinette asked. "It's really great. Sorry about the comments."

Theo shook his head. "It's alright, I understand." He said. "But there's so little reference for what Lady Nymph looks like, I only really had a grainy video of when she first announced herself through her butterflies, and artistic interpretations from her former Champions."

"I guess that makes sense." Alya said.

"I don't remember most interpretations making her look so old, though." Nathaniel said.

"Well, since people have started referring to Lady Nymph as the 'Mother of Paris', I used several mothers as reference to try and get the feeling she gives out right." Theo explained.

Marinette started coughing on her own saliva.

"Since-since when has she been known as the 'Mother of Paris'?" Marinette asked once she managed to clear her throat.

"You really need to keep up to date with the Kaleidoscoop." Alya said. "It started a couple of weeks back but gained traction fairly quickly. I mean, Lady Nymph watches over us, basically nurtures those she chooses as Champions, and just has that air about her. It's sort of an obvious thing to call her when you think about it."

Marinette left speechless, wondering that the title of 'Mother of Paris' meant about her, unsure if it was a good or bad thing.

"Too bad the heroes didn't show up today, Lady Nymph being here could have given you a good reference." Marc managed to say.

"Lady Nymph's never been seen in public, so I don't think she'll start now." Theo laughed slightly. "Though, I was hoping on Belle Aube showing up."

Theo took out a newspaper clipping.

"This is the picture I used as reference for her, I was hoping she'd sign it." He sighed, affection clear on his face as he looked at the photo. "She's so amazing and courageous, I'd have really liked to meet her."

The group of friends stared at him. "Uh, how old are you?" Alya asked.

Before Theo could answer, people started screaming in fear.

"Well, I'm feeling a little left out." Volpina said from where she was standing on top of the statue.

"No statue for us? I'm hurt." Catastrophe appeared next to the statue. "Afterall, you wouldn't have them without me."

"It is quite a nice statue." Volpina looked down at it. "Though, I think it needs just the smallest, tiniest bit of change to make it perfect."

"Cataclysm!" Catastrophe called out.

"No!" Theo cried out as he realised what was about to happen.

He tried to run forward but was grabbed by the people around him, stopping his suicidal attempt to save his work.

The sculptor was forced to watch helplessly as Catastrophe touched his hand to the statue, rust spreading across the entire thing before it blackened. Volpina jumped from the top of the statue as it began to crumble away, leaving nothing of its original shape.

"There, much better." Volpina regarded the former statue. "It fits what will become of your so-called 'heroes' after all."

Most of the crowd had run away by now, fearful of being grabbed or hurt by the villains.

The only ones who were still in the area was Theo, Nathaniel and Marc, the former being dragged away by the latter two. It seemed as though the sculptor had gone into shock over his creation being destroyed.

Seeing that the three of them were still there, Catastrophe decided to wander over to them.

"It was to show how much I valued her, and she didn't even get to see it." The villain heard Theo mumble.

Catastrophe laughed mockingly.

"Wait, you have a crush on one of the heroes?" He pointed his finger at Theo.

Walking up to them, he snatched the newspaper clipping out of Theo's hand, staring at the picture of Belle Aube on it.

"Wow, that is just sad." Catastrophe said. "I'm willing to bet that you've never even actually met her, and yet you're stupid enough to get a crush on her. What makes you think that you could ever date a hero?"

Catastrophe's mocking was interrupted by his ring beeping, reminding him that had had used his power.

"Oh, yeah. I should probably take care of that." He said. "I'll be back as soon as I recharge." He called to Volpina.

Volpina waved Catastrophe away and the villain ran off, dropping Theo's photo to the ground.

Theo pulled out of Nathaniel and Marc's grip, picking up his newspaper clipping. They then walked away from the area, so that they wouldn't get caught up in the fight once the heroes arrived.

"Hey, don't listen to him." Nathaniel told his fellow artist once they were a safe enough distance away from the ruined statue. "He's a villain. They say these things to get under your skin, you shouldn't listen to them."

"That doesn't change that he destroyed all my hard work, just like that." Theo said angrily.

"Maybe Belle Aube's Miraculous Cure will bring it back." Marc suggested hopefully.

"Yeah, maybe it will." Theo agreed, though he didn't seem enthusiastic.

He looked at his picture of Belle Aube.

"I bet that I could be a hero, a proper partner for Belle Aube." Theo said to himself.

Nathaniel and Marc looked at each other, and then to the sky expectantly.

"Nooroo, Wings Rise!"

In a flurry of butterflies, Lady Nymph sat on her throne.

"I should have expected this to happen." Lady Nymph muttered to herself.

With a statue dedicated to the heroes of Paris, she should have been transformed with a Tiānshǐ on standby, instead of being there in the crowd.

Lady Nymph quickly dispatched her Tianshi, which started making its way to the obvious choice for the scenario, a light burning bright with emotion and a need for justice.

"Lady Nymph?" The hero heard Theo gasp as her Tiānshǐ fused with newspaper clipping of Belle Aube.

"I know what Catastrophe has done to your work." Lady Nymph told him. "I can give you the power to match Catastrophe in combat and show him that you are a capable hero. But you must try and bring the Cat and Fox Miraculous back to me during your battle."

"I will my Lady." Theo promised.

The connection grew larger as Theo accepted his position as Lady Nymph's Champion, allowing the hero to see through his eyes and guide him.

Belle Aube was already fighting Volpina by the time Lady Nymph's newest Champion entered the scene.

"This is it, your chance to impress her." The Champion said to himself.

He took out the staff from his belt and extended it to full length, using it to launch himself into the fray.

"Need a hand?" He grinned as he landed in front of Belle Aube, using his staff to block Volpina's flute.

Volpina backed away and did a double take.

"Catastrophe?" She questioned angrily.

"I prefer the name Black Lynx, over that unfortunate name." The Champion stood up straight.

Black Lynx was a mirror of Catastrophe, a fun house mirror, where Catastrophe was the one in the reflection. He wore Catastrophe's coat, but the sleeves were fully intact and ran into the gloves, which were absent of fur, the collar of the coat was smaller and laid flat, and the trails of the coat were also shorter and absent of rips. Similar to the arms, the fur of Catastrophe's boots were absent, and the sharp metal claws were also gone, replaced by grooves in the boots. Black Lynx kept Theo's hair, with the addition of cat ears poking out, and the mask over his face clearly showed his eyes, unlike the green glass that hid Catastrophe's.

"Oh, this is just rich." Volpina laughed.

"Laugh all you want, but my Lady has empowered me to protect the people of Paris alongside Belle Aube." Black Lynx said. "Now, hand over your Miraculous."

"I believe that is my line."

Catastrophe made his reappearance, looking very ticked off.

"But I guess you're just a full-on copycat." He growled. "We're you so desperate to feel strong that you ripped me off?"

"No. I'm here to show you the power of being a hero." Black Lynx spun his staff.

Catastrophe charged forward, zeroing in on Black Lynx, leaving Volpina to face Belle Aube.

"He seems more ferocious today." Lady Nymph noted to her Champion as he and Catastrophe fought. "Be careful. But you can also use this to your advantage, anger can cause people to trip up."

"You seem to be taking my form terribly personally." Black Lynx said as he dodged Catastrophe's attacks. "Worried that it says something about you? Am I digging into some sort of deep issues?"

Catastrophe roared and lurched forward, smashing a sign to pieces as Black Lynx dodged.

"Ow!" Black Lynx exclaimed as one of the pieces landed on his head before landing in his hands. "Hmm. This could be useful." He said.

Catastrophe charged again with the cat claws, trying to slice through Black Lynx.

"Wow, you're just destroying everything without thought." The Champion said. "But I guess it makes sense, considering Volpina seems to have the brains out of the two of you while you're just the dumb muscle."

Catastrophe roared again and managed to catch Black Lynx on his back as the Champion tried to dodge.

"Okay, I might have gone a little far." Black Lynx muttered to himself, hunching over from the pain.

"Cataclysm!"

Black Lynx's eyes widened as he realised Catastrophe's intentions with summoning his attack.

"Stay calm." Lady Nymph's voice guided.

Right, Black Lynx just needed to stay calm, he had a plan for this.

"Cataclysm!" Black Lynx called on his copy of the Black Cat Miraculous' power, spinning around.

He caught Catastrophe's destructive touch in his own, the two attacks thankfully cancelling each other out.

Catastrophe was visibly startled by his hand being caught and not destroying Black Lynx.

"Come on, basic rules. Two negatives can cancel each other out." Black Lynx said in a matter-of-fact tone.

He then took the piece of sign he'd been holding in his other hand and touched it to their joined hands, transferring both destructive touches too it, their hands returning to normal as the piece of sign crumbled away.

"Now you're going to run out of time, again." Black Lynx said smugly as Catastrophe's ring gave a beep for the five-minute countdown.

But then the fake ring on Black Lynx's finger also beeped.

"Looks like you copied me a bit too well." Catastrophe grinned. "You're on a timer as well."

Black Lynx could feel Lady Nymph's regret through their bond, but he understood. You couldn't copy the benefits of a powerful Miraculous without also copying the downsides as well.

"We'll change back at the same time." Black Lynx said. "But you're the only with a secret identity here. So, the advantage is still mine."

Catastrophe growled as he realised that the Champion was right.

"Really, you've already wasted your Cataclysm?" Volpina said as her fight with Belle Aube led them over to the black cats. "Do I really have to do everything around here?" She sighed.

Kicking Belle Aube away, Volpina flipped behind Catastrophe, forcing the other villain to fend off both Black Lynx and Belle Aube. She lifted her flute to her lips and played.

"Mirage!" She shouted.

In a flash of light, Black Lynx and Belle Aube stood in front of Black Lynx and Belle Aube.

"What?" Black Lynx questioned.

"Well, you're not the only one allowed to copy." The Belle Aube standing opposite smirked.

She then charged, taking the real Belle Aube by surprise as she jumped over the heroine and dragged her out of sight.

The real Black Lynx tried to go after them, but his double, which was confusing since he himself was already a double, stopped him, resuming their fight.

The two Belle Aubes soon returned, fighting each other.

"Black Lynx, help me!" One of them called.

Black Lynx threw his double away from him and moved towards her.

"Don't listen to her!" The other Belle Aube shouted.

Black Lynx now understood the purpose of Volpina's illusion, he didn't know which Belle Aube was the real one, and the real Belle Aube likely didn't know which Black Lynx was the real one either.

One of the Belle Aube's cast out her yoyo, almost hitting the Black Lynx that had been creeping up on the other.

"Hey, I'm the real Black Lynx!" The cat shouted, adding to the confusion.

"So, you're claiming to be the copy of a copy? Funny." The other Black Lynx laughed.

To try and minimise their confusion, Belle Aube and Black Lynx stuck to fighting their doubles and hoping that the other would be the one who won. But even then, Volpina's illusion caused issues.

Black Lynx stumbled over to Belle Aube as he tried to avoid his double, not paying her any mind, only for the Belle Aube to turn around and attack him, forcing him to fend her off as well. And because of the illusion, he didn't know if it was Volpina attacking him, or the real Belle Aube attacking him, thinking he was the disguised Catastrophe.

"This is getting really annoying." One of the Belle Aubes grunted.

"We need a way to tell each other apart." One of the Black Lynxes said.

The Belle Aube analysed her double, before realising something.

"You can copy my image, but you can't copy my powers." She said. "Lucky Charm!"

The Ladybug heroine activated her power, showing the Black Lynxes who the real Belle Aube was.

The real Black Lynx wasted no time in going after the disguised Volpina, charging into her and finally shattering her Mirage, reverting her back.

"Looks like this might be it for you." Black Lynx grinned, pinning Volpina down.

He looked at her Miraculous, debating how to grab it without Volpina shoving him off with her freed hand when he did.

"I wouldn't be so sure." The still disguised Catastrophe said. "Lose something?"

Black Lynx's eye's widened, turning his head to see a familiar newspaper clipping in his double's hands.

"Saw this tucked into your belt, figured it was important." Catastrophe said.

Before Belle Aube could stop him, he ripped the paper in half, releasing the Tiānshǐ from within, and turning Black Lynx back into Theo.

Without the advanced strength of his Champion form, Volpina was able to kick the stunned Theo off of her.

Catastrophe dropped the pieces of paper and ran to avoid his timer running out.

Belle Aube tried to chase after Catastrophe, but Volpina was still in the fight with some time left, attacking the spotted heroine. The fight led them away from Theo, leaving the sculptor alone with his ripped pieces of paper.

A few minutes later, Belle Aube returned. The frown on her face was telling that Volpina had gotten away yet again.

"Belle Aube." Theo said as the heroine came over to him. "I'm…I'm sorry that I wasn't more help."

"You're not the first Champion to have their item broken." Belle Aube replied.

"Yeah, I guess." Theo scratched his head.

He looked over at where his destroyed statue was.

"Perhaps I would have had more luck if I was myself, rather than focused on my issues." He contemplated.

"Let's undo their damage, shall we?" Belle Aube said. "Miraculous Cure!"

She threw her Lucky Charm into the air, Theo hadn't even seen what it was up until this point, but now he could make out the shape of an iron as it was tossed into the sky just before exploding into thousands of magical ladybugs.

Looking back to Belle Aube, Theo finally got his first good luck at the heroine, not limited to videos and photographs, and not distracted by battle.

He realised that beneath the mask, she was young. Not too young, but young enough to make him realise that there had to be a definite age-gap between them. He was only preparing to enter his twenties, but it was still an uncomfortable gap.

It was as if the magical ladybugs washed away his previous view of Belle Aube when they fixed the picture in his hand.

"There, much better." Belle Aube said as she watched her magic fix the statue.

"Uh, Belle Aube." Theo said before the heroine could leave. "I just wanted to say, that I really appreciate all the work you've done, and it was an honour working with you, for as brief as it was."

His previous feelings were now whispers of the past now that he'd compared their ages, but that didn't mean that he couldn't still admire Belle Aube as a hero.

"You're welcome." Belle Aube smiled.

She spotted her newspaper photo in his hand, taking it from him and producing a pen from seemingly nowhere.

"I'd like to see more of your work, if it's another statue of me, that is." Belle Aube winked, handing back the sighed photo.

She then spun around and swung away.

Theo looked down at his signed photo and smiled, planning on sticking it in the front page of his sketch book, which he was ready to fill with more statue ideas. His turn as Champion, and fighting alongside one of the heroes of Paris, had given him plenty of ideas. And now he also had a more accurate view of what Lady Nymph looked like.

Marinette pushed herself along the road, stopping by the statue of Lady Nymph and Belle Aube to apricate it.

"You know, this interpretation of me has sort of grown on me." She said. "I wonder if that's how I'll actually look when I'm older."

"Who knows. Maybe that sculptor will turn out to have future-seeing abilities, and you will look like that." Nooroo joked.

Marinette hummed. "Still, the 'Mother of Paris'. I just can't get over being called that. I'm only fifteen."

"It's not all that surprising." Nooroo commented. "Since the roll of a Butterfly is to guide others, it's common for my chosen to be viewed as a mentor or with a parental air by those around them. You are very kind and your Champions feel close to you, people who haven't been made your Champions feel close to you. Even when you're not transformed you emit an aura that draws people to you."

"Really?" Marinette questioned.

Nooroo nodded.

"You're a perfect Butterfly. You remind me of so many of my former chosen." He said.

"Aw, Nooroo." Marinette said sweetly, cupping her Kwami too her.

After their moment, Marinette tucked Nooroo back into her purse, pushing herself along to college.

When she arrived, she was surprised to find Zoe talking to Nathaniel, even though the older girl went to a completely different school.

Marinette didn't get to hear any of the conversation before Zoe turned and walked away, a happy smile on her face.

"What was Zoe asking about?" Marinette questioned as she pushed herself over to her friend.

"Just an art commission." Nathaniel said. "She was a bit eager about commissioning me, didn't even wait until after college to talk about it."

"What does she want?" Marinette asked curiously.

"As you're Chloe's friend, I'm not meant to tell you until I've given her my work." Nathaniel said.

"So, it's a surprise for Chloe?" Marinette said. "That's so cute."

"They really seem like a serious couple despite not being together for long." Nathaniel agreed.

Next to them, a limo arrived, and Adrien stepped out.

Instantly, Marinette was worried about her boyfriend.

"Adrien, are you okay?" She asked. "You seem a bit sick."

She looked over his pale skin and the bags under his eyes.

"Yeah, I just had issues sleeping last night." Adrien said softly, as if the act of speaking was a chore.

"Maybe you should go back home and rest." Marinette suggested.

"I'm fine." Adrien insisted, walking towards the college.

Marinette shared a look with Nathaniel as they followed after.

"Maybe you should see the school nurse, before class." Marinette suggested.

"I said I'm fine!" Adrien said loudly, startling Marinette and Nathaniel.

Adrien stopped and looked back at Marinette. "Sorry." He quickly apologised. "I'm just…tired. I'll sleep during lunch, alright."

"Alright." Marinette agreed. "But I want you to tell the teacher if it turns out to be more than you being tired."

"Fine." Adrien relented.

The three of them continued their way to class. Marinette never losing her look of concern.

Thankfully, the rest of the day went fine, though Adrien didn't lose his looked of tiredness even after lunch, like it was more than just a messed-up sleep schedule behind it.

Chapter Text

Adrien rubbed his temples as he wandered around his room, making sure that he had everything he needed for college.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a certain Kwami floating over to his bag with something in his hands.

"Plagg, you are not putting camembert in my bag, especially not that much." Adrien said. "I already stink of cheese as it is."

"Come on, it's going to be a long day." Plagg protested. "You're going directly into your fencing lessons after class, I need cheese to keep me going."

He was holding an entire tub of camembert, trying to put it into Adrien's bag.

"And I don't want my bag to reek of cheese the entire time. If you're going to get hungry, pack a sandwich or something." Adrien responded with no sympathy.

"A sandwich." Plagg looked offended. "You would deny my wonderful cheese for something as pedestrian as a sandwich. Though, I could make a cheese sandwich, with crackers instead of bread."

"No stinky cheese." Adrien repeated. "If you pack anything that can be smelled past a container, I'm chucking it in the closest bin and dousing my entire bag in deodorant, while you're still in it."

Plagg pouted and returned his cheese to his stash, returning with something less smelly to keep him fed throughout the day.

The Kwami was, thankfully, still in Adrien's bag when Adrien's bedroom door opened and Natalie popped her head in.

"Adrien, your father would like to see you before you leave today." She told him.

Adrien's eyes widened in surprise, it was rare for his father to want to meet him, in person.

"Yeah, sure, I'll be out soon." Adrien said.

Natalie left and Adrien made a final count of his things before picking up his bag and slipping on his shoes.

Before he left, Adrien paused at his mirror, frowning into his reflection as he poked at his eyelid.

His mind drifted to the concealer that lay in his bathroom, reserved for days when lack of sleep or sickness left his complexion lacking.

"I can't be bothered." Adrien decided, leaving his mirror and heading out the door.

He didn't have any photoshoots or anything that day, so he wasn't going to go through the effort.

With Plagg still hidden away in his bag, Adrien left his room and travelled down the stairs, taking a detour to his father's office.

Opening the door without knocking, Adrien found his father gazing at an old-looking book, the open pages browned from time.

Adrien cleared his throat, causing his father to turn around and non-too-subtly move in front of the book to block it from Adrien's view.

"Uh, you wanted to speak to me, father." Adrien said.

"Adrien, I believe I taught you manners." Gabriel said. "You are meant to knock before entering."

"Oh, sorry." Adrien said. "So, what did you need to speak to me about?"

"Your behaviour lately, Adrien." Gabriel got straight to the point. "Lately you have been repeatedly disobeying my rules, skipping out on your duties, and don't think that I haven't noticed the multiple times you've snuck out."

'You've actually been paying me enough attention to notice these things?' Adrien snarked in his head but didn't say aloud.

"And looking into your class work, you seem to have slipped on a few of your subjects." Gabriel continued.

"Only by a few percent." Adrien protested.

He knew his scores, looked at every single work sheet and test he got back. He'd shown them to Nino in disappointment, only to be told that Nino was impressed with him getting such a high score, that no teenager could realistically be expected to get 100% each time.

"That percentage matters, Adrien." Gabriel shut his son down. "The difference between a hundred percent and ninety-seven percent reflects badly on you and me."

Adrien moved a hand behind his back so that he could grip it hard without Gabriel noticing.

"And, looking at you, it has become clear that you haven't been sticking to your meal plan or sleep schedule either." Gabriel added, looking Adrien over. "Your complexion is far too pale, and you have bags under your eyes, if you're not careful, you'll break out in spots, and it'll become much harder for you to do your modelling."

"Oh no, what a shame." Adrien muttered sarcastically under his breath.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes at this.

"If you have something to say, say it clearly." He said.

"I said I was sorry that I'm apparently such a disappointment, father." Adrien fixed his father with a glare.

Gabriel returned the glare.

"This has gone on long enough." Gabriel said. "It seems as though it was a mistake to let you go to college. Your classmates must have been a terrible influence on you, since your behaviour has gotten so out of hand ever since you started going."

Adrien's eyes widened as his heart dropped to his feet.

"Father, you can't pull me out of college." He quickly protested.

"Can't I?" Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "I am your father, and I am the one who can decide where you are taught."

"Please." Adrien begged. "I'll do better, just don't take me out of college."

Being pulled out of college meant going back to being home-schooled, which meant that he wouldn't get to see his friends, and less freedom. Would his father even let him continue to go on dates with Marinette if he was forced back to how it was before?

"You will do better Adrien." Gabriel told his son. "But I know that the college is important to you." He relented slightly.

Adrien nearly dropped to the floor as he let out a sigh of relief.

"If you want to remain in college, I expect your grades to be up to par, your behaviour to improve, and absolutely no more sneaking off or shirking your duties." Gabriel gave his ultimatum. "If you do not manage to achieve this in a week, you will return to being home-schooled. Am I understood?"

"A week, that's-"

"Am I understood?" Gabriel interrupted Adrien loudly.

Adrien's nails bit into the palm of his hand behind his back.

"Yes father." He looked down as he responded.

"Good." Gabriel said. "Now, get going. It won't do for you to be tardy for your lessons."

"Yes, father." Adrien said.

Adrien left through the door, closing it behind him.

But he left it open a small gap and turned around, peering through it.

Adrien watched as Gabriel picked up the book he had been hiding and go over to the portrait of his mother that always hung in his father's office, pulling at the frame to reveal a safe behind it, putting the book in the safe before closing it.

"Why would he be hiding that book behind a painting of mum?" Adrien wondered aloud quietly.

"Beats me." Plagg flew out of Adrien's bag to get a look.

Gabriel then turned towards the door and started walking towards it.

Gasping, Adrien quickly ducked away, grabbing Plagg and pressing against the wall.

Gabriel exited his office, thankfully taking no notice of Adrien as he walked away.

"That was close." Adrien sighed.

He looked back down at his hands, only to find Plagg gone.

"Plagg?" Adrien looked around for his Kwami.

Adrien opened the door to his father's office again and found Plagg floating over to his mother's painting.

"Plagg!" Adrien went in after his Kwami.

"Ooh! I love dirty secrets." Plagg said.

Adrien pulled back the painting of his mum to reveal the safe.

"Oh, yes! Go on, go on!" Plagg encouraged eagerly.

"Plagg, father will pull me out of college for sure if he catches me here, we need to go. Besides, I don't even know the code." Adrien denied.

"You're such a party pooper." Plagg groaned.

He then phased through the safe door, unlocking it with his magic.

The safe door opened to reveal Plagg already rifling through the stuff inside.

Adrien was about to insist that they go before they were caught, only to spot the book Gabriel had just put away.

"This must be special to him if he put it away in a safe." Adrien commented as he looked at the ornate cover.

The ring on his finger burned as he tightened his grip on the book, eyes narrowing.

"I wonder how much he values it compared to me." He muttered.

Plagg wasn't listening, too busy gazing at a piece of jewellery that he felt should be familiar to him.

"Adrien, you need to get to college!" Natalie called from somewhere outside the office.

"Ah, we need to go!" Adrien said, grabbing the door of the safe to close it. "Plagg!"

Plagg snapped to attention as he saw the door closing.

"Coming." He said.

Instinctively, he grabbed the piece of jewellery and flew out as the door closed. His theft unseen by Adrien, who was too busy watching the office door as he closed the safe and painting.

Plagg flew into Adrien's bag, followed quickly by the book Adrien only just realised he still had in his hand, hiding it just before Natalie could see him with it.

"Adrien, if we don't leave now, you're going to be late." Natalie told him, raising an eyebrow at Adrien being alone in Gabriel's office.

"I was…looking for my homework. Silly me." Adrien came up with an excuse, chuckling nervously.

He quickly left for the car, eager to get out of the situation before questions could be asked.

Like usual, Adrien made it to classes on time, giving Marinette a smile as he slipped into his seat.

The morning class continued normally, Ms Bustier going over the subject of creative writing, giving different examples of writing styles. The class ending with her assigning a short story for them all to read and analyse for the next lesson.

"I'm going to look for the book in the library." Adrien declared as the class was dismissed for break. "Are you going to come?" He turned to Marinette.

"Well, I would come, but…" Marinette trailed off.

"Marinette forgot her bag at Sanctuaire de la Dame when she was visiting Mr Chan this morning." Alya revealed for her friend. "And because of her absentmindedness, we have to spend break going to retrieve it."

"You don't have to come with me." Marinette rolled her eyes.

"But that's what friends are for." Alya said. "Besides, someone has to laugh at your forgetfulness."

"Yeah, you're a real friend, Alya." Marinette said with a hint of sarcasm.

"I'll see you in science then." Adrien said as they went their separate ways.

Adrien made his way to the library, quickly finding the required book, settling down at one of the tables to wait out the rest of break.

When his bag made a heavier thunk than usual as he dropped it to the floor, Adrien suddenly remembered the book he had taken from his father's safe.

"Ow, kid." Plagg grunted as he floated out of Adrien's bag. "Remember who's in there before you go dropping it with a heavy book inside."

"Sorry." Adrien apologised.

He grabbed the spine of the book and pulled it out.

Unseen by Adrien or Plagg, the piece of jewellery that the Kwami had taken from Gabriel's safe came out of the bag with the book, falling out and skittering under the table out of view.

Adrien put the book on the desk in front of him and opened it to a random page, eyes widening as he looked at the figure drawn on the page.

"Belle Aube?" He questioned.

It obviously wasn't Belle Aube in the drawing, as the figure has a completely different outfit and hair colour. The only thing that made them similar was the theme of ladybugs, and the drawing of a certain Miraculous next to her.

Adrien flipped to another page, this time coming across a Volpina look-alike with a drawing of the Fox Miraculous next to her.

"Is this what I think it is?" Adrien asked aloud as he flipped through more pages of the book, eventually landing on a page showing off a man dressed like a cat.

Adrien put his hand on the page showing the drawing of the Cat Miraculous, comparing it with the real thing on his finger.

"Maybe." Plagg said. "But I have no idea. What is it?"

"It's a book all about the Miraculous." Adrien said.

"Oh, right." Plagg said.

"Why would my father have this?" Adrien questioned.

"Beats me." Plagg shrugged. "Maybe he's Lady Nymph."

Adrien shuddered at the thought. "I don't think a Miraculous can change your gender and physicality." He said. "And father is the farthest thing from the 'Mother of Paris'."

Adrien looked through the book, having absolutely no clue as to what the writing next to the drawings said.

"I wonder is Master Xue would be able to translate this." He wondered. "I should take it to her to see what she'll think."

"Why would she be interested in some old book?" Plagg said dismissively. "Though, she'll likely be proud of you being a villain and stealing it from your father."

This caused Adrien to pause.

"I didn't mean to take it." He defended weakly. "I should take this back to father, before he notices it missing. But Master Xue would want to see it as well."

Adrien dropped his head into his hands as he tried to figure out what to do with the book, pulling slightly at his hair.

"Pulling your hair out isn't going to make you any smarter."

Adrien's head shot up at the sound of that dreaded voice, grabbing the book and slamming it closed on reflex.

"What do you want?" Adrien turned to face Lila.

"What you got there?" Adrien's actions only served to make Lila interested in the book.

"Nothing." Adrien said, quickly putting the book away in his bag.

"Nothing sure looks like a book." Lila raised an eyebrow.

"It's something important of my fathers, which I want to get back to him, and I don't trust you anywhere near it." Adrien said honestly.

"You don't trust me?" Lila turned to crocodile tears. "I'm so hurt. I'm the most trustworthy girl around."

"Yeah, I'll believe that when Lady Nymph herself shows up to willingly hand over her Miraculous with a smile."

Adrien picked up his bag and walked to one of the library shelves.

Lila quickly dried up her crocodile tears, as if they were never there in the first place.

She opened her jacket and whispered something into it, an orange shape shooting out before Lila let her jacket fall closed and she went after Adrien.

"What are you doing?" Lila went to the opposite side of the shelf Adrien was at.

"Getting reading material." Adrien answered, regarding Lila with annoyance.

"Cool, me too." Lila said. "But I need a book that's up there." She pointed to a book on the very top shelf. "And I'm way too short to get it. Do you think you can help me out?"

"No." Adrien answered plainly.

Lila pouted. "Why are you bullying me? I only asked for your help." She whined.

"Because I know you'll try something." Adrien answered.

"You're way too suspicious." Lila waved off. "But if it'll make you feel better, I'll stay right here while you get the book. Or do you want Master Xue to hear about how you're not working with me? She'd be so disappointed."

Adrien growled as Lila used Master Xue against him.

"Fine, I'll get your stupid book." He said. "But stay right where you are."

Lila held up her hands in surrender.

"I said I would." She said.

Adrien reached up towards the book Lila wanted but found it out of his reach, and the bag weighing him down on one side wasn't helping him either.

Shooting a glare at Lila to make sure she was staying on the other side of the shelves, Adrien placed his bag down by his feet and reached up again, his fingers just brushing the book this time. After a few more attempts at reaching and some jumps, Adrien finally got a hold of the book.

Looking back at Lila, she was still on the other side of the shelves.

Narrowing his eyes distrustfully, Adrien picked up his bag and secured it at his side, going around the shelves and handing Lila her book.

"There." He said. "I'm going back to class."

He continued walking, leaving out the library door as Lila waved after him.

"Oh, Adrien." She said. "You were right to distrust me."

She put the book she was given on a random shelf and walked over to a more secluded area of the library.

"Did you get it?" She asked.

"Yeah, I did."

Trixx came floating into view, carrying Adrien's book, having taken it while Lila had distracted Adrien.

"I don't appreciate you forcing me to steal." Trixx frowned, internally cursing that Kwamis couldn't disobey the orders of their wielders.

"Save the lecture." Lila dismissed.

She took the book from Trixx and looked the cover old.

"Looks old." She said. "I bet it's valuable."

"Adrien said that it's his fathers, you should return it to him." Trixx suggested.

He knew exactly what the book was, and he did not want Lila to realise what it was and take it to Master Xue.

"I could take it to his father claiming that Adrien had lost it and that I'm returning it, that would get me in Gabriel Agreste's good graces, get me an in with him." Lila mulled the prospect over. "But I don't know the exact value of this book and it could end up giving me nothing. However, Adrien's father is likely to be mad at him if this book was lost and never found, no matter the value, given what I've heard about his father."

"I don't think Master Xue would be happy about you getting Adrien in trouble, especially in a way that could affect Adrien's ability to be Catastrophe." Trixx said.

"Master Xue wouldn't find out. Things become so easily lost in a school after all, why would I have anything to do with it?" Lila said.

Trixx watched with a wince as Lila walked over to the paper recycling and dumped it inside with a satisfied smile.

'Well, at least she won't be taking it to Xue Ying." The Kwami thought. 'I just have to hope someone notices it when they tip out the bin.'

With her job done, Lila walked happily out of the library, Trixx forced to follow her.

"Agh, all the books were taken out." Nathaniel lamented as he looked at the empty area on the shelf.

"You can probably find the book online." Marc suggested. "Your teacher wouldn't set a reading task if you couldn't find the material for free."

They were gazing at one of Nathaniel's latest drawings, trying to find the right words to put alongside it.

"Yeah, but that requires effort." Nathaniel joked as he flopped down in the seat next to Marc.

"Effort that you'd much rather spend on your art?" Marc teased.

"Of course. I mean, I'm almost done on that commission for Chloe's girlfriend." Nathaniel replied.

He swung his legs around in his chair to sit properly, only for his foot to hit something.

Ducking his head under the table, he looked for what his foot hit, coming back up with a piece of jewellery.

"What's that?" Marc asked.

"I don't know, it was under the table." Nathaniel said, looking the object over.

It was a broach, with a jewelled blue and green peacock design on the front.

"Looks kind of valuable." Marc noted.

"Yeah." Nathaniel agreed. "I guess someone lost it. I don't know who though."

"You'll have to turn it into lost and found." Marc told their friend.

Nathaniel nodded his head. "I'll have to do it at lunch though, I don't have time to go there before class." He said.

"Ah, I forgot the time again." Marc stood up abruptly, packing away their things.

Nathaniel smiled at his friend, putting the jewelled peacock in his bag with the intention of taking it to the lost and found later.

The two of them then went their separate ways for class.

After break, it was science, learning about chemicals. For once, the lesson seemed to pass by rather quickly, then it was time for lunch.

"Remember class, you have a paper due first thing tomorrow." Ms Mendeleiev said sternly.

"Ah." Nathaniel stood up straight.

He had completely forgotten about their science homework, and he knew Ms Mendeleive wouldn't take kindly to him not handing in his homework again.

He quickly ran out of the classroom and back to the library, mind on getting his homework done as soon as possible, completely forgetting about anything he planned to do during lunch.

Alya followed after him at a slower place, also needing to go to the library.

"Okay, the books should be over here." Alya read the library directions of where the different books were, going over to the books on web design.

Alya picked up one of the books.

"One of them should help me improve the layout of the Kaleidoscoop." Alya said to herself, flicking through the book before putting it back.

As she put it back, she managed to knock a different book off the shelf, which landed in the paper recycling below.

"Well, that's a stupid place to put the recycling." Alya said.

She stuck her arm into the paper bin, fishing around for the book that had fallen in, only to pull a completely different book out of the bin.

"I guess I wasn't the first to knock a book in here." Alya said.

She quickly retrieved the correct book from the bin and set it on the shelf before turning her attention back to the first book, looking it over.

"This doesn't look like it belongs on that shelf." She said.

Opening the book, she looked through the pages to see what it was about.

"Woah." Alya's eyes widened as she took in all the different drawings.

She gasped as she found the drawing of a woman wearing the Ladybug Miraculous, then another with a man wearing Cat Miraculous.

"A book of heroes and villains?" Alya looked at the book in awe. "What's it doing here of all places?"

Reading through the book further, she found Miraculous she had never even seen before.

"This is huge." Alya breathed. "I need to do research."

She blew out of the library, mind no longer on fixing her blog layout.

Xue Ying sat in her living room, happily enjoying a cup of tea.

Her calm was interrupted by Adrien bursting through her front door, dragging a resisting Lila along with him.

"Let go, you're bruising my arm!" Lila struggled against Adrien's grip.

"You're lucky a bruise is all you get." Adrien replied angrily.

"Children. Children." Xue Ying interrupted, getting up and going over to them. "What's going on.

"Adrien's hurting me!" "Lila stole my book!" The teens said at the same time.

"One at a time." Xue Ying reiterated. "Adrien, you said something about stealing."

"Lila stole my father's book from me." Adrien told Xue Ying.

"I did not." Lila said defensively. "Don't blame me just because you lost it."

"You were the only one who knew about that book." Adrien argued back. "And there was another book in its place, as if to stop me noticing that its weight was gone."

"It still could have been anyone who did it. You saw me, I never went near your book." Lila responded.

"Children!" Xue Ying stopped the argument.

Adrien and Lila snapped their mouths shut but continued glaring at each other.

"Adrien, I understand you are upset, but we need to remain calm." Xue Ying forced.

"But Master Xue, I need that book." Adrien begged. "It's my father's, if he found out I lost it, he could put me back in home-schooling and take me away from my friends."

"I see." Xue Ying sighed. "Have you tried looking for it?"

"I have, I looked all through the library. But it's obvious that someone-" He glared harder at Lila. "Took it and replaced it with a random book in my bag. So, only they know where it is." He continued to look pointedly at Lila, who ignored him.

Xue Ying hummed and looked at Lila.

It was obvious that from the way Lila held herself and refused to look directly at Xue Ying that she was guilty. However, she needed to handle this situation carefully, and calling Lila out on her behaviour could make the girl loose trust in her, but not helping Adrien could do the same despite her corruption controlling him.

"Adrien, what was the book called?" Xue Ying asked. "I can buy you a replacement to take back to your father."

The idea seemed like a good compromise. Adrien wouldn't get in trouble with his father, and Lila would still see Xue Ying as on her side.

But Adrien didn't look happy or relieved at the idea.

"I don't think you'd be able to find a copy, Master Xue." Adrien looked down. "It was a book on the Miraculous."

If Xue Ying was holding something, she knew that she would have dropped it.

"What?" She asked lowly.

"It was this book that had all these drawings of people wearing Miraculous, it had mine, Lady Nymph's Belle Aube's, and others that I've never seen." Adrien explained.

Xue Ying put her hands on Adrien's shoulders to make him look at her.

"Adrien, what specifically did this book look like?" She asked.

"Uh, it was a brown hardback, with some sort of Chinese symbol on the cover. Though, the text inside didn't look Chinese." Adrien said.

"The Grimoire." Xue Ying said as she dropped her hands from Adrien's shoulders.

She was silent for a few seconds, then she swung around to face Lila, intensity in her eyes.

"Where is it?" She demanded.

"What…I…but you-" Lila stammered at how quickly Xue Ying turned on her.

"Lila Rossi, where is that book?" Xue Ying repeated.

"I-I threw it away, in the library recycling." Lila said.

"You what?!" Xue Ying and Adrien exclaimed, the older much louder.

Lila cringed away from Xue Ying.

Never before had she felt so small.

"Do you have any idea the value of that book? And you just threw it away." Xue Ying demanded.

"It should still be there, it's not the end of the day, the recycling wouldn't have been emptied." Lila quickly defended.

"Well then, what are you waiting for?" Xue Ying snapped at both the teens. "Go bring me the book."

"Yes, Master Xue." Adrien and Lila said, heading for the door as quickly as they could.

"And Lila." Xue Ying called out to the girl before she could leave.

Lila stopped in the doorway to look at the woman.

"I am very disappointed in you." Xue Ying told her sternly.

Lila swallowed, holding a hand to her chest, before following Adrien towards the college.

Marinette found that today was a lazy day, where she wanted to do nothing more than watch videos after she got home from college.

So, there she was, on her chaise with Nooroo nestled next to her stomach, half watching a movie and half staying in her chat with Chloe.

'Marinette: So, what's been bothering you?'

'Chloe: What do you mean?'

'Marinette: You seemed off in class today.
Something on your mind?'

'Chloe: Nothing
Just, my mum's coming home soon'

'Marinette: Wow, you haven't seen her in a while, right?'

'Chloe: Yeah, it's been a while
Not that I'm nervous or anything
She's my mum, why would I be nervous?'

Marinette pursed her lips.

It was obvious that Chloe really was nervous about finally seeing her mum after so many years, with how she was projecting.

Not that Marinette would blame the blond. If her own mum left for New York years ago and kept minimal contact for no clear reason, she would be a mess about it too.

'Marinette: Want me to be there with you when she arrives?'

'Chloe: It's really no big deal
But a suppose I can't stop you if you insist
I'll tell you what time to be there later

Thankfully, Marinette was fluent in Chloe-speak, and knew that the last message translated out to "Oh, please, yes. Be there so I don't have to face her alone." Or something like that.

'Chloe: I've got to go, dad is wanting to talk about something'

'Marinette: Bye'

Marinette sighed and put down her phone, paying more attention to the movie in front of her.

The peace didn't last long before her phone gave her another message alert. But she didn't check immediately as the movie was just getting to a good part. So, it took a few minutes before Marinette actually checked the message.

'Alya: Hey, girl, you'll never guess what I just found
A book all about heroes and villains, including the magical jewellery they wear
The Butterfly, Ladybug, Cat, Fox, it's all here
(Image file)
I'm going to do a big report on it for the Kaleidoscoop. This is going to make my blog blow up
I'm not going to be available for a while, I need to concentrate on this'

Marinette's eyes widened as she read the deluge of messages from Alya.

"Nooroo?" Marinette roused her Kwami. "Alya's messaging me about finding a book on the Miraculous."

"What?" Nooroo quickly flew up to Marinette's phone and read the messages, startling at the picture sent.

"The Grimoire." He said.

"The what?" Marinette asked.

"It's a book that's meant to be owned by the Guardian of the Miraculous, detailing all of the Miraculous, the abilities they grant and potions that can be made." Nooroo explained. "You need to get this off your friend and get it to Master Fu."

"Right." Marinette agreed.

She quickly messaged Alya about the book before moving herself onto her wheelchair, but by the time she finished getting redressed, her message was still unread.

"I guess she was serious about going silent." Marinette frowned at her phone.

"You need to find her to get the book. It would be very bad if Catastrophe or Volpina were to find and get their hands on it." Nooroo stressed.

"Okay, I just need to track her down then." Marinette said. "She said she's going to do research, that gives the option of her house or one of the libraries. Let's go."

Nooroo quickly flew into Marinette's purse as she left.

Adrien riffled through the library's recycling but came out with no book.

"Are you sure it was this bin?" He asked Lila.

"Yes, it was this bin." Lila snapped back.

Adrien frowned.

"The bin is still full, meaning that someone must have found it in there." He said. "I'll go ask the librarian, you check lost and found."

Lila didn't argue with him, heading off in the direction of the lost and found with the hope of finding the book.

A few minutes later, they reconvened outside the library.

"Did you find it?" Adrien demanded.

Lila didn't say anything but shook her head.

"Agh!" Adrien stamped his foot.

He scratched his ring hand so much it turned red.

"Ask around, see if we can find who took it." He said.

They split again, going to other students who were still dwelling around the college and in the parks whether they had picked up the book.

"Ugh, my arms are burning." Marinette complained as she continued to push her wheelchair.

She'd checked the college library, then gone all the way to Alya's house, but found no sign of her friend.

She could only hope that Alya was at the main city library.

The only issue was that the city library was absolutely huge, with many floors. Meaning that when Marinette got there, she still had a lot of distance to search if Alya was at the library.

"Why?" Marinette moaned as she took in the size of the library.

"Alya has to be in here somewhere." Nooroo whispered from Marinette's purse.

Marinette nodded and began pushing herself down the aisles of books.

"Dude, are you alright?" Nino asked Adrien, taking in his friend's tired state.

"Nino, have you seen a book." Adrien said between breaths from how he'd been running.

"A book? You're going to have to be more specific than that." Nino said.

"It's got a red-brown cover with a Chinese-like symbol on the front, a lot of drawings inside with unreadable text." Adrien described. "I lost it and I really need to find it."

Nino hummed. "I think I know what you're talking about." He said.

"You do?" Adrien perked up hopefully.

"Yeah. Alya messaged me about finding a book like you described." Nino explained. "I don't think she knows it's yours though, or she would have come found you."

"Nino, you need to tell Alya to bring it to me." Adrien told his friend.

"I don't think it'll be able to tell her, Alya's gone radio silent to do her research on the book." Nino informed Adrien.

"What?!" Adrien exclaimed.

"Hey, calm down. You can just ask her for it tomorrow." Nino tried to placate, seeing that Adrien was starting to panic.

"You don't understand, it's…the book it my dad's. I need to get it now." Adrien stressed.

"Right, well-" Nino tried to think. "You might be able to find Alya at the library, if she's serious about doing research. That place has a good section of books on ancient China."

"Library, got it. Thanks, Nino!" Adrien was already running as he called back to his friend.

As Adrien ran, he passed Lila.

"Alya has the book. Library." Adrien told her as he ran past, not stopping to see if Lila was following.

…

Marinette groaned from the top floor of the library, having come up empty handed.

"You could have passed her without realising." Nooroo whispered from her purse.

"I know." Marinette agreed. "I'll have to do another sweep of the library to make sure." She groaned again. "This would be so much easier if I could walk."

She peaked over the railing of the top floor, looking down the gap that led to the ground floor, eyes widening as she finally spotted Alya by one of the huge library printers.

"There she is." Marinette said.

She quickly pushed herself towards the lift to get herself back down to the ground floor.

…

Adrien was breathing heavily as he entered the public library, taking a few seconds to pause and catch his breath, allowing Lila to catch up to him.

Lila was in much worse shape than Adrien, not as used to doing physical activities outside of her Miraculous-form granting enhanced agility.

As Adrien scanned the ground floor of the library, his eyes latched onto Alya by the huge printers and he let out a sigh of relief.

"Just stay back." Adrien turned to Lila. "I don't want you ruining this further."

Lila pursed her lips and frowned at his comment but didn't say anything and stayed put as Adrien went over to Alya.

…

Marinette rubbed her sore hands as the lift finally let her out on the ground floor.

In her rush to leave her home and find Alya, she's forgotten her gloves, leaving her with no barrier between her skin and her wheels as she'd been pushing herself along.

"Maybe it would have been better to come in my electric wheelchair for this." Marinette mumbled to herself.

Marinette pushed herself out of the lift and over to where she'd last seen Alya, only to find someone blocking her way.

It was Lila.

"Hey, Lila, do you mind moving?" Marinette asked as nicely as she could.

"What? Oh." Lila took notice of Marinette. "Sorry."

Lila made to move, but then stopped.

"Marinette, can I talk to you about something?" She asked.

"Lila, I would totally talk to you, but I really need to talk to Alya." Marinette pointed over to Alya.

Lila looked over to Alya and frowned, before turning back to face Marinette.

"Please, I need someone to talk to." Lila asked. "Alya looks like she'll be busy by the printer for a while."

Marinette sighed and looked over to Alya again.

Her friend did look busy and like she'd be there a while, so she could spare a few minutes, as long as Marinette caught Alya before she left.

"Alright, just for a few minutes." Marinette relented.

Lila looked relieved.

"So, I may have upset someone." Lila began.

…

"Alya."

Said girl jumped at the sudden voice.

"Adrien." Alya turned to face the male.

"Alya, I think you have my book." Adrien said.

Alya startled. "What?"

"Look, I took a book from my father this morning, lost it in the college library during break, and Nino said that you found it." Adrien quickly exclaimed.

"Wait, this is your book?" Alya held up the book she was holding.

Adrien let out a huge sigh of relief, feeling the weight drop from his shoulders.

"Yes, that's the book." He said.

"I found it in the recycling and didn't know who it belonged to. If I'd known it was yours…" Alya said.

"Yeah, Lila thought it'd be funny to take it from me without me knowing and dump it in the recycling." Adrien explained.

Alya gasped. "That is messed up." She said.

"Tell me about it." Adrien said. "So, can I have it back?"

Adrien held out his hands to take the book.

At this, Alya paused, looking at the book in her hands.

"Can't I keep it for a while? It has so much stuff I want to look into." She asked.

"Sorry, but I really need to get it back to my father, before he gets mad. I'm sort of on thin ice with him at the moment." Adrien denied.

"Oh." Alya said. "I don't want you to get in trouble."

And so, reluctantly, she handed the book over to Adrien, who hugged it to his chest.

"Thanks, Alya. You're a real hero." Adrien said genuinely.

"You're welcome." Alya said.

…

"So, let them know that I'm really sorry, maybe make them a gift to show how sorry I am?" Lila reiterated what Marinette told her.

"It's worth a shot." Marinette shrugged. "But you can't force them to forgive you. If you did something to betray their trust, then you have to work to earn it back, but not expect to be forgiven in the end."

"Okay. Thanks, Marinette." Lila smiled, her mind already twisting the advice to better suit herself.

She then spotted Adrien leaving, a certain book held in his arms.

"I've got to go now, bye." Lila waved leaving.

Marinette sighed in relief now that Lila was gone, resuming her journey towards Alya, who was now leaving the printers.

Thankfully, Marinette managed to intercept Alya before she left.

"Alya, I need to talk to you." Marinette called to her friend in a volume that was still suitable for a library.

"Oh, Marinette." Alya said.

"Alya, that book you found, I need it-" Marinette cut herself off, realising that she hadn't come up with a reason as to why Alya needed to give her the Miraculous book.

"Oh, you wanted to see the book?" Alya realised. "Sorry, but I just gave it back to Adrien."

"What!" Marinette exclaimed, earning her some dirty glares from the other people in the library.

"Inside voice, girl." Alya reminded.

"Alya, why did you give Adrien the book?" Marinette questioned quietly.

"Because it turns out it was his." Alya explained. "Well, more like it was his father's."

"Oh." Marinette said.

"Yeah, apparently he would get in trouble if he didn't get it back to his father pronto, so I had to give it back to him." Alya elaborated.

"Right." Marinette hung her head.

The book was with her boyfriend, but she couldn't realistically ask him for it if it actually belonged to his father and he'd get in trouble if he gave it to her.

Marinette slumped back in her wheelchair, realising that her race to find Alya had been for nothing.

"You alright?" Alya asked.

"I'm fine." Marinette waved off. "Though, I guess you won't be doing that report on that book now."

"Oh, I still intend to do it." Alya said confidently.

"But you don't have the book anymore." Marinette said, confused.

"I don't have the physical book, no." Alya said. "But I managed to scan a lot of it before Adrien came asking for it, not all of it but enough for a substantial report."

Alya held up a memory stick, containing all the scanned images she'd taken of the book.

Marinette's heart leapt, realising that she could still have something to take to Fu.

"Can I have a copy of those?" Marinette asked her friend.

"You're not planning on doing your own report, are you?" Alya asked jokingly.

"No, I just wanted to use them for art inspiration." Marinette quickly came up with an excuse.

"Well, I guess I can send you a copy of them when I get home then." Alya said.

"Thank you." Marinette said.

"Though, you better not publish your designs until I do my report." Alya said in another joking tone.

"Uh, about that." Marinette said unsurely. "Are you sure doing a public report of this is a good idea?"

"Of course it is, the world deserves to know what I found." Alya said.

"But anyone can read your blog, including Catastrophe and Volpina. They could find out information that could give them an advantage over the heroes." Marinette explained.

"Ah, I hadn't thought about that." Alya drooped.

"Yeah, I just thought I'd tell you before you went and made a mistake." Marinette said.

"Aw, and I was really looking forward to doing this." Alya pouted. "But I can't risk giving the villains information."

"You're doing the right thing, Alya." Marinette assured.

"I suppose." Alya groaned. "Well, it won't stop me from doing the research though. I may not be able to release it to the public, but I still want to know."

Marinette sweat dropped at her friend's determination.

Unlike all the other times, entering Xue Ying's house felt like Adrien and Lila were walking into a lion's cave, where their survival hinged on whether they'd brought enough meat to placate the beast.

Xue Ying herself sat in her usual chair, watching them.

"Well?" She asked.

Adrien walked over to Xue Ying, presenting her with the book.

Xue Ying's eyes widened with glee as she took the book from Adrien, grin widening as she flicked through the pages.

"Yes." She hissed happily. "This is it."

Xue Ying stood up, hugging Adrien.

"You did such a good job today. I am so proud of you." She told the boy.

Adrien felt warmth his chest at her words, something to foreign to him.

"And Lila." Xue Ying turned to face Lila, who still stood near the door. "I suppose you've redeemed yourself. I'll forget that what you did today ever happened, as long as you don't do it again."

"Yes, Master Xue." Lila said.

Xue Ying sat back down, looking more in-depth at the pages of the book.

"You may leave, children." She said. "I'll be reading this for some time."

"Uh, Master Xue." Adrien interjected. "What about my father?"

"What about him?" Xue Ying asked.

"I took that book from my father, he'll notice it missing if I don't get it back to him. So, can I get it back soon?" Adrien said.

"I'm afraid that I won't be giving this back." Xue Ying told Adrien.

"But…" The warmth in Adrien's chest disappeared.

"Adrien." Xue Ying set the book to the side and stood up to address him. "This book does not belong to your father. It is rightfully the property of the Guardian of the Miraculous, which is me. It was stolen by your father, incidental or not, and now has been returned to where it belongs. Understand that it was not your father's to begin with, and so will not be going back to him."

"But he'll notice it missing. I'll get in trouble." Adrien said.

Xue Ying put a hand under Adrien's chin.

"Adrien, you returned stolen property, you should not get in trouble for that. If your father finds out, merely tell him that you returned it to its rightful owner and he should not have had it to begin with. I can even come and see him, to sort things out, if needed." Xue Ying looked into Adrien's eyes.

Adrien sighed. "Thank you, Master Xue." He said.

"Good." Xue Ying said. "Now, go home. You look exhausted."

"Yes, Master Xue." Adrien said.

Steeling himself, Adrien left Xue Ying's house without the Miraculous book.

Lila had already left at some point during Xue Ying talking to him.

With both teens gone from her house, Xue Ying settled back down into her chair and began going through the book.

"Such old text." Xue Ying mused, guiding her fingers over the writing. "I'll have to draw on my old training to understand this."

Chapter Text

"Everyone seems to be very excited today." Nooroo commented as Marinette travelled down the street.

"Of course they're excited, it's the music festival." Marinette said. "A lot of big names are going to be playing. Not to mention all the smaller bands hoping to get their start by setting up their own gigs. Rose hasn't been able to stop talking about it."

"Ah, yes. Kitty Section." Nooroo remembered. "The band your boyfriend is in."

Marinette blushed slightly. "Yes, the band my boyfriend is in." She said. "Juleka said that the band will be setting up at her houseboat."

"This isn't the way to where their boat is docked, though." Nooroo noticed. "Aren't you going to be there to support Adrien?"

"I am. But I need to make sure that Nino's all set up first." Marinette said.

Marinette pushed herself along to the gates of Sanctuaire de la Dame, where Nino was setting up his turn tables, sound mixer and other various DJ equipment next to some large speakers.

"Marinette!" Nino called out happily when he saw her.

"Hey, Nino." Marinette greeted. "Any issues?"

"None so far, dudette." Nino said. "I can't thank you enough for allowing me to set up here, it's primo location."

"You've thanked me, like, six times by now. It's fine." Marinette waved off. "I couldn't leave you with nowhere to perform."

While Kitty Section had the Couffaine houseboat to perform on, Nino didn't have the similar option of performing out of his home, and everywhere that could serve as a location to play had already been taken up by other aspiring bands. So, he'd resigned to just helping Kitty Section with their performance until Marinette had offered Sanctuaire de la Dame for a location for him to play.

Marinette then took notice of the speakers Nino was using.

"You get some new speakers? They look more professional than your usual ones." She asked.

"Oh, those." Nino looked at the speakers. "Well, you know Casey, the one who runs the art shop? Turns out that her dad was a DJ as well, like a proper legit one, with all the equipment, and she let me rent them off her for a super low price."

"That's nice of her." Marinette said.

"She did say that if I damage any of her dad's equipment, I'll be paying her back for the next year, though." Nino added.

"Ah." Marinette said. "So, what will you be playing for the people?"

"Just some freewave stuff, following a basic tune and just adding to it as I go, see what mood strikes me." Nino explained. "I have a lot a instruments that I can add to my disks, pre-recorded instruments and all that." Nino patted his equipment. "I just hope I remember what's what. It'd be pretty embarrassing to intend for a guitar only to get a violin."

"I'm sure you'll do great Nino." Marinette said. "I wish I could stay to hear it."

"I understand, you've got to be there for my man as he plays with the competition." Nino joked.

"Yeah, well, since you're all set up and won't have any issues on my end, I better set off if I want to reach Kitty Section in time." Marinette said.

"Sure." Nino gave a thumbs up.

However, Marinette was stopped from pushing away by her phone ringing.

"Hello?" Marinette answered.

"Marinette, do you know where Adrien is?" Luka asked from the other end.

"Adrien? No." Marinette said, confused. "Has he not arrived yet."

"No. And he's not responding to any of our messages. We'll have to start without him if he doesn't arrive soon." Luka answered.

"Uh, hold on a second." Marinette pulled the phone away from her ear and turned to Nino. "Nino, would you happen to know where Adrien is?"

"Last I checked, he'd be with Kitty Section." Nino answered. "Other than that, I don't know where he'd be."

Marinette frowned and hummed.

"I'll go to Adrien's house and check there." She told Luka through her phone.

"Alright. Please hurry. Bye." Luka said before they both hung up.

"It seems Adrien hasn't arrived at the boat yet." Marinette told Nino.

"Bummer. Do you want me to help find him?" Nino asked.

Marinette shook her head.

"You stay and look after your stuff. If I'm lucky, he'll be at his house." She said.

Marinette then began to push herself towards the Agreste mansion.

The image on the screen showed Adrien pulling back the portrait of his mother, then opening the safe behind it, taking out the Miraculous Grimoire and putting it in his bag.

Adrien looked away from the actions of his on-screen self.

"Why did you take the book?" Gabriel asked Adrien.

"I…I just wanted to know what you were hiding behind that portrait that was so important that you hid it from me. You…you never tell me anything, show me anything, just keep me in the dark about everything to do with you and mum. I was going to give the book back, but then…I found the person I really belonged to and had to give it back to them." Adrien explained.

"You gave my book away?" Gabriel regarded Adrien coldly.

"I…I had to. This woman I know, she explained that it actually belonged to her, and taking it back to you would be stealing from her. I can give you her number so that she can explain things." Adrien said, putting a slip of paper with a number on it on Gabriel's desk.

"A woman? Someone I don't think I know or approved your interaction with. How do you know she's safe, or was telling the truth about the book?" Gabriel asked.

"She is safe! She wouldn't hurt me!" Adrien leapt to Xue Ying's defence.

"Or she's just been manipulating you this entire time."

Gabriel's words pulled at something inside Adrien, and he didn't like how it felt.

"She wouldn't do that." Adrien insisted.

"That is for me to decide." Gabriel said. "Or rather, for the police to decide."

"You can't call the police on her!" Adrien cried.

"She is an unknown woman interacting with you, an under-age teen, without my knowledge and convinced you to give her a very rare and valuable book, stealing from me." Gabriel laid out. "If she is as innocent as you claim, then the police should prove no issue to her."

"Can't you just talk to her first?" Adrien tried.

"I prefer not to interact with people like this woman." Gabriel said with finality. "But we have other matters of concern, namely the broach that you also took from the safe."

"Broach?" Adrien was surprised out of his concern for Xue Ying. "What broach?"

Gabriel raised an eyebrow.

"You don't recall seeing a jewelled peacock broach in the safe while you were stealing from me, which has since also gone missing, just like my book?"

"Well, I vaguely remember seeing it, but I didn't take it." Adrien defended himself.

"How am I to trust what you've said, when you've already broken my trust so thoroughly?" Gabriel asked.

"I didn't take the broach!" Adrien repeated louder.

"You will not raise your voice at me Adrien." Gabriel ordered.

Adrien closed his mouth and clenched his fists tight.

"As you've shown me that you cannot be trusted, you will no longer be returning to college. You will be home-schooled again and kept under strict supervision until you've shown you can behave again."

"What? You can't do that!" Adrien exclaimed.

"I can and I have." Gabriel said. "Now, you will stay here while your room is searched for the broach. Then, I will be informing the police about this woman you gave my book to. These are the consequences for your actions, Adrien, learn from them."

Gabriel then left the room.

Natalie was left with Adrien to keep an eye on him, seeing how distraught he was but remaining quiet.

Adrien took no note of her.

He just felt cold, like icy claws were gripping his head and travelling down his bones.

His father wouldn't listen.

He wasn't allowed to go to college anymore, see his friends every day, see his girlfriend every day. Maybe not ever again.

His freedom was being taken away again.

Plagg peaked out from Adrien's jacket, taking in the boy's face.

"Kid, you okay?" The Kwami whispered.

Adrien didn't seem to hear him.

The ice turned to fire.

Burning hot fire that took over his entire mind.

He couldn't let this happen.

He wouldn't let this happen.

His father didn't have any right to take his freedom from him!

"Kid, you should calm down." Plagg disregarded any idea of hiding, flying out to look Adrien directly in the eyes.

Natalie instantly took notice of him.

"Is that…" She cut herself off with a gasp, looking at Adrien.

Dark, cackling, energy was emanating from his ring, racing up his arm and striking out at the area around him. The wall and floor gaining cracks.

"Adrien?" Natalie asked cautiously.

"Claws out." Adrien said with a deep growl.

"No, that's not a good ideaaa…" Plagg yelled as he was sucked into the ring.

Natalie gasped and stepped back in shock as Adrien transformed in a large cackle of lightning that further damaged the room.

"Adrien…you're Catastrophe?" Natalie said in disbelief.

Catastrophe turned towards her.

His mask hid his eyes, but Natalie could feel the glare that pierced her soul behind it.

"I won't let you take away my freedom." Catastrophe growled.

He attacked, lunging towards Natalie with his claws out.

Natalie managed to dive out of the way just in time, tucking into a role on her landing and then raced out the door.

"Gabriel, you need to run!" Natalie yelled. "Adrien is Catastrophe!"

Marinette pushed herself up to the gate of the Agreste mansion.

"I hope he's here. I don't remember him having anything else scheduled." Marinette told Nooroo.

Nooroo didn't say anything.

"Nooroo, what's wrong." Marinette asked in concern.

"I feel something, something bad." Nooroo said.

"What?" Marinette asked.

"I don't know. But it's really close." Nooroo said.

Marinette frowned but stretched up her arm to reach the buzzer next to the gate.

She waited for a minute, but nothing happened. No robotic eye coming out to check who rang.

Marinette frowned and rang again.

After a few seconds, Marinette finally got a response, but it was from the front door of the Agreste mansion rather than the robotic eye.

Marinette's head snapped to attention as Gabriel Agreste's assistant and Adrien's bodyguard came running out the mansion, heading towards the gates as they opened.

"Uh, what's going on?" She questioned.

She got her answer in the form of Catastrophe cutting down the entrance to the Agreste mansion from the inside.

"That's right, run! Don't interfere, just like you always do!" Catastrophe snarled.

Natalie and Adrien's bodyguard ran past Marinette, but then the bodyguard turned around and picked up Marinette's entire wheelchair with her inside it, carrying her away from the battle site.

"Uh, thank you." Marinette said to the bodyguard as she was set down a safe distance.

The bodyguard grunted in response.

"Why is Catastrophe attacking the Agreste mansion? What was he talking about?" Marinette questioned Natalie. "And where's Adrien and Mr Agreste?"

"Catastrophe was offended by Mr Agreste, so is targeting him. Adrien…doesn't need to be worried about." Natalie explained.

She left out that she saw Adrien become Catastrophe, reluctant to reveal such a thing. Hoping that it could be covered up once Belle Aube and Lady Nymph's Champion drove Catastrophe off again.

"Are you sure Adrien is alright. He's still in there, isn't he?" Marinette worried.

"I'm sure Catastrophe won't hurt him. Adrien will stay out the way." Natalie lied.

"Still, with the damage Catastrophe is doing, Adrien could get hurt." Marinette said to herself.

She gripped her Miraculous, then looked back at Natalie and Adrien's bodyguard.

"I need to get going, the further away we get, the safer we'll be." Marinette said.

Nino was playing some warm-up tunes, a tiny crowd consisting of only a handful of people stopping briefly to listen to him as he played.

Then, simultaneously, their phones went off.

"Looks like another villain attack." One of the crowd said.

"Great." Another said sarcastically. "Hopefully it'll be dealt with soon, I don't want the music festival to be cancelled because of this."

"Seems Catastrophe is attacking the Agreste mansion. So, we should be a safe enough distance to not be affected, as long as the fight doesn't move." Another of the crowd said.

Nino stopped dead.

The Agreste mansion.

As in, the place where Adrien could be.

And the place where Marinette was heading.

Nino vaulted over his turntables and began running in the direction of his friend's house, giving no mind to the fact that he was leaving his stuff completely unattended.

"Please don't be there, Adrien." Nino huffed as he ran. "Please be okay."

Turning a corner, he almost ran headfirst into Marinette, who was pushing herself along as fast as she could.

"Marinette, you're okay." Nino said happily. "Catastrophe's attacking Adrien's house."

"I know. I just came from there." Marinette said.

"What about Adrien?" Nino asked, not seeing his friend with her.

"I don't know. But I'm sure the heroes can protect him." Marinette assured.

"I'm sure they can. But I'm going to check, he could need help while the heroes are fighting. You go back to your place." Nino told Marinette, racing past her.

Marinette watched him go and nodded to herself, realising that she knew what to do.

She continued pushing herself along as fast as she could, reaching Sanctuaire de la Dame in record time.

"Hmm." Marinette hummed as she passed Nino's abandoned equipment as she entered the garden.

She pushed herself into the building, finally coming to a stop, her butterflies coming in from outside to gather around her.

"Nooroo, Wings Rise!" Marinette called out.

With a wave of butterflies, Lady Nymph sat on her throne.

"I'm assuming there's another villain attack." Fu came out of his room.

Lady Nymph nodded.

"And Adrien's caught in the crossfire this time." She said.

She closed her eyes to concentrate, but then opened them again.

"By the way, could you keep an eye on Nino's stuff outside? He's a bit too busy to do it himself." Lady Nymph asked.

"Of course." Fu said in understanding, leaving.

Marinette closed her eyes, searching for a certain light. Finding first, a darkness.

"Catastrophe, he's so full of hate and anger." Lady Nymph clutched her chest. "It hurts."

Lady Nymph shook her head.

"Concentrate, Marinette." She said.

She searched again, finding the light also at the Agreste Mansion.

Opening her eyes, Lady Nymph held out her finger for one of her butterflies to land on, bringing it up to her lips and transferring her magic before releasing it.

"Go, my Tiānshǐ, and help him." Lady Nymph said to it as it flew away.

Gabriel Agreste found himself in a state of shock as he hid behind a wall.

"Come out father, we need to talk." Catastrophe punctuated his words by destroying more of the room with his claw blades.

Gabriel's son was Catastrophe.

He was the father of the villain who had been terrorising Paris for months.

"Adrien, please calm down." Gabriel tried to deescalate the situation. "If you de-transform, we can forget this ever happened."

"Oh, you'd just love that, wouldn't you?" Catastrophe attacked the wall, forcing Gabriel to run. "To hide your mistakes, to forget about your son!"

"I'll let you go back to college." Gabriel tried to bargain.

"It's too late for that!" Catastrophe snarled, destroying more of the building. "There are so many ways you control me, make me your doll that you don't actually care for! Well, I'm taking charge of myself now!"

Catastrophe backed Gabriel against the wall, raising his claws up high to bring down on his father's head.

Just as Catastrophe swung down, a yoyo wrapped around Gabriel's waist and yanked the older man out of the way.

"I know you've got bad fashion sense, but you don't have to take it out on a fashion designer." Belle Aube said as she detangled Gabriel from her yoyo, directing the older man towards the remains of the front door.

"Get out of my way Belle Aube, my business is with him, not you." Catastrophe growled.

Belle Aube raised her eyebrows in surprise.

Usually, the villains quickly lost interest in their hostage/target once she arrived, since the attacks were just to draw her out.

"Well, your business is with me now." Belle Aube said. "Because I don't much appreciate you destroying this house."

"What do you care?" Catastrophe scoffed. "He's just an emotionless old man who cares more about his reputation than his own son."

Belle Aube looked over her shoulder at Gabriel as he retreated, frowning slightly.

"Yeah, I'm not going to deny that." Belle Aube admitted. "But I'm still not going to let you kill him."

"Then you're in my way." Catastrophe attacked.

While Belle Aube kept Catastrophe busy, Gabriel finally managed to emerge from his house, coughing up the dust that had been kicked up.

He could see the police gathering just beyond his gates.

Before he could move towards them, he spotted a Tiānshǐ flying towards him.

"Yes." Gabriel said.

With Lady Nymph empowering him, he could save his son from being Catastrophe, take the ring and hide the fact that his son had ever been a villain for the sake of them both.

Gabriel turned to the Tiānshǐ, ready to accept its power…

Only for it to fly right passed him.

"What?"

Gabriel turned around and watched as the Tiānshǐ fluttered over Nino.

Even though Gabriel was right there, wanting to save Adrien, knowing what needed to be done, Lady Nymph didn't choose him. Like she didn't trust him to save his own son.

Nino futilely tried to make his way passed the police, but wasn't allowed to try and find his friend, told to leave it to the professionals.

But then, the Tiānshǐ sank into his headphones.

Nino's vision was enveloped in white as the visage of Lady Nymph appeared before him with her comforting smile.

"You fear for your friend and want to help him? Then allow me to help you. With your music as your weapon, you shall stop Catastrophe and bring his Miraculous to me. Do you accept?" Lady Nymph asked Nino.

"I will save Adrien, my lady." Nino vowed.

Purple light spilled from his headphones, enveloping him in a purple cocoon.

When the newest Champion emerged, he was dressed in a hooded bodysuit, with speakers covering his arms and legs, mini turntables at his waist, a mini sound-mixer as his belt, and a metal helmet completely enveloping his head, a screen on the front in the shape of a butterfly.

The Champion put his hands to the record disks at his hips and span them, starting up the music that came from his speakers, he then held his arms out in front of him as the music formed into light that travelled out of the speakers and formed a ramp over the wall to the Agreste mansion. He then ran up the light, showing that it was a physical construct, and ran into the mansion, his sonic construct disappearing behind him.

As the Champion entered the mansion, he spotted Catastrophe leaping at Belle Aube, so he quickly turned one of the knobs and pushed a slider on his belt, changing the music, and threw his arm out, the sonic construct created slamming into Catastrophe and knocking him away.

"Freewaver is in the house and here to save the day." The Champion said, his voice synthesised by his helmet, soundwaves going across the screen as he spoke.

"About time you got here." Belle Aube said. "Catastrophe seems to be the only one here, I don't know where Volpina is."

"Right." Freewaver said. "What about my friend, Adrien? Have you seen him in here anywhere?"

Belle Aube shook her head.

"I haven't seen him. If we're lucky, he escaped before the attack." She said.

"Okay. Let's concentrate on taking Catastrophe down while Volpina is still out of the picture." Freewaver said.

With two on one, the hero side was able to cope much better against Catastrophe than they usually did. Belle Aube using her yoyo to get in strikes against the villain while Freewaver mostly created sonic constructs to block Catastrophe's own attacks and change the battlefield to their liking.

"You may as well just give up now, save yourself from any more embarrassment." Belle Aube taunted, grinning at Catastrophe's state.

Said villain was panting heavily and holding himself lowly.

"Never!" Catastrophe roared. "Cataclysm!"

Catastrophe punched his arm into the floor of the mansion, the decay quickly spreading throughout the entire building.

"Cataclysm has never spread this far before." Lady Nymph noted to Freewaver. "Be careful, he's going to bring the entire place down!"

Freewaver changed his music and sped up his disks, running over to Belle Aube and raising his arms above them, his sonic constructs creating a dome over them just before the entire ceiling caved in on them.

Outside, the police and gathered crowd watched in horror as the Agreste mansion turned to rubble and fell in on itself.

"Belle Aube and Lady Nymph's Champion are still in there!"

"Would they be able to survive?"

"Maybe the Champion has a power that saved them."

The crowd worried.

Gabriel Agreste could only stare at the remnants of his house.

First there was silence.

Then there was a beat.

It was muffled at first but grew steadily louder.

The people watched as an area of the ruined mansion glowed under the rubble, pulsing stronger and stronger with the beat. Until the rubble blew away and gave way to streams of light that came from below.

Freewaver climbed out of the hole his powers made, followed closely by Belle Aube.

"They're alright!"

The crowd cheered.

Belle Aube waved for the crowd with a grin while Freewaver looked over what remained of the Agreste mansion.

"I hope Adrien wasn't hiding in his room or something." Freewaver said quietly.

"I can't believe that Catastrophe decided to be his own undoing." Belle Aube laughed. "Now we just have to wait for the firefighters to dig him out of the rubble and take his ring."

"Why would he do that though?" Freewaver questioned.

Belle Aube shrugged in response.

But then, something else began to move under the rubble.

"Oh no." Freewaver said.

A claw blade stuck up through the rubble, slashing it to smaller pieces as a very dirty Catastrophe leapt out.

"Oh, come on!" Belle Aube complained, stamping her foot.

"I'm…I'm not done yet." Catastrophe swayed where he stood.

"Uh, why don't you take a look in a broken mirror, mangey cat." Belle Aube insulted. "You can barely stand, let alone fight."

Catastrophe then took her by surprise by charging at her on all fours, too fast for her to react to. He pounced on her, taking her to the ground, snarling in her face.

"Get off her!" Freewaver ran towards them.

Catastrophe jumped off Belle Aube, kicking off Freewaver's back and sending the Champion into Belle Aube.

"He's an animal!" Belle Aube yelled as Freewaver got off her and they both climbed to their feet.

"Something's happening to him. He's not acting with a clear mind anymore, like the corruption has completely overtaken his mind." Lady Nymph said to Freewaver. "It's dangerous. But it also means that he might not have enough presence of mind to run away before he times out, you just have to outlast him."

"Okay. We just have to keep fighting until he times out." Freewaver told Belle Aube.

"Okay, that shouldn't be too hard." Belle Aube said.

It turned out to be harder than she though.

With Catastrophe as feral as he was, he was unpredictable, fast and violent.

Belle Aube couldn't even get enough time or space to summon her Lucky Charm before Catastrophe attacked her.

But the heroes were lasting, and Catastrophe wasn't giving any sign of running away.

"Ugh…" Belle Aube groaned, clutching her arm. "How much longer?"

"Just under a minute." Freewaver grunted.

The Champion was running out of music to use, Catastrophe's attacks having cut through one each of his arm and leg speakers.

Belle Aube gritted her teeth as she thought of a plan.

"How long can you make your light things?" She asked Freewaver.

"As long as my music plays." The Champion answered.

"Good." Belle Aube said. "I'll get him down there." She pointed to a spot. "Then you pin him until he times out."

"Right." Freewaver agreed.

Belle Aube leapt forward, faking Catastrophe out by tucking and rolling under him as he jumped to meet her, casting out her yoyo as he flew overhead.

The yoyo latched onto Catastrophe's ankle and pulled him to the ground, where he was pinned by Freewaver's sonic constructs, the light digging deep into the ground so that Catastrophe couldn't push it off.

Catastrophe thrashed and snarled, but the sonic construct didn't budge.

Then his ring started beeping for the last time, giving the immediate warning for the time out.

"This is it!" Belle Aube said.

Though, she had enough sense to keep an eye out for any surprise appearances from Volpina as the seconds counted down.

Overhead, a news helicopter appeared.

Five…

Four…

Catastrophe stopped struggling.

Three…

Two…

Behind his mask, his eyes cleared, and sense returned to him.

One…

But it was too late for him.

In a flash of light, Catastrophe was replaced by Adrien.

"Adrien!?" Belle Aube and Freewaver exclaimed.

Freewaver's music screeched to a halt and the sonic construct keeping Adrien pinned disappeared, though the boy made no move to get up.

"What…but…how?" Belle Aube stumbled over her words are she struggled to comprehend the identity of the villain she had been fighting.

"Dude, please say that she is just some messed up trick?" Freewaver begged.

Adrien didn't say anything.

Freewaver hoped that Lady Nymph would guide him, as he was completely at a loss from the reveal, but his lady was completely silent. The Champion could feel the shock and horror though their bond.

Belle Aube made a half-hearted move towards Adrien.

To do what, she didn't even know. But whatever the intention, she didn't get to carry it out.

"Ah!" Belle Aube exclaimed as she was hit in the back of the head.

Freewaver turned his attention from Adrien to see Volpina standing behind an unconscious Belle Aube as the hero collapsed to the ground from the blow.

"So, it seems that the cat's out of the bag." Volpina said nonchalantly. "And it's the job of the fox to clean up the mess."

She put her lips to her flute and played.

"Mirage!"

She struck the orb of light down.

Instead of a formed illusion, the area was completely enveloped in heavy orange fog, hiding everything from view.

Freewaver restarted his records and held out his speakers, using the force of the sound to dissipate the illusion.

But both Volpina and Adrien were gone when everything became clear again.

Freewaver didn't say anything to the crowd, just going over to the unconscious Belle Aube, picking her up and running off. Leaving the citizens of Paris to cope with what they just learned by themselves, along with still destroyed Agreste mansion.

"Keep watch over Belle Aube until she comes to." Lady Nymph told her Champion.

She then cut the connection with a sigh.

"Wings Down."

Marinette caught Nooroo as he popped out of her Miraculous.

"Adrien is Catastrophe." She said, still in disbelief. "He's been Catastrophe this entire time. My boyfriend has been the one terrorising Paris."

Tears began to drip down Marinette's cheeks as she began to come to terms with the knowledge.

"Remember that it isn't his fault." Nooroo tried his best to comfort. "Catastrophe, no, Adrien is under a spell of corruption. The boy you know, the boy you fell in love with, that's still the real Adrien, Catastrophe isn't him."

Marinette sniffed and wiped away her tears.

"You're right." She nodded. "And I still need to save him."

"That's the spirit." Nooroo smiled.

"Nooroo, Wings Rise!" Marinette called.

Belle Aube slowly came to.

"Oh, just a horrible nightmare." She yawned.

But then her head began to ache when she attempted to move.

"Be careful, Volpina struck you really hard to knock you out." Freewaver was at her side.

"Ah, of course it was her." Belle Aube clenched her fist.

She then loosened her grip as she remembered what she had just found out.

"It was just Volpina's illusion, right?" Belle Aube asked. "She just made Catastrophe look like Adrien to stop us from finding out his true identity."

Freewaver shook his head.

"After you were knocked out, Volpina used her Mirage to get away with Adrien. He really is Catastrophe." He said reluctantly.

Belle Aube rubbed her palms into her eyes.

Then, Lady Nymph's symbol appeared over Freewaver's face, the hero communicating with her Champion.

"Alright." Freewaver nodded as the symbol disappeared.

Freewaver helped Belle Aube to her feet before speaking to her.

"Lady Nymph says that it's time for the two of you to meet." Freewaver informed Belle Aube.

"Really?" Belle Aube's eyes widened as her jaw dropped.

"Yep." Freewaver said. "She said that my Tiānshǐ will guide you to her. Good luck."

With the parting words to both heroines, Freewaver reverted back into Nino, the Tiānshǐ flying out of his headphones and off towards Lady Nymph.

Belle Aube wasted no time in following the Tiānshǐ.

As she followed the butterfly, Belle Aube noticed that the way was familiar.

And then the Tiānshǐ flew into a very familiar building.

"Does this mean what I think it does?" Belle Aube questioned.

She swung into Sanctuaire de la Dame, though a window that had been left open for her.

And there, in the room, sat Lady Nymph, in the flesh.

"Thank you for coming, Belle Aube." Lady Nymph said as she took away the power from the Tiānshǐ that had been guiding the spotted hero. "Wings Down."

Before Belle Aube's eyes, Lady Nymph on her throne was replaced with Marinette in her wheelchair.

"Marinette!?" Belle Aube exclaimed.

How many shocking reveals was she going to get today?

"So, you know me?" Marinette asked. "I guess that makes things a bit easier. And it's alright if you don't want to reveal your identity."

"Spots Off." Belle Aube said.

With a wave of red and pink light, Belle Aube was replaced with…

"Chloe!?" Marinette exclaimed.

Chapter Text

"Marinette!"

"Chloe!"

The two friends stared at each other in shock, struggling to compute that the other was one of the heroes of Paris.

"Nooroo!"

"Tikki!"

The girls' Kwamis were under no such state of shock, flying towards each other as soon as Tikki had been released from her Miraculous, embracing happily.

"I'm so happy to see you again." Tikki cried.

"I'm happy to see you as well." Nooroo cried back.

"I was so relieved when I heard that Lady Nymph was active, because it meant you were alive, but now you're actually here." Tikki said.

"I'm glad that we're reunited too Tikki, though I wish it could be with everyone." Nooroo looked downwards.

"I wish it were that way too." Tikki agreed. "But we will get them back, then we can have a proper reunion."

As the Kwamis reunited, their wielders finally got over their shock.

"So," Chloe coughed. "You're Lady Nymph. I guess it makes sense."

"I…I, uh…" Marinette struggled with her words. "I'm so proud of you."

That threw Chloe for a loop.

"What?" She questioned.

"I mean, look at you, hero of Paris." Marinette motioned at Chloe. "Out there saving the city every day."

"Well, I had to do something with my fabulousness. It was too much not to share." Chloe waved off. "And I was born to be a hero."

Marinette smiled at her.

Then her smile dropped.

"Unfortunately, I didn't just bring you here to reveal our identities." She said.

"Yeah, I think I can work out why." Chloe said, matching Marinette's sad look.

She then shot up straight and gasped.

"Wait, you're dating…" Chloe trailed off.

Marinette nodded. "I never noticed anything, if you're wondering that." She said. "I just…I can't believe that it's Adrien."

Tikki flew over to Chloe and nudged her arm, directing her gaze at Marinette pointedly.

Chloe walked over to Marinette and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"It'll, uh, be fine." She said unsurely.

"He's corrupted and being manipulated. His actions aren't his own." Tikki continued to comfort for her wielder.

"I know." Marinette said. "It doesn't make it any easier though."

Nooroo dived into Marinette's purse and came out with a handkerchief, giving it to her.

"Thanks." Marinette said to her Kwami as she dried her eyes with it.

Marinette then sat up straight.

"Like I said, we're not just here to reveal our identities." Marinette said. "We need a plan to take down…Catastrophe once and for all and reclaim the Black Cat Miraculous. We haven't had much luck apart, but now we know his identity, and each other's, and can create a plan."

The two girls were interrupted by Fu coming through the door.

"Marinette, your friend Nino took his equipment home. Oh." Fu realised that Chloe was there. "Hello, Miss Bourgeois, I didn't see you come in."

Then, Fu saw that Nooroo and Tikki weren't hidden, and that Tikki was there in the first place.

"Master, you're alright!" Tikki cried, zooming over to him.

"Tikki." Fu said in relief. "I am glad to see you safe and sound as well. But, wait, if you're here, then…" Fu looked at Chloe in a new light. "Belle Aube." He bowed lightly.

Chloe smirked.

"It's so nice to finally get recognition." She said.

"Not that I'm not happy to see you, but why are you here?" Fu asked.

"Um, I think it's better if you see for yourself." Marinette said, bringing out her phone, not willing to explain it herself.

Using Marinette's phone, Fu watched the news report that had just come out.

"After a brutal fight of heroes and villains that levelled the Agreste mansion, Belle Aube and Lady Nymph's Champion succeed in unmasking the villain Catastrophe, revealing him to be none other than Adrien Agreste, son of the famous fashion designer, Gabriel Agreste. Unfortunately, Volpina intervened before Adrien could be taken into custody, and is presumed to now be on the run. The police have not released an official statement yet, but anyone with information about Adrien and his possible whereabouts are encouraged to come forward and speak with the proper authorities." The newscaster said alongside a video of Catastrophe being beaten and turning into Adrien.

"Oh no." Fu said. "I am so sorry, Marinette, I know he is dear to you. And you as well, Miss Bourgeois."

Chloe didn't object.

"The Agreste mansion is still destroyed? I guess Volpina knocked you out before you could use your Miraculous cure." Marinette commented as she read the constantly updating news.

"I'm afraid that it's too late now." Tikki said sadly. "The time of the attack has passed, and the magic has dispersed."

"I guess that'll make Adrien happy, he seemed very consumed in getting back at his father." Chloe noted.