Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The snow blankets the area, almost like a solid white sheet that the helicopter has to burst through to reach the landing pad. Inside, a man and a woman were looking down as the ground got steadily closer. “So… we’re here,” the woman says. “Thanks for coming with me on this Gabe.”

Gabriel takes his girlfriend's hand. “Are you kidding? I’ll go anywhere with you Emile. Besides, if you’re right about this, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!” Emile laughs, “Yeah, I hope so.” The helicopter lands, and several people approach from the camp situated around it. One of them pulls open the door for the couple to disembark. “Mr Agreste. Ms Graham De Vanily, welcome to Tibet.” she says. 

Gabriel and Emile get out of the aircraft, holding their jackets up to block the snow as they walk across the helipad. “Thank you Dr Wilton. Have our associates arrived yet?” 

“Ms Sancoeur and Ms Tsrugi arrived yesterday. They’re eager to get started.” 

Gabriel nods to the woman as he and Emile make their way through the camp. It’s sparsely populated, with just a dozen or so people milling around; members of the expedition team Emile hired to come here ahead of time and get approval to approach the ruins. As they reach the main tent, Dr Wilton pulls the flap aside for them to enter. Inside, two other women are standing around a table. One of them immediately looks up and runs over, throwing her arms around the couple. 

“Natalie!” Emile exclaims, laughing, “It’s not like I didn’t see you a few days ago!” She returns the hug regardless, as does Gabriel. Natalie eventually releases them before tying back her dark red hair. “I know… but the trip was so long. I’ve been starved of anything I know.” 

The other woman turns to them. “I’ve been here.” “Yeah, you don’t count Tomoe.” Tomoe Tsrugi lets out a chuckle and walks over, shaking Gabriel's hand. “It’s good to see you two again. How was the premiere?”

“Excellent,” Gabriel replies, “You’ll never believe it, but Andre popped the question on the red carpet.” Tomoe raises an eyebrow. “Oh?! He finally got up the courage?” Emile laughs. “Barely. You should have seen him. Audrey saw it coming a mile away. Said he was ‘utterly ridiculous’ but it was happiest I’ve ever seen her regardless.”

Tomoe lets out a rare smile. “That’s good to hear. Anyway, you’ve yet to explain why we’re out here Emile? Care to do so?”

Emile nods, “Yes, I suppose it's time.” She reaches into her coat and takes out a thick, leather-bound book, which she sets on the table as the four young adults gather around it. “It all goes back to this book. It’s been in the possession of the Graham De Vanily family for three generations. My great-grandmother found it in a shrine buried under Hadrian’s wall. The interesting part is this: its written in perfect modern English, despite the language not existing for millennia afterward.” Dr Wilton stares in shock before opening the book and beginning to parse through it. “These names… I don’t recognize any of them. Bene Eloheim… Nephilem…The Crest Union?” 

“The book appears to be a chronicle of some ancient conflict that occurred here on Earth. Forces descended on our world from others and supposedly used it as a battlefield long before humans had even evolved from apes. Something else mentioned in the book, which is the reason why we’re here, is a series of Sacred Artifacts that were left here. Notice the symbol on the cover.”

Dr Wilton takes a long look at the cover, which bears a bright red symbol.  

“A few months ago,” Gabriel continued, “I recognized that symbol somewhere else. On a statue of Joan of Arc. My girlfriend and I continued looking into it and found this symbol hidden on dozens of records, portraits, and statues everywhere. Connected to some of the most recognized people in human history. From there, we determined that this was the symbol of the Sacred Artifacts. The only record we could find about what it means led us here.” Emile looks at Dr Wilton. “What do you know about the temple near here?” 

Dr Wilton thinks it over for a second. “Some called it the Guardians' Temple. Been destroyed since the early 19th century. Before that, local records say that the residents mainly kept to themselves. You think they were hiding these Sacred Artifacts?” Gabriel and Emile give her a nod. “People have searched the ruins before. If there’s anything of note, it’s long gone.”

Tomoe steps forward. “Is there anywhere treasure might have been scattered too during the destruction of the temple?” Wilton thinks again, “Well, there’s a chasm east of the temple. I don’t know if anything valuable could survive that drop.” 

“It’s worth a look right?” Natalie asks, “We have rappelling gear. I suppose we can.” Wilton replies. “We’ll go in the morning.”

With that, the party adjourns, and the adults head for their separate tents. While crossing the cold campsite, Natalie catches up with Gabriel. “Alright, what’s really going on?” Gabriel starts to sweat as he turns to Natalie. “What do you mean?” 

“I know you, Gabriel. A last-minute expedition to Tibet? Based on clues that are centuries old? This wasn’t urgent. You’re avoiding something.”

Gabriel looks at her for a second, sighs, and then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a silver ring. Natalie recognizes it instantly. “Is that-”

“Yeah.”

“Hell of a proposal.”

“Well, that’s the idea. Who would expect me to pull out the Graham De Vanily ring?”

“So you already talked to Emil and Milly?”

“I was surprised they approved.”

Gabriel puts the ring away. 

“So if the famously snobbish lord and lady of Winchester said you could propose to her, what’s keeping you?”

“Isn’t it obvious, Natalie?!” Gabriel exclaims. “I’m scared as hell! Have you seen what Colt did for his proposal?”

“Yeah but that’s Colt, he’s a shallow asshole so what?”

“And not to mention Andre asking Audrey on the red carpet. They all did such massive things for their proposals. I’m just a designer from a family of New Age hippies. Why would she marry me?”

Natalie chuckles at the thought. “You’re kidding right? You’re Gabriel god damn Agreste. You’re smart, talented, you’ve got your fingers in all of Paris’s biggest pies. Of course she’ll say yes!”

“You think so?”

“Hey,” Natalie snaps her fingers, “I used to date her too, remember? I know her just as well as you. No matter what you do, she’ll see that moment as its own little miracle.”

Gabriel smiles and hugs his friend. “Thanks Natalie. Rest up, we’ve got a big day tomorrow.” Natalie smiles. “Of course.”

The next day, everyone rises bright and early, hiking over the ridge and crossing into the valley where the ruins of the Guardians Temple stood. Gabriel and Emile look on in shock at the sheer destruction of what they imagine was a glorious monastery. Piles of rubble lay everywhere, the once golden towers of the temple shattered and the courtyards filled with so much debris the verdant grass is almost invisible. 

Emile looks at Dr Wilton. “How exactly did this happen? Inter-temple conflict?”

“Not likely, that would’ve been on record. My colleagues and I think natural disaster. Avalanche maybe.”

“Which is how the Sacred Artifacts might get swept into the chasm?” Gabriel finishes, and the doctor nods. 

As they reach the edge, Gabriel, Emile, and Natalie equip themselves with climbing gear and begin to rappel down into the chasm. Tomoe and the doctor stay up at the top, with Tomoe opening a briefcase to reveal a thermal drone. Dr Wilton begins to pilot it into the chasm. 

“I’m detecting nothing else down there you three. Be careful regardless.”

“Got it,” they call out over the comms. After a few solid minutes, the three young adults hit the bottom, nearly a hundred feet down.

Gabriel turns on a flashlight on his helmet and sees rubble surrounding them. It seems like a lot of the debris from the temple did get swept down here. “Alright guys lets start looking!”

For several hours, the three of them get to digging through the rubble, trying to find anything that looks like it might be one of these Sacred Artifacts. The sun passes overhead and disappears again, and just when it seems like they might be losing hope for today…

“Hey, what’s that?”

Gabriel points out a tiny pinprick of red light coming from one of the debris piles. He walks over and digs around in the pile a little until he finds what its coming from: a small, black and red jewlery box. “I think I found something!”

He opens the box. Inside, there is a strange brooch with a dark purple gem and four silvery wings, like a butterfly. Gabriel can only get a look for a second before the gem begins to glow with blinding light, forcing him to look away as the light leaves the gem and manifests right in front of him.

“Hello? Who are you?”

Gabriel opens his eyes and for a moment is unable to speak. Hovering in front of his face is a tiny, barely a few inches tall humanoid. It’s entirely purple with eight butterfly wings coming out of its back. At this point, Emile and Natalie make it over to Gabriel. 

“Holy shit what is that thing?”

“What the… Gabriel, what did you find?”

“I don’t know!” Gabriel says in shock. “I just found this box and opened it. Next thing I knew, this thing was here. Doctor, are you seeing this?”

Up top, Dr Wilton manuevers the drone over them. She looks through the camera, but only sees the three adults.

“Seeing what? It’s just you three down there.” She says over comms. 

“What do you mean it's just us three? There’s a little…purple thing floating right in front of us!”

“It can’t see me.” The purple being speaks, once again drawing everyone's attention. “Only organic eyes can look upon a Kwami.”

Gabriel looks more confused than he’s ever been. “A what?”

“Right.. sorry, I forget my manners after being in that box for so long. I suppose you’re my new holder? I am Nooroo, the Kwami of Transmission.” 

“Holder? Of what?”

“The Miraculous of the Butterfly of course! Surely the Guardian told you…” Nooroo finally takes a moment to look around. “Ah, yes I remember now, the Temple was destroyed. How long was I in there?” 

“About 150 years.” Natalie replies, finally finding her voice.  “Ah! So not that long I see!”

“ Not that long?! ” 

“Kwamis are the oldest beings in the universe, older than even the ancient Bene Eloheim and the Nephiliem of the Arcane Realm. We were created to embody the key concepts of reality. The universal Arbiter of Power created the first of us when the universe was just minutes old, to embody the very essence of Creation and Destruction. From there, we all came into being.”

“That’s… a lot,” Emile speaks up as well. “And what’s this brooch?”

“This is a Miraculous, a Sacred Artifact…”

“This is what we’ve been looking for?” Nathalie exclaims. She looks at the box the brooch is in and notices the symbol on it. “Of course! It’s the same symbol as in the book! So all this time the Sacred Artifacts have been-”

“Excuse me!” Nooroo pipes up again. “Would you mind not interrupting me?”

Natalie stops rambling. “Oh, right.”

“As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted…” Nooroo gives Natalie a dirty look. “The Miraculous are vessels for the Kwamis power. Forged tens of thousands of years ago in the Arcane Realm by the great tinkerer Heimael. He discovered our existence and approached our leaders, the Creator and the Destroyer. He wanted to use our powers to help people, and we accepted. As sentient parts of the universe, we truly care about its inhabitants. So, he forged the Miraculous so normal mortals could safely call upon our power. After the Eternal War devastated Earth-”

“The one in the book!” Emile pipes up. Nooroo ignores her.

“Heimael began to worry the Miraculous were too powerful for angels to hold. And ten thousand years ago, an attempt to steal them finally forced his hand. So he hid them here, with the Kwamis contained in them. As humanity grew, they eventually found the Miraculous. A sacred order of Guardians was formed, sworn to uphold Heimael’s instructions and use the Miraculous for the good of humanity. Over history, they secretly distributed them to important figures, who became heroes… and sometimes villains. Until the temple was destroyed. The last thing I remember was a young Guardian fleeing with the last remaining Miracle Box, but he lost my Miraculous and…wait, WHERE IS SHE?”

Nooroo suddenly becomes agitated, flying around, phasing in and out of the rubble. “Duusu?! Duusu, where are you?”

The adults, having nothing else to go on, begin combing around the surrounding area. It only takes a few minutes until Emile finds another jewlery box. 

“I found another one!” She opens it, finding a pendant shaped like the feathers of a peacock. It’s cracked, a thin spiderweb stretching across its surface. “Is this what you’re looking for, Nooroo?”

Nooroo flies over. “Yes! That’s the Miraculous of Emotion! Duusu should be in there!” 

Natalie’s eye suddenly catches something else buried just under the box. She digs it up, finding an old book. “Nooroo, what’s this?” The kwami looks over. “Heavens! That’s the Grimoire! It contains all the information the Guardians had on the Miraculous.” 

Natalie opens the book, finding it contains drawings of previous holders, many of whom she quickly recognizes as people previously connected to the Guardians symbol. There are also pages upon pages of script. “I don’t recognize this language. Can you read it Nooroo?”

Nooroo shakes his head. “Sadly, kwami cannot read the Grimoire. The script is enchanted so we don’t know its secrets. You should be able to translate it.”

“Well, that’s something we can work on back home.” Gabriel says, walking over to them. “It seems like we’ve found what we came for. The book was right.”

“Yeah…I told you Gabe.” Emile says, taking his hand. “But figuring out exactly what these are will take time.”

Gabriel kisses her on the cheek. “I’m fine with that. We have all the time in the world.”

Having discovered the two Miraculous and the Grimoire, the three start climbing back up to the camp.

15 Years Later…

The white manor of the Agreste family is filled with people, all dressed in black, paying their respects. Seperating himself from the crowd is the 15-year-old Adrian Agreste, along with his two friends, the shallow Chloe Bourgeis and the stoic Kagami Tsurgi. People are coming up to him, apologizing for his loss and giving their condolences. 

Adrien can’t take it. “I’m sorry, I need a minute.” He hears himself say before he breaks away from the crowd and heads upstairs. He pauses for a second as he reaches one of the doors, before opening it. 

Inside, an older Gabriel, his hair gone grey with age and stress, sits on his bed. He looks up at his son. “Is everything ok, Adrien?”

“Yeah, dad… it's just… they’re ready downstairs.”

“Is that all?”

Adrien thinks about it before walking into the room and sitting next to his father. He notices that Gabriel is holding a picture of the whole family. “You’re not the only one that’s hurting.”

Tears well up in the corner of Gabriel’s eyes. “I…can’t believe she’s…” he begins to choke out his words, but Adrien silences him with a hug. 

“I know Dad… Neither can I. And we’ll have time to remember her together. But I need you to help me right now. I can’t be down there with everyone alone.”

Gabriel continues to cry, embracing his son. It takes a solid minute of them holding each other, in the dark, before Gabriel is able to steel himself. “Of course, my son. I’ll be down in a minute.” Adrien smiles. “Thank you dad.” and gets up, heading out of the room. Gabriel meanwhile takes out the brooch. It glows, and Nooroo flies out of it. 

“I’m sorry Nooroo… we should’ve listened to you. First Colt… then Emile… we had no idea.”

Nooroo is also in tears. “I should’ve realized sooner. The blame falls with me as well.” 

Gabriel opens his bedside table and pulls out the Grimoire. “There must be a way to fix this. You must be able to fix this!” He’s shouting, tears in his eyes. Nooroo shakes his head. 

“As the kwami of Transmission, I grant energy to others. Give allies the ability to defend themselves. I can’t reverse death. The only ones who possibly could are Tikki and Plagg, the first Kwami.”

Gabriel looked up, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. “So if we find them, I can save her?” Nooroo looks unsure. “The last Guardian likely has them. And I don’t know where he is. And we’ve yet to decipher the coded pages of the Grimoire that might tell us how to find him.”

“I know its a long shot Nooroo. I know…” Gabriel says, setting the book back down. “But it’s a chance. I will find him, I will bring her back… for me and for Adrien. But not today.” He puts the brooch away and stands up walking towards the door. “Today… I must be with my son.” The door closes behind him. 

GoldenDonnut Presents….

An Angel of the Owl House Story….

Miraculous: Tales of Angelbug and Cat Noir.

Chapter Text

Paris is the City of Love, and that means different things to different people. The rest of the world gets the image of steamy, passionate romance, beautiful stories, and eternal memories. To the Parisians, the definition is a bit broader. To them, the City of Love is a city where family, friendship, and all forms of romance are held in equal regard. It’s all love at the end of the day, and it all comes together here.

It’s a normal day in the City of Love as the sun rises over the Eiffel Tower. André, the ice cream vendor, sets up his stand on a bridge over the Seine. And on the banks of the river, across a street and at the corner of a block, a girl slowly comes to consciousness… and realizes she’s gonna be late for school.

“Oh crap!” Marinette Dupein-Chang goes to jump out of bed, seconds too late realizing she sleeps in a loft, so she falls instead. So she lands flat on her face. On her back, two five foot angel wings flap uselessly, having tried their best to cushion her landing. “Owwww…”

Marinette gets up and starts getting ready. She’s a slender, 16-year-old, French-Chinese girl who took a lot more from her mother. A few things set her apart from anyone else you’d see around, mainly her pure silver hair and tiny wings. But to a half-angel, that’s normal. She dresses in her usual outfit: a white flowery shirt over a brown vest. She grabs a bracelet off her nightstand studded with a special blue stone. Her Grandma Ginoel calls it a Concealment Stone, which becomes apparent when she puts it on. There’s a poof of blue smoke, and her wings are gone, her hair now colored a deep navy blue, which she ties into two pigtails. She grabs her bag and is about to leave the room before noticing the whole room is a mess. She’d been up late last night working on some clothing and ended up leaving fabrics and buttons everywhere. So she twirls her hand, using her limited magic to sort everything back into place. She doesn't have a lot of magic to go around, but for a teenage girl living in Paris and learning fashion design, it's enough.

Finally descending the ladder from her room, Marinette heads down into the bakery where her parents are already hard at work preparing for opening. Her mother, Sabine, is working on the displays, putting out trays of pastries and macarons(Some of Marinette’s recipes) for customers, where her dad, Tomas, is busy baking. Like her, he’s Half-Angel. He’s currently using a construction spell to summon a bunch of helpers to prep everything faster and is going between them to make sure there are no mistakes. Yet when he sees his daughter, he drops everything and rushes over.
“Marinette, you’re awake! Heading off to school?”
“Yeah Dad,” she replies, a bit of disappointment in her voice. “Another year dealing with Chloé.”

“I can’t believe she’s still in your class,” Sabine pipes up. “That’s just bad luck.” Marinette chuckles, “That’s what I’m known for. Have you heard from Grandma recently?”
He sadly shakes his head. “No, she’s back in the Divine Realm working. There’s a lot of uncertainty over there right now.”
“Why?”
“She doesn’t tell me a lot, wants us not to get involved in all the angelic troubles, but its gotta do with the old rebel factions from the Arcane Wars. Some of those guys believe some crazy things, like messianic Sephiroth and splitting your soul. It takes all she has to keep the peace between them and the larger Free Cities.”

“Sometimes I still find it hard to believe Grandma is an ambassador.” Her dad laughs, “Well, she might be a rebel, but she’s not a soldier. The last thing she wants is another Angelic War. Anyway, heading to school? Wanna take something for the road?” He offers up a tray of croissants.
She smiles and takes one. “Just one for me thanks. The rest of the girls are still recovering from the pool party over the weekend.”
“I knew you made too much food!” Sabine shouts, “Yeah, I know when to admit my mistakes.” Tomas chuckles, “Well have a good day sweetie! Don’t let Chloe get you down!” Marinette smiles, hugs her mom and dad, and runs out the door, mounting her moped and heading off to school.

Meanwhile…
Across the city at Agreste Manor, 16-year-old Adrien Agreste is getting ready for school as well, with particularly more enthusiasm. This is the first time he’s allowed to attend actual school. Previously his mother homeschooled him but… now that she’s gone… his father Gabriel can’t take that on himself alongside running the Agreste fashion brand. And truth be told, Adrien wants to go to school. Anything to take his mind off his mom…

He puts on his new favorite outfit: jeans, orange sneakers, a black multi-colored t-shirt, and a white leather jacket. Adrien models for his dad in his free time(which before now, was most of the time), so he has a pretty decent sense of style. He grabs his bag, leaves his(frankly massive) bedroom, and heads downstairs for breakfast, where he’s shocked to see his father sitting at the table. Ever since the death of his mom, Adrien’s father has gotten so much busier, to the point where he seldom sees him outside of photoshoots.

“Father… you’re here,” Adrien says as he sits down. His breakfast is placed in front of him, and he starts eating.
The grey-haired Gabriel Agreste smiles. “What kind of father would I be if I wasn’t here to see my child off on his first day of school? You excited?”
“Of course! But also a bit nervous; I don’t know if I’ll be able to make any friends.”
“Nonsense. You’re Adrien Agreste, one of the most famous children in the city! I’m sure everyone will be jumping over themselves to be friends with you.”

Adrien sighs. “I know… but that’s not the kind of friendship I want. I don’t want people to like me just because I walk around onstage in your clothing.”
Gabriel nods and puts his hand on Adrien’s shoulder. “Then all you have to do is be yourself. You’ll find people you appreciate that.” His son smiles, finishes his breakfast, and with a final hug, runs out the door to the waiting car that will take him to school. But Gabriel… he has a different task at hand.

Getting up from the table, Gabriel heads to his office, where a giant portrait of Emile has been displayed. He approaches it and presses on two points of the portrait, two hidden switches. The painting slides aside to reveal a hidden elevator which Gabriel gets in, pressing a button to ascend to the attic.

The elevator platform stops in the darkened attic. The only light comes from the giant circular window and the dozens of white butterflies scattered around. The only furniture is a table upon which the Grimoire currently sits. It’s open to a page that displays two earrings and a black ring. The pendant on his chest glows purple as Nooroo appears. “So these are the ones we need?”

“Yes. The Miraculous of Creation and the Miraculous of Destruction. They contain the first Kwammi, Tikki and Plagg. They’re the ones who met Heimael and agreed to the creation of the Miraculous. By combining their powers, you would be able to alter reality on a scale that not even the Celestial could dream of.”

“I must have this power. I MUST!” He slams his fist on the desk. “And that means finding the Guardian! He could be anywhere!”
Nooroo floats around his master, slightly unnerved by Gabriel’s rage. “The Guardian does not appear. He would choose champions, if necessary. Forcing out Tikki and Plagg would require an event of great chaos.”

Gabriel’s brain runs as he thinks of possibilities, and only one stands out. The one that may well destroy him, but is the only chance at getting Emile back. “Then I will make great chaos. If the Guardian wants to choose champions, we will choose our own, and take the Miraculous of Creation and Destruction from them.”

Nooroo is shocked, flying back several feet. “How would we do that?”
“The power of Transmission. I will search this city for champions, those with strong emotions or desires. I will give the power to fulfill their desires and in return, they will bring the Miraculous to me.”
“Even if this could work,” Nooroo began, “My power is not meant to be used that way. The Miraculous are not meant to be used for selfish purposes!”
“This isn’t selfish Nooroo!” Gabriel shouts back, “It’s all for Adrien! For Emile! For us to be a family again. I didn’t listen to you, and now look where it got us! I will do anything to fix my mistake!”

Nooroo was compelled to come forward and comfort his holder. “I know. Emile meant a lot to me, and it was my mistake too. But I need you to understand the forces you’re dealing with. Heimael has known for millennia the potential danger of the Miraculous, yet to him the rewards always outweighed it. Do you know why he left them here?”
Gabriel shakes his head.

“Because of the Wings of Rani. Unlike him, the Wings sought a miracle solution to the problems of the universe. Their leader sought to cleave the souls of the universe in two, removing all the supposed impurities. He’s been imprisoned for a hundred millennia, but his followers still roam the Divine Realm. And ten thousand years ago one of them got close to stealing the Miraculous. That’s when Heimael knew they could no longer be kept in Angelic hands. Angel magic, combined with the power of the Kwami, was too much.”

Gabriel was getting impatient. “What’s the point of this story Nooroo?”

“A warning. The Miraculous could’ve accomplished the Divider’s dream: create a world without negative emotions. But the price would’ve been equally as horrible. I will help you Gabriel, but be prepared for the forces you will unleash. There will be a price to pay, both for you and for this city when it’s thrust into a new era of heroes.”

Nooroo knew that his warning wouldn’t be enough to stop Gabriel. He tried his best, but he knew that. So when Gabriel looks to the window and says, “I am prepared to pay,” the Kwami of Transmission is with him.
“And Paris will pay too. If chaos makes the Miraculous appear, chaos it will be! NOOROO!”
The Kwami prepares himself. It’s time to begin a new era.
“DARK WINGS RISE!”
No one sees, but at that moment, the attic of the Agreste manor fills with purple light.

Across Town…

Wayzz, the Kwami of Protection, a little turtle humanoid, sits on a shelf unmoving. He’s meditating, as he does every day, when he feels it. A sharp, painful pulse of emotion. A secret shockwave moves through the city. And he recognizes it. Abandoning his meditation he flies out of the office and into the other room, passing through the wall to find his master, the Guardian Wang Fu, giving a customer a massage. “Master!” he whispers.
Master Fu looks over his shoulder at Wayzz, not speaking but with an expression that says "Can this wait?"

“No… It’s Nooroo.” Fu’s eyes go wide as he finishes the message and ushers the customer out. “Thank you for coming have a good day.” And he slams the door in his face before turning to his Kwami.
“Are you sure?”
Wayzz nods. “It was painful too. Whoever has activated the Miraculous of Transmission is doing it for selfish purposes. And it's within this city.”

Fu nods. For over 1 and a half centuries, they’ve searched for the lost Miraculous. They had almost nothing until fifteen years ago when Wayzz sensed Duusuu had been activated somewhere in the world, after which point their search accelerated. Now, they’re so close.

“Let’s go get it.” He steps forward. “Wayzz, Armor-” Suddenly, his back cracks in the wrong way and he stumbles over in pain, letting out a cry of anguish.

“No master! You can’t go out! You’re too old!” Fu chuckles, “I don’t look a day over 187.”
“
Be that as it may this isn’t a job for us! We need help!” Fu nods grimly, “Then, its time for me to start making up for my mistakes.”
Going back into his office, Fu presses two buttons on the music box on his desk, unveiling a secret keypad. He presses a few keys and the jukebox top opens revealing a box made of petrified wood, with red symbols dotting it. He opens the box to reveal a series of Miraculous, each different colors and shapes. In the center rests the earrings and the black ring. He picks them up.

Wayzz is shocked. “Are you sure about that, Master?” “We have this chance to get Nooroo back. We can take no chances.” He holds the pair of Miraculous up. “Alright you two, you must retrieve the Miraculous of Transmission. Seek out holders who can help accomplish this mission. Once they’ve proven their worth, bring them to me.” Instantly, the Miraculous begin to glow before flying right out the window, off to find worthy holders.

Collège Françoise Dupont…

Meanwhile, Marinette finally arrives at school. She parks her moped in front of Collège Françoise Dupont, the art school that she and her friends attend. Getting off and walking up the steps she sees quite a few familiar faces before identifying her friends in the crowd. She waves and runs up to her friend group, consisting of a bunch of other girls.

“Well look who finally made it!” Alix Kubdel shouts out. She’s a shorter, French-Arab girl with red hair in a bob cut. She’s dressed as usual in her blacks and greens with her black baseball cap and has her skateboard clutched under her arm. Alix is a free spirit who does what she loves and loves what she does, always going to any lengths to help her friends. Her dad is a curator at the Louvre, so Alix has quite a love for history and the past.

“C’mon, don’t tell me you doubted her!” Rose Lavillant says. She’s wearing her signature pink and white dress, with her blonde hair now in a pixie cut. Rose is a walking ray of sunshine, who always cheers people up when they’re feeling down. She’s helped Marinette on a few occasions, although she is a bit naive.

“It’s always a close call.” Myléne Haprelé replies. A shorter, stockier girl, she keeps her honey blonde hair in dreadlocks with several different colors and is dressed in green overalls with lots of buttons and pins on them. Mylené can be a bit of a scaredy-cat, but give her a cause to fight for, and she’ll fight until she can’t stand anymore. Marinette admires that a lot.

“Especially on the first day…” Juleka Coffaine mumbles. Juleka is a Goth girl with long black hair and some dyed purple ends, which she keeps tucked over one eye. She’s wearing a black turtleneck and purple jeans. She’s always been shy, but once she opens up to you, there’s hardly a more loyal friend around. As Marinette watches, she even blushes in Rose’s direction. Yeah, she thinks, that’s a mission for this year.

“But you’re here, and thats all that matters!” The newest member of their group says. Zoé Lee moved from New York last year and quickly fell right in with them. Despite being the half-sister of Marinette’s rival Chloe, she couldn’t be more different. She’s energetic, kind, and fun. Right now she has pink and blue streaks in her short blond hair and wears a blue knitted hat.

“Its great to see you all again!” Marinette says, giving each of them a hug and kiss on the cheek. “Even though I just saw you guys over the weekend, I know you were about to say it Alix!” Indeed, Alix closes her mouth.

The six friends walk into the school, where Marinette sees a ton more familiar faces walking around. Marc is under the stairs as normal, probably working on a new story. His friend Nate is sitting nearby at a table drawing. Max is working with his robots, as always(his stuff is advanced). Kim is running around with too much energy, as would be expected when there’s no pool around for him to swim in. Ivan is picking flowers in the garden. Nino, one of Marinette’s other friends and one of the most relaxed people she’s ever known, is listening to music on the steps. And of course…
“Well, I thought I was rid of the baker girl this year. This is utterly ridiculous!”

Chloé Bourgeois, the spoiled rich girl who has been Marinette’s bitter rival for years, steps in front of them along with her friend/lackey, Sabrina Raincomprix. Of course, no one really likes Chloé but her dad is the mayor and runs the largest hotel in the city, so it kinda becomes a “Don’t mess with her, and she won’t mess with you” situation. But not for Marinette.

“Trust me Chloé”, she says, “I’m not thrilled about it either. I’d hate to have to look at your ratty ponytail for another year.” Part of being an Angel is that she can’t lie, which makes Marinette a bit of a snarker at times. Regardless she knows exactly what pisses Chloé off as she goes red in the face and marches up to Marinette. “Oh! You’re going to regret that you little-”

Suddenly, a wooden sword is at her throat. “Manners Chloé” Kagami Tsurugi says, keeping the sword there for a moment. “It’s his first day, and you don’t want to mess it up. That I know. Back off.” Chloé huffs but backs down, leaving with Sabrina. Kagami gives Marinette a look before leaving as well. They’ve never been in class together, and hell, they don’t talk much, but Marinette respects Kagami a lot. Anyone who can get Chloé to shut up is ok by her.
“Well, that was impressive!” The friends turn to see two other girls walking up to them. The one who spoke was darker skinned with thick glasses, a plaid shirt, jeans, and orange-tipped hair. “They tell me that girl is some big shot around here! And yet you give her shit like that?”
Marinette chuckles. “Yeah, that's me. I kinda tell it like it is.” The girl laughs, “I like that. Truth is always a good thing. Name’s Alya Cesaire, and this is Cerise Bianca.” She introduces her friend, who has a brown pixie cut and is wearing a brown jacket with a purple shirt underneath. “We’re new here.”

Marinette takes Alya’s hand. “Nice to meet you! What are you studying?”
“Journalism. Cerise and I want to start a newspaper dedicated to the mysteries of the world. The great unfinished stories!” Cerise nods, “It’s a pleasure to meet you… umm…”
“Marinette Dupein-Cheng. This is Rose, Juleka, Mylené, Alix, and Zoe.” She introduces all her friends. The bell rings, and everyone goes to their classrooms. To Marinette’s surprise, she recognized almost everyone in her class, except one other boy who walks in last. He has messy blonde hair, a white jacket, and looks familiar. Always one for first impressions she approaches him while everyone else takes their seats. “Hello! Welcome! I’m Marinette!”

He smiles and shakes her hand. “Adrien Agreste, pleasure to meet you.” That shocks Marinette as she quickly recognizes him. “You’re ADRIEN AGRESTE? Son of the legendary designer Gabriel Agreste?” He’s taken aback but nods. “Yeah, that’s my father… You know of him?”

“Know of him? His clothing designs are legendary! He’s almost entirely the reason I wanted to become a fashion designer! I know you’ve modeled for him before. That must be hard.” Adrien is surprised that she’s reacting so casually to him being a model, but nods. “It’s a job alright, but it’s fun sometimes.”

“Alright everyone take your seats!” Ms Bustier enters the class. She’s one of Marinette’s favorite teachers, always kind and compassionate, wanting to see her students succeed. Marinette goes to sit, but finds most of the seats taken, including her old seat(of course, filled by a vengeful looking Chloé). With no other options, she sits with the new girls, Alya and Cerise.
Unbeknownst to anyone, in the rafters above the classroom, two tiny beings are watching them.
“Why are we even here?” Plagg asks his partner. “There’s millions of people in this goddamn city yet we end up in a school?”

“You felt it too right? There’s something about this place. There’s the faintest trace of magic in the air.” Tikki says, “This might be a good place to look for a holder.”
“Well that's fine Sugarcube, but get out! I got here first this was my spot!”

The day quickly begins to fly by. Marinette falls back into her old routine: she takes notes during her classes, hangs out with her friends during free periods, and avoids Chloé whenever possible. The difference is their new classmates. She and Alya quickly start to connect. It’s almost like they get each other on a fundamental level, and they’re friends by the end of the day. Alya is energetic and passionate about everything, yet still down to earth. The group didn’t leave Cerise out either; she was more guarded but around people like Rose and Marinette she quickly began to open up. Apparently she’d spent a lot of time traveling and hadn’t been able to interact with kids her age for a while. Meanwhile, Tikki was watching as Marinette extended compassion to everyone, almost a magnetic force of good. From all Tikki saw, this girl was a genuine pure soul, who created kindness wherever she went. She was the perfect holder of the Miraculous of Creation.

Plagg, however, had his eyes on someone else. Adrien moved through his day as well, but remained closed off throughout. He only really interacted with Chloé and Kagami, his only two friends. The Kwami of Destruction could tell he wasn’t acting true to himself, but at heart, he meant well with everything he did. He wasn’t perfect, but neither was Plagg. Plus, he smelled good! That’s a bonus!
The day went on as normal, up until the very end, when Marinette was packing up and saying goodbye to her new friends on the school steps.

“It was so good to meet you guys! We have to hang out sometime!”

Alya and Cerise both nod, “Absolutely!” Cerise says, “Here’s my phone number!” She hands a piece of paper to Alix, while Alya gives hers to Marinette. “Well, that settles it!” Marinette declares, “Consider yourselves part of the group!”
They’re both taken aback at making such good friends in one day. Alix notices their shock and laughs, “Trust me guys, this is a record for Marinette. She’s usually way slower to make friends!”
“I am not!”
Nino quickly skates by. “See you later dudes!” They wave to him before Alix continues “Oh, I gotta tell you guys the story about when Marinette found this hamster named-”

CRASH

Everyone turns around to see Chloé had just fallen over into Ivan’s flower garden. “EW! GET THESE THINGS OFF ME!” She shouts, stumbling to her feet and trampling all the flowers as she walked away. Ivan looks at her with a rageful stare “How could you? Those flowers didn’t do anything to you!”

“Um, they got on my vintage sweater you loser! Those utterly ridiculous plants! I did you a favor stomping them out!” Sabrina nods along to not piss Chloé off further. 

“I worked all day to cultivate this garden and you ruined it? How could you do something so… AHHH!” Ivan grabs one of the dead flowers and storms off. But as he does, something follows him….

Flying down, a butterfly covered in purple energy floats up alongside him and enters the rose he’s carrying. Instantly, the world around him vanishes and Ivan is now in a purple void, face to face with a tall, shadowed man. 

“ Hello Ivan, ” the man says, “ Forgive my intrusion, but I sensed a considerable rage in you. Someone hurt something you love, and with your heart, you felt it too. ”

Ivan nods. “I just wish I couldn’t be hurt by Chloé anymore. I wish nothing she did could upset me!”
“I can help with that.”
“You can?”
“I can grant you the power to seek revenge. I can harden your heart in stone, make it so nothing can hurt you again. All I ask in return is a single favor. You will draw attention with your powers. Two people will come, one bearing red earrings and one bearing a black ring. You will take these objects and bring them to the Effiel Tower.”
His rage guiding him, Ivan nods. “And what shall I call you?”
“Stoneheart.”
Back in the real world Ivan is covered in a purple mist, and a few seconds later, a roar can be heard from within. A giant titan of rock emerges as Stoneheart lets out a bellow. Everyone screams and flees, running in different directions as Stoneheart begins to stomp through the school, destroying things before he bursts out the stairs and into the streets, charging down the road.

Adrien takes off running after him. He recognizes that kid, Ivan, from throughout the day. He seemed nice and kind. Whatever’s happening to him can’t be normal. He knows he has to do something to try and help. That is until he catches a glint of red on the ground and just barely stops before he trips over it. It’s a red jewlery box. He doesn’t recognize it, but he feels some…familiarity. A sensation tugs at his body. Something about this box… maybe it can help him.

Thinking fast, he grabs it and ducks into a nearby store to open it. Right now, there’s no one around, the clerk having taken off running when he saw Stoneheart coming. Inside the box, there’s a black ring, which glows dark as Plagg materializes in front of him. Adrian looks in surprise and interest at this weird figure. “No way! It’s like a genie in a lamp!”
“Hey!” Plagg shouts, “Don’t compare me to that asshole! He might grant wishes but I’m way more personable! Plagg, nice to meet you! Is this your house? It's kinda wack.”
“Uhh… It's not my house, it's a store. But what are you?”
“I’m a Kwami kid, I grant the power of Destruction to the worthy. And congratulations that’s you! You get to be a hero and do cool stuff!”

“No way! That’s awesome!” Adrien was ecstatic. He’s always loved superhero movies and wondered if they’d ever be real. He's dreamed what having powers like that would be like. This is his chance, and he wasn't gonna hesitate.
“Of course! Let's do it!”

Plagg is surprised. “Woah I didn’t even have to sell it? I like you kid. Now you got anything to eat? I’m starving!”
Adrien checks his pockets and bag quickly. “No sorry, I ate all my lunch.”
“We’ll deal with that later then! Right now, you gotta stop that rock guy. Just put on the ring and say ‘Plagg Claws Out!’ Now once you do, you’ll be able to-”
But Adrien had already put on the ring. He strikes a pose. “Plagg, CLAWS OUT!”
“WAIT I HAVEN’T FINISHED-”
He doesn’t finish his sentence as Plagg gets sucked into the ring and the storefront glows green.

Meanwhile…
Marinette flees into an alleyway. What was that? she thinks. There’s no magic on Earth! Is there some Angel or Demon messing with people? What’s going on? She’s so distracted that she doesn’t notice the little red box at her feet and trips over it. Her concealment stone bracelet goes flying, revealing her silver hair. “Crap!” She looks around but fortunately no one is there.
She first grabs the box. It looks like a jewlery box, and when she opens it there’s a pair of earrings inside. They glow red and she’s forced to cover her eyes as Tikki appears from them.
“AHHHHH!!! WHAT THE HELL? IS THAT A FAIRY? A BUG?”
“Well you’re half right Marinette.” Tikki replies.
“AH YOU CAN TALK? AND HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?”

“Shhh keep it down! I’ve been watching you to determine if you’re worthy of my power, and you are! Congratulations. But wait!”
She flies around Marinette, noticing her hair and wings now unveiled by the concealment stone. “Oh my god you’re an Angel! I haven’t had an Angel holder in so long. Well that was by design, but still it's cool!”
Marinette backs up against the wall. “You mind explaining what exactly you are? What am I a holder of?”
“Ah right, yes. Marinette Dupein-Cheng, I am Tikki. I’ve chosen you for your pure heart and kindness to wield the Miraculous of Creation for the greater good. And against that Akumatized boy you’re gonna need it!”
“Ivan’s a what?”
“His negative emotions have attracted an Akuma, a butterfly blessed with the power of Transmission. Until we destroy the object that’s been Akumatized, he will rampage and act out his worst impulses.”
“Ok… and you want me to stop it? Using what… these earrings?”
“They’re a Miraculous, one of the powerful artifacts that channels the Kwami’s power. Created by Angels in the Arcane Realm eons ago to benefit all sentient life.”
Marinette is especially surprised by the fact that Tikki brought up angels. “Angels created these? But my grandma tells me stories of the Divine Realm all the time. She would’ve told me about these.”
“She doesn’t know, the Miraculous are a closely guarded secret. Our partner in the Divine Realm knew that if the wrong Angel got a hold of them it would spell disaster. Speaking of, what Crest are you in? And are you a Wing of Rani?”
Marinette shakes her head to both of those. “No, I’ve never been to the Divine Realm. Plus, my grandma’s from the Free Cities. And I’ve never heard of the Wings of Rani.”
“Ah, perfect! So you’re perfect to be my holder!”“But why pick me? Look at me.” She gestures to herself. “I’m just Marinette, a clumsy angel girl. I can't even fly.”

“I picked you because of your heart. Your kindness. Your dedication to truth. These are all valiant qualities for a hero. To wield my Miraculous is to wield my power. This is power that the Angels, the Nephillim, the Sephiroth Seeds, and even the True Sephiroth fear. All fear the Kwamis for what we can do. Which is why only the pure of heart can wield us. And that’s you.”
“But-”
“We don’t have time! Stoneheart is rampaging through this city! And you are the only one who can stop him! You know that boy yes?”
“Yeah… Ivan. He’s kind, gentle. Mylené’s got a massive crush on him…”
“Then you can’t let him remain like this. I know its scary, but I am with you. I will guide you. I will be your friend and partner. All you have to do is say ‘Spots On’ and you will gain the power to protect everyone. Are you ready Marinette Dupein-Cheng?”
Marinette couldn’t believe it. This… thing had chosen her to inherit a power even the Angels fear? She knows that she should immediately say no, but she can’t. Because Ivan was out there on a rampage. Someone has twisted his emotions for their benefit. She knows she has to help him. So she decided. She puts the earrings on and speaks.
“Tikki, Spots On!”
And the alleyway glows pink.
Back in the Agreste Manor, Gabriel looks out through the window. The police are scrambling to respond to Stoneheart, but as he watches them, he feels it. Two shockwaves through the air, imperceptible to all but him.
The Guardian did it. The Miraculous have awoken. And Gabriel smiles with glee.
“Let the show begin…”

TO BE CONTINUED

Chapter Text

Roger Raincomprix has gotten his share of weird calls in his time as Chief of Police, but no weirdly specific art theft can hold a candle to what he’s looking at right now. The police barricade, hastily put up in the street, watches as a twenty-foot-tall rock titan barrels down the street, chucking cars into the Seine and roaring at anyone running away. 

“Um, sir?” One of his men asks, “What the hell are we supposed to do? I don’t think our weapons are gonna be very effective here!”

Roger is sweating nervously. Usually, he never has any doubts, always executing the law according to what he believes is right. Now? He’s in a situation where he doesn’t know what to do, but he knows one thing. “Don’t fire! Apparently there’s a kid in there! We need to get him out of that thing safely!”

Meanwhile, much closer to Stoneheart, Alya and Cerise duck behind a dumpster to get out of sight. “Remind me why it was a good idea to follow the giant rock monster?” Cerise whispers.

“Because we don’t know what happened,” Alya whispers back. “How the hell did Ivan turn into…that? If we follow him, we could have the story of the year! We’ll be able to launch our blog!”

Suddenly, a shot cuts through the air and lodges into Stoneheart’s exoskeleton, as one of the officers finally loses their nerves and fires. Stoneheart turns and roars before charging straight torwards the barricade. “Nonono, he’s gonna hurt them!” Alya panics. She runs out into the road. “HEY! IVAN!”

Stoneheart hears and turns around, looking right down at Alya. Cerise tries to run out to pull her back, but Alya motions for her to stay hidden. “What is going on with you? I don’t know you very well, but you’re not this! You’re not a monster!” Stoneheart rumbles and gets down to stare Alya in the face. She quivers but doesn’t break or run in the face of this monster, who, on the inside, is just a victim. But then his mouth begins to move. 

“ I am… better. Without fear. No one can hurt me anymore. He gave me the gift to never be hurt- ”

“Who gave you this power? Because I can say one thing: he doesn’t know the real you! And maybe neither do I, but I’d like to know the real Ivan! And I can’t like this!”

Stoneheart seems to think for a moment, but then speaks again. “ You can know me. You can come with me. ” And he reaches out his left hand and grabs Alya. She struggles but is helpless in a fist of solid stone. 

“ALYA!” Cerise cries out as Stoneheart stands back up with Alya in his grasp. 

15 Minutes Ago…

The pink glow in the alleyway fades, and Marinette immediately notices something has changed. She feels…stronger, almost like she just ascended, but there’s no way. Looking at her body, she appears to be dressed in a red suit with black spots on it, almost like a ladybug pattern. She feels her face and finds a domino mask firmly in place over her eyes. Around her waist there seems to be tied a string connected to a…very large yoyo. “Ok, why the hell do I look like a character from my grandpa’s comic books?”

“ That is kinda the point,” Tikki’s voice says in her head. Marinette frantically looks around for the Kwami. “ I’m in the Miraculous. While you’re transformed I can communicate with you like this .” 

“Ok… this is gonna be weird to get used to. So what do I do?”

“ The Miraculous of Transmission works by infusing an object with energy. That energy Akumatizes a target. Destroy that object, you cut the connection and the boy goes back to normal. ”

“And how do I do that?”

“ The suit you’re wearing is magic. It can’t be broken or pierced, but shockwaves can get through it and damage your organs. While it’s active your strength, dexterity, and jumping distance are all enhanced. ”

Marinette quickly tries and finds that, without effort, she jumps to the roof of the building. She gasps in excitement. “Holy shit! And what’s the yoyo?”

It’s your weapon. 

“I’m supposed to fight with a yoyo?”

Its also unbreakable, and with your strength it can punch through a solid wall. The string alone is capable of supporting a thousand pounds without strain. You also need it to use your special ability, The Lucky Charm .

Marinette takes the yoyo in her hand. Amazingly, with her enhanced dexterity, she has no problems swinging it around, and she’s able to quickly retract and extend it. She lets it fly at a nearby chimney, and it knocks a couple of bricks off. “This is awesome! And what’s the Lucky-”

“Don’t say it or it will activate! The Lucky Charm uses my power to create a single object to deal with a situation. Be careful. Since you’re new, you can only use it a few times before the Miraculous runs out of energy.”

Marinette frowns. “That seems a bit contrived.” “ Once you start training and building up your stamina, you’ll be able to use it more. Now normally, my wielder would use the yoyo to move. But since you’re an Angel, I decided to give you a boost .”

“What are you-” But Marinette quickly realizes what Tikki is saying. Why she feels so powerful. Looking at her back, her wings have expanded. Now they’re nearly 15 feet across and glowing with magic power. She flaps them once, and they lift her off the ground. “Oh my god…OH MY GOD! I CAN FLY!” And whatever nervousness she has goes out the window. “LET'S DO THIS!” She runs and jumps off the building, her wings catching the air and propelling her through the city. For a moment, it's bliss. Pure bliss… Until she realizes she doesn’t know how to fly and loses control. 

“AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

Meanwhile, on a nearby street, Adrien too jumps onto the roof. He’s now wearing a black suit with a belt styled like a tail and two black ears adorning his head. His eyes have gone pure green. “This is awesome! Why didn’t you tell me about all my cool powers?”

“ I was gonna, but Mr Eager over here jumped headfirst into it! ” 

“Yeah sorry, so what were you saying?”

“ Ok last thing, your power allows you to destroy anything you touch! I mean ANYTHING, so be careful. Unless its a True Sephiroth, you can’t destroy that. I’ve tried. ”

“Tried?”

“ Some jackass tried to split my wielder’s soul in two a long time ago, so I punched him in the face! But that’s not important. Tikki’s holder should be dropping in soon! ”

“Who?”

“ Tikki, my life partner and the Kwami of Creation. She should be- ”

Suddenly, Adrien hears a screaming as he turns around and sees a red and black spotted girl with wings flying torwards him and hits him right in the chest. Thanks to his suit, he just gets the wind knocked out of him, but the force sends them both plummeting off the building, where they land smack-dab in the middle of the street. Adrien gets up, a little sore but otherwise fine. “Well, when Plagg said you’d be dropping in, I didn’t think he was being literal.” 

Marinette stumbles to her feet. “Trust me, it wasn’t supposed to be…”

“So you must be the partner my Kwami told me about! That’s awesome! My name is A-” He gets a giant headache.

“ Don’t give her your real name you dumbass! Call yourself something… like Black Cat! ”

“ Do you want a copyright lawsuit? ” Adrien thinks back. “ Think of something! ” He starts thinking. Destructo-Cat? Miracle Cat? No that won’t work. “I’m… Cat Noir. Yeah, I like that. Cat Noir. And you are?”

Marinette freezes up. She doesn’t know if her Miraculous allows her to lie, but given the result if it doesn’t, she’s rather afraid to take the risk. Luckily she doesn’t have to as she trips on a crack in the cobblestone and falls over again. “I’m… clumsy, really damn clumsy.”

She stands back up again. “But if we’re gonna work together, we gotta start now! Before that rock monster kills anyone!”

“Right behind you.” He pulls his staff off his belt, twirling it before slamming it into the ground. It expands and launches him into the air. Marinette follows using her wings, this time thinking less about the fact that she’s flying. Ok right now I can fly, so lets try and fly well . Concentrating hard on her movements she keeps up with Cat Noir as they head towards the loud noises. 

They find Stoneheart in the middle of a large street near a police blockade, with a girl clutched in his right hand. Marinette gasps as she realizes the girl is her new friend Alya. She sees Cerise on the ground, luckily looking safe. Right now, she has to get Alya. “Cat Noir! Can you get him to drop her?”

“She’d fall two stories but yeah!” 

“I’m gonna catch her!”

“Alright my lady, let’s do this!” With one final pole vault, he dives into action. Rocketing downward towards the fist he closes his left hand. Dark energy begins to spark around it as he summons the power of Destruction. 

“CATACLYSM!”

With a cry he lands right beside Alya slamming his palm into the arm. It begins to instantly dissolve into powder, dropping Alya to the ground below. But Marinette is there, tucking in her wings and speeding up. The world almost goes white, with Alya’s figure lit up in ladybug red. She will save her!

Alya’s barely fallen five feet when Marinette catches her. She flies over the Seine to decrease speed before descending to the ground next to Cerise and depositing Alya. “You ok?” 

Alya looks at her in shock. This woman just saved her. She’s a hero! “Uh... yeah. Who are you? What are you doing here?”

Marinette seizes up for a second before deciding. “I’m Angelbug, and I’m here to help.”

Meanwhile, Stoneheart roars as his lost arm while Cat Noir jumps back to his feet and lands right beside them. “And I’m her dashing partner Cat Noir! You ladies best get back, I don’t know how more of those I got in me!” 

Alya and Cerise don’t need to be told twice, and back up. Alya nudges Cerise and she gets out her phone to start filming. 

Angelbug takes off her yoyo and begins spinning it, a circle of red light cutting through the air. Cat Noir holds his staff at the ready. “So Angelbug, how do you wanna do this?”

“My Kwami told me there’s an object where the power’s being transferred. We destroy it, he goes back to normal. Any idea where it is?”

“Well I did notice he didn’t unclench his left fist when I hit him. He had a clear shot to grab me but he didn’t. Maybe he’s holding it?”

“Worth a shot.”

Stoneheart, meanwhile, recollects himself and stares down at the enemies in front of him. He hears the voice in his head again. “ There. Those are the ones! Seize their Miraculous! ” He roars and charges forward. 

The two heroes dodge and launch attacks at his sides. He throws a punch, but Cat Noir deflects it with his staff while Angelbug chucks her yoyo smashing into the side of his head. She flies around to try from another angle but he bats it aside. He grabs a car and throws it at her, but she dodges, and the car flies straight torwards the police blockade. “No!” Angelbug quickly veers off and throws the yoyo again, it wrapping around the car. She lands and tugs, stopping the car in midair and causing it to fall to the ground, a few feet away from Roger. “Uh thanks… Ms..”

“Angelbug! Get your people clear! It’s not safe!” In this moment Roger chose not to argue and began shouting for his men to fall back. Meanwhile, Angelbug decides to use her trump card. “LUCKY CHARM!” She throws the yoyo in the air as it begins to spin, energy coming off it and forming into… 

Angelbug, confused, catches a Super Soaker out of the air. “Ok what? I thought you said it’s supposed to be helpful!”

“ Yeah! Not obvious! You just need to figure out why the Lucky Charm gave you the item! ” Tikki’s voice shouts in her mind.

Angelbug calms down and focuses, Cat Noir is keeping Stonheart occupied. He dodges another attack, shouting “You might be big but you’ve got nothing on the real Rock! He doesn’t try and smash people!” Clearly, Cat Noir is a bit of a joker. She’ll have to get used to that. 

She concentrates, and the color fades from the world again. The Super Soaker lights up red, as does Stoneheart's hand and her arm, specifically her finger. She starts thinking. They can’t get him to open his fist, and Cat Noir might not have another Cataclysm… so maybe dissolve it. 

Angelbug opens the tank and sees the water sloshing around in the gun. “Here goes…” She twirls her finger and casts a transmutation spell. Her dad uses these all the time whenever he runs out of water while baking. He takes lemon juice or something and turns it into water. Surely she can turn water into lemon juice, or something more acidic… 

With the power boost from the Miraculous, it only takes a few seconds. The water turns green and begins to bubble as its composition changes into acid. Fortunately the Lucky Charm can’t break or melt. “Cat! Need him to get stuck!” 

Cat Noir nods as he dodges another punch, extending his staff to catch Stoneheart’s legs and trip him up. As Stonheart collapses onto his stomach he slams the ground with a second Cataclysm, causing it to crack and collapse. Stoneheart tries to get up, but the ground gives way and he’s trapped under tons of rubble. Angelbug flies in and fires her Super Soaker, with the acid melting his left hand and beginning to dissolve it. With how potent she made it, his hand quickly dissolves enough that she can see the rose within, and she throws her yoyo. 

The rose slices in half and a purple butterfly emerges. Stoneheart immediately dissolves and leaves Ivan on the ground, while the butterfly begins to fly away. “ Marinette, now’s your chance. Use the yoyo to capture the Akuma! ”

“Got it!” She taps it and it opens revealing a white center, which she begins to spin around. “Time to de-akumatize!” She throws the yoyo in an arc and it meets the akuma midair, capturing it inside.

Angelbug retracts it and opens the yoyo, releasing the purified butterfly. “Bye-bye little butterfly.” She looks around at the cracked pavement and all the cars floating in the river. “Woah that’s a lot of damage.” 

“ That’s what your second power is for. The Miracle. By releasing the Lucky Charm, you use its energy to repair any damage caused by the situation you summoned the Lucky Charm to deal with. Just throw it in the air. ”

“Alright!” She winds up and tosses the Super Soaker in the air. “MIRACULOUS ANGELBUG!” It explodes into a red mist that immediately descends onto the ground. The pavement begins to repair and heal itself, the cars float out of the Seine and back into place, and the mist travels down the street through the city, where she can tell it is repairing all the damage Stoneheart caused.

“Excellent job partner!” Cat Noir exclaims as he runs over. “So that was an akuma?” She nods. 

“THAT WAS AMAZING!” Cerise and Alya run over to meet the heroes. “We were recording the whole thing! I’ve never seen anything like that!” Angelbug chuckles, “Trust me, neither have we!”

“So,” Cerise asks, “Are you guys like superheroes or something?” Angelbug thinks about it, “Well the term we use is champions but-”

“Yep! We’re superheroes!” Cat Noir exclaims. “I’m Cat Noir! This is Angelbug!” 

“Well it's an honor to meet you guys and… what's that?” Alya suddenly looks up to see a horde of butterflies emerging and flying towards the Eiffel Tower. Angelbug and Cat Noir instantly get back on guard. “More Akumas?” He asks.

“They don’t look like it. Let's go!” She takes off into the sky, Cat Noir following behind her. When they reach the Eiffel Tower a large crowd had gathered, looking up at the swarm of butterflies and moths. The two superheroes land right in front of the tower and look up at it. “You got anymore Cataclysms in you?” Cat Noir checks his ring, which monitors how much power he has left. 

“Got one more before I’m out.” Angelbug nods and calls up another Lucky Charm, this one taking the form of a giant electric fan, which lands right next to her. They stand ready as the swarm begins to shape itself into a giant head, with a mouth and two glowing purple eyes. 

“ So… you’re the wielders that the Guardian has chosen. And yet you’re just children… Angelbug and Cat Noir. ”

Angelbug steps forward. “And you’re the one who sent that Akuma for Ivan.” The head laughs. “ Indeed. I am Hawk Moth, wielder of the Miraculous of Transmission. And I speak to you, and the people of Paris with a warning. What you’ve seen today is but a taste, a morsel of the horrors I can unleash. Every negative emotion felt within this city is a future soldier to rise in my crusade. This will continue, on and on, until you heed my demand. But if you, Angelbug and Cat Noir, give me the Earrings of Creation and Ring of Destruction, this whole war will be avoided. You’ve caused enough damage to this city. ”

At this final sentence, Angelbug starts to chuckle before doubling over laughing. “HAHAHAHA!!! Oh my god… that’s too much! Yeah we’re not the ones who just turned a random kid into a rock monster! Well if you’re this insistent, listen to me Hawk Moth.”

She twirls her hand again and casts an illusion, creating a giant holographic copy of herself. “This city is under our protection. No matter how many times you try and take advantage of these people we will save them! We will believe in them! And one day we’ll find you, and you’ll give us your Miraculous!” On the ground she creates an electric current with a spell, sparking the fan and blowing the butterflies away, causing Hawk Moth’s face to dissipate.

Angelbug dispells the illusion and looks around to the people of Paris. They’ve declared themselves this cities heroes, but will the people accept them? However those worries are quickly dispelled as the people begin to cheer.

“ANGELBUG! CAT NOIR! ANGELBUG! CAT NOIR!”

Cat Noir looks out at the crowd, “Looks like there's no going back now my lady.”

Angelbug turns to face her partner. “No, I hope you’re ready. We’re in this for the long haul, kitten.”

He laughs, “Alright I asked for that one. Pound it?” He holds out his fist. She chuckles and meets it. “Pound it!” 

The crowds cheer even louder for their new heroes. On the sidelines Alya and Cerise filmed the whole thing. The heroes continue to wave until their Kwamis speak into their heads. 

“ Good job! Before going back to school we need you to head to Wang Massage Parlor downtown. ”

Angelbug turns to Cat Noir. “Did you hear that?” He nods, “We best get over there.”

They take off, and using their staff and wings they quickly arrive downtown at the seemingly normal building containing Wang Massage Parlor. An old man, Wang Fu, opens the door. “Come in you two come in!” Confused they enter after him and follow him into his office. 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both. I am Wang Fu, last Sacred Guardian of the Miraculous.” This surprises both of them. “You’re the one who sent us these?”

“Yes. Well, not really. The Kwami are in charge of choosing their wielders. But the Miraculous that are not in use are kept protected by me. I’ve called you here to explain more of what’s going on.”

“My Kwami gave me a bit of a rundown,” Angelbug says, “And Hawk Moth filled in some gaps. I take it you don’t have the Miraculous of Transmission?” He nods gravely. 

“Yes, for 170 years since the Guardian’s temple fell, I have searched for the Miraculous of Transmission and Emotion. Now I know at least one of them is in the city, and I have entrusted you with the power to retrieve them.”

“Why does he want ours?” Cat Noir chimes in. “If he has at least one already, what difference does it make?” Fu’s eyes narrow at this revelation. “I take it you don’t know the history of the Miraculous?”

They both shake their head. “Something about angels?” Angelbug asks.

“The reason Hawk Moth wants your Miraculous is the same reason they were hidden on Earth in the first place. By combining your powers he would gain the power to alter reality and grant himself one wish. But that wish would have a price, as all things do. The creator of the Miraculous, Heimael the Tinkerer, was sought after by a True Sephiroth for this power. When he refused to grant this Sephiroth his wish, the madman tried to take the Miraculous for himself.”

“And Plagg punched him in the face,” Cat Noir finishes. “Yeah, he mentioned.”

“ I told you! That asshole had it coming! ”

“He was later imprisoned, but ten thousand years ago one of his old followers tried to steal the Miraculous, and that convinced Heimael they could no longer be trusted among angels. They were hid here, for humans to wield in defense of their kind. In a way, they’re our one line of defense should the forces of the Arcane Realm descend upon us.”

“The Divine Realm… and the Demon Realm.” Angelbug realizes. “So they’re as dangerous as I’ve heard.” Cat Noir looks at her in confusion. “You’ve heard?” Angelbug realizes her mistake quickly and scrambles for an answer. “My… uh…”

“Tikki told her,” Fu finishes. “It’s not important. What matters is you cannot allow Hawk Moth to claim your Miraculous, or he will gain power on a scale hitherto imagined.”

Cat Noir raises his hand. “You don’t have to do that.” Fu replies.

“Yeah but I gotta know, how will we stop him from finding us? He heard us, he has a general idea of what we look like and our age. Shouldn’t be hard right?” Fu smiles and shakes his head.

“The Kwamis thought of that long ago. While the Miraculous are active, a low-level Tactile Illusion is cast in the area around you, altering people's perceptions. Even if your best friend looks in your eyes they won’t recognize you. Unless they already know your identity, which is another point I must bring up before you go…”

He stands up and walks out from behind his desk. “That same illusion works for Hawk Moth as well, so we don’t know who he is. He could be anywhere, anyone. So for the time being, you must keep your identities secret from any adults. No one but myself can know both of your true identities.”

Angelbug is a bit unnerved by this. “But-”

“I’ll speak to you in a minute. As for younger people, your friends, it would be alright for someone to know one of your identities. But you have to make sure you trust them and check with each other to ensure no one knows both. That includes you two.”

She stops. Ok, that’s slightly better. She won’t have to dodge around the truth to anyone if she trusts them. Her parents might still be an issue. 

Cat Noir nods, understanding a lot better than her. “Is that all? I kinda have to get home.” Fu nods, so Cat Noir gives a bow. “It’s been an honor my lady, I’ll see you when another monster attacks.” And he walks out. Fu is left with Angelbug.

“Now that we’re alone… Tikki, Spots Off.” The Miraculous de-activates to Marinettes shock, leaving her in her normal clothes. “If you also wouldn’t mind removing your illusionary charm.”

This shocks her even more. How does he know? But there’s no beating around the bush now. She takes off the Concealment Stone to reveal her silver hair and wings. 

“So… despite everything I just said, Tikki, the Kwami of Creation and living aspect of the universe itself, chooses an Angel to wield her.” Marinette blushes and puts her hands over her head in a fruitless attempt to hide her hair. “Half-Angel… And I’m from Earth!” Tikki emerges from her earrings, and Fu looks at her. “You trust her?” The Kwami nods. 

“She’s not a Wing of Rani, that’s for sure.” He nods back. “And she told you this as a direct answer to a question?” She nods. “Then we’re alright. What’s your name child?”

“Marinette Dupein-Cheng.”

“Marinette, the fact that Tikki still chose you despite your angel identity means a lot. You will be a fine wielder of the Miraculous. I understand you cannot lie, but you seem like a crafty young girl. I have faith you can figure it out. And if you ever need me, the Lucky Charm will bring you here.”

She nods, happy that Fu trusts her. “Thank you sir. I will make you proud!” She waves goodbye to the Guardian and heads for home. 

Meanwhile, Adrien makes it back home to Agreste Manor, and walks through the door to find his father and Nathalie both standing there. Gabriel runs forwards and embraces his son. “Are you alright son? When I heard the news…”

“I’m fine father, promise. That new hero Cat Noir saved me!” Gabriel smiles, “Well, I’m glad he did that. The rest of your day went ok?” Adrien nods, “Alright, well I’ll see you later for dinner.” Adrien hugs his father back before running up the stairs to his room. Once he’s out of sight, Nathalie slaps Gabriel in the face. “You almost got him hurt with that stunt! How dare you! That’s your son!”

Gabriel is knocked back but re-adjusts. “I know, I know. I deserved that. I thought you agreed to this plan.”

“Not if it puts Adrien in danger. This is for him, you know that. So does Nooroo.”

Gabriel nods. “I know. I’ll be more careful, I’ll make sure none of the akumatized even try and hurt him. I swear.” At this Nathalie relents, walking away, and Gabriel looks to the open door. 

“Angelbug… Cat Noir… I won’t let you interfere forever! I will defeat you, for my family!” He walks to his office to continue working.

The Next Day…

It’s pouring rain as Marinette drives to school. She has a video playing in her pocket for her to hear. Her two new friends just posted it this morning. 

“ Hi I’m Alya Cesaire! ”

“ And I’m Cerise Bianca! ”

“ And you’re listening to the AngelBlog! Your one-stop shop for all things Angelbug and Cat Noir. Make sure to like and subscribe as we’ll be providing our swiftest coverage of Paris’s new superheroes! ”

“We don’t know who they are,” Cerise says, “But we do know they have style! That’s all for now!”

Marinette pulls up in front of the school right as Juleka is also getting off her brother's scooter. The disguised half-angel blushes looking at Juleka’s twin brother Luka. He’s taller than her, with blue hair and large black earrings. He wears a grey jacket over a white shirt, and Marinette has kinda had a crush on him for years. 

“H-Hi Luka!” He waves to her before driving off. He doesn’t go to school here, his and Juleka’s mom always homeschooled him. But he’s very chill and spends most of his time writing music. Juleka smirks. “I guess you’re still not over that…” she mumbles

Marinette laughs before a particularly large drop of water hits her face. “Dammit I didn’t bring an umbrella!”

“Here, you can have mine.”

Adrien, who neither Marinette or Juleka heard approaching, extends his umbrella to cover Marinette. Juleka, who has her own, leaves to head inside while Marinette looks at Adrien. Truth be told, she was hoping to find him. 

Also, Plagg is inside Adrien’s shirt, munching on a piece of cheese, and can tell Tikki is in Marinette’s bag. He’s doing his best to contain his laughter at this situation. Marinette is Angelbug, Adrien is Cat Noir. Oh this is gonna be freaking hilarious!

“Um... hi.”

“Hey.”

“Listen… I wanted to apologize. We might’ve gotten off on the wrong foot earlier. I kinda freaked out when I heard you’re Adrien Agreste, and I’m sorry if I made you feel… weird about that.”

Adrien smiles. “It’s perfectly fine. I expected that. Truth be told, I was kinda acting weird too. It’s the first time I’ve ever spoken to anyone… else.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, growing up, my mom and dad homeschooled me. My only friends were Chloé and Kagami. And well… Kagami’s nice but she’s kinda cold at times. And Chloé can be a handful. I’ve never had other friends.”

Marinette feels bad. Only Chloé and Kagami? That sounds horrible. But she doesn’t say that. Instead, she tries something else. “Well, how about we be friends? I can introduce you to Nino and all my other friends. You can join our group.”

His face widens. “You mean that?”

“Of course! I never lie.” Of course he’ll never know that she can’t, just that she doesn’t.

“I’d like that. Nice you meet you new friend.” She smiles and shakes his hand. “Now let's get out of the rain. I gotta grill Alya about her new Youtube channel.”

The two new friends, under the same umbrella, head inside for another day at school. Yet they each remain unaware that the person standing next to them is their secret superhero partner. And as they enter the school, they enter a new era of heroes. A Miraculous Era!

Chapter Text

Cat Noir is starting to hate the weather.

And you can’t blame him, considering right now he’s stuck in the middle of a tornado being thrown around in 100-mile-an-hour winds by a girl who got the power to control weather after she lost out on a job being a weather reporter. Seriously, who actually wants to be a weather reporter?

“ I’m getting dizzy Adrien! ” “Yeah I realize that Plagg! I’m not doing better!” 

“ Well hurry up and get rid of her! ” “We can’t! Angelbug needs to capture the Akuma! She’s the only one who can do it!” “ Just destroy it! You said you were gonna handle this one! Plus, we promised to meet Marinette and Alya in 20 minutes! ” 

Cat Noir almost forgot about that! “Ok,” he tries his best to look around as he’s getting flung through the air above Paris, “If I were a flying weather girl where would I-OW!” Suddenly, the flying weather girl streaked out of nowhere in a flash of purple and slammed Cat Noir with her umbrella, sending him careening down into the city and landing with a crash on the top of a building. “Owww…” And immediately as he starts to get up she lands right on top of him, slamming him back into the ground and pointing her glowing umbrella directly in her face. 

“I have you right where I want you Cat Noir. Now give me one reason I shouldn’t fry your brain!”

The tip of her umbrella starts to shine brighter and brighter as it charges up. “Yeah, I actually have two.” Behind his back, he charges up energy in his hand, “Cataclysm…” he thrusts it out and disintegrates her umbrella in a single touch, causing the akuma to fly out. “...and Cataclysm!” He grabs it out of the air and destroys it as well. The villain known as Stormy Weather turns back into a normal girl. “You know, there’s other channels on TV right? KIDZ isn’t the only one that reports the weather.” A swarm of ladybugs flies overhead, indicating Angelbug has finally arrived and used her powers to repair everything. He jumps off the building and leaps over to where the ladybugs came from, finding Angelbug as she was about to fly away. “A job well done my lady!”

“Sorry Cat,” she says, “Couldn’t find a safe place to transform.” 

“Don’t mention it, after all, I promised to handle this one after you took care of the pigeon guy.”

Three days ago, Hawk Moth gave a random guy the power to control pigeons. And Adrien is allergic to pigeons, so Angelbug stepped up and fought him herself. He’d promised to take point on the next villain. “Thanks kitty. Alright gotta run, meeting some friends.” She prepares to take off. “You know I’ve wondered, why do you have wings?” This causes her to freeze up as she thinks of an answer. “Because… I can fly?” 

Cat Noir laughs, “Fair enough! See you around!” He also leaps away. Angelbug breathes a sigh of relief. Yes, she can fly; that’s technically the truth, hence why her throat isn’t on fire. Crap I’m gonna be late!   She realizes and flies off. 

Meanwhile, Adrien leaps down into an alley outside the park. “Plagg, Claws in!” He transforms out of his Cat Noir suit as Plagg appears in his hand. “Alright, hand it over!” Adrien sighs and pulls a piece of cheese out of his jacket. “Of all the things I’ve tried to feed you in the week since we started, the only thing you eat is this smelly Camembert cheese!”

“I’ll have you know I have a very refined palate. And if you wanna be Cat Noir, you give me cheese! That’s the trade!”

“Fair enough…now let's go!” Plagg flies into his jacket and Adrien runs out to the park, where Marinette, Alya, Nino, and his stylist have been waiting for him. They all agreed to come help with a photoshoot after Adrien’s normal cameraperson called in sick.

“Yo, good to see you dude!” Nino calls out. He and Adrien have become quite good friends in the past week, ever since Marinette introduced them. He’s super chill, nice, and always ready to have fun.

“Did you guys see that? I think…someone got weather powers.”

“Yeah I was driving over here, nearly got swept into the river,” Marinette says. It is true, again, technically. She was driving over here when Stormy Weather attacked, but she didn’t have to mention that she transformed into Angelbug to help get people to safety.

“Well what matters is we’re here! So, shall we begin?” Alya holds up her camera.

The photoshoot goes ahead pretty much without a hitch. While it’s happening, Plagg goes and hides in one of the bags, which catches Tikki’s attention as she goes invisible and flies inside to join him. 

“What are you doing in here?” She demands freaking him out as he’s eating his cheese.

“Hiding in a dark bag where no one can see me? And what are you doing in here Sugarcube?”

“Well… I guess the same. My wielder is nearby.”

Plagg finishes his cheese, “Oh, I know. I sensed it from the beginning. You picked his new friend Marinette!”

Tikki nods in excitement. “And you’ll never guess! She’s an Angel!” And that got Plagg’s attention, and his smile fades.

“Like, a proper Divine Realm Angel?” He asks suspiciously.

“Well she’s from Earth. So’s her dad. Look Plagg I picked her. You know I’m extra careful with Angels.”

Plagg sighs. Of course. He and Tikki are closer than any two beings in the universe. He trusts her to a fault. “Yeah I know… You would never choose a wielder like those Wings of Rani, or any of the other crazy factions from the Eternal War. God those people were insane.”

Tikki nods. “A lot of people don’t understand that shaping the universe like that is beyond them. It’s why you, Heimael, and I agreed to keep the Miraculous a secret. And it’s why we’re always so careful to choose our wielders.”

“Yep,” Plagg suddenly breaks back into a smile. “Has she told you anything? Is there a fourth Sephiroth yet?”

Tikki shakes her head. “No, still just three. Marinette’s grandma is an ambassador in the Free Cities, but I haven’t seen her yet.”

“Well, ain’t our problem anymore. We’re on Earth, let's just enjoy our wielders' super-dramatic lives.” Tikki laughs and kisses Plagg on the cheek. “Of course you’d say that furball.”

Meanwhile, the photoshoot has just finished up. Marinette and Alya bid Adrien and Nino goodbye before heading home. Adrien secretly has Plagg fly back into his jacket and starts to do the same with Nino.

“So, you doing anything for your birthday?” Nino asks. Adrien let slip during the shoot that his birthday is this Saturday. 

“Well, every year my family likes to go to this bistro. It’s been there a long time, and is where they used to go when they started dating. But now that my mom is gone… I don’t know.”

Nino hangs his head. “Yeah.. hey maybe I can throw you a party! Not that night if you’re doing that with your dad, but maybe the day before! That sounds good?”

Adrien has a huge smile on his face. “Yeah! We just have to ask Father if it’s ok!” At this point, they’ve arrived at the manor and head inside. Nathalie and his normal bodyguard, Placide, are waiting for him. 

“Is Father home? My friend Nino and I had a question for him.” 

“Right here!” Gabriel comes out of his office. “Hello Adrien. Shoot went well?”

“Yes, my friends were a big help with the cameras.”

“Well, you have my thanks young man. What is it you’d like to ask?”

“Well sir,” Nino starts, “I was hoping to throw Adrien a birthday party. I know you have a family tradition you do on Saturday, so I was looking to hold it on Friday. Would that be alright with you?”

Gabriel thought it over for a second. Initially he’s apprehensive as Adrien’s never had a full birthday party before. On the other hand, he’s made a lot of new friends this past week since starting school, so maybe this would be a good activity for them. 

“That sounds like a great idea. I would however request it not be held here. I have important designs I need to finish up before Adrien’s birthday. ”

“Sounds great! Thanks Mr. Agreste.” Nino gives Adrien a high-five. “See you tomorrow! I’ll get working on that!” He runs off to his house. Adrien heads up to his room. “Thank you Father.” He says before entering. 

“My pleasure son.” Gabriel says with a smile.

A Few Days Later…

It’s Saturday afternoon, and the entire group of friends just got out of school, and have rushed over to the park to set up for Adrien’s party. Marinette and Luka were hauling a bunch of snacks off their mopeds, generously baked by Marinette’s parents(and their magic constructs). Ivan and Kim were helping set up tables. Everyone else was milling around, cleaning up, putting down chairs, and anything else they need. 

“It’s looking good everyone!” Nino says, a clipboard in hand as he checks over everything. “Thanks for helping with the tables Ivan.”

Ivan smiles. “It’s the least I could do… especially after I turned into that monster.”

“Ivan, you were akumatized, it’s not your fault. Someone took advantage of your negative emotions,” Cerise puts her hand on his shoulder. 

Mylene smiles, “And we’ll be here for you if you ever need us!” 

“Thanks Mylene.” Her entire face goes red. 

Nino checks his phone. “Alright, Adrien will be here in ten minutes! Put the finishing touches on now!”

But as he says this, a series of black cars pull up and a bunch of larger men step out and walk over. One of them, an older man with a white mustache, white suit, and purple undershirt, approaches Nino. 

“What the hell is going on here?”

Nino is confused. “We’re throwing a party sir.”

He laughs. “Oh, that’s rich! You’re throwing a party on the site of my future music video?”

Luka got a closer look at the guy and gives off a heavy sigh. “Ah great, it's Robert Roth.”

Marinette leans closer. “Who?”

“One of the most cutthroat producers in the music industry. Anyone who's someone in Western Europe has had to deal with him at some point.” Meanwhile, Nino is protesting to Roth.

“This is public property, Mr Roth. Plus, we’ve been setting up here for two hours!”

“Well that’s nice kid but I don’t care! I’m an adult, and that means I have money and anything I do is more important than whatever dumb shit you’re getting up to! Take it down boys!” He directs his men and they start knocking down all the decorations. “NO!” All the kids scream as they desperately try and stop them, but many of them are knocked forcefully aside.

Marinette subtly twirls her hand behind her back and steps in front of one of the tables, and as one of Roth’s men tries to push her aside she thrusts her hand out and induces an electric charge into him, causing him to jump back in pain. “Why you little-” He backhands Marinette, sending her sprawling to the ground. 

“MARINETTE NO! YOU ASSHOLE!” Nino shouts, “GET AWAY FROM THEM! All we wanted to do was throw a party for our new friend, and you wanna ruin that?!”

Roth laughs, “Here’s a lesson kid: You’re not people, you’re just sacks of meat taking up space for adults. You don’t deserve anything we don’t choose to give you. So stand aside, go back home to your mommy and daddy, and come back when you matter.”

Nino growls in anger, his gaze focused and colored red on Roth. He doesn’t get angry often, but this is an exception. And something notices, a purple butterfly descending from a nearby tree and entering into Nino’s headphones. His vision of Roth is replaced by a purple void, and a voice speaks. 

“ Hello Nino. Forgive my intrusion, but I sense a great unusual rage. These disrespectful people are trying to ruin all your fun. ”

Nino nods, “We deserve to have this. I want to throw this party for my friend! But all these adults are ruining it!”

“ You’re right of course. Children deserve to have all their fun. If you agree, I can grant you the power to send all the evil adults far away. I only ask for one thing in return: When Angelbug and Cat Noir come to stop you, you will take their Miraculous! ”

Nino clenches his fist, “I’m ready.”

“ And what shall I call you? ”

“Rockkid!”

Back in the real world, Nino is encased in the purple energy, emerging with a new outfit. His whole body is covered in a dark purple bodysuit, with light glowing yellow lines tracing along his arms and legs. His head is covered in a helmet with a bright yellow visor, preventing anyone from seeing his face. Marinette, who’s standing up, gasps as she sees Nino akumatized. 

Roth looks in shock. “Wha-”

“ I won’t let you shut me down! I am Rockkid, and the party goes on! ” He forms bolts of lightning in his hands and chucks them at Roth and all his men. One by one, they get hit and disappear into the lightning, which flies back into Rockkid and brightens the glow even more. 

Marinette acts fast, casting an illusion of herself and running off into an alley. Tikki flies out of her bag. “This is bad! I didn’t think Nino would ever feel such rage as to be akumatized!” Tikki exclaims. 

“Well, lucky I can handle lightning. TIKKI SPOTS ON!” Tikki flies into the Miraculous as Marinette transforms into Angelbug. She’s done this a few times, so she adds a little flair, dancing to apply her costume to her body until she’s fully Angelbug.

“ What do you mean by you can handle lightning? ”

“It’s my Elemental Affinity. Grandma never told me exactly what that means, but I should be able to better control lightning. Now let’s do this!” She flaps her wings and takes off.

Meanwhile, Adrien pulls up to the party just to see Rockkid obliterate all of Roth’s men. “Oh no!” Placide stands in front of him, but Rockkid doesn't notice him. “Another evil adult!” He prepares to throw a bolt of lightning. 

“Nino wait!” Adrien steps out in front of his bodyguard, causing Rockkid to stop. “ Adrien, dude! Sorry, some losers tried to crash the party, but I’m setting them straight! ” 

“You’ve been akumatized?”

“ Upgraded. Now no one can stop me from throwing the best birthday party this side of Paris! Isn’t that right guys? ” He looks at the rest of their friends, who start slowly backing away. He growls and hefts his lightning again, causing them to all stop moving away and start cheering out of fear. 

Adrien walks closer. “Nino, I’m sorry this happened, we can find somewhere else to have the party! But not if you’re akumatized! Calm down, and we’ll figure this out.” Rockkid almost stops, but steels himself with his rage. “ No. As long as these adults are around, they’ll find a way to ruin our fun. But once I get rid of them, nothing with stop us!” He prepares to throw lightning at Placide, but a yoyo flies out of the air and slams him in the side of the face, sending him flying into a nearby tree. Angelbug shoots out of the sky and lands in front of them. “Adrien Agreste, get out of here! Now!” She retracts her yoyo and deflects more bolts of lightning. 

Adrien doesn’t think twice, “Placide, take the car and get out of here!” His bodyguard opens his mouth to protest, “Sir-”

“I’ll be fine, he won’t hurt me. GO!” Placide is unsure, but he gets back in the car and takes off towards the manor. Adrien runs into the nearest building and opens his jacket. “Looks like the party isn’t going as planned!” Plagg says. “Now that’s obvious. PLAGG CLAWS OUT!” Adrien transforms into Cat Noir with a flourish before leaping back towards the battle. He swings his staff and blocks a lightning bolt about to get behind Angelbug’s yoyo. “Got your back!”

“ Angelbug, Cat Noir! I should’ve known you superheroes would side with the adults trying to ruin my fun! ”

“It’s not fun when you’re turning innocent people into lightning!” Angelbug shouts back. 

“ Wrong! All I’m trying to do is give us the fun party we deserve! And I won’t let you stop me! ” He concentrates, and the yellow lines, which have been growing brighter with every person he hit, go pure white and dispel a giant cloud of lightning bolts around him. He thrusts his arms out, and they all begin to fly right at the heroes. 

“SHIT! RUN!” They both get into the air to try and avoid them, but the lightning follows them and begins to shoot past them. Even though they dodge the lightning recovers and flies back for another pass.

Meanwhile, Rockkid is looking around. “ Adrien? WHERE IS ADRIEN? YOU STOLE HIM! ” He unleashes even more lightning. Angelbug draws a giant circle in the air and begins to absorb the first salvo. As a lightning-affiliated Angel, her ability to control lightning is slightly greater. The bolts begin to go through the circle and dissolve into her body, causing brief shocks of pain as they pass through before being absorbed into her wings. She concentrates on keeping the circle up. “AGH!” She starts to lose height, but Cat Noir notices and catches her, landing on a building. 

“That was a lot of electricity Angelbug! You ok?”

She gets to her feet. “...Yeah. Haven’t absorbed that much before. Wait where is Adrien? I told him to run!”

“Yeah I got him to his bodyguard, we’re good.”

“Alright,” she says, “LUCKY CHARM!” She throws her yoyo in the air, and the energy leaks off it and becomes…

“A feather?” She’s confused at the red feather in her hands but remembers: the Lucky Charm is never obvious. Down below them, Rockkid throws up a lightning dome around the entire park, trapping all the kids in. “ Now no one can stop this party! HAHA! ”  

She concentrates and the world goes white, the feather flashing red alongside Cat Noir next to her, and her right hand. “Ohhh… Do I have to?”

“ Seems like it Marinette ,” Tikki’s voice says. 

Cat Noir is confused. “What do you mean?”

“We can’t get close without getting hit. Unless we’re already electrified. Alright, do you trust me Cat Noir?”

He smiles and nods. “Always.” 

“I’ve never done this before, but I think I can give you a power boost. An Angelic Blessing. Because I’m lightning-affiliated, I’m hoping it means you can pass through the barrier.”

“Why can’t I just destroy it?” 

“You have three charges, you need to destroy it once you’re inside so everyone can get away. I don’t wanna risk you running out if you have to do it twice for the barrier, and once for the akumatized object.”

He thinks for a second before nodding. “Do what you have to.” She smiles and concentrates on the feather. She channels her inner Angel magic into it until it glows white and yellow. “By my Blessing, take this strength and fight for the greater good!” She gives it to Cat Noir and the blessing enters him. The lightning energy traces thin lines along his body as he feels newfound power. “Woah!”

He smirks. “Let's go!” He doesn’t even activate his staff. Using his new power, he flash-steps off the roof and appears at the barrier in a flash, slamming his hands together to create a magic barrier of lightning around him. Keeping Rockkid’s lightning out, he’s able to pass through. 

“CATACLYSM!” The second he’s through Cat Noir slams the barrier with his palm and instantly evaporates it. “EVERYONE RUN!” The kids all run in different directions with Alya running by him. “Thank you Cat Noir!”

“You’re welcome. By the way, did you see the Akumatized object?” She nods. “His headphones.” 

“Got it!” 

Rockkid lets out an angry bellow. “ I won’t let you ruin this! I’ll defeat you and take your Miraculous! ” Cat Noir leaps into action attacking with his staff, while Rockkid conjures two solid lightning swords and begins to attack. Back and forth the two exchange blows, with Rockkid being a blur of motion as he duel-wields his swords and launches multiple attacks a second. But Cat Noir, who’s been fencing for years, knows that eventually he’ll overextend and provide an opening to smash the headphones. “ Why do you have to spoil our fun? ” Rockkid thrusts with a sword, and while Cat Noir dodges, the sword extends and wraps around a tree, ripping it out of the ground and tossing it at Angelbug in the sky. 

“Angelbug!” Channelling the blessing again, Cat Noir streaks upward and appears in front of her. “Cataclysm!” The tree explodes into black dust. Angelbug spins her yoyo and the dust is propelled to the ground, covering Rockkid. “ What? I can’t see! ”

Angelbug lands behind him. She casts another spell and creates several illusionary copies of herself. “That’s the point.” They all charge at him, and while he does his best to slash them down, the real Angelbug gets through and grabs the headphones. “Lucky Charm!” This time, it gives her something simple: an ice pick, which she stabs right into the headphones, freeing the akuma. Rockkid changes back into Nino in a flash.

“Time to de-akumatize!” Angelbug opens her yoyo, spins it up, and throws it to capture the akuma. “Gotcha! Bye bye little butterfly!” She releases the purified butterfly, before winding up again and chucking the ice pick in the air. “MIRACULOUS ANGELBUG!”

The swarm of ladybugs sweeps over the area, restoring the trees, healing the electric burns on nearby buildings, and restoring all the adults that were turned to electricity. Robert Roth gets to his feet immediately, only to be faced by the two heroes. 

“I don’t know what you tried to do. And frankly, I don’t give a shit. These kids have a right to be here and have a party in public. Whatever bullshit you’re doing you can do somewhere else!” Angelbug shouts. Even though she just saved him, she’s still really mad at this guy.

“So back off, or you deal with us as well!” Cat Noir challenges. Roth takes the hint, “Alright move out everyone. But this isn’t over Angelbug!” All his men get back in their cars and take off. All of the friends cheer for Angelbug, with Alya and Cerise having their phones out recording as she takes off, finding a safe place to turn back. Cat Noir, meanwhile, looks around at the party Nino set up for him and makes a decision. 

“Nino Lahiffe?” He asks. Nino steps forward confused, “Yeah?”

“Come with me, I’ll take you to where Adrien is hiding.” Nino nods and quickly follows after Cat Noir as he runs down a few blocks and into an alleyway. Nino arrives shortly after, panting, and looks around confused. “Where is he?”

“We’re almost to him, but first I have to ask you. Can you keep a secret? For Adrien’s sake?”

Nino thinks for a second, and nods. “I’ve had a lot of friends, but I’ve never made one as fast as Adrien. He’s such an awesome guy, of course I would!”

Cat Noir smiles at that. “Plagg, Claws in.” He detransforms, revealing his identity to Nino, who steps back in shock. “Adrien?”

Adrien gives a shy wave. “Hey dude.”

“You’re… CAT NOIR?”

“Hey, keep it down it’s a secret! But yeah.”

“And you trust me enough to tell me?”

Adrien nods, “We were told we can tell people we really trust. And that’s you Nino. You went out of your way to throw a party for me despite only knowing me for a week. You deserved to know the truth. But don’t tell anyone else. It’s a secret for a reason.”

Nino nods. “My lips are sealed. Now, how about we get back to the party?”

Adrien laughs. “I hope there’s cake!” And the two friends run back down the street to the park, for Adrien’s first-ever birthday party.

Later…

Alya is in her room, placing pieces of paper up on the wall. Cerise is sitting on her bed looking at her phone. “Well, that’s all the footage we have. Still can’t place them.”

“Well, we have another factor now. We can rule out everyone who was at the party.”

“What about Marinette and Adrien?”

Alya shakes her head at the thought of their new friends. “Marinette was with us, remember? Even though she got out of the barrier. And Nino went and found where Adrien was hiding. We can rule both of them out.”

Cerise sighs, “And that just leaves the entire damn population of Paris. Why are we even doing this?”

“Because we’re the Angelblog. We have to be on the case for everything Angelbug and Cat Noir. But we’re also journalists. Our job is to report the truth. And there’s one secret we know they’re hiding from us. From everyone.”

On Alya’s wall, pieces of paper with various facts surround one larger piece with a simple sentence written on it in massive letters. 

Who Are Angelbug and Cat Noir?

Alya smiles. “And we, Cerise? We’re gonna be the ones that crack it wide open.”

Chapter Text

Many Years Ago…

Young Alix Kubdel, barely six years old, is tucked into bed by her father Alim. “Good night sweetie. Remember, we have to leave early tomorrow morning for school, Dad has his new job.”

“At the Louvre, right?” Young Alix asks. He nods. “Yep, I’m the newest historian.” She tilts her head.

“But why?”

“Why what?”

“Why a museum? Why history? Isn’t it boring?”

Alim chuckles. “It’s the exact opposite my dear. History is the most exciting thing of all. You want to know why?”

The young girl leans forward.

 “Because it’s everything! Everything is history, up to the most recent second. When memory fails us, it's up to history to show people where they came from. It’s the most fun in the world. And as I say, there’s no higher calling than doing what we love…”

“And loving what we do!” She finishes. He smiles and kisses her forehead before exiting the bedroom, leaving his young girl to sleep. 

Present Day

Alix rollerblades down the sidewalk towards the Louvre. She jumps over gaps and does some fun tricks as she makes her way through the city, so free in her movement. She feels her phone buzz in her pants pocket as someone is calling her, which she effortlessly picks up as she continues moving. “Yeah?”

“I think we should bring them in.” Zoe’s voice says over the phone. 

“Who?”

“Alya and Cerise. They’re hanging out a lot with Marinette, they’ll be great assets.”

Alix laughs. She almost forgot about this. Rose and Zoe’s little plot that they started last year. “And you’re calling me about this why?”

“You’re part of Operation Kitty Section as well.”

“Yeah, to keep you all from doing something completely unhinged. You know my feelings on romance.”

She hears Zoe chuckle over the phone. Alix came out as aromantic to everyone last year, to the support of basically everyone. 

“If you want to, go ahead and add them to the group chat. Are you almost there?” She’s almost to the Louvre, where everyone is meeting up. 

“Yep! See you soon!” Zoe hangs up, and Alix heads through the entrance, switching off the wheels on her shoes as she approaches the famous glass pyramid. She’s so excited! Today, the entire class has been invited by her dad to see a brand new exhibit at the Louvre before it opens next week. As she stops, she instinctively reaches into her pocket to make sure her pocketwatch is still there. It’s an heirloom her dad gave her, and she makes sure to keep it safe at all times.

Alix descends the stairs to find the entire class waiting. Ms Bustier clears her throat as Alix gives fist bumps to all her friends, and Zoe arrives a few minutes later. 

“Alright students, I’d like to introduce the two curators of this exhibit, historian Alim Kubdel and Dr Janice Moore.” This causes Alix’s ears to perk up. “Wait, wha-”

A side door opens, and Alix’s dad steps out alongside someone Alix hasn’t seen in a long time. An adult woman with dark skin, black hair tied back in a ponytail, and a yellow shirt with fossil art all over it. 

“Dr Jan!” She breaks from the group to run over and hug the visitor. She’s known Dr Jan her whole life. Alix’s dad went to college with her. After her parents got divorced, Dr Jan almost became a new mother figure to her when she was growing up. 

“Oh my god, Alix!” She hugs her back. “You’ve gotten so big!”

“I’m fifteen now! Of course I have! How’s Los Angeles?” 

“Fantastic. There’s so much to see out there, so much to discover!”

“Alix, would you mind staying with the group?” Ms Bustier asks. “Ah right, sorry.” Alix returns to the group of students. 

Marinette leans over. “You know her?” Alix nods enthusiastically. 

Alim steps forward. “Good morning, students. I’d like to introduce my colleague Dr Jan, curator of the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History.”

“And lover of all things ancient!” She finishes, striking a pose. Marinette chuckles a little, but Chloé scoffs. 

“What an utterly ridiculous woman. I thought we were learning history!”

“Uh, we are learning history Chloé,” Alix snarks, “Don’t you want to know the history of Angelbug?”  

This causes Chloé to perk up. She’s become very much a fan of Angelbug since the hero showed up, even though Angelbug is…kinda the exact opposite of her. In that she’s a nice person. 

“Well… I suppose I can endure her presence.”

Alix’s comment causes Marinette to freeze up. What does she mean by the history of Angelbug? I’ve only been around a little while!

Alim nods. “Yes, that is part of what this exhibit is about. Angelbug and Cat Noir’s appearance has led to a lot of questions about them. Who they are is a big one.” Alya winks at Cerise, “But also, what are they? Where do their powers come from? And if people like them can spring out of the woodwork, what else is out there hiding in the world?”

Dr Jan spreads her hands. “And that’s why we’ve teamed up to bring you the Hall of the Unsolved! A new exhibit showcasing artifacts from across the world with mysterious origins…possible supernatural powers…or even items from other worlds! ”

This got everyone talking. More things that might have to do with Angelbug and Cat Noir? This is gonna be great! But Marinette got even more nervous. She nudges her bag to alert Tikki.

“ What is she talking about? ”

“ It’s hard to say, ” Tikki replies quietly. “ There’s a lot of precedence for things from the Arcane Realm falling through cracks into this world. It’s worth a look for sure. ”

The class follows Alim and Dr Jan through the museum and past a bunch of the more famous paintings and statues to reach a room cut off by red velvet ropes, which Dr Jan lifts to allow them through. Opening the double doors, they are greeted with a massive room and several different objects on brightly lit stands, protected by glass boxes. Towards the back of the room, there’s a giant mural depicting figures dancing across stones. 

“Everyone, feel free to spread out and look around! The curators will come around and answer questions!” Ms Bustier says. The class starts to look around at the various objects. 

Chloé and Sabrina walk over to a suit of armor on display, red highlights along polished iron. “Now this is moderately fashionable. What is it?”

Alim walks over. “This is a suit of armor worn by Joan of Arc during her campaign.”

Sabrina raises her hand. “Why is this considered a mystery? We know about Joan of Arc.”

“Well, it has to do with our new heroes. In some texts, Joan of Arc is referred to as the Scarlet Fate, who possessed powers beyond imagination. It’s why so many believed her to be blessed by God. Except if we’re correct, she got her blessing from somewhere else.”

For once, Chloé actually seems interested. “So Angelbug might be really old?”

“Either that, or a long lineage of different people. It’s hard to say, but the evidence is there.”

Alix is on the other side of the room at another pedestal. On this one, there’s a dark-colored vase depicting people in a boat looking up at a strange pink creature holding a shiny box. “Ooo is that a portal?” She asks, pointing at a glowing circle depicted behind the creature.

“This one’s from my museum collection,” Dr Jan explains. “It was uncovered in the ruins of a Norse village dating back to the 8th century. Appears to depict an extraterrestrial.”

“What’s the box?”

“It’s a mystery. Some of my colleagues say it’s a lost treasure granted to humanity. Others believe it's kind of a Pandora’s box given to test us. We’ve never found it, but we’re always trying.”

Adrien is looking at perhaps the weirdest object in here: a log of blue-colored wood. 

“ Hey Adrien! I smell something! ” Plagg is whispering from within his jacket. “There’s no cheese Plagg, it’s just a piece of blue wood.”

“ Ooo is it Palistrom? ”

Adrien looks at the wood confused. “What’s Palistrom?”

“ Special kind of magic wood. Only grows in the Arcane Realm. I remember some angels used to carve familiars from them. ”

Adrien nods as Alim walks by. “Ah, you’re interested in this specimen? It was found during an arborial survey in upstate Connecticut. Has some trace amounts of radiation that’s unique among trees.”

“Any idea how it got there?”

“Look on the side.” Adrien notices a pair of letters on the side. “E.C… are they initials?”

Alim nods. “That’s the theory. I’m guessing it's a tag from whoever left it there, claiming it.”

Alya and Cerise take pictures of a seemingly normal sword. “Woah. It looks awesome!”

“I know!” Dr Jan walks over. “This is the Diligence Sword. Dates back to the Holy Roman Empire.”

“Why is it called that?” Cerise asks. 

“Period texts say it belonged to something called ‘Crest Diligence,’ whatever that means.”

Meanwhile, Marinette makes a mad dash for the furthest object in the room the second she enters. Everything else? Yeah it looked awesome, but she recognizes this. “No way…is that a Panacea Mirror?”

Sure enough, an ornate mirror rests on the final pedestal. 

“Ah, so you’ve heard of it,” Alim notices. “This was buried in the tomb of the Pharaoh Thutmose III. Discovered on the same expedition as the Rosetta Stone. According to hieroglyph translations, gazing into it was said to bring great health. Some of the elements comprising it don’t appear on the periodic table. And believe me, we check regularly.”

That’s because it's an Angelic artifact . Marinette thinks as Alim walks away. “Tikki, can you believe this?”

“ I told you weird stuff ends up here. Probably unused as well, so if we ever needed it… ”

“I would never steal this!”

At this point, someone finally takes a look at the giant mural on the wall, that someone being Cerise. “Um, guys? Is that…Angelbug?” 

Indeed, depicted in this mural is a figure in a costume almost identical to Angelbug’s, red with black spots, fighting some kind of four-legged monster. Alim smiles. 

“This is the crown jewel of the collection, and the very reason I chose to open this exhibit. This mural dates back to the Old Kingdom of Egypt, nearly 5 thousand years ago, yet it depicts a figure that first appeared only recently. I believe this is ironclad proof that Angelbug is far, far more ancient than anyone dares believe.”

“ And they’d be right, ” Tikki whispers to Marinette through her bag. “ That was one of my first wielders. God, that was so long ago… ”

“And that’s why this exhibit exists,” Alim finishes, “By bringing attention to the great mysteries of the world, we will inspire more people to go out and find new ones. Go out and solve the unsolvable! Go out and-”

Suddenly, the door to the hall opens, and the manager of the Louvre, Bertrand Thorne, storms in with an angry look. “You’ve overstepped for the last time, Kubdel!”

Alim turns around quickly. “Mr Thorne, what?!”

“You’ve been taking pieces from other exhibits and other museums across the world for this fantasy hall!”

“I didn’t take them! I’ve been working with Dr Jan and other curators for weeks, and they all permitted me to put their pieces on display! Plus, as curator of Egyptian Artifacts, several of these are from our own collection.”

“Irrelevant! You went behind my back to open this exhibit for a bunch of nonsense artifacts with no history behind them. We don’t peddle conspiracy theories here at the Louvre!”

“These aren’t conspiracies!” Dr Jan steps up to defend her colleague, “Just because we don’t know everything about these items doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be displayed!”

“I won’t hear it. You’ve wasted thousands of museum donations on this worthless exhibit. YOU’RE FIRED!”

Alim can barely speak. “...What?” His eyes almost go blank. Marinette finally peels away from the Panacea mirror and sees Alix, seething, and walking up to confront Thorne. She and Adrien rush over to restrain. 

“Alix, no! It’s not worth it!” 

“You and your dad can figure this out!” Adrien adds, but Alix doesn’t listen. Nor does she notice the purple butterfly fluttering down from the rafters. Marinette sees it though. “Oh shit! ALIX, WATCH OUT!” She applies a strength spell to herself and pushes Alix out of the akuma’s path, which attracts the attention of the adults. Thorne looks outraged. “What is this racket?”

But Alim sees the akuma change course and fly towards his daughter. “Oh no…”

It enters her hat, and Alix finds herself whisked to that purple void. Hawk Moth speaks through it. 

“ Hello Alix, forgive my intrusion. I sense rage boiling. You want your father's work to be appreciated? I can give you that power, but in return you must- ”

“HEY! HAWK MOTH!”

Alim’s voice cuts through the void, and Alix sees a vision open in midair. A vision of the real world with her dad staring right at her. 

“Leave her alone! You want anger, take mine! I've got enough for you!”

Hawk Moth goes silent, and suddenly Alix is whisked out of the void and finds herself back in the real world, the akuma exiting her cap and flying towards her father. 

“DAD NO!”

“It’s ok, sweetheart. It’s ok… Thorne, Dr Jan, step away,” he says as the akuma enters his glasses.

Chloé is the first out the door, running and screaming. Nino looks at Adrien and gives him a nod. “Quick Adrien, we gotta run!”

Alya, Cerise, and Marinette take off in another direction as the transformation completes. Alim is now dressed in a black suit, is at least ten feet tall with longer arms, and is wearing a shadowy bowler hat, upon which rests his glasses. 

“ I am Curationist! Within the grounds of this museum, reality is mine to command! ” He waves his hand, and the museum begins to shift. Tiles moving, walls rising and falling, statues and sets of armor jumping off their pedestals. Thorne is paralyzed as four walls rise around him, a ceiling forms over him, and he’s trapped in a marble box, which then falls through the floor. 

“ Now to seal you up for safety. ” He snaps his fingers, and the walls begin to rise around Alix. She starts to panic, but suddenly, she feels the pocket watch in her shorts start to heat up. She takes it out, and it emits a pulse of blue light that somehow gets the walls to recede into the floor. Not wanting to waste this chance, she bolts for the door, the watch continuing to pulse and rearrange the tiles beneath her feet to ensure she can get away. 

“ What the-OW! ” Curationist shouts in pain as a staff flies out of nowhere before returning to Cat Noir’s hand as he jumps into the room. “You know, as a pioneer in black clothing, you need a better hat to go with the suit!” 

Curationist cracks his jaw. “ Now that my daughter is safe, you will give me your Miraculous! ” He holds out his hands, and the Dilligence Sword flies into one, with the log of palistrom wood flying into the other. With a twist of his hand, the palistrom wood starts to spin and shed pieces of itself until it's a solid purple orb of wood, which extends out a staff handle. He now wields a sword and staff in both hands. 

“Oh son of a b-” Curationist lashes out and the orb produces a bolt of pure force that sends Cat Noir flying out of the room and down the hall, with walls sprouting out from along the corridor to deal more damage as he flies. 

Meanwhile, Marinette is hiding with Alya and Cerise in a nearby corridor, taking refuge behind columns as statues of armor start to patrol the halls. She knows she has to transform, but can’t do it with her friends around. They’re hiding so close together right now that she can’t even pull off the illusion spell she usually does.

 “We’ve got to get out of here,” Alya whispers. “I don’t think his powers work outside the grounds.”

Cerise nods. “How will Angelbug and Cat Noir even be able to reach him?” As she says that, Cat Noir suddenly flies down the corridor they’re facing. “AAAHHHHHH!”

Alya stares. “Welp, there’s that question answered. Let’s go!”

They start to move, but Marinette freezes up. She just remembered. “Oh shit! Alix is back there!”

Alya and Cerise stop. They completely forgot. “You’re right! She was still in the room.” Marinette thinks for a moment. “Ok, you guys get out of here, I’ll go back and get Alix. We’ll meet you outside!” 

Alya hesitates. “Marinette, do you see what’s going on? You’ll never make it back in there!” Marinette smirks. “I’ll be careful, and I’ve got some tricks. If it seems like it’s too dangerous, I’ll get out of there.” Alya still isn’t sure about leaving her new BFF, but Cerise sees a statue coming down the hall and tugs on her friend's arm. “We gotta go!” Alya nods, gives Marinette a worried look, and then she and Cerise bolt for the exit. 

Cat Noir finally lands nearly a thousand feet away, crashing into a final wall and groaning in pain. “Motherfu-”

“Cat Noir!” Alix suddenly appears from where she was hiding and helps him up. “Thanks for saving me back there! You ok?”

“Yeah…I’m alright.” He gets to his feet, his body already starting to crack back into place thanks to the Miraculous. “You gotta get out of here! It’s not safe!”

Alix nods. “I know I know, but that’s my dad! Plus, my watch seems to be stabilizing things around me.” Cat Noir looks confused. “Your watch?” 

She takes it out and gives it to him. It’s now visibly glowing. “I have no idea what’s going on with it. It’s a family heirloom.” Cat Noir opens it to see… a rather normal pocketwatch structure on the inside, with one exception. The minute hand, hour hand, and second hand each have the tiniest little canister on the end of them, in which is a drop of what looks like blue liquid. Cat Noir hears Plagg gasp from inside the Miraculous. 

“ Holy shit! Adrien! Do you see that! ” “See what?”

“ The hands of her watch! That’s Nephillim blood! That must be how it’s keeping Curationist’s powers back! ”

“Nephillim blood?” Adrien thinks.

“ Nephillim! They’re these giant creatures from the Arcane Realm, and their blood is really freaking magical. I don’t know how she got this, but we might be able to get close to him with it! ”

“Holy shit… thanks Alix. Mind if I borrow this?” She nods. “If it means getting Dad back, go ahead.” 

He smiles. “Alright time to-”

“ CAT NOIR! ” Suddenly, Curationist rounds the corner, sword and staff in hand. “ Get away from my daughter! ” He lashes out and fires a bolt of purple lightning from the staff. “Alix run!” he shouts, extending his staff to conduct the electricity. “What is it with all these villains and lightning?”

Suddenly, Angelbugs flies at him from another hall and delivers a spinning kick directly to his side, sending Curationist careening off into the wall. A suit of armor approaches behind her, but Cat Noir backs his partner up, blocking the armor’s attack with his staff and then thrusting it through the statue’s chest, disabling it. “Glad you could join us!”

“We gotta get him outside!” Angelbug shouts, as Curationist starts to get up. “He can’t do his space-warping out there!”

“Well, luckily that girl's watch is giving us a breather! My kwami says it has nephilim blood in it!”

Angelbug is confused. “Nephillim?” She’s definitely heard that word before. 

“ If that watch has even a drop of Nephillim blood, that would explain things. But how it got into a watch is another question entirely. ” Tikki says within Angelbug’s head. 

“We can worry about that later. Let's get him out!” Together, they charge straight for Curationist. He tries to block their path with walls and other obstacles, but the watch continues to pulse and keep them at bay. He attempts to lash out with his magic staff, but Angelbug casts a light spell to blind him temporarily, allowing her to grab him and fly straight for the ceiling. Cat Noir jumps ahead of them and shouts “Cataclysm!” smashing through the ceiling. Since this part of the museum is underground, they break out into the courtyard right near the glass pyramid. Alya and Cerise are just reaching the surface on the other side. She takes out her phone and starts recording, as Cerise helpfully pulls her friend to a safer distance.

Meanwhile, the heroes double-team Curationist. Cat Noir exchanges blows staff against the sword while Angelbug attempts to grab the palistrom staff out of his other hand. He knocks her aside and fires a stream of lightning into the air, which Angelbug absorbs. 

“ Be careful, Marinette! That’s a Palistrom stave! It’s incredibly unpredictable! ”

“How did he get one of those?” She asks aloud as Cat Noir leaps back to join her. “There was a log of palistrom wood in the exhibit that he turned into that!” He shouts back.

“LUCKY CHARM!” She throws the yoyo in the air and it forms a length of red rope. “Oh, come on, this is utterly ridiculous! Seriously?” Curationist laughs. “ You’ve put up quite the fight young heroes, but this ends now! ” He points towards the glass pyramid with his staff. The panels start to detach from the frame, hundreds of them, and begin to form a giant cloud of glass pointing straight at the heroes.

Angelbug concentrates and sees the red outline around the glass, the building on the left, and the very out-of-place pair of glasses on the Curationist's head. “Cat Noir, it's the glasses! Go left, I’ll go right!” The storm of glass shards flies straight torwards them and they split. Angelbug concentrates and casts a strengthening spell on the rope to enhance it, before running and jumping, leaping between the panels of glass in midair using her enhanced dexterity. 

Cat Noir runs towards the building, the watch almost creating an invisible field around him that causes all the shards to miss. They start to embed themselves into the side of the building, creating mini-stairs that he starts to climb up. The two heroes use these methods to get height, which the Curationist notices. 

Using the palistrom staff, he fires more lightning, but Angelbug clears the last shards and gets airborne. Lashing out with the rope she grabs the staff and pulls, the strengthening spell allowing her to easily pull it from his hand. Cat Noir leaps at him from the top of the building. “CATACLYSM!” he tackles Curationist to the ground and taps the glasses, dissolving them and releasing the akuma.

“Time to de-akumatize!” Angelbug, still in midair, throws her yoyo to grab the akuma. “GOTCHA!” She releases the butterfly. “MIRACULOUS ANGELBUG!” 

Her swarm of ladybugs springs forth and repairs everything. The glass reappears on the pyramid, the sword and staff return to their exhibit, Thorne reappears on the surface, and the buildings repair. Angelbug lands on the ground as Alix and Dr Jan emerge from the building and run to her father. Thorne also storms over to them, but Angelbug and Cat Noir land in front of him.

“I don’t know what you said, but take it from us, the items he gathered for the exhibit are the real deal. He might not know everything about them, but he will one day. We say give him a chance.”

Thorne pauses for a moment and makes a decision. “Very well. Alim, you’re still on thin ice. Especially after willingly getting akumatized. But you protected your daughter, and from what these two have told me, the artifacts you and Dr Jan have collected have some historical value. So for now, you can remain and this exhibit can open.” He brushes himself off and walks away. 

Alim cries tears of joy and embraces Alix. “I’m so sorry, I just couldn’t let you go through that.” Alix cries as well. “I’m just happy you’re alright. And the watch protected me!”

This confuses Alim, “What?” 

“The watch! Our family watch! It’s magic!”

He seems to consider. “I can’t fathom why. But what matters is everyone’s ok.” At this point Marinette and Adrien emerge from nearby buildings, having gone away to de-transform. “Alix! I’ve been looking everywhere for you!” Marinette says, with Alya and Cerise also running over. Slowly, the rest of the class starts to emerge from their hiding spots, gathering around Alim and Dr Jan.

“Well, students, I don’t know if that was the most…educational exhibit, but I hope it at least opened your eyes to the many mysteries of this world.” Dr Jan nods. “There’s so much we don’t know, but with our passion, surely we’ll find out!”

The students cheer. Even Chloé smiles “As ridiculous as that woman is, I’ll admit, this was quite fun!” Sabrina nods as well. “Yeah! Learning this stuff about Angelbug was great!” Alya eyes Chloé upon hearing her speak. 

Ms Bustier shakes Alim’s hand “Alright everyone, that concludes our field trip! Feel free to head home now!” The class goes their separate ways to enjoy their long afternoon. Alim hugs Alix. “You'd best head home. I gotta polish up the exhibit. We’ll go out to dinner tonight when I get home!” 

Alix nods. “Yep! I get it. There’s nothing better than doing what we love!”

He chuckles. “And loving what we do!”

Alix activates her rollerblades and takes off, whizzing by all her friends as they exit the museum. As she passes Zoe and Rose, she gives them both a nod and thumbs up before streaking down the street. 

About ten minutes later, she’s almost home when she passes a boat docked in the river. Luka Coffaine, Juleka’s twin brother, is exiting it and waves her down. “Hey Luka!” She stops in front of him.

“Alix! Is my sister on her way?” She nods. “Yeah, the trip ended early. She should be back soon.”

“Thanks. I’m just heading out myself to do some deliveries. A bunch of people ordered from the Dupein-Chen Bakery.” Luka works as a food delivery person when he’s not working on music. “Oh, Marinette’s place?” He nods, and Alix gets a grin on her face, thinking about Operation Kitty Section. Which is, of course, Zoe and Rose’s plan to get Marinette to confess her feelings to Luka. 

“I think someone will very much like that. Alright, byee!” She takes off again and leaves Luka confused. Even though she’s aro, she does like to joke, mess with people, and help her friends. And there’s nothing better than doing what she loves. And loving what she does.

Later…

Alya and Cerise are back in Alya’s room, continuing to look over their conspiracy wall. “I don’t get it,” Cerise says. “We should’ve seen Angelbug fly in.”

Alya nods. “You’re right. That is, unless…she was already inside the museum.” They start looking over the footage from the latest battle, and as Cerise seems to stop paying attention, one thing catches both of their ears. 

“ Oh come on, this is utterly ridiculous! ” Angelbug’s voice plays over the recording. Their eyes go wide as they continue to replay the clip. 

“ Utterly ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous! ” Alya turns to Cerise. “You don’t think-”

Cerise looks skeptical, “It might not be-” but Alya is convinced. “Evidence my friend! And we’ve got it. We’ve cracked the case.”

She writes on a new piece of paper and slams it in the center of the wall. 

“Angelbug… is Chloé Bourgeis!”

Chapter Text

“Alya, you know I trust you to a fault. But Chloé ?”

Cerise could barely wrap her head around what one of her best friends just said. Chloé Bourgeis is Angelbug? She can’t fathom that.

“Ok, look, I know it sounds crazy, but I’m not just saying this.” Alya continues, “It’s the one conclusion I could come to with all the evidence on the table.”

Cerise still looks confused. “And how did you reach that conclusion?” Alya looks back at the board of information. 

“For starters, here’s what we’ve known since the beginning. Angelbug is female, and based on the sound of her voice, we can assume she is of a similar age to us. And you remember the feeling you had when you heard her speak?”

Cerise nods, thinking back to the first time they met Angelbug. “Her voice… it sounded so familiar. Like we’d just heard this person within the last day. But no matter how many times I think about it, I can’t place it. I should be able to.”

“As should I. I believe something about Angelbug makes it so we can’t identify her by physical features alone. But that feeling of familiarity is enough for me. It proves that she’s someone we know. And now we go to the appearances.” She points to photos they’ve taken of all the akumatizations so far. Stoneheart, Mr Pigeon, Rockkid, Alya’s dad, who was turned into Animal Man, and Alix’s dad, who became Curationist. 

“Chloé hasn’t been present for any of these encounters. And when she was there at the moment of akumatization, she was the first to run. Finally…” Alya plays the video clip again. 

“ Oh come on, this is utterly ridiculous! ”

‘Utterly ridiculous.’ Only one person I can think of would say that.”

Cerise thinks it over. She can’t deny that Alya has assembled some very compelling information. But there’s one thing she still can’t wrap her head around. 

“This all fits together, but Alya, you are missing the fact that Angelbug is a superhero. You think Chloé, the spoiled-ass rich girl who doesn’t give two shits about anyone but herself, is secretly running around saving people?”

Alya thinks about it. “People are complicated Cerise. We contain multitudes. And Chloé… is too obvious. The way she acts you’d think she’s in a kids' show, and is a pure evil villain beyond saving.”

Cerise gets uneasy. “I’m not saying that!”

“Exactly, but that’s how she’s acting. Key word: acting. I think it’s an act, something she’s putting on to throw off suspicion. The question you brought up is exactly what she wants everyone to think. That way, no one will ever suspect that she’s actually Angelbug.”

Cerise continues to think before coming to her final conclusion. “Even if what you’re saying is true, Chloé’s act is very convincing. If you were gonna try to convince anyone else of this, they wouldn’t believe you.”

Alya frowns, looking distraught. “But… you believe me right?”

Cerise shrugs, but in an affirmative way. “I believe that with all the evidence on the table, you’ve put together the best argument you can. Do I think you’ve uncovered the truth? Possibly, but not absolutely. Plus, you forgot one thing: Ivan’s akumatization was caused by Chloé. If she were Angelbug, why would she do that?”

This question stumps Alya, it's genuinely something she forgot. “I…don’t know.” She suddenly gets an idea. A way to get more evidence, conclusive evidence. “If I can get access to her school locker, maybe I can find…”

Cerise is immediately unnerved and takes a step back. “Oh hell no. That’s off the table.”

“But if we get the evidence…”

“In this case there’s no we! I’m not breaking into Chloé’s locker!” She gives a heavy sigh. “Look… remember that thing I told you? The thing I hate talking about.”

Alya immediately understands. She’s known Cerise far longer than Marinette or anyone else, coming up on a year, but only a month ago did Cerise trust her with a massive secret. “Yeah… I do.”

“I told you that because it was my secret to tell. If Chloé is Angelbug, and let's assume she is, that’s the same thing. You want to know for yourself? Fine, but then you also have to keep the secret for her. Because it’s hers to tell if she wants to, not yours.” She gets up and opens the door. “I gotta go. Think about what you’re doing.” Cerise leaves Alya alone as she continues to stare at the wall of evidence. But her path remains unchanged.

I’m so close… I have to be. I will uncover the truth…

Nino opens the door to Adrien’s room and is greeted with the sound of punching. Adrien is currently training, throwing punches and kicks at a punching bag that has been brought in here. Nino can see a tiny creature, which he knows now is Plagg, sitting on the bed, eating cheese. Adrien notices his friend coming in and steps away, sweating. 

“Glad you’re here Nino. Oh Plagg, this is Nino.”

“Yeah, I know,” the kwami says, “Hey Headphones, I’m the Kwami of Destruction.”

Nino is taken aback by this, but he holds out his hand to the kwami anyway. “Pleasure to meet you dude!” Plagg shakes it in surprise.

“I like this guy! I can see why you told him!”

Nino turns to look at his friend. “I didn’t know you did boxing.” Adrien shakes his head. “It’s not boxing. I’m doing strength and endurance training.”

“Any reason why?”

Adrien wipes his face with a towel. “Because I need to get stronger. The wielders of Creation and Destruction are supposed to equal each other. But Angelbug can fly and does her weird magic. I need to be on her level.”

“And since you don’t have magic, that means training and getting more uses of my power.” Plagg finishes, stuffing more cheese in his mouth. 

Nino looks at the kwami. “You seem to know a lot.”

“Kid, I’m one of the oldest beings in creation. Even with all the shit I forget, I could fill a hundred libraries.”

“You know I’ve been meaning to ask,” Adrien says as he drinks from a water bottle. “How does Angelbug have magic?”

Plagg smirks. “So you wanna know about Angels?” Adrien looks at Nino.

“Sure dude. When else do you get to learn Angels are real?”

“Well, put simply, it’s the wings,” Plagg starts to explain, floating up from the bed. “Angels, like Angelbug, use their wings to draw energy from the environment and channel that into magic. Basically like living solar panels. Sets them apart from Nephilim, who create magic with their blood. These days they’re in control of the two halves of the Arcane world; Angels in the Divine Realm, Nephillim in the Demonic Realm.” Adrien is writing all this down. 

Nino looks at the kwami in wonder. “So there are two other worlds?”

“Technically one, split into two halves during a war.”

“And how strong is Angelbug, by angel standards?” Adrian asks.

Plagg thinks about it. “Again, you can tell by the wings. The stronger the angel, the more wings they have. Two wings are the mark of a normal Angel. Four is a High Angel, six is an Arch-Angel, eight is a Seraphic Angel, and ten is a Sephiroth.”

Adrien recalls Plagg mentioning Sephiroth before. “Sephiroth’s the one you had a fight with?”

Plagg nods. “There are two kinds of Sephiroth. True Sephiroth, appointed by the Arbiter, and Seeds, who gained their power at birth. The one I encountered was a true Sephiroth, one of only three in existence.”

Nino has been silent, absorbing all that information. “So, since Angelbug has two wings, she’s just a normal Angel?”

Plagg nods again. “Bingo! Most cherubs become Angels around your age.”

Adrien was silent for a moment. “That’s… a lot to take in Plagg.”

“Ahh don’t worry about it! What matters is that Angels are strong, but one as young as her? With the right training, you will be able to match her!”

Adrien got back up with renewed determination. “Alright, let’s do it! Nino, mind giving me a hand?”

Nino nods. “On it dude!”

Marinette was also training, but in a different way. As a thunderstorm roars above her house, she’s standing on the balcony, firing off spells in quick succession. She tries chaining them together, mixing combinations, and trying to build up her tolerance. Tikki sits on the railing, cheering her on. “Cmon you got this!”

She turns invisible with an illusion, casts lightning bolts, and tries to summon plants and fire in quick succession. She can feel her mana burning out, but this is why they’re doing the training: to increase her stamina and build her magic for the threats ahead. After about 20 minutes of near constant spell-casting, with the thunder and lightning blocking out any potential sound, Marinette finally stops and heads back to her room, panting and sweating. “You did awesome!” Tikki says, flying behind her. 

Marinette collapses into a chair to regain her breath and spreads her wings out to their fullest length to start absorbing more energy. “Yeah. Magic exercise is exhausting. At least I have you to cheer me on.”

“And I’m happy too!” She chomps on a macaroon. Since Tikki started living here, Marinette had been baking tons of different things to try and find the food the Kwami likes best. She quickly found that, although Tikki loves everything sweet, macarons are her favorite. That being said, she has been told not to give Tikki too many. She had gotten a call from Guardian Fu a few days after getting the Miraculous, warning her of that. 

“ Tikki… tends to go overboard. If you’re giving her sweets, you must not EVER let her have too many at once. ” Fu had cautioned. That’s advice Marinette took, and now Tikki only gets to eat one or two macarons a day, unless they need to recharge the Miraculous, then an exception is made. 

“At least there’s no akumas today. Gives me time to get some work done.” She wipes her face and wheels over to her desk, where she starts working on some of her school assignments. As she takes out a blank piece of paper, Tikki flies over. 

“Hang on, I wanna try something.” Marinette is confused as Tikki picks up a pencil and starts drawing. She makes a circle and draws within it a rather strange symbol that Marinette can’t make out. 

“What is that?” she asks, confused. 

“So you remember how Alix’s watch had Nephillim blood in it?” Marinette nods. 

“Well, I don’t know as much about Nephillim. But I do remember that if there’s enough of their blood around, you can call on their Elemental Affinities.” 

That got Marinette’s attention. “Wait, affinities plural?”

Tikki nods. “Yep! While Angels have one Elemental Affinity, like your lightning affinity, or your dad's earth affinity, Nephilim have four. What’s more, I recall each one is represented by a symbol. And if you draw the symbol, you can channel the affinity. This is one I remember from Heimael’s notes. Here, try touching it.” 

Marinette takes the piece of paper and taps the center of the symbol. Nothing happens. “Yep, I thought so,” Tikki says, “I guess the symbols are unique for each Nephillim. Either that or Alix’s watch doesn’t have enough blood to do this with.”

Marinette shrugs. “There were only a few drops, that doesn’t sound like enough to me.”

Tikki laughs. “Oh, you’d be surprised. Nephillim blood is one of the most valuable resources in the universe.”

Marinette thinks about it. “Maybe next time I see my grandma, I can ask, see if she knows where to find some.” Tikki shakes her head. “The Nephillim mostly migrated to the Demonic Realm after the Arcane was split in two. Finding some in the Divine Realm is almost as impossible as it would be here.”

“Eh, not important right now. Would you mind letting me work on my history homework in peace?” Tikki shrugs and stays quiet as Marinette, with her new friend by her side, is hard at work with her studies. 

Adrien and his father were seated for dinner in the dining hall. Plates of roast chicken, drizzled with gravy and a small pile of roasted potatoes, are placed in front of both of them. Adrien is happy his father is here for dinner again. Ever since Mother died, he’s tried to make time at least twice a week. Nathalie is also sitting at the table eating, albeit slightly further away from the father and son. 

“So Adrien,” his father says between bites, “I never asked how your field trip went. To the Louvre right?”

Adrien nods. “Yeah it was cool! We got to see a new exhibit. Well, then the curator got akumatized, but luckily Angelbug and Cat Noir freed him!”

Gabriel was silent. “That’s… good to hear.” He says as he continues to eat, which Adrien catches on to. His father noticeably gets very distant whenever someone brings up Angelbug and Cat Noir. He decides to finally call this out.

“Father… do you not like Angelbug and Cat Noir?” Gabriel takes a sip from his water as he considers.

“Truth be told… I don’t know what to think. They seem like they’re doing the right thing, but I… am not sure. Especially with how little we know about their opponent as well.”

“Hawk Moth?” Adrien recalls. “Isn’t he turning normal people into monsters? Even my friend Nino was akumatized!”

“That’s true, but we know so little about why.”

Adrien is confused. “Doesn’t that not matter when we have his actions to consider?”

“That depends,” Gabriel replies. “People are complicated. Almost nothing is done without reason. If this Hawk Moth figure has decided to start using his power to akumatize people, you have to wonder why. As much pain as he causes, you have to wonder if he’s doing it for some noble purpose.”

Adrien is still eating. “You think so?”

“I don’t know. I just hope, when Angelbug and Cat Noir face him head-on, they keep in mind that whatever reason he wants their Miraculous, maybe it’s worth helping rather than hindering him. I’m sure they’d all agree that endless terror and battle are not beneficial to any of them.”

He’s about finished with his food now. “But that’s just me. You can’t deny Angelbug and Cat Noir are heroes. But isn’t everyone a hero in their own story? I don’t dislike them, but something I learned in fashion is that you have to look at a problem from all angles. Or you might find something you missed. That’s advice I’ve taken into life.”

Adrien finishes his food as well. “Well, we don’t know what the future holds; we will see.”

“Indeed we will Adrien. Have a good night. I’ll be out of town tomorrow, have to head to London for a consultation. But I’ll see you before the weekend is over.”

“Alright, goodnight Father!” He gets up and hugs Gabriel before heading to his room. He lets Plagg out of his jacket. “Do you think my father is right about Hawk Moth?”

Plagg thinks it over. “He could be. But he forgot one element of this. Whatever noble purpose he might have, there’s always a matter of execution. That’s why I fought that True Sephiroth. His idea was good, but to execute it, he’d have to fly in the face of all that was good and natural in the universe. And as a concept of the universe itself, I couldn’t allow that. Motivation is only one part of the puzzle. Execution is the other. And until we know more about Hawk Moth, we won’t know either of those things.”

Adrien sighs. “Yeah I suppose so. Until then, we’ll just keep helping and protecting people who need it!”

“That’s the spirit kid! Now show me how to play this PeeEssFour!”

Adrien laughs. “You’re smaller than the controller!”

“I’ll figure it out goddamit!”

The two partners laugh to end their day.

Chapter Text

Many Years Ago…

Seven-year-old Cerise Bianca sits in a hospital waiting room, swinging her legs. She looks at a door across the hall, anticipating and dreading it to open. They’d been here all night, ever since her parent collapsed in the afternoon. Cerise’s mom went in about an hour ago, and Cerise can hear hushed whispers from within the room. 

After what seems like an eternity, the door opens, and her mother walks out. Cerise jumps up and runs over into her arms. “Is Ren gonna be…” she starts to say, but stops upon seeing the tears in her mother’s eyes, desperately trying to keep them contained in front of her daughter. 

“They want to talk to you alone, Cerise. And the doctor says… it’s probably the last time.” Cerise wordlessly nods. She understands her ren has been sick for a while, no matter how they tried to hide it. Sometimes people get better, but sometimes they don’t. She knows that. With tears in her eyes, she moves past her mother and enters the room. 

Her other parent, Lilo Rossi, lies in bed. They’re thin and sweating, every breath seeming like a struggle. Their long brown hair lay across the sides of the bed. “Ren?” The young Cerise calls out, and Lilo notices. They smile. 

“Cerise… C’mere.” Cerise approaches, sitting by their ren’s bedside. “Did your mom tell you?” She nods. 

“Mom said this was the last time. But I don’t want it to be… I don’t want you to…”

Lilo puts their hand on her cheek. “Of course you don’t. None of us do. But as they say where I’m from, ‘It’s the Titan’s Will.’ I never much agreed with the context, but the words themselves mean something.”

Cerise cocks her head to the side. “What’s the Titan?”

Lilo chuckles. “I know I’ve always been kinda quiet about my early life. Even your mother doesn’t know everything. A lot, but not everything. That’s why…before I go, I want to give something to you. A gift…and a secret.”

Still crying, Cerise nods. “What is it?” Lilo slowly reaches across their body with their right hand to their left arm, where a bracelet lies embedded with a blue stone. They take the bracelet off, and there’s a Poof of blue smoke. When it fades, Cerise sees her ren, now with blue hair and pointed ears. She’s only seen Lilo like this a few times. “Wha-”

“I can explain. The place I’m from…is far away. You’d never believe me if I told you everything, but it’s a strange place like you’d never imagine. But there’s one thing it has in common with the world: there are bad people. And those people were after me. So I paid a woman in the market to get me out. Once she did… I arrived here and met your mother not long after.”

Cerise listens in awe at this story. “So… you’re an alien?” Lilo chuckles again. “I wouldn’t say that. Seriously, I don’t know how it works. But being from this place means I can do…weird things, and maybe so can you one day. Maybe not, again I don’t know. But in case you can’t, I still want to leave you with a gift in case the bad people come for you too.” 

They reach out their hand and draw a circle in the air, which lights up blue. “This will take all my strength, but it will bond to you forever. If you’re ever in trouble, if it ever seems like you or those you care about are in danger, just imagine I’m there. Imagine me speaking with you, and you’ll be safe. The bad people will know I’m with you, and they’ll leave you alone.”

Cerise is fully crying now, not because of the gift, but because it’s finally getting to her that her parent is dying. “I… I can’t. I don’t want to lose…”

“You can, I know it. You’re my daughter.” Lilo reaffirms. “The Rossi legacy is a wild and ever-shifting balance. We’re the defenders of truth to some, pathological liars to others. We believe in the balance of truth and secrets. That legacy is yours now. Show people the truth, but never forget the balance. Can you do that for me?”

Cerise sniffles and nods. “I can try…” Lilo gives a weak smile. “Then I’ll never leave. Because this part of me will always be with you.” They tap the circle and it flies forward, embedding itself in Cerise’s chest before fading, sending blue light coursing up her throat and through her body. “I love you, Cerise.”

Cerise stands up and hugs her ren in their bed. “I love you Ren…” They sit there, spending their last hours together in peace, with Lilo now knowing Cerise will be safe.

Present Day…

“Tada!” 

Marinette is at lunch with her friends, eating at one of the central tables at Francois Dupont. She just presented one of her newest designs: a green scarf inlaid with blue and purple stripes, running along it vertically. Everyone claps and cheers at the sight of it. 

“Wow, that looks great!” Adrien says, which earns a smile from Marinette. Given his career, that’s high praise.

“Thanks. This was supposed to be a birthday present, but I ran out of materials halfway through. So you just get it now!”

Adrien takes it, “Thank god it’s not winter, otherwise I feel like you’d need it.”

“Oh no, she won’t.” Alix laughs, “Marinette never gets cold. It’s kinda weird but also kinda fun. Like when we dared her to do that ice bucket challenge.”

Rose pulls out her phone and shows Adrien a video of it. “She showed up with way too big a bucket, but she didn’t even react!” Indeed, Adrien watches as Marinette dumps a giant bucket of ice water on her head and doesn’t even flinch. “That’s awesome!” 

Marinette chuckles. In reality, she’d used a spell to shield herself from the cold. That’s what she usually does. But they wouldn’t know that. As everyone marvels at the video, her eyes drift over to see Alya in the corner of the room working on her laptop. That’s strange, usually she eats with them.

“Is she ok?”

Cerise, who has been on the quieter side, nods. “She’s fine. Working on a piece for the Angelblog. Not one that I’m particularly keen on, though.” 

“Want me to talk to her?” Marinette asks. 

Cerise shrugs. “You two have become pretty great friends. Figure it might help.” 

Marinette decides to give it a shot, getting up and walking over towards Alya’s table. The second she leaves, Rose leans forward. “Alright, now that she’s gone, we can begin your official introduction into-”

“No, no no no!” Alix waves her arms. “None of that shit! Not at lunch goddamit!” 

Cerise and Adrien are both confused. “Wha-”

“I’ll explain later!” And the conversation quickly shifts away from…whatever that was. Meanwhile, Marinette sits down next to Alya. 

“Hey BFF! Whatcha working on?”

Alya peeks over the top at Marinette. “Cerise sent you?”

Marinette chuckles. “I sent myself. Apparently she has issues with something you’re writing?”

Alya nods. “It’s crazy. We’ve spent all this time doing research for this piece, and she pulls out at the last second! We’re literally inches away from the biggest discovery of the modern era!”

Marinette is confused. “Which is?”

“Angelbug’s secret identity!”

Marinette freezes up. No, she can’t have figured it out! If she does, I have to admit to it, literally! Well, I suppose there are worse people I could trust-

“And its Chloé Bourgeis!”

Marinette snaps out of her head as the absurdity of that statement washes over her. “I’m sorry, what?”

“And you don’t believe it either! I’m not surprised. The evidence is all right there, I feel like I’m the only one who sees it.”

Marinette continues to think. Alya seems really convinced that Chloé is Angelbug. She’d love nothing more than to tell her that she thinks the same, but that would be a lie. So she decides that if she just points Alya vaguely in that direction without directly saying a falsehood, that will buy her time to figure out if she will tell Alya her identity. 

“Well, if, and that’s a big if, Chloé is Angelbug, you’d need proof. Maybe she left something in her locker? Like a journal? If I were Angelbug, that’s where I’d write about it.” All technically true. Alya would need proof that Chloé was Angelbug, and she might technically find it in Chloé’s locker. And Marinette does write about Angelbug in her journal. 

“I thought about trying to get a look at her locker. But Cerise said that was a bad idea. Someone might get mad.”

Marinette laughs. “Because you’re screwing with Chloé? Trust me, Alya, no one will care. If anything, they’ll look the other way.”

Alya closes her laptop, excited. She had no idea this was actually possible! “You know what? I think I might. The people need to know this! Thanks, Marinette!” She gets up and walks out of the lunchroom.

“You do realize she could get in trouble right?” Tikki asks from her purse. “The only way she’d get in trouble is if Chloé saw it. And she’s so ignorant you’d think Sabrina’s her seeing-eye-dog.”

Tikki chuckles. “You’re not wrong there!”

Meanwhile…

Alya ducks out of the lunchroom and makes her way towards the lockers. A little voice in the back of her head is telling her that what she’s doing is…questionable. Cerise said so at least. But Marinette seemed to be ok with it! Plus, what’s the worst that could happen? If Chloé is Angelbug, she’ll probably be nice about it and drop the “mean girl” act when Alya informs her that she’s figured it out.

Alya carefully opens the door and enters the room where all the lockers are, lined up along the walls and in rows across the room. It doesn’t take her long to find the locker with Chloé’s name, but she notices a padlock on the door, which has a 5-letter combination lock. 

“Ok, if I were Chloé, what would my combination be… oh god I’m stupid, it’s obviously Chloé.” Indeed, Chloé proves as narcissistic as you’d imagine, as the second Alya slides those letters into place, the lock clicks open. “Yes!” But as she opens it, she hears something go snap , and everything falls out of the locker and covers Alya in all of Chloé’s stuff before she can react, with a loud crash!  

Alya pulls herself free, but it’s too late. The door flies open and Chloé runs in, having heard the noise. “Ah fuck…”

Later

“And so, Mr Damocles, this loser Alya Cesaire was trying to rob me! Fortunately, my good friend Sabrina suspected as much and put a trap in my locker!”

It’s now the end of the day. Alya and Chloé are sitting in the office of Headmaster Damocles, an older, shorter man who served as the head of the College. 

“Mr. Damocles, there’s been a misunderstanding. I was doing some investigative journalism.”

Damocles strokes his beard. “And I ask: why does this investigative journalism involve breaking into another student's private locker?”

Alya was scrambling. “Well… that’s why it’s an investigation. I swear I wasn’t stealing from her!”

“The evidence is against you, Alya. Plus, I needn’t remind you of Chloé’s… special privileges.” Chloé smirks evilly. “You’ll be suspended for the rest of the week. You may go.”

“But-”

“No buts! Get out of here loser! I don’t know what you were after, but it's utterly ridiculous that you would think I have some kind of big secret to investigate! You’re nothing more than a hack!”

Alya starts to cry and runs out of the room in shame. How could she have been wrong? All the evidence was there! Chloé is Angelbug!

Marinette sees her run and tries to chase after her. “Alya, wait! What happened?” 

“Leave me alone!” She shouts as she runs to a hiding spot under the stairs and thinks over what just happened. Why would Chloé do that? She’s Angelbug, right? So she has to be nice! She looks at her phone in her hand, the object she uses to unmask the truth, not noticing as the purple Akuma flies down from the sky and enters it. Before she realizes it, she is sent into the void. 

“Hello Alya. Forgive my intrusion, you seek to uncover a secret, don’t you?” The voice of Hawk Moth speaks from the void. 

“Chloé is Angelbug I know it! But she’s supposed to be a hero, and yet she acts like that? If Chloé is actually that mean, if it's not an act, then Angelbug is no hero!”

“ Perhaps not. But I can give you the power to find out. To uncover the mask and determine who Angelbug is. But once you learn her true face, you must give me her Miraculous. ”

Alya nods. She will uncover the truth now, no matter what it takes. 

“ And what shall I call you? ”

“Firewall.”

Meanwhile, Marinette runs around the second floor, searching for her friend. Cerise runs up to her. “What’s going on?”

“Something happened with Alya, she ran off! I think she tried to break into Chloé’s locker!”

Cerise curses under her breath. “I told her that was a bad idea!”

“I’m so sorry, I assumed no one would care! It’s Chloé! Hell, she already went home!” Marinette stammers. “I’ll text Adrien to help!” She pulls out her phone, but it suddenly goes dark. Cerise’s phone does as well, with only what looks like a flaming Wifi signal in the center. 

“ People of Paris! I was once Alya, but now I am Firewall! And I uncover the truth! ” Alya’s voice comes out of every phone Marinette can see. “Oh shit…” There’s a flash of energy as Firewall appears. Alya’s face and hair are still visible, but she’s dressed in a purple and red suit with a wifi symbol at the center, and flames along her arms. In one hand, she holds her phone, and the other arm has a noticeable slot carved into it, which she inserts the phone into. Electric energy courses along her body, and she seems to grow to six feet in height, her hair getting longer and her voice starting to become deeper. 

“ Where is Chloé Bourgeois?! ”

Adrien, who is on the ground floor of the school, sees the flash of energy as Firewall appears. “Dammit!” He runs into an empty classroom. “Plagg, wake up!” 

The kwami of destruction yawns and stretches his tiny legs. “What in the divine hell is going on?”  

“Alya’s been akumatized! PLAGG, CLAWS OUT!” 

Meanwhile, Marinette and Cerise stare down Firewall. “What do you want with her?”

“ She’s Angelbug! And she’s forsaken her duties! I will expose her in front of the world and take her Miraculous! ”

“I think she might have some words about that!”

Cat Noir leaps up over the balcony and extends his staff. “But since she’s not here, want to lodge a complaint?”

Firewall growls and thrusts out her arm, firing a purple bolt of energy that Cat Noir blocks with his staff, deflecting it and sending it into the air. It strikes a pigeon, and a paused symbol appears on the pigeon’s chest as it is frozen in midair. “Oh, that’s gonna be hell to-” Firewall tackles him off the balcony, and they crash into the ground floor. “OW! SHIT!”

“ I don’t have time for you. I’ll take your Miraculous later. ” Firewall presses the wifi symbol on their chest and fades into energy, quickly leaping into a nearby phone and into cyberspace. Marinette and Cerise run down to check on him. “Cat Noir!” He groans and gets to his feet. “What even happened?”

“Alya thinks Chloé is Angelbug, and tried to get into her locker to find out. She got suspended and akumatized, and is now going after Chloé to expose her or something!” Cerise explains. Cat Noir is confused. 

“So… is Chloé Angelbug?”

“I don’t know! You gotta get to Chloé’s hotel, Marinette and I will try and clear things up here! Wait… Marinette?”

Indeed, Marinette was right next to her and disappeared, because Marinette was an illusion. The real Marinette ducks into a locker. “God I’ve really fucked up haven’t I?”

“At least you’re honest about it!” Tikki exclaims. “I have to be honest, I can’t lie!”

“Doesn’t matter, I have to stop Alya and fix this. TIKKI SPOTS ON!”

Angelbug transforms and flies out the window towards Chloé’s house, which is a hotel. Landing on top of a nearby building, she casts a spell to focus her vision and sees Chloé arriving in her penthouse room. Of course, she lives in the penthouse. As she watches, Chloé goes into a closet and comes out wearing… an Angelbug costume?

“Ok, now I’m confused.” Cat Noir lands behind her and is also looking in. “If you’re here, and she’s in there…”

“She’s not Angelbug, Cat Noir. What, you think that little of me?”

“Of course not my lady! But I didn’t know who you actually were so…”

Angelbug puts her finger to his mouth. “We don’t have time. Firewall will be here any moment.”

Cat Noir nods. “She’s no joke, it seems like she can teleport through cyberspace.”

Angelbug thinks for a moment. “Ah screw it. LUCKY CHARM!” She throws the yoyo up and creates… a large magnifying glass. “Ok, I think I got it. Be ready to pounce.”

Cat Noir grins. “Got it! Cataclysm!” He charges up an attack. Right as he gets into position, they see a flash of red from the penthouse as Firewall jumps out of Chloé’s phone. 

“ There you are, Angelbug! You can’t hide from me! ”

Chloé, who has been secretly pretending to be Angelbug in her penthouse, screams and throws her toy yoyo at Firewall, which, being a plastic toy, just bounces off her chest. Firewall just looks confused. “ What…no…IT CAN’T BE! YOU ARE ANGELBUG! YOU HAVE TO BE! ”

She grabs Chloé by the throat and slams her into the wall. “ COME ON, FIGHT! PROVE ME RIGHT! ”

Chloé struggles as Firewall lifts her off the ground. “You..thought… I was Angelbug? How…let me go!”

“HEY FIREWALL!” Firewall turns to see a bright flash. Angelbug casts a light spell, and when magnified, it creates a beam of light that hits Firewall full in the face, temporarily blinding her. She drops Chloé to the ground, gasping for air. 

“NOW!” Cat Noir leaps in and lunges forward with a Cataclysm, but Firewall catches the dark black spot among the light and reacts, dodging to the side as Cat Noir goes flying past, crashing into the wall and dissolving it right above where Chloé fell. “Shit!” Angelbug pulls out her yoyo and flies through the window into the fight, shocking Firewall. “ What? It…can’t be! ”

“‘Fraid so Firewall. That was a decent guess, but next time double double-check your sources. I don’t want to fight you, so let Chloé go, and we’ll talk this out.”

Cat Noir stumbles to his feet and brandishes his staff. Meanwhile, Chloé scrambles along the ground and grabs her phone, which she dropped when Firewall grabbed her.

Firewall looks between the two heroes. Angelbug could tell from her face that she was considering her options. She notices the phone embedded in her right arm. That must be the akuma . 

Firewall snarls and powers up her phone. “ You two claim to protect Paris, yet you hide behind your masks. How do we know you’re here for us? No more! I will take your Miraculous and show the world who you are! ” She fires several bolts from her arm. 

“Cat Noir! Get Chloé out of here!” Angelbug screams as she deflects them with her yoyo before going into close combat. The two exchange blows, punches, and kicks, going back and forth. But Firewall manages to get Angelbug on the defensive, grabbing her arm when she overextends and throwing her across the room, destroying a table. Angelbug gets up, casts a strength spell on herself to even the fight, and flies back in. 

Meanwhile, Cat Noir gets Chloé into the stairwell. “Get down to the ground floor and get out! I gotta go fight!”

Chloé scoffs. “This is a ridiculous place to fight her! This hotel has the best internet connection in the city!”

Cat Noir stops halfway through the door. “What did you say?”

“We have a 5G transmitter on the roof. One of the only ones in the city!”

The superhero suddenly gets an idea. “Get to the ground, now!”

Chloé doesn’t hesitate any longer and runs down the stairs. Cat Noir, meanwhile, runs up. “If I cut off the signal, Firewall will be trapped… let's do it!” He says as he ascends the staircase to the room.

Chloé makes it to the ground floor in minutes, at which point her phone starts to ring. “Who is this?” She asks angrily. 

“ Hey Chloé, ” Cerise’s voice comes through the speaker into Chloé’s ear. “ I’m afraid there’s been a misunderstanding with my friend Alya. You see… ”

Back upstairs, Angelbug is dodging several pause bolts from Firewall as she backs up and lashes out with her yoyo, striking her square in the face. “LUCKY CHARM!”

The yoyo flies up and creates what’s seemingly an identical copy of Angelbug’s domino mask. “Ok what?” And this moment of confusion is what Firewall needs to fire two padlock bolts at Angelbug’s hands, sending her flying into the penthouse wall and locking her in place there, held up by her hands. Her wings flap as she tries to take off, but with her hands locked in place, she can’t get away, nor can she cast any spells to try and escape.

“ Nowhere to fly now Angelbug! Now, to find out who you really are! ”

Firewall approaches and puts her hand up to Angelbug's face, trying to rip her mask off. She tries to struggle, avoid it, but is unable to as Firewall pulls at the mask. But… it doesn’t come off. Both she and Angelbug look incredibly confused.

“I’ll be honest,” Angelbug says, “I didn’t know it wouldn’t come off.”

But this pause is all Cat Noir needs as he reaches the roof and finds the 5G transmitter tower. “This seems like a crime against humanity… but whatever! CATACLYSM!” He slams his fist into the tower, and it instantly rusts and collapses off the side, dissolving in mid-air before it ever hits the ground. Back in the penthouse, the padlock bolts fizzle out as Firewall loses her connection. 

“ NO! ” She stumbles back in pain as the phone embedded in her arm ejects. She shrinks and her voice goes back to normal. Angelbug lands on the ground. “Alright, let’s finish-” but she stops as she looks at the mask in her hand, finally understanding why she got it. This is not a fight she needs to go through with. There’s another way to save Alya. She throws the mask aside and stands facing Firewall. 

“Why do you want to know who I am? Is it that important that the people of Paris know me? All I want to do is protect them, keep them safe from Hawk Moth as his akumas. I’m fighting an enemy who feeds on hatred, sadness, and pain. So not only do I have to fight any akumatized villain, I have to make the people of Paris feel hope and trust in me to do what I need to. And if they need to know who I am to feel that hope, and to trust me, fine. I’ll cut you a deal Firewall. Give me the phone, let me destroy the akuma and fix everything. I’ll tell you who I am right here and now.”

At those words, Firewall pauses. Angelbug just offered her exactly what she wants. And in some distant place, Hawk Moth also figures out that she’s considering it. 

“ Don’t listen to her! ” He tries to say in her mind. “ She could be tricking you! ”

Firewall realizes that. “How do I know you’re not lying?”

Angelbug flaps her wings. “I can’t lie. If I did, I’d be doubled over in pain. You’d know. Trust me here Alya. You’ll understand why in a second.”

“ No! We had a deal! ”

“The deal,” Firewall thinks to Hawk Moth, “was that you’d help me find out who Angelbug is, in exchange for her Miraculous. Now she’s offering that information freely, without the exchange? That sounds like a better deal to me.”

“ NO! ”

Firewall drops her phone to the ground and turns away, and Angelbug stomps on it to release the akuma, instantly grabbing it in her yoyo as it tries to get away. “Alright! MIRACULOUS ANGELBUG!” 

She tosses the domino mask from the Lucky Charm into the air, and all the damage to Chloé’s penthouse is repaired. On the roof, the 5G tower is also restored. Angelbug uses the communicator on her yoyo to send Cat Noir a message. “You can go, I’ll handle cleanup.”

Cat Noir receives this and smiles. “Wonder how she pulled that off. Oh well I’ll ask later.” He jumps off the roof and launches over the city to head back to the school.

Angelbug stands in the restored penthouse with Alya, now out of her akuma form. “Do you remember the deal?”

Alya nods. “It’s weird. When you’re akumatized, you remember so little, it's so foggy. But that… I know you promised it.”

Angelbug nods. “Tikki, Spots off.”

The Miraculous suit fades away, and Alya looks on as Marinette Dupein-Cheng, her new best friend, stands beneath it. 

“Wha-it can’t be. It’s been you all along?”

Marinette nods again. “And you know you can trust me. I am so sorry for pointing you in Chloé’s direction, but I needed time to make this decision. There’s so much at stake that I don’t even know about. But now, this is something I feel comfortable telling you, Alya. I am Angelbug.”

Alya puts her head to her temple. “Wow…my BFF is the hero of Paris. THIS IS AWESOME!” She shouts, and Marinette chuckles. “I have so many questions!”

“I know I said before you can do what you want with this information. And I mean it, but I do hope you understand why I have to keep this a secret.” Alya thinks about it before deciding.“And I trust your reasoning. You really can’t lie?”

Marinette nods. “I’ll tell you everything some other time, I promise. At least once I know what I can tell you. But I physically cannot lie, that is the truth.”

Alya gives an affirming look. “Then your secret is safe with me.” She hears someone coming up to the door. “Get out of here!”

“See you later. Tikki spots on!” Marinette turns back into Angelbug and flies out an open window, right before Chloé bursts back in. 

“Shit she’s gone! I wanted a picture!” Chloé moans. “Anyway, Alya. Is that your name?” The other girl nods. 

“I…misunderstood what was going on. I’ll make sure you don’t get suspended. But mess with my shit again and you’re in for pain.”

At these words, Alya looks even more shocked than at her previous revelation that Marinette was Angelbug. “Wait… what? But I-”

“Your friend Cerise explained everything over the phone. I had dropped my journal at lunch, and you were trying to put it back. And I came to the utterly ridiculous conclusion that you were trying to rob me. That’s it. Now get out of my house!”

Alya, not choosing to question it, nods and runs down the stairs. Upon hearing that Cerise explained what happened to Chloé, Alya can immediately guess what happened. Because nothing Chloé now believes is true. As she gets to the lobby, she waves to Zoe, who’s just getting home, and heads out the door. 

“Alya?” She turns to her left and sees Cerise waiting for her. “I took care of everything.”

Alya can hardly believe what she’s hearing. “You…used your ability? For me? But you hate-”

“My parent gave me this power to protect myself and my friends. We might’ve disagreed, but you are my best friend. You might’ve made a mistake, but I was still gonna help you. I owe you that.”

Alya runs over and hugs Cerise. “I’m sorry, I should’ve listened to you. I shouldn’t have pushed so hard, and I get why now.”

Cerise hugs her back. “Why?”

“I found it. Angelbug’s real identity. But it’s a secret I need to keep now, for her sake. Can you trust me?”

Cerise thinks for a second but nods. “Of course. Just like you were ready when I told you about my ren, I will wait for you to be ready for this.”

They stop hugging. “We did get one thing out of this,” Cerise says with a mischievous grin. “Think of how many views we’ll get from the first-ever interview with an akumatized person!”

Alya sighs. “This is my penance, isn’t it?”

“Yep! Now c’mon, I have so many questions and they’re all gonna be on the record!”

Alya laughs, and the two friends and journalists head for home with a better understanding of each other, Angelbug, and the notion of truth, lies, and secrets as a whole. 

Chapter Text

It’s another normal day at school for Marinette, Adrien, Cerise, and all their friends. It's near the end of the day, and they’re in a literature class. They’ve spent the last few days reading various ancient Greek legends, and today they’re partaking in a discussion about the story of Psyche and her love affair with Eros. Mrs. Bustier has a picture up on the projector, depicting an ancient bust of Eros. 

“Now, common depictions of Cupids in popular culture emphasize certain aspects of Eros’s domain. He is the god of love, but that means a very different thing nowadays.” Mrs. Bustier explains, with all the students taking notes. “In ancient Greece, love was worshipped as a more primal force that could ensnare minds and drive us to impossible feats. Although this story is one of the few that focuses on the god of love, he is a driving force throughout Greek legends. His arrows induce fierce, passionate love into their targets.”

Lê Chiến Kim raises his hand. “So Eros had like mind control powers?” 

“Kind of, more the intensifying of fierce emotions. It’s ironically very similar to what’s been happening across Paris. People’s negative emotions are being intensified by the akumas, turning them into powerful forces of hate. That’s why I wanted to teach you all this story. Because love always conquers hate, and the emotions that Hawk Moth takes advantage of are nothing compared to Eros and his powers of love. So live your life according to who you love and what you love to do!”

The final bell rings, signifying the end of the day. “Alright everyone, that’s class! For tomorrow, find another instance of Eros in a story we’ve read and compare his characterization to this one!” Mrs. Bustier waves her students out of the classroom.

Kim, in particular, was excited to leave the classroom, almost like this lesson had awoken something within him. Marinette exits, chatting with Alya. “That was really interesting!” Alya says. “Wonder what the original source for those stories was.”

“I don’t know,” Marinette replies.

“Maybe Eros was another person with a Miraculous!”

“That’s correct!” Tikki says from within Marinette’s bag. “I remember that! That kid was a dual-wielder!”

Both girls seem confused. Alya had already met Tikki, a little after Marinette revealed her identity. As such, aside from Tikki’s comment, she wasn’t at all perturbed about the voice coming from her friend's purse.

“A dual-wielder?” Marinette asks as they leave the school building and get out onto the street. Tikki emerges from her purse and floats between them, ready to duck back in should anyone else come up the empty side street.

“Yeah! Eros was chosen by two of the active kwami at the time. Daizzi, the Kwami of Jubilation, and Xuppu, the Kwami of Derision. Combining their powers, he could massively disrupt people’s emotional state.”

Alya hastily writes that down. “How many people throughout history secretly had Miraculous?”

“It was our duty to always have someone ready, in case it was needed,” Tikki explains. “The Miraculous serve as the last line of defense for humanity. Only working with us can humans hope to challenge the forces of the Arcane Realm, should that ever be necessary.”

Alya continues writing. “The Arcane Realm?”

“The home of the kwami and other magical beings. It exists on both sides of this universe, having been split in half to stop an endless war. One side is the Divine Realm, inhabited by the Angels. The other half is the Demonic Realm, ruled by the Nephillim.”

Alya can hardly believe what she’s hearing. “God Marinette, it was big enough learning you’re Angelbug, but now your kwami tells me there are other worlds out there! Angels and Nephillim and other crazy shit! This would change everything we know about the universe!”

Marinette nods. “And that’s why people can’t know. You and I know enough about history to know humans don’t like to leave well enough alone. And if they knew these other places existed with powers far beyond comprehension, some of us would try and interfere. And according to Tikki, those realms aren’t shy about getting into war.”

Alya pauses from her notes. “Do you know this from just Tikki telling you… Or do you know from experience?”

Marinette smiles at her friend, “I’m sorry, but I can’t answer that right now. I…need to figure out what’s safe for me to tell you. ”

Alya nods. “Like I said, your secrets are safe with me. As a journalist, I respect privacy as much as truth. If you don’t feel comfortable telling me yet, I’ll wait until you do.”

Marinette hugs her best friend. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow.” They bid each other goodbye and head home. 

Meanwhile…

Adrien and Nino were also chatting as they left the school. Plagg, just like Tikki, was explaining how a version of Eros did exist, albeit with a more colorful tone. 

“And that’s why if you’re gonna screw with people’s minds, don’t do it near cliffs!”

The two boys were now giving the kwami a thousand-yard stare.

“Did…that really happen?”

“Yeah… that was not a fun day trust me. So much damage control. That’s the issue with duel wielders.”

“Yeah, you mentioned that,” Adrien says, “People can have more than one Miraculous?”

“Yeah it's happened. But the Miraculous represent the very concepts of reality. The more of them a mortal wields, the riskier it is. A lot of the beings now considered to be gods were dual or even tri wielders, and their actions in those stories are entirely because the sheer level of power they held messed with their sanity. A lot of ‘em had delusions of grandeur. Most people can handle two with the right training, but beyond that? You’d also need some extraordinary willpower.”

Nino nods. “Well, let’s hope you never have to deal with that.” Suddenly, they hear Kim running up behind them. “Quick hide!”

Plagg disappears back into Adrien’s jacket as Kim runs up. “Hey guys! What a class right?”

Adrien nods. “Sure was! You seem particularly excited.”

Kim laughs. “Yeah! You can say I’m inspired. Mrs Bustier said to live life according to who you love! And that’s what I’m gonna do, I’m finally gonna confess to my crush!”

Adrien gives Kim a high five. “Alright, that’s awesome! Who is it?”

“Zoe Lee!”

Adrien is surprised. “Chloé’s sister? I didn’t know that!”

“Yeah, I’ve kept it a secret! But not anymore, I’m finally gonna tell her how I feel!”

Adrien smiles. “Well good luck with that Kim! Zoe’s always been super-nice! What could possibly go wrong?”

“Thanks bro!” Kim runs off to tell Zoe his feelings. Adrien turns around smiling and sees Nino with a…strange expression.

“Everything ok?”

Nino nods. “Yeah… I have a weird feeling that that is a bad idea. But I don’t remember why…”

“I don’t see how it could be. It’s Zoe. Now if he was confessing to Chloé, even I’d admit he might be poking the wrong bear. But that should be fine.” Adrien affirms.

Nino continues to think for another few seconds before he finally remembers. And his face turns to one of dread. “Oh shit…that’s why! C’mon Adrien we have to go!”

He grabs his friend's hand and they take off in the direction Kim went, back to the school. 

“What’s the big deal?”

“Zoe is not gonna let him down easy!” Nino explains, “You know, because of…wait, has she told you?”

Adrien is confused. “Told me what?”

“Well I can’t say it! It’s Zoe’s secret! She told the whole friend group a few months before you got here!”

“And you can’t tell me?”

“It’s incredibly personal! Just, we gotta get to-”

They round the corner back to the school, and Nino’s face falls. “Aaand we’re too late.” Kim is on his knees in front of Zoe and Chloé, who, from the looks of things, were just about to get in their car. A small crowd had gathered, people who were also leaving school. Nino looks over and sees Alix standing next to them. 

“Did you try to-”

“Of course I did. But Kim never listens to anyone.” Alix says, crossing her arms. 

“How could you say that?” Kim asks, tears welling up in his eyes. 

“I’m sorry!” Zoe says, holding up her hands. “But… I don’t love you that way Kim and I never will! That’s just me being honest!”

“Why not? You can tell me!”

“Well…” Zoe seems physically uncomfortable. “I just can’t, ok? Mentally, physically, anything! I cannot fall in love with you ever!”

Kim tries to reach out again, but Chloé steps forward and slaps him away.

“ Back off loser! Be grateful my ridiculous half-sister is letting you down easy. Because if it was me I’d tell you you are a pathetic asshole who no proper woman will ever love! And that’s final! Now stop messing with her if you know what’s good for you!”

Kim could barely speak, for how broken his heart was at this rejection. He just sat on his knees as Chloé and Zoe got into their car and were driven away. In the backseat, Zoe looks at Chloé. 

“Thanks. Why the hell did you stick up for me like that?”

Chloé gives a satisfied snort. “Because I might hate your guts, your fashion, how nice you are, but I have a limit. Boys coming up to you are not something I, as your half-sister, will tolerate, both because you’re out of all their league, and because I know you don’t want to tell him you’re gay.”

Zoe can’t help but give a thankful smile. “Wow…you know when I told you and Dad that I was worried how you’d react. But you have defended me when I needed it.”

Chloé smiles. “Of course, I’m a bully, not a monster. And only a monster would bully you for being gay or anything like that. As opposed to reasonable things like your utterly ridiculous sense of fashion.”

Back at school, Adrien and Nino approach Kim. “Uhh..Kim? You ok?”

But Nino glances up and sees it, the akuma flying in from the sky. “Oh shi-ADRIEN!”

He pulls his friend back as the akuma enters a brooch attached to the hood of Kim’s hoodie. He is dragged into the purple void.

“ Hello Kim, forgive my intrusion. I sense a broken heart, a failed crusade. A desire sent to the grave. ”

Kim clenches his fists. “She rejected me. How could she reject me? I put my love and feelings out for her, and she shot them down!”

“ Indeed. And if a young man like you can’t find love, why should anyone else? I can give you that power, of course, the power to take the most passionate of loves and turn it into boiling hatred. But in return, you must defeat those whom I hate: Angelbug and Cat Noir, and bring me their Miraculous. ”

Kim, under the akuma’s influence, nods. If Zoe doesn’t want him, he’ll make sure she can have no one. 

“ And what shall I call you? ”

“Dark Eros.”

In the real world, Kim was enveloped by the dark mist, and when he emerged, he was dressed in a black and red bodysuit with a white cracked heart in the center. He draws his bow, the halves of which are both fashioned to look like two halves of a heart, and unfurls his dark black wings, taking to the sky. Adrien looks on in shock. 

“Oh shit…”

“I am Dark Eros. While Eros brings love, I take it away!” He nocks and fires a heart-shaped arrow at Nate, who’s nearby with his friend Marc. The arrow goes right through him and disappears. 

“What the hell?” Marc backs up as Nate’s eyes go red. “Are… you ok?”

“I…HATE YOU!” Nate, filled with rage, shoves Marc out of the way and runs down the street. Before Marc can even react, Dark Eros shoots him as well, and his eyes go red. He screams and runs off, chasing Nate to try and get revenge.

“HAHAHA! ALL OF YOU WILL NEVER KNOW LOVE AGAIN!” He turns around and loses another arrow right at Alix, with it going right through her… but it doesn’t do anything. Her watch heats up in her pocket as the Nephillim blood protects her from the effect, just like before. She looks at him and flips him off. 

“That’s supposed to work.”

“Well it didn’t, so calm the fuck down Kim!”

Dark Eros is noticeably confused at how the hell Alix could resist the effect of his arrows, but quickly shakes it off. “Very well. You can watch.” He begins to rapid-fire arrows into the crowd, causing more and more people to go red-eyed and insane. Adrien and Nino took the opportunity of Alix’s interruption to duck into an alley. They hear Dark Eros fly up above them.

“This is bad,” Nino says, looking out at the carnage. “He’s gonna turn the whole city insane. Did you see what it was?”

“Yeah, the brooch on his hoodie,” Adrien says as Plagg flies out of his jacket. “Have we hit Eros levels of insanity?”

Plagg shrugs. “Absolutely top 5.”

“Nino, go grab Alix. As long as you stay near her, you’ll be ok. I’ll take care of this. PLAGG, CLAWS OUT!” 

With a green flash, Adrien turns into Cat Noir. He twirls his staff and launches into the air.

Across town, Marinette is helping her dad load some pastries into a truck. They got a last-minute order for a party outside the city, and the catering service just came to pick them up. 

“I can’t believe you put this together in 3 hours!”

Tomas laughs. “Trust me sweetie it was not ideal. I’m probably out of magic for the rest of the day. Oh well, I was gonna close early anyway.”

Marinette hoists the last box into the truck and closes the back. “Whew, now I can get back to my-” Suddenly, Dark Eros streaks overhead, cackling as he fires arrows across Paris. All around them, pedestrians get hit by Dark Eros and begin to go crazy, attacking whoever is closest to them and fighting in the streets.

“Marinette, get upstairs now!” Tomas screams as they both run inside, but only Marinette makes it in. Dark Eros sees them fleeing and lands right in front of Tomas. 

“Your bakery has been supporting the wicked institution of love for years. Well that ends today!”

He tries to fire an arrow point-blank blank but Tomas punches him in the face. Even without magic, he’s still quite a large man. “Ow, shit!” Meanwhile, Marinette gets up to her room. “What the hell happened with Kim after school? TIKKI SPOTS ON!”

Dark Eros recovers and prepares to fire again, but a staff comes spinning out of the sky and smacks him aside. Cat Noir leaps off a building and lands in front of Tomas. “Alright, that’s not cool. Where the hell am I gonna get my macarons if you shoot Tomas Dupein in the face? Get inside by the way.” Tomas takes a hint and runs inside. Dark Eros gets to his feet and spits blood on the ground. 

“Cat Noir… you stand for destruction, don’t you? Join me and we can destroy all love in Paris!”

“Uh huh, yeah great, you do know this is the City of Love, right? You picked the worst effing city for this. So, how about you drop the bow and let me destroy your… well, attempts at destruction?” He opens his hand and readies a Cataclysm.

On the other side of him, Angelbug lands and readies her yoyo. “We will not allow you to drive this city to madness, Dark Eros.”

Dark Eros looks between them before grinning ear to ear. “You forget one thing: The people of Paris love you! But now… well… you might want to get out of here.” He flies off. “Shit!” Angelbug prepares to go after him, but Cat Noir hears it. A horde of voices came around the corner. “Uhh, Angelbug?”

“GET THEM! WE HATE SUPERHEROES!”

Rounding the corner, a mob of Parisians with red eyes charges at them. Angelbug recognizes Rose, Mylene, Nate, Marc, and more of their friends among them. Fortunately, Adrien and Nino seem to be absent. “Oh, that is not good.”

Cat Noir slams his hand into the ground, cracking it open and causing a sinkhole to appear between them and the mob. “Much as I like to get involved in the firefight, that guy can fly and I can’t. The akumas’s in the brooch on his quiver. Take care of him, I’ll work the crowd!”

Angelbug is unsure. “We shouldn’t split up. What if Dark Eros gets one of us?”

Cat Noir looks at her. “Can he? Will it even work with the Miraculous active?”

“Do you want to take that chance?”

Cat Noir shrugs. “Don’t worry, if he tries to shoot me, I have an idea. Just… be ready to stop me when it looks like I’m going too far!”

As he says that he extends his staff and sweeps it across the sinkhole, knocking the first wave of enraged Parisians into the Seine. 

“Now go! The longer this goes on, the worse it's gonna get!” Angelbug finally nods and takes off, her wings flying at top speed as she pursues Dark Eros. She finds him near the Arc De Triomphe, taking potshots at fleeing tourists and evacuating citizens. She tucks in her wings and dives right at him. But out of the corner of his eye, he sees her and whirls around, firing a volley of arrows. 

“Lucky Charm!” She throws her yoyo up to create a red shield, which she grabs and holds in front of her to block the arrows while spinning her yoyo in her other hand. As she gets close, she moves the shield aside and lashes out with the yoyo, clocking him in the face and knocking him down, but he recovers and gets air under his wings again. He loses another arrow and it splits into a dozen that begin circling her and attacking from directions, but with her shield and yoyo, she’s able to accurately defend. 

“ You have to get in close, ” Tikki says from inside her earrings. “ He won’t be able to aim properly if you’re in his face. ” Angelbug nods and casts a lightning spell on herself, coating herself in electrical energy. Quickly, she flash-steps right behind him, drops her shield, and tries to grab the brooch, but Dark Eros whirls around and catches her hand in his bow, twisting it and causing Angelbug to yelp in pain.

Meanwhile, Cat Noir finishes neutralizing the mob with well-placed staff strikes and sweeps. He jumps up on his staff and sees the midair fight happening. Right now, he can tell they’re about at the height of the top of the Arc. 

“ What are you thinking kid? ”

“Something insanely risky and definitely illegal.”

“ And you’re still thinking about it? ”

Cat Noir laughs as he staff vaults through the air, crossing the required distance quickly. Dark Eros twists Angelbug’s hand further. 

“Nice try, but I’m a cut above. Now for those Miraculous!” He uses his other hand and begins to reach for the earrings, but Angelbug blocks it. The two are now locked in a struggle.

Cat Noir lands at the base of the Arc. “Cataclysm!” He slams his power into the Arc De Triomphe, causing it to start to rust and buckle under its own weight, swaying back and forth. Angelbug sees it, but Dark Eros has his back facing the Arc, and does not. Cat Noir runs through the Arc, extends his staff to reach the top of the other side, and does a spinning kick right into it to knock it right on top of Angelbug and Dark Eros.

Angelbug sees this coming, and using her tongue, casts another lightning spell and flash-steps through it, disappearing. Before Dark Eros can get his bearings, the rusted Arc De Triomphe crashes right into him as it collapses into the plaza with an earth-shaking thud. Fortunately, everyone else nearby had evacuated the plaza, so no one got crushed. Angelbug appears right next to Cat Noir with her jaw agape. 

“YOU JUST… YOU…”

He grins. “You’re gonna fix it anyway.” He says as they descend to the ground, Angelbug looks at him while Cat Noir looks at the wreckage on the street. 

“I’d prefer not to have to fix a national monument!”

“Well, he predicted your spells, so I did something super cool and awesome! Ain’t nothing wrong with-” Suddenly, he sees Dark Eros, clawing his way out of the wreck and aiming an arrow at Angelbug. 

“GET DOWN!” The arrow flies, and Cat Noir pushes Angelbug out of the way, willingly letting the arrow hit him. 

“CAT NOIR!” She shouts as she gets back to her feet. Cat Noir stumbles over in pain as his eyes flash between green and red. Something about wearing a Miraculous is keeping the akuma’s effect partially at bay. Cat Noir looks up as his eyes go fully red, staring straight at Dark Eros. 

“YOU… FUCKING SHOT ME! RRRAAHAHAHAAH!!!!!” He screams, and a shockwave rings out from where he’s standing. “I HATE YOU!” He pulls out his staff, and it changes, shortening slightly in length and sprouting deadly, long cat claws from each end. 

Cat Noir, in a Dark Eros-induced rage, attacks, twirling his fanged staff in a relentless barrage of attacks. Angelbug finally gets what his plan was. If Dark Eros was gonna make him hate people, then of course the person he’d hate most is the one who just shot him and caused all this! “But what did he mean by going too far?”

“RAAAHHHH!!! CATACLYSM!” Cat Noir slashes his staff across Dark Eros’s chest, drawing blood, before leaping around and slamming his fist onto the quiver, destroying it and releasing the akuma. Angelbug jumps into action. “Alright, time to de-akumatize!” She catches it out of the air with her yo-yo. Dark Eros transforms back into Kim. Cat Noir stands over him, breathing heavily. He raises the staff to impale Kim. “Fuck ok that’s enough!” Angelbug shouts as she casts a sleep spell and fires it at Cat Noir, instantly sending him to sleep. 

“MIRACULOUS ANGELBUG!” With no Lucky Charm currently in hand, she closes her hands and forms the swarm of ladybugs within them, before releasing it into the city. Across the city, all the people who were struck by Dark Eros suddenly return to their normal states of mind, and all the damage they caused repairs itself, including the Arc De Triomphe. Cat Noir wakes up from his temporary, magic-induced sleep. 

“God dammit… thanks Angelbug. Did I nearly…”

“It’s fine,” Kim says, getting up from the ground. “I get it… I kinda messed with your mind.”

“Kim!” Zoe’s car pulls up to the center of the circle, and she runs out. “I am so sorry this happened… I didn’t mean for you to.”

Angelbug and Cat Noir look at each other and realize they need to let this play out. So they take off, heading for the school in Cat Noir’s case and back home for Angelbug.

“No, I’m sorry for coming onto you like that. You were completely right to reject me.”

Zoe pauses. “So… do you have a crush on me?”

“Uh… yeah.”

She sighs. “God, I hate when this happens. It breaks my heart every time I have to reject some otherwise suitable guy.”

He looks at her, confused. “Then… why do you?”

She bows her head. “Look. It’s not because of you… I’ll just be honest. I’m gay. That’s why I can’t fall in love with you, because I don’t fall in love with any guys. And I should’ve specified, but I was unsure if I wanted to say anything and…”

Kim nods. He finally gets it. “No, no, don’t be sorry. I assumed, and I got angry. That’s on me. Thank you for telling me.” He holds out his hand.

Zoe nods and shakes it. “And even if I can never feel the same… I do appreciate that you feel that way about me. I hope you find someone else in the future.” She starts to walk back to the car, where Chloé is waiting. 

“Hey Kim!” She shouts from across the circle. “Just so you know, my ridiculous half-sister chose to come tell you that. She had no reason to. So you better be up to keeping that a secret until she’s good and ready to tell anyone else!”

Kim nods his head. “I didn’t expect you to be sticking up for her.”

Chloé scoffs. “Why does everyone think I won’t stick up for my sister when it’s completely necessary? God, you’re utterly ridiculous.” She gets back in the car with Zoe and they head for home.

Meanwhile, Cat Noir lands behind the school at de-transforms before running back out into the open, where everyone else just snapped out of their rage. “Nino? Nino!” 

“Adrien!” He and Alix run out from inside the school, where they were hiding. “Glad you got away.”

“Yeah, they were banging on the doors! Thank god I didn’t get shot!” Alix says. 

Nino looks at her confused. “But you did get shot, you flipped him off-”

“Ehh, you’re hallucinating, it’s ok. Happens to lots of young boys.” She suddenly gets a text on her phone from Zoe in the group chat with all their friends. “Huh… she told him.”

Nino looks shocked. “Wow… that’s unexpected. But I suppose that’s what she needed to do to get him to back off.”

“I don’t suppose you two are gonna tell me this thing?” Adrien asks, and they both shake their heads. 

“Ain’t our secret, bro.” 

Alix perks up. “But did you see the footage on the news? Cat Noir knocked over the Arc De Triomphe!”

“What, no way!” Adrien says, keeping hidden that yes, he did do that. 

“Yeah, take a look!” The three friends start to look at the news footage as they slowly make their way to their homes. 

Later That Night…

“Sooo… he knocked over the Arc de Triomphe?”

Alya is at Marinette’s house, and they’re working on homework together. She sighs and collapses onto her back.

“I cannot believe he did that. Sure, it worked, but that’s a national landmark!”

“Hey, you fixed it, so no harm done, right?”

“Yeah I suppose.”

Alya holds up her phone. “On the bright side, Cerise got a ton of aerial footage of you guys fighting! We’re gonna post it tomorrow!”

“That’s awesome!”

As the two best friends continue to work, Alya thinks about the weird as hell situation she’s ended up in the middle of. A month ago Cerise, her oldest friend, finally trusted her enough to let her in on the big secret. She has a strange, magical blessing from her parent that allows her to make up any lie, no matter how ridiculous, and people will believe her.  And that she’s also half-witch or something, that same parent being from a “Demon Realm.”

And on the other side, she has her other BFF, Marinette, who’s the Angelic superheroine of Paris and wields the almighty power of Creation. A power that, according to Tikki, comes from the other half of the former Arcane Realm. And Marinette… seems to have more to tell when she’s ready. Stuff that probably has to do with the Arcane Realm. Either way, Alya has two cool friends who… well, could change humanity’s perspective on life itself if word were to get out. But she would never allow that.

I don’t know how, but Marinette…Cerise… It's connected. And one day I’ll find out how!

Meanwhile, Adrien and his father are eating dinner once again. It’s come around to one of the days of the week when Gabriel doesn’t have to work, so he’s enjoying this time with his son when Adrien asks him a question. 

“Father… how did you and Mother meet?”

Gabriel looks at his son. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, we had this whole lesson on the myth of Eros in English class, and then my classmate got akumatized into someone who takes love away… so you can say love has been on my mind.”

Gabriel nods as he cuts another piece of his meat. “Well, I suppose I can tell the story. Strange, I can’t believe I haven’t before. Believe it or not, we met through Nathalie. As you know, we’ve been friends since high school. She and Emile were dating when she was studying in London, but they broke up when Emile moved back up north. They didn’t want to do long-distance, but they stayed friends. A few years later, she was in town representing her family at the gala, and Nathalie recommended my services. And well…I wouldn’t say it was love at first sight. But looking back, you were trying to set me up with her.”

Nathalie, who is in the corner doing some work, smiles. “The thought had slipped my mind.”

“Anyway, love is a very complicated beast, Adrien. Your mother always compared it to a film or a play. It looks one way on the surface, but when you look deeper, everyone’s got a different interpretation. The same goes for the stories you were learning about. A god like Eros probably thought of love differently than mortals like us.”

Adrien smiles. “That certainly sounds like Mother.”

Gabriel chuckles as father and son end their day happily with a loving family dinner.

Chapter Text

Many Years Ago…

Fred Hapréle arrives at the elementary school where his daughter Myléne attends, having received a call about 20 minutes ago that he needs to come pick her up. Upon arrival, her teacher waits at the door and walks in with him. 

“What happened?” He asks as they walk through the halls. “There was an accident with the class hamster,” the teacher replies. “Got out of its cage and was running around everywhere. Myléne tried to stop it, but it crawled into her shirt and completely freaked her out.”

He nods. “That makes sense. She does have a fear of unexpected physical contact.” They arrive at a closed broom closet, and the teacher motions to the door, indicating that Myléne is hiding there. 

“Myléne?” Fred asks. “It’s your dad. I’m here.”

A scared, timid voice comes from behind the door. “Daddy?”

“Yeah… It’s ok. I’m coming in.” He turns the handle and opens the door to see eight-year-old Myléne curled up into a ball, crying. 

“It’s ok, sweetie, it's ok. You’re safe.”

“I’m so sorry, Daddy… I got scared. Again.”

He kneels and hugs his daughter. “That’s ok. Fear is a natural part of life. Everyone is afraid of something.”

“But I’m afraid of everything! Water, animals touching me, and badges. How is this ok?”

Fred lets go, but continues to look her in the eye. “What we’re afraid of doesn’t matter, and neither does how many things we’re afraid of. What matters is that we don’t let it control our lives. Tell you what, how about I teach you a happy song?”

She stops crying and looks at him. “A happy song?”

He nods. “Yeah. My mom always said the best way to make something seem less scary is to make it funny. So what’s something you're scared of?”

Myléne thinks for a second… “Wolves?”

“And what would make a wolf funny?”

She thinks before smiling widely. “If it was really smelly!”

He smiles as well. “That sounds great! Hmm… Oh, I got it. Smelly Wolf, Smelly Wolf, sloppy breath and stinky spit. Smelly Wolf Smelly Wolf, you smell like a piece of… well, you get the idea.”

She laughs. “I like that!”

“Whenever you get scared, you can sing that, and know there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

She nods. “Thanks, Dad!”

Present Day …

At Collége Francois Dupont, Marinette’s class is about to undertake a group project. Cameras are set up all over the courtyard, tables are stacked with props and makeup, and Nino is currently poring over a script while sitting in a director's chair. “Alright everyone!” He says to the class. “Today, for our group project, we’re gonna make a kickass short horror movie!” The whole class cheers. Marinette and Adrien are clapping next to each other. “Wow, I can’t believe Nino is directing a movie!” Marinette says. “He’s wanted to do this for years!”

Adrien nods. “He invited me over a few days ago to read the script. It’s so cool! I can’t believe I’m getting the lead role!”

Nino stands up on his chair. “Right, this horror movie follows two secret agents, played by Adrian and Myléne, as they fight a horrific monster. Think Alien mixed with Men in Black . Cerise, Alya, Max, Ivan, and Sabrina, you’ll be on cameras. Rose and Juleka will be our makeup department. Chloé and Zoe will be supporting characters, and Marinette, Alix and Kim will be our costume department! We’re almost ready to start shooting, so let’s-”

“Now hold on!” Chloé shouts. “Supporting characters? I was promised the lead role!”

Nino tilts his head to the side. “Uhhh… no you weren’t. I was very clear it was Myléne.”

“Well, I must’ve been promised the lead role, otherwise I never would have agreed to be in this ridiculous project.”

“Actually Chloé” Marinette chimes in. “You did initially refuse since it wasn’t the lead role but since it’s for a grade, you eventually caved. I recall you saying it was ‘utterly ridiculous?’” Everyone starts laughing, and Chloé’s face goes red. “Well, I suppose I’ll still get on camera, and be the most fabulous of you all at that!”

Marinette hears the door open as someone walks into the school and turns around to see her crush, Luka, standing there with his guitar. “Uhh… L-Luka?! W-wha-What are you doing here?”

“Twinsie called me and told me to come over with my guitar.” Marinette immediately turns around to glare and Nino and Juleka. “Did you know about this?!”

Nino nods. “Yep. Luka, you’re gonna be our composer! You’ll make all the music for the movie.”

Luka looks confused. “You do realize I only play one instrument right?” 

“Aka, one more than everyone else here! You’ll do great!” 

There’s a chuckle from a nearby table as Kagami is sitting there, reading manga and watching this all go down. 

“Why are you even still here? You’re not in our class.” Cerise says. 

Kagami shrugs. “The story sounds very compelling. Plus Nino wanted to borrow my bokken for the climactic third-act fight.”

Nino nods. “And your decision on that is…?”

Kagami nods. “You get one take. I would rather not explain to my mother how I broke my sword.”

Adrien steps forward. “Kagami, you know I’d stick up for you if that happened.”

Kagami smiles warmly and puts her hand on Adrien’s shoulder. “Adrien-san, you know my mother well enough to know that wouldn’t mean a thing. One take Nino.”

Nino claps. “Good enough for me! Alright, let's set the scene. Get the cameras set up, actors get their makeup, and someone get in the monster costume!”

Marinette looks around. “Shit! Where did we leave the monster costume?” 

“I think it's in the art room!” Alya shouts from across the courtyard. Marinette gives her BFF a nod, and she, Alix and Kim run for the art room and find the costume strewn out on several tables. It’s meant to look like a giant, monstrous lizard, but it looks… very bad and poorly made. 

Marinette looks at it in horror. “Uhhh…what is this? This looks nothing like the drawings we made!”

Kim and Alix shrug. “Hey, you were sick the last three days. We had to make do ourselves. And not all of us are as good at design. We were hoping you’d be able to fix it.” Alix explains.

She’s right. Marinette has been out sick for a few days. It’s ok, she thinks. I can fix this . 

“I think I have an idea. Can you guys go help with the cameras?” They both look confused, but head out of the room as Marinette shuts the door. Tikki flies out of her bag. “What exactly are you gonna do to fix this in five minutes?”

Marinette smirks and draws a circle. “A little illusion magic, that’s what.” She covers the entire costume in an illusion, making it look like a proper, well-made, and hell, truly terrifying monstrous lizard costume. “Alright we’re good!” Tikki hides as Alix and Kim walk back in, and their jaws drop at the sight. 

“Holy shit Marinette, how did you do this? It looks awesome!” Kim shouts. 

Marinette gives a smile. “Just a little bit of magic.” Technically true. They just don’t know she means actual magic and not movie magic.

“Yeah no shit, this is exactly what we need!” Alix gives her friend a high-five. “Alright, Kim, now get in the suit.”

Kim holds his hands up. “WHAT? WHY ME?!”

“Because I’m 5 feet even. You think anyone’s getting scared of a monster that barely reaches their chest?”

“But Marinette could-”

“Kim, please, Marinette is far too classy to get in that thing.” Marinette chuckles. “Be nice Alix.”

Kim goes silent for a minute. “She’s got a point. Alright, give me five.”

While the costume department is at work, Ivan walks over to Myléne as she’s getting into her makeup. “Hey, Myléne. Just want to tell you good luck.”

Myléne looks at him and blushes heavily. No one knows…actually scratch that, all her friends know she has feelings for Ivan. But she hasn’t told him. “T-thanks Ivan. I’ll do my best.”

“I thought I’d give you a good luck charm.” He reaches into his pocket and takes out a little pin. “It’s from my favorite band, The Zombies. Some real modern metal.” 

She happily takes it and pins it to her shirt. “Thank you so much! I don’t know if I can wear it during filming…”

Nino, who is just walking by to supervise, waves it aside. “Nah, you should be fine, it's small enough.” He is also aware of Myléne’s crush.

Five minutes later, Kim was ready. Adrien and Myléne were in costume, and the cameras were all set up. 

“Alright everyone! We’ll shoot this scene first. Adrien and Myléne, you’re arriving in this facility to track down the monster, who will burst out of the art room and attack you guys! Whose in the costume?”

“Kim,” Marinette says. 

“Yeah that makes sense, you’re too classy for that.” Nino chuckles. “Why does everyone keep saying that?” Marinette deadpans.

“Because it's true. Now don’t stand near Luka, can’t have you losing brain function while we’re shooting.” Alix jokes. 

“Cameras up! Lights on! Kim is in place! Aaand action!”

The scene begins with Adrien and Myléne falling easily into their roles as agents, making their way through a dangerous facility. But while the filming is underway, Marinette gets a nagging feeling in her gut that something might be wrong… and she isn’t the only one, as Alix leans over to whisper to her. 

“You sure you didn’t make the costume a little…too scary?”

Marinette leans down to whisper back. “What do you mean? It’s a horror movie.”

“Yeah, but Myléne…”

Marinette’s eyes go wide as she remembers. Myléne gets scared very easily. “Oh fuck…”

But it’s too late to stop it. Right on cue, Kim bursts out of the art room in full costume. The sheer horror that Marinette created with her illusion spell has even most of the camera crew taking a nervous step back, but Nino leans forward in his chair at the impressive sight. Adrien manages to stay fully in character and smiles. 

“Alright Agent, looks like we found our target!” He says his line, but Myléne’s eyes go blank at the sight. She drops her prop gun, shivers and steps back with an expression of pure fear. 

“Ah…AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!”

Everyone immediately stops filming with Nino jumping out of his chair. “Cut, CUT! Myléne, you ok?”

But she is barely listening, instinctively fleeing in terror across the courtyard and further into the school. “MYLÉNE!” Ivan shouts after her. 

Kim takes off the monster's head. “What happened?”

Chloé scoffs. “Myléne ran off like a chicken! I told you I should have gotten the lead role.”

Marinette runs up to Nino. “God, I am so sorry! I was worried that would happen…” Nino nods. “Ok… someone go get her.” Ivan runs off immediately.

Cerise checks her phone. “All due respect, but we’re burning daylight here.”

Chloé steps forward. “This is my star moment! That coward might not be able to handle it, but an actress like myself is more than capable!”

Marinette goes red in the face. “Myléne is not a coward! You don’t know her! She’s one of the bravest people I know!”

Nino and Adrien get between them. “Everyone, calm down!” Adrien says. Nino sighs. “Shit… alright until Myléne gets back, Chloé you step in for her.” Marinette steps forward again in protest. “Nino come on..”

“Look, I hate it too, but as the director, I have to put the movie first. We can’t wait on Myléne forever.” Nino says with a somber expression. “Alright, reset! Kim, get back in the art room!”

Meanwhile, Myléne is hiding in the locker room, crying in fear. She begins to sing. “ Smelly Wolf, Smelly Wolf, sloppy breath and stinky spit. Smelly Wolf Smelly Wolf, you smell like a piece of shit… ”

Squeezing through a crack in the window a purple butterfly sneaks up to Myléne and enters the pin Ivan gave her, and she finds herself sucked into the void. 

“ That’s a lovely song you have there. ” Hawk Moth says. “ To chase away fear is a noble thing. But one can become even more powerful by accepting fear. Letting it fuel you, making you stronger. I can give you the power to not only never feel fear again, but to grow stronger from it. Of course in exchange, I would humbly request the Miraculous of Angelbug and Cat Noir. ”

Myléne nods. She never wants to be afraid again. 

“ And what shall I call you? ”

“Horrifier.”

In reality, Myléne begins to shift and change. Ivan enters the locker room just too late. “Myléne! Wait.. AH!”

A mass of pink slime bursts forth and envelops Ivan before he can even move. In the courtyard, everyone witnesses a massive explosion as a wave of slime surges throughout the entire school. The walls, floors, ceilings, and every surface are infected with slime. Kagami instantly stands up and draws her bokken. Everyone else looks around in terror. 

“What the hell is going on?” Nino says. As he does, the slime expands even more, forming a hardened shell around the school and sealing everyone in pitch black darkness. Alya and Marinette switch on their phone cameras. 

“Myléne… don’t tell me she…” Strange sounds begin to come from around them. Snarls and growls. Luka stands in front of his sister and Rose, his guitar held out like a sword. Nino and Max desperately look around the area. 

“Are we now actually in a horror movie?”

Kim stumbles out of the art room, throwing off the costume. With Marinette being freaked out, she dropped her concentration on the illusion and reverted it to normal, but in the darkness, no one can see that. 

“Hey, what’s going-AH!” A large mass leaps out of the darkness and grabs Kim before vanishing into the slime. Everyone hears his scream and runs over to find only a scrap of his red hoodie. 

Cerise throws her hands up. “We’re in a motherfucking horror movie!” 

Marinette exchanges a look with Alya. “Well, at least we’re here after hours, no one else is in danger.”

“That doesn’t sound like a good thing!” Chloé squeals, clutching Sabrina. Suddenly, a large thud rings out from right in the middle of the courtyard. Everyone shines their phones to see Horrifier. Myléne has transformed into a pink and purple monster with a mouth full of stained teeth, hair replaced with tendrils of pink slime, and a long prehensile tail as thick as a lamppost. 

“AHHHHHHH!!!” Rose screams, and most of the class does the same at this horrifying sight. Horrifier almost seems to laugh as the fear from her former classmates causes her to grow even larger, getting to nearly ten feet tall. She lashes out, grabbing Max with her tail and reaching out with her hands at Rose and Kagami, snagging the former out from behind Luka, but the latter attacks and smacks her hand aside with the bokken. Undeterred, Horrifer changes course and grapples Zoe before leaping off again into the darkness. Nino shields Adrien and looks over at him. “Make it look like you’ve been taken,” he mouths, and Adrien runs off to the bathroom, avoiding the pink slime to avoid making indentations. He takes off his shoes and throws them in the slime, making it look like they were left behind. Plagg flies out of his jacket. “Well this a fucked up situation ain’t it?”

“No shit. Plagg, Claws Out!” 

Meanwhile, Marinette can’t wait any longer and subtly throws up an illusion of herself. Doing similar to Adrien, she drops her phone to make it look like Horrifier got her and runs off into a corner. 

“Shit… that illusion was too intense. That’s absolutely Myléne.” Tikki emerges. “Time to transform. Tikki, Spots On!”

Back in the courtyard, the class finds Adrien and Marinette’s shoes and phone and freaks out. Everyone starts running around looking for a place to hide. Alix, Alya, and Cerise run up to the second floor and try and get into their classroom. “Door’s not opening!” Cerise says. 

“Of course, the doors locked…” They hear the snarls of Horrifier as she stomps towards them. Cerise considers her options. They’re not good. “Shit… get behind me!” Alya and Alix are confused but do as she says as Horrifier stomps into the light of Alya’s phone, staring them down. Cerise concentrates and says. “We’re not here! We went down to the art room!” As she says that, Alix and Alya can almost hear a second voice speaking with her. For some reason, even though that’s not true, they start to wonder if they actually are hiding in the art room. 

Horrifier snarls angrily and jumps back to the first floor. She lands on a table, smashing it and landing right in front of Chloé and Sabrina. “AHHHHHH!!!” Horrifier grows a little more and reaches out before a yoyo fires out from the darkness and knocks her aside. Angelbug flies into view and fires off a light spell, blinding Horrifier and forcing her back. Cat Noir leaps into view as well. “This is not my ideal situation asshole!” He attacks with his staff, but Horrifier deflects it with her tail. 

“Get to safety!” Angelbug screams to Chloé and Sabrina, before turning to Cat Noir. “Be careful! Even blind, she’s still dangerous!” Horrifier turns around and barfs more pink slime directly onto Cat Noir, covering him in a slime cocoon. Angelbug swings her yoyo and lands another attack, driving Horrifier back into the darkness to another part of the school. A muffled “ cataclysm! ” can be heard as Cat Noir smashes through the cocoon. “Ok, do not get stuck in that! I’m pretty sure I have the only way out.”

Angelbug nods. “The whole school is encased. I’m not even gonna bother to ask how you got in here.”

Cat Noir smiles. “Lucky me. Isn’t that the thing with black cats?”

Suddenly, they hear more screams get cut off. Angelbug recognizes it as Nino, who has just been taken. 

“We’re getting picked off one by one… LUCKY CHARM!” The swarm of red energy delivers a giant street lamppost, which leads Angelbug to quickly duck to the side. As it lands, she casts an electricity spell, lighting it up. “Everyone gather in the light!”

The remaining students make it back to the courtyard. Alix, Alya, Cerise, Luka and Juleka, and Kagami. Screams can be heard again as Chloé and Sabrina are taken. 

“This is everyone?” Alix nods. Cat Noir looks at his ring. “Should I bring down the barrier and get them out?”

“No. If we do that, she might escape into the city. Then we’re all living in an Alien movie.”

Cerise looks around. “Kind of ironic that the girl who gets afraid the most gets akumatized into a monster that feeds on fear.” 

“Feeds on fear?” Cat Noir asks. 

Alix nods. “Every time someone screams, she gets bigger.” Angelbug nods. “There are only so many places she could be. And she has to be taking all the students somewhere.” 

“Simple solution then,” Kagami says with her bokken still out. “Don’t be afraid.”

“Um, have you seen her?” Alix asks.

“As much as you all have. But you must face whatever fears you have. Then she won’t be able to grow more powerful.”

Angelbug nods. “As harsh as it is, your friend is right. You cannot let fear control you. Not until we get out of this in one piece.” 

She hovers into the air. “Cat Noir, with me.” He twirls his staff around, and the superheroes leap off into the darkness. As they leave, Alya turns to Cerise. “Back there with the monster, did you…?”

Cerise nods. “I did not think it would work that well.”

Alya smiles. “Guess you can make people believe anything huh?” She whispers back.

Angelbug casts a light spell so she and Cat Noir can see, as they stalk around the second floor. Cat Noir has his staff at the ready. “Is this really what Alien is about?”

“Ehh, roughly. What, you haven’t seen it?”

“Was never a movie kid. So what’s the plan?”

“Well, she has to be taking all these people somewhere… we find it, we find her.”

“That’s it? We don’t even know where the akuma is?”

“We wouldn’t be very good superheroes if we couldn’t improvise.”

They come to the door of their normal classroom, which is still locked. Inside, they hear snarling. “How did she get in there? She’s way too big.”

Angelbug looks down at a trail of slime going under the door. “She can travel through the slime. That’s why she keeps popping up everywhere.” 

Cat Noir nods. “Let’s get in there.” Angelbug casts a fire spell that heats up the metal lock and deforms it enough for Cat Noir to snap it off. They burst through the door and find…

“What the shit…”

The room is full of pink slime cocoons, connected by a thin line of slime across the floor and ceiling, and inside Angelbug can see the outlines of their missing classmates. Horrifier is currently suspended from the ceiling, slowly wrapping Sabrina in slime as she is paralyzed with fear. 

“Cat Noir, free them! LUCKY CHARM!” Angelbug says as she calls up another Lucky charm, this time taking the form of a whistle. She blows it to attract Horrifier’s attention, as the beast snarls and leaps down from the ceiling, landing with a crash and obliterating most of the desks. She’s nearly fifteen feet tall now as Cat Noir runs straight for her. She lashes out with her claws, but Cat Noir ducks and slides under her feet, thanks to a quickly cast ice spell from Angelbug. Horrifier snarls and turns around, but Angelbug unleashes a firebolt right at her head. “Nope! You’re dealing with me!” She unfurls her wings and flies straight at the monster with her yoyo.

“Cataclysm!” Cat Noir slams one of the cocoons, and the power of Destruction spreads between all of them, shattering them and freeing the students. He quickly catches Sabrina and turns to all of them, “Everyone get out of here!”

The students don’t wait, with Zoe grabbing Ivan to guide him out of the room. He’s continuing to hesitate as he knows Myléne is in there. With everyone safe and back with their friends, Cat Noir jumps into battle with his staff to help Angelbug. 

Together, the two superheroes fight Horrifier, but it's clear that this time they’re facing a more even match. With all the power Horrifier has leeched from the students' fear, she’s grown much bigger and stronger. Angelbug fires lightning bolts and other spells while Cat Noir twirls his staff to deflect Horrifier’s claws and tail, but the monster shrugs off all their attacks. Nothing seems to be working. 

Eventually Horrifier decides to go on the offensive. She slams both her hands down on Cat Noir, pushing him down to his knees as he blocks them. Angelbug flies in to assist, but the tail comes out of nowhere and smacks Angelbug through the door and back down into the courtyard. Cat Noir pushes back against Horrifier’s attack, but the tail grabs him and throws him into the air before leaping up and slamming her claws into Cat Noir’s side, punching him straight through the wall and leading him to crash down in front of everyone in the courtyard. 

Horrifier charges through and demolishes the wall before leaping down and landing right on top of Cat Noir. Angelbug flies in, but Horrifier grabs her and slams her down on the ground, holding her down with her tail. She unleashes a wave of slime, smothering Cat Noir’s body. He tries to shout “CATA-” but Horrifier smacks him in the head so hard he goes unconscious. Everyone looks on in horror as Horrifier seems to have completely beaten the two superheroes. 

Angelbug desperately looks around for anything that could help her. The world goes grey as she tries to figure out what to do. The Lucky Charm whistle around her neck lights up red, and she watches as Alya and Alix light up as well, specifically the watch in Alix’s pocket. Horrifier, with Cat Noir now down, looks to Angelbug and prepares to smother her in slime as well. Subtly, Angelbug begins to build up energy in one hand, preparing a Blessing.

First, she blows her whistle and everyone looks directly at her. Horrifier prepares her slime, but Angelbug pries her other hand out and holds it towards Alix. Fortunately, the other girl gets the message and pulls out her watch, throwing it to Angelbug. She grabs it right as the slime wave erupts from Horrifier’s mouth, enveloping her. However, the Nephillim blood pulses and melts the slime away, providing Angelbug a brief respite and enough room to point her other hand at Alya.

“Alright, this is gonna feel weird, but you gotta help us out here! By my Blessing, take this strength and fight for the greater good!” She lets the circle go, and it flies right to Alya, touching her in the forehead.

Instantly, Alya feels it. Waves of power spread over her body and through it. She feels a well of power in the center of her soul, and though it won’t last forever, it’ll be enough to help her best friend. Almost without thinking and acting purely on instinct, she draws a spell circle in the air and fires a bolt of lightning at Horrifier. Having not expected it from this angle, the monster is momentarily stunned and steps back, allowing Angelbug to escape from under her claws. She tosses the watch back to Alix. 

Cerise looks at her in shock. “How did you know to do that?” Alya shrugs, now having a white glow in her eyes. “I didn’t! It just happened!”

“It’s an Angelic Blessing. As long as it’s active, you can do magic.”

She turns around and looks at the students. “Everyone! Don’t let fear overcome you! If fear gives her strength, maybe the lack of fear will take it away!”

Horrifier recovers and roars right at the group of students. But none of them waver. Kagami holds out her bokken, Luka his guitar, Alya prepares another spell, Angelbug spins her yoyo. Everyone stands without fear against this enemy. 

As less fear is being put out, Horrfier cries in pain and begins to shrink, going from nearly fifteen feet tall to ten, to seven, and then almost back down to normal height. “NOW!” Alya casts a giant light spell that blinds the smaller Horrifier while Angelbug flanks the monster with her wings and spots it. A small pin was attached to her back with the logo for Ivan’s favorite band, the Zombies. She releases her yoyo and smashes it, releasing the akuma and freeing Myléne.

“Alright! Time to de-akumatize!” She throws her yoyo and captures the akuma. “Gotcha! MIRACULOUS ANGELBUG!”

Throwing up the whistle, she conjures the swarm of red ladybugs that quickly eat away at all the slime, allowing daylight to flow back into the school. Cat Noir finally comes back to consciousness and looks around. “Ah shit, sorry.”

“No worries Cat.” Alya lets out a celebratory shout and uses her remaining magic to fire a beam of light into the air. “YEAH!”

Angelbug facepalms. “Please don’t do that.” 

“Oh right, sorry.”

Ivan runs over to check on Myléne. “Are you ok?”

Myléne comes back to her senses and stands up. “...Yeah… I’m sorry guys. For everything. I was just so afraid, and I couldn’t handle it. I’m just weaker than you guys.”

Angelbug smiles. “Everyone is afraid. But from what your friends have told me, you’re afraid of a lot. But you continue to fight through it. That doesn’t make you weak, it makes you stronger than most.”

The rest of the students nod along. Even Chloé recognizes that it’s not in her interest to go after Myléne again right now. Ivan looks down at her and smiles. “And if you ever feel that much fear again, I’ll protect you. Always.”

Myléne’s face goes fully red. “T-thanks.”

Cerise looks around. “Wait, where are Marinette and Adrien?”

Cat Noir smiles. “Don’t worry, when we busted you all out, they hid somewhere else. We’ll go find them now.” He and Angelbug leap off into other rooms to de-transform before coming back out, grabbing their phones and putting their shoes back on. 

Nino steps forward. “Well, dudes, y’all ready to get back on track? Myléne, you good?”

Myléne nods. “Let’s do it. Ready Agent Smith?” She looks at Adrien going fully in character.

Adrien laughs. “Always, Agent Reese.”

With everything repaired, the filming gets back underway. Marinette chooses not to modify the costume again, instead allowing Adrien and Myléne to use their imaginations and acting to make it seem far scarier than it is. Whenever it got too much for Myléne, she’d sing her happy song her dad taught her, and everything would be ok. Kagami, true to her word, allowed Adrien to use her bokken, and he wielded it well, well enough for only one take to be needed. The result is better than anyone expected. In a few hours, all the footage for the short film is in the can. 

Nino stands up on a table and declares, “That’s a wrap!” Everyone cheers. Myléne looks over at Ivan and makes a decision. She’s not going to be afraid anymore, she’s going to act on what she feels. She approaches him. 

“Ivan… do you want to go out with me?”

Everyone looks at her in shock, but that shock suddenly turns to joyous surprise. That is, for everyone who didn’t already know about Myléne’s crush. Ivan looks down at Myléne and smiles. “Yeah, I think I would.” 

She giggles and the two take each other's hands, to the screams and cheers of everyone around them(except Chloé of course). Marinette looks over at Luka and blushes silently, wishing she were as confident as Myléne was to admit her feelings to the boy she loved. 

And with that, this day and this assignment end with cheers and applause.

Chapter Text

As the sun is just about to make contact with the western horizon, there’s a blitz of movement across the Parisian rooftops, and not one you’d expect. There’s no akumatized villain running wild, nothing like that. Instead, Angelbug and Cat Noir are the ones fighting. Angelbug flies through the air, unleashing bolts of lightning at her partner, who spins his staff to block them. He extends his staff in a pole vault to try and reach Angelbug for a close-range attack, but she casts a shield spell to deflect it before throwing her yoyo with her other hand, grabbing the staff and causing Cat Noir to lose his balance and fall back to the roof. He gets back up and smiles. “Not bad my lady!”

She smiles back. “If you’re gonna come up here, maybe be careful about your one support beam.” She flies in and the two engage in close-range sparring. Angelbug blocks a punch with her elbow before kneeing Cat Noir in the gut and jumping off him with a double kick. But he recovers and grabs Angelbug, spinning her around and slamming her to the ground. He tries to deliver an axe kick, but she rolls to the side and jumps up with an uppercut, knocking him back. They both charge in and aim punches at each other’s faces before suddenly stopping a few inches away. “I think that’s enough for now,” Angelbug says.

Cat Noir nods. “Yeah seems like it.” He reattaches his staff to his belt and sits on the rooftop to catch his breath. Angelbug joins him. 

“Having this sparring session was a good idea, I have to admit.” She says. 

“I’ve been training, but it’s not the same as when you’re going against a real opponent. Especially with new akumas popping up all the time.”

Angelbug nods. “Yeah. We need all the practice we can get, and we need to know each other as well. Working together is the key to everything.”

Cat Noir stretches out. “Well, this was a good day to practice I guess. No akuma attacks or anything at all.”

Angelbug smacks him in the head. “OW! What the hell?”

“You never say that out loud! You’re practically begging the universe to contradict you!”

“Well if the universe were alive-”

“Cat Noir, I feed the living personification of Creation itself pastries every day. And I know the universe is alive. It’s called the Arbiter of Power.”

He looks at her before shrugging. “This is why you’re the Angel from another world and I’m just a human.”

“For the last time, I’m literally from Paris!”

“You could be lying!”

She facepalms. “Has your kwami told you angels cannot lie? If I were lying, I would be screaming-”

Suddenly, a massive explosion of what looks to be paint erupts from downtown. The superheroes immediately stand up and look as something comes flying out of the cloud. 

Angelbug casts a spell to enhance her vision and sees…a dragon made entirely of paint with two paintbrushes for wings, long streams of multicolored paint streaming behind it. “You believe me now?”

Cat Noir sighs. “Yep….”

Earlier that day…

Nathaniel Kurtzberg, another student at Collège Françoise Dupont, is at lunch, staring down at a piece of paper in his hands. Upon it is a rather gorgeous drawing of two knights, one shining bright with sunlight and the other eclipsed by the deep blue of the ocean waters. Although it’s a beautiful work that he’s proud of, something feels off about it. Like it’s not living up to its full potential. 

“Nath!” Marinette walks into the lunchroom and waves. He waves back, and she comes over to sit with him. “Ooo, what’s that?”

He holds it up for her to see. “A drawing I made for art class. I called it Sunblade and Sea Walker .”

She gazes with absolute awe on her face. “This… is incredible!” He blushes in embarrassment. “Ever since Paris got its own duo of heroes, I’ve been tossing around some more fantastical ideas for my work. I thought about a concept of knights wielding the magic power of the sky and seas. But there is something off…”

Marinette looks confused. “What? It looks amazing!”

“Yeah, but I just feel like it’s not enough. I don’t think this one drawing captures the epic story I’d envisioned based around these characters. Even though that’s the whole point of a scenic painting like this…”

“Every artist gets to decide how they want to represent their work. Maybe for this piece, you just need a different medium.” Marinette suggests, before getting an idea. “Oh, I know! My grandpa Roland is a big fan of old comic books. Maybe if you made Sunblade and Sea Walker into a comic, you’d be able to capture the full scope of the idea!”

Nate is intrigued by the idea. “You think so? I’ve never drawn a comic before. Plus, my parents have always kinda been dismissive of any comic books I read…”

“You got this! Here I’ll even help! I’m mostly free after lunch.” Marinette volunteers. 

Nate is more confused by this. “Aren’t you gonna hang out with your other friends?”

“Yeah about that…” Marinette looks around. None of her other friends are here. The only people she recognizes are Chloé, Sabrina, and Kagami. “I haven’t got a clue where any of them went!”

Meanwhile …

Unbeknownst to Marinette, the rest of her friends are hiding in an unused classroom. They’ve all formed a circle around Alya and Cerise and are looking at the two girls. Alix and Nino are standing at the door. “Make it quick guys.” Alix says. “She’s gonna realize we’re missing.”

Cerise and Alya look at each other as well. “So… mind explaining what this is about?”

“Absolutely!” Rose says with a smile. “You’re here because we’ve decided you’re ready to be inducted into…. Operation Kitty Section!!”

Alix facepalms, and Nino gives her a pat on the shoulder.

“Operation Kitty Section?” Alya asks

Zoe nods. “Rose and I came up with it last year!” All the other teens nod.

“It has to do with me.” Juleka says, a little louder than normal. “You’ve both met my twin brother right?”

“Luka? Yeah.” 

“Well ever since last year, Marinette has just had the biggest crush on him!” Rose explains. “Like her face goes red whenever he gets near and stuff. I swear at this point, everyone but Luka knows it.”

Juleka chuckles softly. “You know him, he’s very chill. He would never notice someone crushing on him unless he’s told. Plus, he and his boyfriend broke up last year, so he’s kinda paying extra little attention…”

“And that’s why we’re here!” Zoe finishes. “Our goal is to get Marinette to admit her feelings!” 

Everyone around them lets out a cheer. “Wait, why do you need this whole setup for that?” Alya asks, “Marinette is kinda blunt, I feel like she’ll admit it to him eventually.”

“They don’t want eventually.” Alix says. “They want a big romantic moment worthy of the City of Love. And I guess worthy of New York as well in Zoe’s case.”

Cerise looks at her. “You don’t sound that enthused by the idea.”

“I’m the voice of reason. Without me and Nino here, they’d have staged a massive romantic moment in front of the Eiffel Tower that would go completely wrong.”

“No, we wouldn’t!” Zoe protests. “It would be in the Louvre!” Rose exclaims. “You’re not helping!”

“Anyway, you guys in or not? Better decide soon. Marinette’s definitely noticed we’re gone by now.”

Alya and Cerise look at each other. “You know what? Sure, let's do it. It only feels right to help our friend confess her feelings!”

Cerise nods. “Although I might join you in the voice of reason corner.” Alix pumps her fist.

Back in the art room, Marinette and Nathaniel spent the afternoon hard at work on Nate’s comic book. They’re busy making some early storyboards, mapping out what each of the pages will have on it, and overall building a general outline for how Nate is going to draw the comic. 

“Well, that’s that! Sorry, I couldn’t help more. I can’t draw for shit…” Marinette says. 

“No, this is perfect!” He takes the rough drawings and puts them in his backpack. “Thanks for your help!”

“No problem!” The bell rings, and Nate looks at his watch. “Shit! I gotta get to my last class!”

“Cool! I’m heading home! See you tomorrow.” Marinette waves goodbye and walks out of the art room and heads to leave the school. Nate follows after, keeping the drawings in his backpack. A bunch of other people, including Adrien, also leave at this time, but Nate stays for a final science class. Once it’s over, he too goes to leave the school before realizing something. 

“Shit I forgot my phone!” He leaves his backpack on a bench and runs back upstairs to search for it. While he’s gone, a strong gust of wind blows through the courtyard and sends the backpack falling over, the papers for the comic spilling out over the ground. At the same time, Chloé and Sabrina are exiting a classroom as well and spot the papers on the ground. 

“Hey, what’s that? Looks like a bunch of papers.” “I can see that Sabrina! God, can’t you just be quiet?” Sabrina recoils meekly as Chloé goes to look at the papers, picking them up off the ground. “Ugh, what ugly ridiculous drawings! What loser made these?” She tears all the pictures up. “Chloé! We didn’t know who those belonged to!”

“Well, maybe they’ll learn to draw better!” She tosses them everywhere and storms out of the school, followed by Sabrina. Meanwhile, Nate comes back downstairs, first noticing his backpack had fallen over. “Shit that’s my…No…” He looks around and sees the shreds of his in-the-works comic all over the courtyard. Chloé had shredded them all. 

“No… my comic… who would do this?” He looks around, but he’s one of the last people here. There’s no one in sight. “This monster… this is an attack on art itself!” He looks around his backpack to see if any pages are left, but finds only his stylus. He grips it hard with anger, seeing only red as the shredded remnants of his and Marinette’s hard work lay everywhere. His anger is sensed, as of course it would be, by an akuma. It flies downward and enters his stylus, transporting him into the void. 

“ An artist’s hard work, reduced to nothing in a single moment. ” Hawk Moth whispers. “ I tend not to get personal, but I am an artist myself. This is a feeling I know well, but whenever someone attacks my work, it makes me more inspired. I can give you the power to create new drawings, new art, 100 times as great as what you had! ”

Nate doesn’t hesitate. “I’m ready!”

“ And what shall I call you? ”

“Illustrator!”

In the present…

Angelbug and Cat Noir leap straight into the eye of the storm as bolts of color fire out from everywhere. A giant dragon made of paint and paintbrushes flies out from the epicenter of…whatever is happening. 

“Well, this is officially the weirdest thing I’ve seen.” Cat Noir jokes. Angelbug squints and notices someone riding on the dragon’s back. “Hang on, is that…” She casts a spell to enhance her vision, seeing through it the akumatized Nathaniel, aka the Illustrator. His skin was purple, and he wore a black beret above purple and orange hair. He was wearing a white and purple jumpsuit with a black symbol in the middle with all the colors of the rainbow. In his hand, he clutched a drawing tablet and stylus. “Oh god… Nate… Cat Noir! Get everyone clear of the dragon’s path!” She takes off and flies high into the sky to intercept it. Illustrator notices and draws on his tablet, conjuring three fighter jets which roar to life and fly directly at Angelbug. She flash-steps through one of them with her lightning and casts a bubble around her to deflect missiles shot by the other two, before releasing it in a burst of energy that vaporizes the planes in place as she closes in on the dragon. 

With a final burst of speed, she lands right next to Illustrator on top of the dragon. He turns to face her. “ Ah, Angelbug. So I’ve found the centerpiece for my painting. ” He holds up his very elaborate stylus. 

“ Well, if that doesn’t scream ‘akuma in here,’ I don’t know what does. ” Tikki says in Angelbug’s head as she spins her yoyo. 

“You have to stop this now! I won’t let you hurt anyone!”

“ Hurt? I only wish to spread my art everywhere! Some monster destroyed my comic book, but it only motivated me further. I will create something better, a drawing that covers all of Paris! ” He draws on his tablet and conjures a rope, which of its own accord lashes out and tries and ensnare Angelbug. She avoids them and flies off, but it follows close behind her. “God is everything he draws alive?”

“ It kinda has to be. ” Tikki says. 

“Why?”

“ Because otherwise it’s too close to Ziggi’s power. He’s the Kwami of Passion and can create any mundane object. Nooroo’s power of Transmission cannot directly copy the powers of any other Miraculous. That’s why Hawk Moth hasn’t just given someone the powers of both me and Plagg. ”

“But with the qualifier that everything he draws is alive…it gets around that?” The dragon roars behind her. “Shit!” She casts a fire spell to incinerate the rope before tucking in her wings and diving to the ground. Cat Noir meanwhile has evacuated the street below as Angelbug comes in for a landing. “LUCKY CHARM!” The energy coming off the yoyo manifests into a grappling hook. Looking at it, she sees the red connection between it and Cat Noir. 

She tosses it to him. “We gotta get him on the ground. I’ll draw in the dragon, you get up there.” Cat Noir understands. His staff doesn’t extend forever, so he needs a better way of getting into the sky. 

Angelbug draws a giant circle with both hands and casts the largest illusion she can, taking the form of a giant fire dragon emerging from the ground. It lets out a massive roar that Illustrator takes notice of in the sky. “ Finally, a challenge! ” Most people would wonder how Angelbug summoned a massive dragon, but akumas are creatures of emotion, so logical thinking isn’t exactly something the akumatized do easily. As such, Illustrator flies right at it, drawing some living missiles that fly at the dragon, while his paint dragon unleashes a colorful burst of energy from its mouth. Cat Noir meanwhile scales the buildings from inside the dragon illusion to get in range. 

The missiles and energy pass right through the dragon, shocking Illustrator. “ What- ” Cat Noir fires the grappling hook right into the paint dragon’s stomach. It roars in pain as Cat Noir streaks upward. “Cataclysm!” The concentrated dark energy forms in his other hand, which he slams right into the dragon’s hide. Instantly, the dragon turns grey and with a final roar, dissolves into dust. 

Unfortunately, this leaves both Illustrator and Cat Noir falling several hundred feet to the ground. Cat Noir waits until just the right moment, and as he passes the largest building, he extends his staff to go through a window, catching it on the wall and stopping his descent. Illustrator also acts fast, drawing on his tablet and conjuring a giant spider, which appears on the ground and spins a web at super speed for him to safely land on. Cat Noir makes it to the ground and reunites with Angelbug, who’s called up another Lucky Charm in the form of duct tape. “What is that for?”

“I've got no idea!” Illustrator meanwhile dispels the spider and draws two more constructs, taking the form of giant knights. “ Perfect! Sunblade and Sea-Walker, born anew from my fallen comic. They shall be your opponents! ”

The two knight constructs draw their weapons, a greatsword and a heavy maul, and charge. Cat Noir quickly knocks Sea-Walker off balance with a staff extension before charging forward and leaping straight onto his face, knocking the knight over. He extends his staff sideways, but Sunblade stops just before running into it. Angelbug charges forward and attacks with her yoyo, but the knight deflects it with his sword.

Sea-Walker recovers and lashes out with his maul, knocking Cat Noir off him and into a building. The knight gets up and goes to slam his maul onto the superhero, but Cat Noir bats it aside at the right moment with his staff, knocking it out of Sea-Walker's hand. He then slams the knight in the face with a Cataclysm, destroying him. 

Angelbug flash-steps behind Sunblade and lands on his back, prepping fire and water spells in each hand. She rapidly heats up and cools down the armor, rusting it and allowing her to punch right through, leading the construct to fall apart. Both heroes turn to Illustrator. “Alright, now for the big guy!”

Illustrator snarls and readies his stylus, which grows to the size of a lance. Angelbug looks down at the Lucky Charm again. The duct tape lights up red, as does the stylus in Illustrator’s hand. She finally gets it. “We can’t win this by destroying something… we win by fixing it.” She turns to Cat Noir, “Can you hold him off? I know someone who can help.” 

He looks up. “With only a staff and one use of my power left? Sure, let’s go.” He pole-vaults straight into the fight and crosses his staff with the stylus, engaging Illustrator in close-range combat. Meanwhile, Angelbug flies off, casting an illusion to make herself invisible before doubling back and detransforming in the nearby alley. “I hope you’re sure about this Marinette.” Tikki says. 

“We don’t need Angelbug to save Nate this time. We need Marinette.” Meanwhile, Cat Noir and Illustrator twirl their weapons in a clash nearly too fast to see. A quick staff extension jams right into Illustrator's gut, sending him reeling. “ All I want to do is make this whole city beautiful, and you’re standing in my way! ” 

Cat Noir assumes an unarmed defensive stance, placing his staff back on his belt. “No, all you’re trying to do is take your amplified anger out on everyone, and I can’t allow that!” Illustrator charges and looks like he’s gonna strike again, but at the last second the stylus retracts and he ducks under Cat Noir’s elbows and through his guard. He brings the stylus to his tablet and quickly draws out a long rope, which appears around Cat Noir and wraps up his entire body, trapping him tight and preventing him from speaking. Unable to speak, he can’t call up Cataclysm. “ Without the magic of your partner backing you up, you’re useless! You’re just another man. You can’t beat me! Now, I’ll take your Miraculous! ” 

“NATE STOP!” Illustrator is about to reach for Cat Noir but turns around to see Marinette standing there, having just emerged from the alley. “ Marinette… ”

“You’ve been akumatized… what happened?” She approaches Illustrator, who’s fully ignoring Cat Noir now. Beneath the ropes, he starts trying to wiggle his bound hands to his staff. 

“ Our comic was almost ready… but someone destroyed it! They tore it up and scattered the pieces everywhere! But it only inspired me further. I will show them, by showering Paris in beautiful art! ”

“No..” Marinette whispers.

“ What? ”

“You won’t prove them wrong, because they don’t care. Whoever destroyed your comic, and let’s be honest, we both know who it was, didn’t do it out of hate for art in general. They did it because they have horrible fucking taste. And when that happens, the right thing to do is to keep working, make a better work of art. Not try and seek revenge. Ok?”

For a second, Illustrator seems to consider the words of his friend, who helped him create the comic in the first place. But the amplified emotions of the akuma are too much to overcome. He steels himself and raises his stylus again. “ No… I will have revenge! ” But as he says that, Cat Noir manages to just reach his staff and activate the claw extension, cutting through the rope and freeing him. He wastes no time, dropping the staff and tackling Illustrator from behind. 

“ NO! ” Cat Noir struggles to keep him down. “Marinette, get out of here!” Marinette takes the cue and runs, casting another illusion to make it seem like she’s running down the street, but in actuality, she makes herself invisible and runs into an alley to transform back into Angelbug. 

“CATACLYSM!” With his third and final charge, Cat Noir manages to pry open Illustrator’s hand and destroy the stylus, releasing the akuma and returning Nate to his normal form. Angelbug flies out and throws her yoyo to capture and purify it. “MIRACULOUS ANGELBUG!” She releases the magic ladybugs from her hands, which sweep through Paris and repair all the damage caused by Illustrator and his constructs. Angelbug flies in to land. “Nice work my lady! How did you know we needed Marinette Dupein-Cheng’s help?”

“He explained everything when I flew up to confront him. That’s how I knew she could talk him down, at least long enough for you to get the upper hand.” Angelbug replies before helping Nate to his feet. 

“And what she said was right. You control your emotions. You control your motivation. Don’t let someone else’s poor taste keep you from creating the art you truly love.” 

Nate nods and shakes Angelbug’s hand. “Thanks. I get it now. I can’t go around looking for who destroyed our comic. But I can make it better! I gotta get to work! If you see Marinette again, tell her I can’t wait for her to read it!” He takes off down the street. 

“Well, that’s settled!” 

“Yeah…” Cat Noir says solemnly, causing Angelbug to turn around. His costume has gone from its normal black to a lighter grey, indicating he’s used up all the current uses of his power. The Miraculous of Destruction is still up, keeping his identity safe, but he needs to detransform and let his Kwami rest before he can use his full power again. 

“You ok Cat?”

“It’s just.. Something he said. I’ll handle it myself.”

She slowly nods. “Ok… just remember if you need someone, I’m here. Ok?”

He nods and she flies off, heading back home herself. Her dad had previously asked for her help in an order tonight, so she’d planned to get back on time after the sparring session. Cat Noir plans on going home as well, but he decides first to make a stop. Leaping across the city, he comes to a place he’s only been once before. The tea shop where Wang Fu, the last Guardian, is hiding. Entering the shop, he finds Master Fu enjoying a cup of tea with Wayzz, the Kwami of Protection.

“Ah! Cat Noir! This is unexpected. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I… want to ask you something. Mind if I detransform?”

“But of course, go ahead.” Master Fu, of course, already knows who Cat Noir is. 

“Plagg, claws in.” Adrien drops the transformation, and Plagg appears, collapsing to the ground. Having used up all his power, he’s tired, and Wayzz flies to him to feed him some pastries off the plate he and Fu were eating from. 

“So, young one, what was your question?”

“...How can I keep up?”

Fu looks at him confused. “What do you mean?”

“Angelbug…we’re supposed to be equals. But she can fly, and she has magic. And none of that is the Miraculous. She really is an Angel. And the existence of other realms with magical beings aside, how can I keep up with that? I’ve started training of course, trying to unlock more uses of the Miraculous, but I feel like I need something else. Otherwise, I’m just a human. Do you know any way I can get stronger?”

Fu appears to consider this. “In a lot of ways, you are more embodying how the Miraculous should be used. They were brought here so the Angels couldn’t wield them anymore. But I completely understand. And perhaps there is something I can do for you…”

“There is?”

“In 5 thousand years, not every Guardian has made a wise choice. Some people with ill intentions have held Miraculous. Plagg has told you about gods, ego-driven men chosen by multiple Kwami. Those are just some of them. With that in mind, we Guardians created a special martial art designed to counter magic.”

“Really?”

“It’s called Mirakaté, originally based on the Japanese art of Karaté. It’s designed to strike at nerve centers and disrupt blood flow, thus preventing a lot of rational thought with pain. Without thought, spells cannot be cast. It was designed to subdue rogue Miraculous, but you’ll find it will also work on Angels and possibly even beings from the Demonic Realm.”

“But I’m guessing you’ve never needed to use it that way.” Adrien says. 

“Yes, but we must have it nonetheless. The Miraculous are the last line of defense for humanity. They are our one chance to stand against the Arcane forces should they one day descend on us. Should the Eternal Wars restart, should a tyrant gain control, we need the Miraculous to fight back. And we also need to know how to fight. So if you want to be stronger, to stand alongside Angelbug as an equal, I offer to teach you Mirakaté.”

Adrien lights up. “You mean it? That would be incredible!”

Master Fu nods. “I’ll be in touch soon. I have a way to teach you without risking your identity. Just give me some time to figure it out.”

“Alright thanks!” Adrien gets up and walks out of the shop with a refreshed Plagg in tow. Wayzz flies to his master's side. “You know Mirakaté is reserved only for Guardians. Wielders are not supposed to know it.”

“And Angels are not supposed to wield Miraculous. We are entering unprecedented times Wayzz. We need to be ready. Plus, there’s something about him… you felt it too?”

Wayzz nods. “He is human. But I smell faint traces…I can barely recognize it.”

Fu nods wordlessly, and the two go back to their meal.

Chapter Text

Paris is better when there aren’t mummies everywhere.

That’s a weird statement, but Angelbug and Cat Noir are quickly finding it to be true as they leap across the early morning skyline of Paris, avoiding an ever-growing horde of mummies chasing them down below. Angelbug, with her flight, is having a much easier time, but every time Cat Noir extends his staff to slam the ground, the mummies try to knock him down, forcing him to exert a lot of strength to execute his pole vault. 

“Well, this is a FANTASTIC thing to wake up to at 5 in the morning!” He screams, sweeping his staff to knock a dozen mummies down as they attempt to jump at him. “What the hell even happened?”

“Alix Kubdel’s brother wanted to try a dark magic spell he found in a book, and his dad refused. Because, well, it’s freaking dark magic! And he got so mad that he got akumatized into-”

“SEKMET’S WRATH!”

A massive fireball flies out of nowhere, and the superheroes evade. The akumatized villain known as Pharaoh flew into view. He appears to be a living ancient statue of Horus with a pair of giant stone falcon wings that somehow seem to be propelling him through the air. Around his neck is a pendant shaped like an ankh, which Alix explained to Angelbug is where the akuma entered. 

“You heroes shall not interfere with the reign of Pharaoh! Horus’s Vengeance!” His wings unfurl and unleash a flurry of sharp stone feathers that the superheroes are forced to avoid. Angelbug gets back and casts a shield spell while Cat Noir dodges through the storm and gets close enough to attempt a Cataclysm. 

“Bes’s Barrier! ” A solid stone shield appears around him and absorbs the attack, leaving Pharaoh unharmd. “ Set’s Fury! ” His fist is enveloped in flames as he punches Cat Noir to the ground, where mummies immediately start to swarm him. He quickly recovers and extends his staff, sweeping in a wide arc to create a safe zone. Angelbug fires a lightning bolt, but Pharaoh deflects it with one hand. “ If you will not kneel, I will kill you all! Bastet’s Speed! ” With super-speed, Pharaoh jets a thousand feet upward and holds out his hand. “ RA’S REQIUEM!” A dark red and black sun appears in his hand. In an instant, it grows, slowly darkening the sky about Paris. Angelbug estimates they only have moments before it can destroy the entire city. “LUCKY CHARM!” She throws up her yoyo and gets… a baseball. “Even with a strength spell, there’s no way I can throw it high enough to smash the akuma myself…” She concentrates and sees the red light surrounding Cat Noir’s staff. As luck would have it, he’s situated right under where Pharaoh is hovering, a thousand feet down.

“Cat Noir! Hit it straight up!” She casts a strength spell on her arm, winds up, and throws with all her might. Cat Noir fights off a new wave of mummies and sees the baseball coming right at him. In an instant, he understands and retracts his staff to normal length. He closes his eyes, not relying on them but instead trying to pick up on when he feels the slight wind gust from the approaching baseball. Then he feels it. 

“ NOW! ” He swings straight up and connects, the sheer force from the baseball buckling his legs. Pushing with all his strength, he flings it straight up, the resulting force cracking the ground beneath him. The baseball flies straight and hits its target dead on, instantly smashing the pendent. In an instant, Jalil Kubdel is back to normal. Angelbug quickly flash-steps to catch him as he’s falling, throwing her yoyo with her other hand to catch the akuma. Below them, all the mummies are turned back into people. “YES!”

Meanwhile…

As Angelbug and Cat Noir finish their latest victory, another young person is training for a victory of their own. Kagami Tsurgi, daughter of Tomoe Tsurgi, trains relentlessly. Today is a school fencing tournament, and she cannot afford to suffer defeat. The sounds of battle were heard outside her window, but she ignored them and continued her training. Thrusts, parries, ripostes, all against a special wooden training dummy designed to emulate an actual opponent. She doesn’t conclude her training until about 30 minutes before she has to go to school, at which point she showers, eats, and prepares to head out. At the door, she’s greeted by her mother. Tomoe Tsurgi has aged rather gracefully. She now wears dark black-tinted glasses to cover her blindness.

“Kagami.” She says without much emotion.

“Mother.”

“I shouldn’t need to remind you of what’s at stake. For centuries, the Tsurugi family has produced the finest swordspeople in the world. Our legacy is yours. It lives with you, it dies with you. To make your family proud, you must never lose.”

Kagami nods sternly. “I will not lose. Have I ever disappointed you?”

The slightest hint of a smile appears on Tomoe’s face. “Now that is true. Your driver is outside.”

Mother and daughter bow to each other as Kagami heads to school. Her mother is right, of course, Kagami has a lot of pressure on her. To keep the family name strong, she must prove herself as skilled with a blade as any Tsurigi before her. But Kagami isn’t worried. Because she won’t lose.

Everyone arrives at school that morning buzzing with excitement at the prospect of a competition. Marinette arrives at school and looks around. “Wow, everyone is really excited!”

“Can you blame them?” Alya and Cerise walk over. “It’s a schoolwide fencing tournament!” Marinette watches as Kagami enters the school with a serious expression. “Even with Kagami here?”

Cerise nods. “I’ve been walking around. A lot of people feel confident they can beat her. What’s with her and fencing anyway?”

  “Her family is famous for their swordplay,” Adrien says as he walks over. He’s already dressed in his fencing armor. “Even I can’t beat her, and I’m not that bad.”

Marinette nods. “Last year, someone got close. Came down to a single hit. But she pulled through.”

“Well, maybe this year, someone will.”

Marinette shrugs. “Not me, I don’t even know how to fence.”

“We’re practicing before the tournament. I’ll teach you.”

Marinette stands up. “Wow, really? That’s awesome! Thanks Adrien!” She turns to her other friends. “You guys want in?”

“Nah, we’re not competing,” Alya says. “We’re taking pictures of the tournament for the school website.” 

“But you have fun!” Cerise says. Marinette and Adrien nod and head off to train.

In the first part of the morning, Adrien helps show Marinette the ropes. She gets her armor on and works through learning some basic moves. She takes to it rather well. Her dad used to tell her that their ancestors fought in one of the Eternal Wars, so there’s some combat in their blood. She never used to believe it, but it’s hard to argue that she’s quite alright with a sword. Even Adrien is a bit surprised. After an hour or so, Armand D'Argencourt, their teacher, gathers them all around. 

“Alright, everyone! We’ll be fighting one-on-one matches over the course of the day to determine the winner! You may use any techniques at your disposal, so long as you avoid injuring your opponent. Good luck to you all!” Everyone cheers, and Marinette starts to think. “Any methods at my disposal huh…”

“Marinette, you can’t use magic to win sword duels!” Tikki says. 

“He said any methods at my disposal!”

“Yes, but I assume he does not know you’re an Angel and can do magic spells, because no one else here can! Plus, if you get caught, you’ll have to admit to it. Can’t lie, remember?”

Marinette sighs. Her kwami is right. “Alright, we’ll do this straight up.” 

The tournament begins and Marinette finds herself matched against Zoe, who gives her friend a smile before sliding down her helmet. The two clash and Marinette finds herself… enjoying it. The training she did with Adrien pays off as, after a couple of rounds of parries and thrusts, Marinette wins with a decisive jab. All her friends cheer from the sidelines. Zoe takes off her helmet and gives a thumbs-up. 

“You sure as hell picked this up quickly!”

Marinette nods. “Yeah. I don’t see it being something I do long-term, but I’m enjoying it now!”

The rest of the tournament progresses over a couple of hours, with most of the school getting in on it. Marinette continues to surprise herself with her victories while her friends all slowly get knocked out in various rounds. Even Adrien loses in a surprise upset to Kim, who gets taken down by Kagami. At the end of the day, the final round ends up being Kagami…vs Marinette. All her friends stand on the side cheering for her, while Chloé cheers halfheartedly for Kagami… mainly out of obligation since they’re supposed to be friends. Marinette is very nervous, clutching her saber a bit too hard while Kagami looks on calmly. She gives a salute.

“Marinette, you have impressed me. But I cannot lose today.” Marinette gives a shaky smile. “Oh, I believe you!” Armand steps forward to oversee. “Alright, for the final round, let’s make things interesting! We shall decide the winner on a single point! No room for error. And….begin!”

The final match begins, and the two clash. Marinette is quickly put on the defensive by Kagami’s relentless attacks. She can feel Kagami breaking through and, in a panic, thrusts forward… and goes right through her opponent's defenses. Kagami freezes in shock, same as her opponent, as they both look at the tip of the saber touching Kagami’s chest. Everyone gasps. No one expected Marinette to actually win.

But she had. Armand declares it. “Marinette Dupein-Chang wins!” All her friends cheer, but both she and Adrien notice Kagami immediately breaking away and walking to the school door. Marinette tries to go after her but is swarmed by her friends and cannot, so Adrien does instead. “Kagami wait!” She turns around in front of her car, which is here to pick her up, given that it’s the end of the day. 

“Is she happy Adrien?”

“Yeah… Look, I know how much you needed to win that. I’ve met your mom. But you have to admit Marinette-”

“Beat me?” Kagami snaps. “Yes, she did. And now I have to go home and report to my mother that I was defeated by a girl who started fencing TODAY. I have brought shame to my family, and I apologize for you having to be in my presence.” She opens the door and gets into her car. Adrien tries to reach out, but it drives off. Plagg comes out of his jacket. “Well…she didn’t take that well.” 

Adrien nods. “You don’t know her like I do Plagg. The pressure she puts on herself, that her mom puts on her. To Marinette, winning that tournament was a surprise and deserved of celebration. To Kagami, winning that tournament would have been the bare minimum.”

In her car, Kagami stews with her feelings of guilt and disappointment. How could she lose? Her mother was counting on her, her ancestors were counting on her. She was given a simple task: win, and she failed. As she grasps the handle of her bokken ever harder, she fails to notice the purple butterfly, which had been in the car waiting for her. It flies over and enters the bokken, sending her into the purple void. 

“ Such strong feelings of failure, doubt, and guilt. Forgive my intrusion, but I couldn’t help but sense you. And now I see why. Here you are, not just anyone, but the daughter of Tsurigi-san. ”

Kagami looks around for the source of Hawk Moth’s voice. “You know my mother?”

“ In my own way. She’s a woman who expects the best from everyone. Hardly one to tolerate failure. But with the power I can give you, you’ll never fail her again. You can win your next battle, every battle. But this power is not without a cost. When Angelbug and Cat Noir come for you, you must take their Miraculous. ”

Kagami holds up her bokken ready. She will not fail again. “So long as I get a rematch with Marinette, I’m ready.”

“ And what shall I call you? ”

“Riposte.”

With the school day having concluded, Adrien also heads home in his car. His thoughts are still focused on Kagami. “Maybe if I talk to Father, he can convince Kagami’s mom to take it a little easier.”

“Ittoryu…Yakkodori!”

Suddenly the car splits in half, Adrien recoiling from the force as he’s nearly thrown forward, if not for his seatbelt keeping him in place. He quickly unbuckles and runs to the detached front of the car. “Placide!” His driver and bodyguard Placide crawls out. “I’m alright sir. Forgive my language…but what the hell was that?”

Adrien looks up to see a figure land on the roof, the akumatized Kagami. Fully plated in gleaming chrome armor with a samurai-style silver helm. Her right hand is gone, her arm instead connecting to a long silver katana. He hears her say. “No… wrong car…” before jumping away. His eyes go wide as he realizes.

“Oh shit…” Placide approaches. “Sir, we have to get out of here!” Adrien turns around. “Get home, I’ll find a way back. I have to help her.” Placide looks unsure but Adrien gives him a nod and he relents, running down the street. Adrien ducks into an alley to let Plagg out. “To be honest kid, you kinda could see that one coming.”

“Yeah…she’s gonna go after Marinette. Let’s do this!” 

Meanwhile Marinette, after enjoying some words of praise and a little celebration with her friends, starts to drive home on her moped. Like Adrien, she’s thinking about Kagami. “She seemed upset after that match. I hope she’s ok…” A blue wave of force slices through the air, nearly bisecting her. But Marinette reacts quickly and slams on the brakes, avoiding the wave as it slices a clean line through a building. “What the hell?”

“Marinette Dupein-Chang! ” Riposte leaps across the Seine and lands in front of Marinette with a thud, cracking the ground beneath her. “ You might have gotten lucky last time, but I will emerge victorious in our rematch and bring honor back to my family!”

Marinette looks a little closer at the akumatized villain. “Oh shit… Kagami?”

“I am Riposte! And I am here for you! ” She takes the sword in her right arm and tugs, ripping it clean off and throwing it onto the ground in front of Marinette. Her arm reforms another blade in its place as she stands at the ready. “ Take up your sword and defend your title!” She charges at Marinette, slicing through her moped and coming down with an overhead strike. Marinette is just barely able to reach the sword and block it. 

“I don’t want to fight you Kagami. I didn’t mean to win! I just got lucky!”

“On that we agree! But you don’t have a choice!”

“You sure about that Chrome Dome?” A staff flies out of nowhere and slams into Riposte’s face, knocking her back with a grunt. Cat Noir lands in front of Marinette and brandishes his staff. “She kinda looks like she wants out. And you need two to fight.”

Riposte snarls and backs up. “This does not concern you. ” Her left arm also morphs into a katana. “ Nitoryu… Nigiri Toro Salmon! ” She slices both blades through the air diagonally, sending a shockwave of air in Cat Noir’s direction. He deflects it but is knocked back. “Get out of here Marinette! Go!” Marinette goes to run, but Riposte isn’t having it. “ I won’t let you get away! ” She jumps up over Cat Noir and lands in front of Marinette. “ Ittoryu…BAKI!”

At the same time Cat Noir sticks his staff into the ground between the cracks Riposte made, pushing hard and ripping up a massive chunk of pavement. “Cataclysm!” He cleaves right through it with destruction-enhanced claws before swinging his staff and sending the improvised projectiles right at Riposte, interrupting her right before she can bisect Marinette. That stalls her for enough time that Cat Noir can scoop up Marinette and use his staff to pole vault away, clearing as much distance as he can along the rooftops. “You ok?”

Marinette looks at Cat Noir, noticing she’s being bridal carried by him, which causes her to blush in embarrassment. “...Uh yeah.”

“Good, we have to hide you somewhere. Where do you live?”

“Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie, 12 Rue Gotlib.” Marinette answers. If she can trust Cat Noir when she’s Angelbug, she can as Marinette. 

He nods. “Alright. Hang on.” He slams his staff again for another pole vault, and within a few minutes, he deposits her on the balcony of her house. “Where the hell is Angelbug…” He opens the communication screen on his staff to text her. “I’m gonna go find her, and hopefully keep Riposte away. You get inside, find a closet or something, and hide in there.”

Marinette can’t help but chuckle a little. “You want me to hide in a closet?”

Cat Noir sighs. “God is that what my jokes sound like? You know what I mean!” He takes off to find Riposte. Marinette takes his advice and runs inside to hide in her closet, at least for a moment.

“Kagami got akumatized because I beat her. I gotta save her now! TIKKI SPOTS ON!”

Meanwhile, Cat Noir leaps on top of another building, looking for Riposte, and spies a glint of her chrome helmet in the distance. “ I gotta ask, ” Plagg says from inside the ring. “ Why is she calling out all her attacks? ”

“It’s from her favorite manga character. Which I guess is good since it means she’s still kinda in there…”

Angelbug flies in. “Sorry I’m late. Just got your message. That's her?”

Cat Noir nods. “Yeah….”

Angelbug looks at her partner concerningly. “Personal one?”

“In my own way.”

She nods before taking off. On the way, she calls up a Lucky Charm, taking the form of a bola, which she begins to spin. Meanwhile, Riposte is leaping between buildings, cutting them up and looking inside. “Marinette! Where have you hidden? You cannot elude me forever!” Angelbug throws the bola and it wraps around Riposte’s legs, causing her to lose her balance and fall off the building she’s on. She cuts through them quickly but Angelbug and Cat Noir get on both sides of her. 

Riposte looks between them and snarls. “I don’t have time for you.” She goes to leap away but gets a splitting headache as she is momentarily taken back into the void. 

“ Marinette is just one girl. She can wait, but the heroes are right here. Their Miraculous will be valuable resources in your rematch. ” Hawk Moth reminds her.

“Yes… Of course… ” She suddenly lashes out and slashes at Cat Noir, knocking him backwards and dazing him temporarily before focusing on Angelbug. She uses her yoyo to go toe-to-toe with Riposte’s relentless sword attacks, but is quickly overwhelmed. I know Kagami always has her bokken, that’s probably the akumatized object , she thinks. Cat Noir attempts to leap into the fray but Riposte sidesteps his staff swing before forming a third sword. Instead of holding it, she clamps it between her teeth. Cat Noir sighs. “Ah shit…”

“Santoryu… Oni Giri!” She slashes with the blades of all three swords and cuts right into Cat Noir. The costume protects him from damage but he’s still thrown several hundred feet by the force of the impact, through several buildings. He lands in the middle of a convenience store several blocks away and temporarily passes out. 

Riposte turns to Angelbug. “Just you and me now. Nitoryu Maguma!” She slashes downward but Angelbug casts a light spell to blind her before flying out of range. Riposte screams and jumps into the air attacking with more slashes but Angelbug, now in her natural element in the sky, dodges them and lands a kick to Riposte's stomach, whirling around with a right hook to the face to knock her back down, at least for now. 

“LUCKY CHARM!” She sends up her yoyo again, this time getting… A fencing helmet. “Alright, not an obvious one…” Riposte screams again and points her sword at Angelbug in the sky. “Coward! You don’t even fight with a blade like a true warrior! ” Angelbug sees the red light around her swords, around the fencing helmet, and a few blocks away, around the rubble where Cat Noir is. Of course! Angelbug thinks. Riposte needs to focus completely on one opponent, and if she’s gonna lose, she needs to lose in a proper sword fight. Otherwise, Kagami will only get angrier. And Angelbug? She can’t provide that. But she knows who can…

As Riposte prepares to jump again Angelbug casts a spell she’s not as used to: a plant spell. The resulting summoned vines aren’t as strong, but they’re enough to pin Riposte while Angelbug flash-steps several times over to the rubble where Cat Noir is. She begins to prepare an Angelic Blessing, but as she does, Riposte breaks free and leaps over to her, landing 20 feet away in the street. “Why are you running? Face me and lose Angelbug. You can’t beat me!”

Angelbug turns around, subtly preparing the Blessing in her hand behind her back. “By my blessing, take this power.” She whispers before sending it into the rubble. She then puts both her hands up. “You’re right. I can’t beat you. I won’t fight anymore….” Her throat remains pain-free as it’s true. She isn’t gonna fight Riposte at all. 

“Then I suppose it’s time for the coup de grâce. Itoryu… Hiryu Kaen!” She leaps into the air and slashes with one sword, creating a shockwave that takes the form of a massive dragon. Angelbug stands there ready.

“...But I don’t have to fight!” She finishes as electricity begins to spark and power emits from the rubble behind her. 

The dragon gets ever closer, and Angelbug pushes up her mask. “Now…here comes the star!” The rubble breaks and Cat Noir leaps out, empowered by the blessing. Slicing his staff upward he cuts the dragon in two, both halves of which explode on either side of the street. He lands, steaming, and sparking with energy. He’s ready to fight.

“She’s all yours kitty. I believe in you!” Angelbug flies off, seemingly to protect Marinette. Cat Noir nods and stares down his opponent as she lands on the ground. He needs to win this. Not just to give Kagami the fight she deserves, but to prove to Master Fu he’s worthy of standing with Angelbug. If he wants to learn Mirakaté, have a shot at fighting the battles ahead, this is a fight he needs to win. But he wishes he could do it with a sword…

“ You can. Just infuse your staff with a Cataclysm! ”

Cat Noir is briefly shocked. “ What? ” he thinks. 

“ Have you seen Angelbug? When she calls up her Lucky Charm, she uses her yo-yo. When Trixx’s wielder summons one of their illusions, they use the flute. When Fluff’s holder creates a Burrow, they use the umbrella. All Miraculous wielders are capable of channelling their power through their weapon. And that includes you. ”

Riposte gets into a ready stance. “Are you going to give me my proper duel?”

Cat Noir smirks. “I can try.” With the extra speed from the blessing, he crosses 20 feet in a second and hits Riposte with an upward strike, sending her into the air. He jumps up and tries his new trick. 

“Cataclysm….” He forms the dark energy in his hand but instead of slamming it into something, he softly grasps his staff. The energy leaves his hand and courses through the staff, forming on the end into an energy blade. He now is wielding a black sword, which he slashes across Riposte's chest, denting her chrome armor but not destroying it as he usually would. He gets the sense that he can still use the Cataclysm in the sword whenever he wants to. Riposte gives a slasher smile. “Finally a worthy opponent! ” She lands on the ground and readies herself before launching up to Cat Noir. “ Nitoryu Maguma!” She slashes down with two swords but Cat Noir avoids them in midair before zipping back to the ground. 

Across the many buildings of Paris the two continue their battle, zipping back and forth and clashing in midair, on the ground and everywhere else. Cat Noir avoids air slashes from Riposte as they rip up cars and cut buildings everywhere while attempting to get into a situation where he can have all three of Riposte’s swords touching his. If he can do that, he can focus the Cataclysm into them and destroy them all at once, freeing the akuma before she can reform the swords. Eventually, they end up with Cat landing hard in front of the Eiffel Tower. He clutches his sword-staff with two hands as Riposte closes in from the sky. 

“Santoryu…KOJUKO O TATSUMAKI!” She slashes and whips up a massive tornado with her swords, which comes right for Cat Noir and threatens to rip him away. He stabs his swords into the ground for leverage and holds on tight, withstanding it. However, Riposte lands in front of him and kicks him away from his sword and into the base of the tower. 

Using the Blessing Cat Noir zips up the tower, running on all fours. He presses a button on his belt to summon the staff-sword back to him in seconds as he reaches the top. Riposte jumps after him but Cat Noir summons all his strength and leaps diagonally high into the air. 

“Enough of this! This ends now!” She uses her swords to slash at the top of the tower, cutting off multiple pieces of metal scrap that she then launches into the air before using them as footholds to close in on Cat Noir. But this is the platform from which she’ll launch her final attack. 

“Eno Santoryu! Ippayakusanjo!” A red aura of rage almost forms around her as she crosses the two swords into an X, and combined with the third in her mouth, charges right for him. 

“ALRIGHT! THIS IS IT RIPOSTE!” Cat Noir extends his staff to fifty feet long, the dark blade stretching almost the whole length as he falls right for her. He pumps his third Cataclysm into the staff as he falls. Angelbug lands on the Eiffel Tower in case he needs it.

“HIRYU JINGOKU!”

“EXTRA LARGE CATACLYSM!”

And with those final words, the two combatants collide in midair, the shockwave ripping through the sky. Angelbug puts on the fencing helmet, as without it, the wave is so intense her earrings might be blown away. But in the center of the storm Cat Noir crosses his dark blade with all three of Riposte’s swords, and smiles.

“Gotcha.”

The swords all dissolve as the energy of two Cataclysms courses through them, freeing the akuma and returning Kagami to normal. Angelbug flies up to catch her and throws her yoyo to catch the akuma. 

“MIRACULOUS ANGELBUG!” She throws the fencing helmet into the air, creating a wave of energy that repairs all of Riposte’s damage. All the slash marks, destroyed vehicles, and other damage repair themselves as Angelbug takes Kagami back to ground and Cat Noir uses the last of the blessing to flash-step there as well. His suit has again turned grey, indicating he’s used up his powers.

Kagami looks around before kneeling at the hero's feet. “Forgive me for my outburst protectors of Paris. I take full responsibility.”

Angelbug sheepishly puts up her hands. “Nono, it’s ok! Your emotions were manipulated.”

“They shouldn’t have been. I lost, I made a mistake. I should have accepted that! I just couldn’t! I had to honor my mother and not disappoint her! With how skilled I’m supposed to be-”

Cat Noir steps forward. “Doesn’t matter how good you are at something. Nobody’s perfect; everyone makes mistakes. And if your mother can’t see that, she’ll deal with us.”

Kagami gives a slight smile. “Well, I hope that’s not necessary.” She picks up her bokken off the floor before leaving to reunite with her car. Angelbug and Cat Noir look at each other in triumph, and Cat Noir holds out his fist. 

“Pound it?”

Angelbug laughs and returns the gesture. “Pound it! Right, you can go home. You’ve done enough today, I’ll check on Marinette.” The heroes fly off to their homes. 

Later that night

Kagami arrives back home, but finds her mother not there. She’s not surprised. Oftentimes her mother has to leave in a hurry, to check in on a Tsurgi facility in some other city or country. But that doesn’t mean she’s free of her for the night. As she enters the house, her movement is picked up, and a projector activates on the ceiling, as a hologram of Tomoe appears in front of her. She’s holo-projecting herself from far away.

“ Hello Kagami. Did you win the tournament? ”

Kagami thinks for a second about her answer. 

“I performed honorably against the strongest opponents.” This is true, and with Tomoe out of town, she doesn’t know Kagami was akumatized or lost. Hopefully it’s enough. But Tomoe seems to accept it after a few seconds. 

“ Very good. Go do your homework. ” The hologram cuts out and Kagami walks up to her room, content that for the moment, she’s pleased her mother.

And that is all that matters. 

Chapter Text

A Few Weeks Ago…

It’s getting late at night as Max Kanté types away at his PC, working through the last little bits of code in his contest entry for EEA. Everything seems to be in working order, and even though the convention isn’t for another three weeks, he’s very happy to have the game done. He types in a quick command to start a system diagnostic and turns to a little robot sitting on his desk. 

“Markov, time to plug in.” Markov’s face lights up. He appears to be a tiny little bobble head, but instead of a body, he has a prehensile arm dangling under his head with a slot for different hand attachments. On his head is a miniature propeller that starts to spin up as his big digital eyes open. 

“Yezzir, you got it Max!”  Markov is Max’s robot assistant and a testament to his skill with technology. His uncle works for a private space company and was able to sneak out some parts from a recent launch slated for disposal, which Max used as the basis for Markov’s body. By adding custom programming and the best CPU chip he could find for a decent budget, Markov emerged as a cute, all-purpose robot helper with some actually decent AI. Way better than anything on the market, but still not ideal.

Markov takes flight and hovers next to the computer. Max reaches up and attaches the USB hand to Markov’s joints, replacing his normal default claw. Using it, Markov plugs into the side of the computer and begins to process.

“Test our file compression. I’m running a full system diagnostic personally.” Markov nods and accesses the game files to see how well they compress. That’s a crucial element of the entry. No one’s gonna buy a game that takes up too much space on their hard drive. While he goes through that, Max finishes his system diagnostic and finds no obvious game-breaking bugs or glitches. There are a few smaller ones, but he opts to keep them in. Some glitches are fun for players to discover.

“File compression is bzzt complete! The game is comfortably inside 18 gigabytes.”

Max nods and takes a sip from a bottle of Gatorade on the desk. “Alright, run a stress test, highest performance. Then we should be good to-”

Suddenly, he hears an explosion outside and whirls around. He looks out the window and sees bright blue beams flashing a few streets over and catches a telltale glimpse of Angelbug’s wings. “Markov, can you get security cam footage for the 2nd Arrondissement?” Markov nods and begins to run another program. When Max says all-purpose, he means it. Anything from helping program a video game to hacking other people’s files and camera systems, Markov can do. “ Bzzt! Footage live right now!” Max pulls it up to see Angelbug and Cat Noir currently in a fight with an akumatized villain. The villain is dressed in light blues and blacks with a purple mohawk and a camera lens over his right eye from which the beams are firing. He’s attempting to keep the two heroes at bay with them but…

“Eh not important. Go back to the stress test.” Max turns off the camera footage. He doesn’t need to watch Angelbug and Cat Noir win this fight. He has other things to worry about. 

The game he’s been making, under the working title of Cyber Showdown , starts to run. It’s a 2d platform fighter with fighters based on all of Max’s favorite science fiction novels and TV shows. Nothing exact to avoid copyright, but the inspirations are there. A futuristic stage is loaded with a dozen CPU-controlled fighters, the maximum the game can run. They begin to battle with a series of custom moves and attacks, and the sheer beauty of what he’s created causes Max’s jaw to drop. 

“Wow… Markov?”

“Yes?”

“We did it buddy, we’re winning this for sure!”

Present Day…

Marinette, Adrien, and Alix arrive right in front of the convention center for the opening day of the European Electronic Arts Convention, an event that celebrates the best in video games. Normally, not an event that Marinette would bother to attend, but with one of her classmates taking part in the centerpiece competition, it’s only right for her to come and take a look. Plus, she’s a gamer in her spare time. Notably, she’s going completely without her concealment stone, her silver hair and wings on full display. She’s passing it off as a cosplay, probably the only opportunity she has to go out without her concealment stone on. 

“Woah, this looks awesome!” Alix says as she gazes at the convention center and everything that must be contained within it. “Can’t believe Cerise and Alya didn’t want in on this.”

“Cerise did say she might be here to cover Max’s competition,” Marinette explains. She turns to Adrien. “I’m more surprised you’re here.”

Adrien shrugs. “Until this year, I spent way more time at home. As a result I played a lot of video games.”

The three friends enter the convention center and start looking around at the booths, each one advertising various big video games releasing in the next year. They see releases dedicated to various genres. Marinette in particular notices what looks like a fantasy-themed booth, depicting a woman with mint green hair and white robes wielding a white staff. “I haven’t heard of that game.”

Adrien looks over. “Oh yeah, I read about that. That’s The Good Witch Azura . It’s a book series that’s really popular over in the US. Getting a video game adaptation.”

Marinette makes a mental note of that as a game to buy. If nothing else, to see how accurate the game’s magic is compared to actual magic.

Meanwhile, Max is set up near the stage where the competition’s winner will be announced. He just spoke to his mom Claudia, who wasn’t able to come due to work. Markov is spinning around in the air while Max preps a demo of Cyber Showdown to run on his computer for all the judges, and other guests, to try their hand at. But out of the corner of his eye Max can’t help but notice one of the other booths has… a bit more traction. “God… please tell me that’s not-”

“Max!” Wheeling up to his booth is his archrival from Cóllege Paul Bert, fellow teenage genius Barry Castle. They are a nonbinary, slightly feminine-presenting teenager with their black hair slicked to one side, sitting in their custom-built wheelchair. Barry is the only person in Paris whose skill with robots and technology can equal Max's, and in some ways, they’re even smarter than him. Not that Max would ever admit that. 

“Ah… Barry. My fellow competitor.” Max says coldly, pushing up his glasses. Barry chuckles. “C’mon, dude, no hard feelings here! We’re equal competitors. Well, I did win last year, but that’s last year! This year is a new comp!” They look at the game on Max’s screen. “Ooo, a platform fighter? Looks awesome!”

Max cracks a slight smile at this. “Wow… thanks.” He’s still looking over at Barry’s booth which has a large crowd. “People must love your game.”

Barry nods. “Yeah. It’s a two-man platformer. I call it Super Penguino . You play as two penguins navigating the frozen Arctic to find their baby.”

Max has to admit that sounds like a fun game to play. Especially co-op. “How romantic…”

“Eh, gotta give the people what they want. Alright, good luck dude!” They wheel off back to their booth right as Marinette and her friends finally find Max and give a wave. Max’s coldness gives way as he smiles and waves them over. “Glad you guys could make it! This is my video game Cyber Showdown! ”

Marinette and Adrien look in awe at the demo reel playing on the computer. “Woahhh… This looks amazing! Can we try it?”

Max nods and the two friends start to experiment with the game. All the while, Alix notices Max looking in the direction of Barry Castle’s booth. “You ok man?”

Max sighs. “Barry’s been upstaging me for years at these kinds of things. And they’re always so nice about it! They’re my arch-nemesis, but they don’t act like it!”

Alix looks over at Barry Castle, who’s currently answering questions from the judges. “Maybe because they don’t think you are their enemy?”

“But we’re the two smartest kids in Paris! We must be rivals!”

“Well, maybe let this contest decide your rivalry,” Alix suggests. “Then once it’s over, you guys can talk and…be friends? I don’t know.”

Meanwhile, Marinette and Adrien finish playing the game. “Dammit! Can’t believe I lost!” Marinette exclaims, putting her controller down.

Adrien laughs. “I’ve always been good at 2d fighters. Now c’mon, let’s try and find Cerise.”

The two walk off, and Alix pats Max on the shoulder. “Don’t take this too seriously, ok?” She goes off after them. Max almost scoffs at the notion. Why shouldn’t he take this seriously? This is a big deal! He’s been working on this game, for this contest, for months, and he’s not gonna let Barry upstage him again! No, he will win. He’s sure of it.

Meanwhile, the group continues to make its way around the convention hall. Adrien is now carrying a shirt he had bought from a Nintendo merch booth. They finally find Cerise walking around the floor as well, taking pictures. She waves and runs over. “Oh you guys are here! Nice shirt, Adrien!”

Adrien holds up the shirt with the Smash Bros logo on it. “Thanks! Probably never gonna be able to wear it in public to keep my modeling cred, but it’s very comfortable. I think I can sleep in it!”

Marinette gives Cerise a quick high five. “Alya’s got you on this yourself?”

Cerise nods. “She needed to look after her younger sisters. Plus you know her. She’s not much of a gamer. Hell, neither am I, but I gotta admit this place looks awesome! Nice cosplay btw!”

Marinette nods. “Yep! I’m an Angel! Like Pit from Kid Icarus!”

Adrien snaps his finger. “I knew I recognized it! Great game!” Marinette nods. “One of my favorites!”

“Check this out!” Cerise shows off a model spear. “Got this from the booth for Suspicion Island: The Game! It’s a Lost ripoff from the US I’m a big fan of!” She swings it around and Marinette jumps back. “C’mon, it’s just papier mache!”

Marinette smacks herself in the face. “Of course…”

Suddenly, everyone begins to rush over to the area where Max is, and Cerise gets out her camera. “OH! It’s time for them to declare the winner for Best Solo Developer! C’mon, this is Max’s time!”

They rush to the stage where a crowd has gathered to see the results. Max, Barry, and at least ten other participants are standing onstage with the head judge, who clears his throat.

“Games can be of all shapes and sizes. Some are made for vast fortunes and played by millions, others are painstakingly crafted by a small team. Yet there are perhaps no greater people in this community than those who build entire games on their backs. Today, as part of the European Electronic Arts Expo, our panel of judges has taken entries from all over the globe and narrowed the field down to twelve finalists, and all that’s left is to crown the Best Solo Developer in the gaming industry!”

Everyone cheers as the judge opens a letter. Marinette, her friends, and Max onstage wait with baited breath as one by one, the entrants are given words of praise, are assigned their placement starting from 12th and going down, and walk off to a storm of applause. Eventually, Max, Barry, and one other person are the only three remaining onstage. And then… It’s just Max and Barry.

“And with our two finalists, Max Kante’s 2D fighter Cyber Showdown , and Barry Castle’s co-op platformer Super Penguino , the winner is… Barry Castle and Super Penguino !” 

The crowd erupts in thunderous applause as Barry wheels across the stage and accepts their trophy. Max stands there, stunned and heartbroken. How did he lose to Barry? He poured his heart and soul into this game. And he LOST? Markov flies up and down in celebration. 

“Horaay! Second bzzt place! That is an exemplary performance Max! …Max?” Max doesn’t answer. Alix, Marinette, Cerise, and Adrien look at him with worry in their eyes. And that worry turns to dread as Marinette sees the purple butterfly descending from the rafters. “Oh no… MAX!” Her shout causes Markov to look up and spot the akuma, but it’s too late. It flies right past him and enters into Max’s glasses. He’s thrust into the purple void. 

“ Such disappointment. All that work rendered pointless, taken from you. Your genius deserves to be respected. I can help with that. I can give you the power to turn the world itself into your masterpiece. Your ultimate video game. And within the game, there are two treasures I wish to add to my inventory. The Miraculous of Angelbug and Cat Noir. ”

Max doesn’t hesitate and nods. Barry will pay for stealing his rightful victory. 

“ And what shall I call you? ”

“Game Master.”

Max is enveloped in purple energy before disappearing completely, and shooting out from the cloud come several lines of pure code, ones and zeros flying through the air and striking several people in the crowd, and they evaporate into lines of code as well. They spiderweb through the crowd. Marinette turns to her friends. “C’mon, we gotta go!” They start to run for the exit, but Alix sees Barry, currently trapped in a cage of solid code on the stage. She turns back. 

“ALIX!” Cerise shouts. 

“I can get them out! I’ll be fine!” Alix runs back torwards the stage and new lines of code fly straight at her. They hit her, but the watch in her pocket pulses and dissolves them. Around her, the entire convention center is being changed as the code overtakes it, slowly reconfiguring the environment. Alix reaches the stage and steps close to the cage, causing it to dissolve and freeing Barry Castle. 

“Holy shit… thanks!” They say. “How the hell are you doing that?”

“Wish I knew.” She runs around and grabs the wheelchair handles. “Your game looks alright by the way.”

“Thanks! Wish I could celebrate without this comic book-ass trap we’re in. Is this like a normal thing?”

Alix looks at them confused. “Have you not been outside recently?”

Barry nods. “I go to school remotely. Paul Bert ain’t exactly easy to navigate with a wheelchair. So no.”

Alix shrugs as she wheels them towards the exit. “Yeah, long story short, this whole city is now a comic book crossed with a soap opera. But fortunately, I have this.” She pulls out her watch. “It seems to undo the effects of-”

Suddenly, a laser bolt fires from out of nowhere and strikes the watch, sending it flying out of Alix’s hand. It hits the ground ten feet away, and before Alix can retrieve it, the lines of code surround both her and Barry in another cage. “Shit!”

“ Ah, I wouldn’t leave if I were you. You’d miss the show. ” Forming out of the floor, starting as pure code before materializing, is the akumatized Max. He’s now dressed in a black suit of futuristic armor pieces with a sharp green visor over his eyes. Both Alix and Barry look in shock and speak at the same time.

“Max?”

Game Master scoffs. “ Better. Max would’ve just stowed in his anger, his rage at being bested again. But the Game Master does not stand by. I take control! I should’ve won this contest, Barry, my arch-nemesis. I should’ve beaten you. And I will prove it! ”

All around them, the convention center is reconfigured into a massive cyberpunk-looking city. The people who were captured reappear, dressed in the armor and weapons from the various characters in Cyber Showdown . 

“ Welcome to the real Cyber Showdown! ”

Meanwhile outside, Marinette, Cerise, and Adrien are waiting for their friend to come back. But nothing. As they watch, the entire convention center is overtaken and transformed into a dark blue and black arena with neon highlights across it. “We gotta go in there.” Adrien decides. Cerise nods. “Let’s split up. Maybe one of the other entrances is clear.” The three friends split up and try and find other entrances, which is convenient for Marinette and Adrien as they’re finally able to find a place to hide and transform. “TIKKI SPOTS ON!”

“PLAGG, CLAWS OUT!” With a swipe of his staff, Cat Noir smashes through the east door and leaps inside, looking upon the massive cyberpunk city within. “What the hell-” 

“ The main players have pressed start! ” Game Master’s voice projects throughout the arena. “ Now bring me their Miraculous! ”

Cat Noir is suddenly blasted in the side by a laser bolt as a person in green Tron -esque armor jumps down from the roof, discharging a horde of lasers from his palms. 

“Ow! Goddammit!”He spins his staff to block them before doing a staff extension and hitting them in the face before rushing up and knocking them out with a sideswipe. “Alright, this is some bullshit…” 

“AHHH!” Angelbug suddenly flies around the corner being chased by several other players, all in various armors, firing lasers at her. She casts a shield spell to protect herself while Cat Noir throws his staff, which extends in midair and knocks all of them down. Angelbug then dispels the shield and casts dual water and lightning spells, getting all the players wet and electrocuting them in one go. 

“You know as much as I love video games,” Cat Noir quips, “I don’t wanna be in one!”

“You said it Cat. I ran into some teens on the way in, and the villain is a friend of theirs. Akuma’s in the glasses. Another one of their friends is trapped in here.” Cat Noir nods before looking at the recovering players, noticing they are all wearing different colored visors. “That doesn’t exactly narrow it down!”

“ Consider yourselves VIP targets! ” Game Master says, appearing on a building above them. “ A proper game has multiple objectives, different ways to win. And taking your Miraculous is the ultimate goal of the new Cyber Showdown! ”

“Angelbug, distract him while I find the person who’s trapped.” Angebug nods and releases a light spell right into the player's eyes, stunning them long enough for her to fly over and attack Game Master with her yoyo. He dodges and throws and punch, catching Angelbug in the chin. She retaliates with a kick to his gut, quickly casting a strength spell before rushing forward, grabbing his chest, and throwing him over her shoulder, off the building. He lands with a crash on the ground. 

Meanwhile, Cat Noir ducks between two buildings and starts jumping up the walls. He reaches the roof and trips up a player who followed him before starting to look for Alix. It doesn’t take him long, as with his vantage point, he quickly spies Alix and Barry trapped in a cage made of pure code, right close to the main exit. Ten feet away, Alix’s watch sits on the only speck of uncorrupted ground in the area. He lands right near them and picks it up, freaking them both out. 

“Oh shit! Cat Noir!” Alix shouts. “We’re trapped in here!”

Cat Noir nods and calls up a Cataclysm, slamming it into the cage. Despite the cage not being physical, it seems to still work and the code fades away. “Alix Kubdel, right? You lost this.” Several armored players teleport in and open fire, but the watch pulses and all the blaster bolts vanish in midair. 

Cat Noir brandishes his staff. “Get your friend out of here.” Alix nods but Barry looks up at him. “Once Max is alright, I want to talk to him,” they say. Cat Noir gives them an affirmative nod before Alix wheels Barry out of the convention center. The players attack but Cat Noir leaps into action, splitting his staff into two smaller parts. 

“Cataclysm…” Like he did with Riposte, he focuses his energy into the staves and is now holding two shortswords with black blades. Duel-wielding he begins to cut through the blasters and strike at the players. He makes sure to avoid lethal hits but tries to knock them out. After a few minutes, all six of the armored players lay on the ground, and Cat Noir recombines his swords into one sword-staff, leaping back towards Angelbug. 

While this is going on, Angelbug lunges at Game Master, who ducks out of the way just in time as she cracks the ground beneath him. Her fist gets stuck, and Game Master punches her across the face. He goes for another, but she flash-steps behind him and roundhouse kicks him into a building. Cat Noir jumps back in, and the two square up as Game Master gets back to his feet.

“LUCKY CHARM!” The yoyo goes up and creates… a can of spray paint. “Ok… I don’t get it.”

“ That’s enough! ” Game Master shouts out. “ Time for the final level! ” He dissolves into a storm of code and begins to grow, reaching twenty feet in size. A massive green mech appears with him in the pilot's seat. “ And the final boss! ” 

Cat Noir grins. “Angelbug, get ready to fly in when the mech goes!” He jumps across the arena, dodging lasers from the mech's hands and driving his sword directly into the mech’s foot. The Cataclysm in his sword pulses through the mech and dissolves it, causing Game Master to fall. But he simply dissolves again and reforms the mech a few feet away. “ Good try, but I saved my progress! ”

He kicks Cat Noir and sends the superhero flying through several buildings. Angelbug readies a spell. “Well, it’s too much to ask for it to be that easy.” She looks around and concentrates. They have to get to Game Master without destroying the mech; otherwise, he can just recreate it. The visor on the cockpit flashes red, as does her spray paint. She has an idea. 

Panels open on the sides of the chestplate and fire a string of missiles, but Angelbug doesn’t flinch, flying straight forward and casting an illusion spell to create copies of herself that confuse the missiles' homing systems. He reels back for a punch, but Angelbug dodges to the side and wraps the fist in her yoyo, tugging it back and causing the mech to jerk to the side towards her. 

An explosion erupts as Cat Noir leaps back into the fray, using all his strength to cross several buildings in a single bound, and flings his staff at the mech's legs. It grows in midair to nearly fifteen feet long and slams into the legs to trip up the mech. As it begins to fall, Angelbug zips to the visor and unloads the whole can of spray paint, turning Game Master’s vision red. 

“ Hey! I can’t see! ”

“That’s the idea.” Angelbug flash-steps behind him and plucks his glasses off his face, cracking them and releasing the akuma. She grabs it out of the air with her yoyo as Game Master turns back into Max. 

“MIRACULOUS ANGELBUG!” The swarm of ladybugs flies up and restores the convention center to its original state, and all the people turned into players return to normal. Angelbug helps Max to the ground as the mech disappears. People start to filter back into the convention center now that the danger seems to have passed. This includes Barry, Alix, Markov, and Cerise. Barry in particular wheels themself over to their rival. “Hey Max… you ok?”

Max curls up into a ball, ashamed of what he’s just done, even though Markov flies onto his shoulder to try and comfort him. “Why do you care? You won.”

Barry puts their hand on his shoulder. “Alix gave me an idea of what you’re thinking. Dude… I don’t want to be your arch-enemy.”

Max looks up at them. “You don’t?”

Barry chuckles. “No! Just because we’re two of the smartest people around doesn’t mean we have to be at each other’s throats! And if I had known you felt that way, I would’ve tried to throw you an olive branch way sooner.”

They hold out their hand. “We tried being rivals. How do we try being friends now?”

Max thinks for a moment as Barry’s words sink in, before smiling faintly and grasping their hand. “Worth a shot.” He stands up and shakes Barry’s hand. Markov flies around him. “Yay! You made a Bzzt new friend!” 

Barry looks at the little robot. “And if it makes you feel any better, I’ve never made something as advanced as that.”

Max smiles brightly. “Well, maybe working together, we can make something even better. No offense Markov.” The little robot just beeps and whirls around. 

Barry nods. “See you around Max.” before wheeling off. Meanwhile, Angelbug and Cat Noir had long gone, transforming back into their normal selves and reappearing nearby. Cerise sees them and runs over. “Oh, thank god you guys are ok!”

Marinette and Adrien both nod. “I managed to get in,” Adrien says, “But I had to hide.” Marinette, unable to say anything that might be a lie, simply nods along to imply she faced a similar situation. Cerise is confused by that for a moment, but accepts it.

“Ok… well, I got the police to leave us alone. So the convention should go on as normal.” That piqued Marinette’s interest. “How did you get the police to back off?”

Cerise stumbles for a second. “I…told them everything was ok? Look, I just did, there’s nothing to worry about.” Her clear stammering is something both her friends picked up on. But now clearly wasn’t the time to talk about it. 

Adiren slips on his new t-shirt. “So, should we keep looking around?” Everyone else nods in agreement, and the friends take the time to enjoy the rest of the convention. Meanwhile, with the contest over, Max goes home happy that he’s made a new friend out of his once-thought rival. 

The Next Day…

Gabriel sits in his study looking over the Grimoire. All the information the Guardians know about the Miraculous, at the tips of his fingers. “It’s steadily becoming clear to me.” He tells Nooroo. “Either the Miraculous of Creation has abilities not specified here, or its wielder is hiding something.” He looks through a journal where he’s kept notes of all his akumatizations. From Stoneheart to the most recent Game Master. “She can fly and utilizes some form of magic that this Grimore does not mention.”

Nooroo nods. “We may have to consider that the moniker of Angelbug isn’t just for show. I believe she’s a real Angel.”

Gabriel looks up at his kwami. “The same Angels that created the Miraculous? The ones that, as you told me, could’ve used them to end the world?”

Nooroo nods. “Whoever the Guardian is, they’ve taken an awfully large risk entrusting Tikki to an Angel again. Choosing to entrust the Miraculous to one of them means that it’s only a matter of time until, through some madness, we are drawn back into the far wider world of the Arcane.”

Gabriel closes his books and leans back in his chair. “I know he’s our enemy. So are Angelbug and Cat Noir. But for the sake of Earth, I hope the Guardian knows what they’re doing.”

Nooroo nods with a worried expression. “The Guardians do have a method for dealing with Angels. So we shall see. No self-respecting Guardian would give one of them a Miraculous without having a contingency.”

At that point, Nathalie walks into Gabriel’s office. “Gabriel, your 10 o’clock is here.” Gabriel nods and removes his Miraculous, causing Nooroo to disappear. Taking that and the grimoire, he goes up to the abstract painting of Emile in his study and presses on a few areas. But instead of taking him upstairs to where he operates as Hawk Moth, a secret compartment opens up containing several books, and a cracked brooch shaped like a peacock. He puts the Grimoire and Miraculous inside before closing the compartment and going about his day.

Chapter Text

As school wraps up on a particular day, Adrien is driven across town for his martial arts lesson. At least, that’s what his father and Nathalie believe he’s doing. The car pulls up in front of Master Fu’s tea shop, and Adrien steps out. “I’ll be back in an hour.” Placide says from the front. Adrien gives a wave, and he drives off. At the same time, Adrien walks up and knocks on the door. 

Master Fu answers. “Ah, Adrien. So glad you could make it. Come in!” Adrien steps into the main room, which has been cleared to create a large space in the center. Fortunately, the shop is closed today. “I can’t believe you convinced Father I was taking martial arts classes.”

Fu chuckles. “What do you mean, convince him? You are doing exactly that. He seemed very interested in you learning some self-defense with all the Akumas around.” He turns around and faces Adrien. “I just left out the finer details. Now, if you wouldn’t mind transforming.”

Adrien slips on his ring.“Plagg, claws out.” He turns into Cat Noir and assumes a ready stance. Fu studies his stance. “Now, as I’ve told you before, Mirakaté is an art specifically designed to face magic. Both magical beings and humans wielding Miraculous. Before we begin, I need you to understand what you’re taking on. Essentially, I’m training you to defeat yourself. And Angelbug. Do you understand?”

Cat Noir nods. “I’m supposed to be her equal right? Creation and Destruction working together. Well, if she has magic, the only way to do that is to learn a way to counter magic. After all, I’ll never need to use it on her right?”

Fu looks noticeably unsure, but nods. “Right. Let’s hope not. Now, as you know, the Miraculous relies a lot on your mind. Take your staff for example, you will it to be longer or shorter with a thought. Likewise, magical beings generally cast spells through a combination of thoughts and ‘spell circles,’ which require fine motor movement. Mirakaté is designed to counter both. Now, attack me.”

Cat Noir tries to take in what Fu just said, but shrugs and charges in with a punch. But with unnatural speed, Fu ducks to the side, straightens his hand, and jabs it right into the space between Cat Noir’s ribs. Instantly, pain flares through his entire body, radiating despite the protection from the Miraculous, causing Cat Noir to stumble back. He tries to extend his staff, but the pain prevents him from focusing on it. 

“Ow…shit! What the…” 

“By striking at specific nerve centers and pressure points, Mirakaté induces pain to its target. It clouds your mind and prevents you from concentrating, and in the case of magic, drawing spell circles with fine motor skills. Most parts of Mirakaté are designed to induce pain without permanent damage, like the strike I just used. But we are just humans fighting the forces of the Arcane. We’re outmatched in a lot of ways. As such, some techniques are made to induce traumatic and potentially lethal vibrations. However, for obvious reasons, I won’t teach you those. For today, let’s focus on what I just showed you.”

Cat Noir is finally able to shake off the reverberating pain and nods. “Got it. But I don’t wanna do that on you. That really hurt.” Master Fu chuckles. “I know. I have training dummies.” That brings some relief to Cat Noir’s face. 

He spends the next hour practicing the strike on the training dummies. Remembering where he was struck, he keeps trying it while Fu observes his technique, critiquing him wherever needed. The hour goes by very fast, and before he knows it, a slightly sweaty Adrien is once again getting into his car. 

“Remember what I taught you Adrien. See you soon.” Master Fu says before heading back inside. Adrien smiles and steps into the car, heading for home and a nice dinner.

A Few Days Later …

Marinette wakes up to a strange sound. It’s soft, almost undetectable, but she can hear it. It almost sounds like…coughing. But not from a human. She immediately turns over and looks at the side of her bed where Tikki is sleeping. But instead of waking up and floating when Marinette did, Tikki is still lying on her side, coughing to herself. She looks almost thinner, and her red skin is slightly more grey. 

“Oh shit! Tikki!” She cradles the kwami in her hands. “Are you ok?”

Tikki coughs and opens her eyes. “No. I… appear to be sick.”

“You’re like a personification of the universe! How can you get sick?”

“I’m the Kwami of Creation. I represent all creation. So sometimes when some big creative act is occurring, like a galaxy forming, it siphons lots of my essence and leaves my physical form weak. Don’t worry, it only happens every hundred years or so.”

Marinette still has a concerned look. “Well ok… is there anything I can do? I don’t know much about healing magic.”

Tikki coughs again. “Master Fu knows a ritual that can help restore me to health faster. But it takes a few hours, so you’d have to leave me there while you go to school.”

Without hesitation, Marinette nods. “Ok! I’ll drop you off there.” She gets up and starts getting dressed. Tikki sits up and tries to protest. “But what if someone gets akumatized? You’ll need-”

“I’ll be fine for a few hours. Your health is more important.” She quickly dresses and casts a spell to make up her bed and levitate all her supplies into her bag, before putting Tikki in her purse and heading out. 

Her dad is downstairs preparing the day’s pastries, and is surprised to see her up early. “Going to school already?” He asks as his golems work behind him, but Marinette is in such a rush to get to Master Fu that she doesn’t hear him, running straight out the door and getting on her moped to head out. Her dad looks at the door confused, but shrugs. “Must’ve been in a hurry.”

Before long, she arrives at Master Fu’s tea shop and runs through the door. Master Fu, much like her father, is inside setting up shop and hears her come in. “Ah, Marinette. Is everything-”

“I came as fast as I could Master. It’s Tikki.” She pulls Tikki out of her purse, looking paler than before and continuing to cough. Fu gets closer to look at the ill kwami. “Ah, I see. So it’s happened again. I’ll get the ritual ready.” He walks into the back area of the shop and Marinette follows, arriving in his living quarters. As she enters Fu lays a small cushion in the middle of the floor and places an incense burner nearby, which begins emitting soothing smoke. “Place Tikki on the cushion please.” Marinette does so, and the smoke from the incense starts to move strangely, circling around her very closely. With every breath, she starts to inhale. 

Fu also puts some tea on and starts to boil it. “The medicinal tea will be ready soon. All in all, I should have her back to normal by noon. I hope you understand what that means.”

Marinette nods. “Can’t transform until noon. That’s ok. Tikki’s health is more important than my need to turn into Angelbug. I’ll be back after school, and avoid transforming before noon regardless.” Master Fu gives her an affirmative nod and Marinette leaves, heading to school with a huge weight off her mind, knowing Tikki is going to be ok.

Fortunately, since she left early she’s able to get to school mostly on time. But she’s not the only one who has something on their mind. 

An Hour Ago…

In her room, at her desk, Rose Lavillant looks down at a blank piece of paper before her as she tries to come to terms with her feelings. Everyone who knows her knows she wears her heart on her sleeve, always wanting to spread joy and happiness to everyone. All her friends. But for a few weeks now, she’s been thinking, wondering about one of her friends. Whether she likes this person…more than as a friend. And that’s a completely different thing. She might be happy to help other people with their crushes, their relationships, but her own? She doesn’t know what to do. 

“Rose? It’s time for school!” Her dad’s voice comes from downstairs. 

“Coming!” Rose takes a moment more to look at the paper, but leaves it there. She decides to maybe do something subtle for today as she takes a bottle of perfume off a shelf. Maybe if she uses this, her crush will notice.

Several hours later …

It’s getting closer to noon, and the school day has passed without incident. Currently in the middle of a free period, Marinette and Alya are sitting in the courtyard, with the former explaining what happened to Tikki. Nino and Adrien are nearby, out of earshot and working on some homework.

“I didn’t know kwami could get sick.” Alya reacts.

Marinette shrugs. “Neither did I. According to Master Fu, she should be fine in like 45 more minutes…”

Indeed, at Master Fu’s shop, Tikki’s breathing is getting easier and the color is returning to her skin. She’s almost back to normal.

Meanwhile, Rose is currently in her science class, taking notes as Mrs. Mendeliev is giving a lecture on the different layers of the Earth’s crust. Everything seems normal until Chloé raises her hand. “Yes Chloé?”

“Yeah someone is wearing perfume or something, and it smells utterly ridiculous. I can’t focus on my work.” A very quiet chuckle can be heard at the implication that Chloé would ever be caught doing work.

“Well I can certainly smell it too.” Rose raises her hand and holds up the bottle. “Sorry, I didn’t think there was anything wrong with wearing perfume.”

Mrs. Mendeliev nods “Well, I suppose there isn’t-” Chloé coughs loudly. “You can’t expect me to-” Sabrina nods next to her. Mrs. Mendeliev sighs and steels herself. “But you are causing a scene and disturbing other people’s learning Rose. So I must ask you to leave.”

A shocked look appears on Rose’s face. “But I can’t. I’m wearing this perfume to…” She glances at Juleka in the front row. 

“To what? Be less of a loser?” Chloé pipes up. “Now get out and stop distracting me!” Teardrops well up in Rose’s eyes as she runs out of the classroom to the sounds of Chloé laughing behind her. 

She runs away and sits against the wall, looking down at the perfume bottle. She just wanted to impress her crush. How hard does that have to be? If only everyone loved the smell of her perfume. And right as she thinks that an akuma flies down and enters the bottle, thrusting her into the void. 

“ Hello. Forgive my intrusion. ” The voice of Hawk Moth sounds out. “ That’s a lovely bottle of perfume there. A lovely smell. But I sense not everyone appreciates it. ” Rose sniffles. “I want to impress someone, and I thought I’d use this. But it didn’t work. At least I don’t think so.”

“ Well, if that’s the case, I can give you the power to really impress her. What’s more impressive than bending minds to your will? Bringing crowds to heel? I can give you the power to control everyone who smells your perfume, in exchange, of course, for Angelbug and Cat Noir’s Miraculous. ”

Rose wipes away her tears and stands up. “I will impress her. I will become royalty!”

“ And what shall I call you? ”

“Princess Fragrance.”

Down in the courtyard, Marinette and Alya hear the door slam and look up to see the dark aura appear outside the classroom. “Oh no.”

Princess Fragrance leaps up onto the railing. Rose now has green skin with a black swirl running down the right side of her face and surrounding her eye. She’s wearing a black frilly dress with pink symbols on it, and her hair has gone pink and gotten longer. A massive perfume pipe is growing out of the top of her head and forming a long, thin ponytail. 

“Behold your new ruler, Paris! With one spritz of my perfume, you will all serve me! ” She lifts her hand, in which the ponytail connects to a gun shaped like a perfume bottle. Nino’s eyes go wide. “Shit! Don’t breathe in!” Princess Fragrance pulls the trigger and fires a pink parcel from her gun, which lands in the courtyard and explodes, releasing a cloud of pink perfume that washes over everyone. Marinette and Alya hold their breath tightly with Marinette subtly casting a gust of wind to blow away the perfume around them. Adrien and Nino do the same. But when the smoke clears, it’s obvious everyone else was not so lucky. Everyone else in the courtyard, including Mylene, Kim, and a few others, stands up straight and bows to her, singing in unison. “ At your service, Princess Fragrance. ”

“C’mon let’s get out of here!” Adrien grabs Nino’s arm and they run for the door, but the newly hypnotized servants leap in the way and attempt to dogpile on them. Adrien is able to slip through, but Nino gets pinned down. He gives Adrien a determined look, with Adrien nodding to his friend before he runs out. Marinette and Alya run to one of the classrooms and hide, locking the door. Marinette looks at her phone. 

“How long?” Alya asks, pressing her weight up against the door. Marinette sighs. “15 minutes.” 

“HAHAHAHAHAH! ” Princess Fragrence laughs and looks down at her new followers. “ You are all just the first! But now for you.” She turns around as the people in science class start to emerge, at the forefront being Alix, Chloé and Juleka. Juleka approaches Princess Fragrance. “Rose?”

Princess Fragrance’s expression softens. “It’s ok Juleka. You are safe from me. But the rest of this class ridiculed me. I will make them change their tune!” She pumps her gun again and fires more bombs full of perfume at them, striking Mrs. Mendeliev and many of the students in the face. Alix reacts quickly, grabbing Chloé’s arm and running down the pathway. Princess Fragrance snarls and fires again at them, but a black blur streaks out of the sky and smacks the pink bomb aside, sending it into the air and detonating it harmlessly. Cat Noir brandishes his staff. 

“Really? A human perfume bottle? God Hawk Moth, you’re really on the nose with this one. Or I guess in the nose.”

Fragrance growls. “Get him!” She fires again, but Cat Noir bats it aside and smacks aside a few of the students who try and grab him before breaking away and leaping off the balcony. He jumps into action, subduing the servants so Alix and Chloé can make it to the door. “Stop dragging me, loser!” Chloé screams. 

Alix gives her a stink eye. “Oh sure fine, I’ll leave you back there to get mind-controlled!” Princess Fragrence smiles and points her gun at the ground, shouting “Seize the rest of the students!” before firing a projectile and using the force from that to propel her through the air. She continues to fire and flies after the fleeing trio, with Cat Noir catching up to Alix and Chloé as they flee the school and get down the street. 

“I assume you can’t get mind-controlled right?” Alix screams at Cat Noir. “Don’t wanna find out!”

Meanwhile, the servants start to pound on the doors of the room Marinette and Alya are hiding in. “Crap, they’re getting through!” Marinette presses against the door to keep it shut, but the mass of people begins to slowly break through. They shatter some of the windows and begin to crawl in. “ For the Princess! ” they sing. Marinette looks around. They’re being surrounded, and she knows what she has to do “Shit…” She grabs Alya and flash-steps through the mob and into the courtyard, drawing a two-handed spell circle and slamming them into the ground, freezing it over and forming an icy surface that they begin to slip off. Alya looks in confusion. “Wait, that’s not an Angelbug power?”

“Later!” They run for the door and make it outside easily. Marinette casts an illusion of her and Alya running down the street, with the mob going after it, before she and Alya duck into an alley. “Ok, what?”

Marinette sighs. “Angelbug isn’t just a name. That’s the thing I’ve been keeping from you. I’m a half-angel. The magic is all me.” She removes her stone and reveals her silver hair and wings to her best friend for the first time. Right as she does, her phone chimes as it strikes high noon. “Finally! TIKKI SPOTS ON!” At Master Fu’s, Tikki opens her eyes with a bright red flash and disappears, reappearing with Marinette and turning her into Angelbug. She puts her hand on Alya’s shoulder. “I promise, I’ll explain everything I can safely explain later. Just don’t tell anyone,” Alya can barely speak. “Buh-wah-” 

Angelbug spins her yoyo and takes off, leaving Alya stunned. “I’m friends with an Angel and a witch…THAT'S SO FUCKING COOL!”

Meanwhile, Princess Fragence flies after Cat Noir, Alix, and Chloé, continuing to fire perfume bombs at them. She fires one right at Chloé, but Alix sees it coming and gets in front, jumping in the way and letting the perfume hit her in the face. Her watch pulses and prevents her from being mind-controlled. 

Fragrance looks confused. “Wha- ” Suddenly Angelbug tackles her out of the air. She screams “ AHHHH! ” as they crash into the ground. Angelbug goes for her gun, but Princess Fragrence poofs into a cloud and reappears above them. “ Nice try, Angelbug, but I’ll have your Miraculous, and my kingdom!” She fires more bombs and propels herself higher into the sky. Angelbug rejoins with the trio. “Is everyone ok?”

Cat Noir nods. “Well, we have to protect Chloé, but other than that we’re good!” 

“Hey! I’m standing right here!”

Alix elbows her in the side. “They saved our ass, so be quiet.” Cat Noir looks up, and his eyes go wide. “Uhh… ANGELBUG?!” She turns around and sees Princess Fragrance above the entire city, charging up a massive perfume bomb the size of a boat, attached to the end of her gun. “With this act, all of Paris becomes my kingdom!” She fires, and it begins to rocket to the ground. 

“We won’t be able to get anyone to safety!” Cat Noir steps in front of Chloé and Alix, the latter of whom is clutching her watch. “LUCKY CHARM!” Angelbug throws up her yoyo and creates… a car. “AH!” She jumps out of the way as the car hits the ground, immediately flashing up red and connecting to Alix and Chloé. 

“Quick! You two, get in the car!” Alix and Chloé don’t ask twice and get in the front seats, slamming the doors as the giant wave of perfume explodes out and envelops all of Paris. Cat Noir leaps on the roof and extends his staff, beginning to spin it in a circle to create a fan. Angelbug casts a shield spell over them as an extra precaution. The perfume wave washes over them, and none of it gets through. For now, they’re safe. However, Angelbug is pretty sure the entire city is now under her control. “Now, my servants! Seize my new kingdom!” PrincessFragrancee shouts from up high.

Elsewhere in the city, Juleka stumbles out onto the street, having taken cover in a building when the perfume wave swept through. Other people rush out of the various places they took cover to see everyone in the streets suddenly attack them. Chaos breaks out between those under Fragrence’s control and those not. Juleka prepares to run out into the fray to find Rose, but a hand grabs her from behind and pulls her into the alley. “Shhh!” Cerise says, “It’s me! It’s me!” She lets go of Juleka. 

“Cerise? But you’re not-”

“I was off-campus when that happened. Now c’mon, we have to stay hidden until Angelbug and Cat Noir fix this.”

Juleka shakes her head vigorously. “No! I have to go after her! That’s Rose up there!” she shouts surprisingly loud.

Cerise is surprised. She’s never heard Juleka raise her voice like this. “Yeah, I know, but she’s akumatized, we can’t help her right now.”

“YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!” Juleka screams.”I…can’t leave her like that. Anyone else I’d leave for the heroes. But not Rose. I…love her.”

The noise from her screaming causes some of the converted servants in the street to take notice and start to walk over, so Cerise grabs Juleka’s hand and drags her further into the alley. With her other hand, she draws a spell circle and casts an illusion of a brick wall behind them. Safe again, she looks into Juleka’s eyes.

“You… love Rose?”

Juleka nods. “I’ve never dared to tell her. I don’t know if I ever will. But I love her. You… don’t have an issue with that, do you?”

Cerise shakes her head. “Given how I grew up? Of course not. Although I’d hoped hiding from mobs was something I wouldn’t inherit from my parents.” The servants give up searching for them and head back into the street. “Alright, I’ll help you get to her. Stay close to me. If they come for us, get behind me and close your eyes, ok?” 

Juleka nods and they begin to make their way through the back alleys to reach the center of the action.

Back in the center of the action, Angelbug drops the shield as the wave has passed, but the crowd of people on the streets around them is now under Princess Fragrence’s control. 

“Angelbug!” Cat Noir screams from the top of the car. “I have an idea. But I need her to get close!”

Angelbug nods and concentrates again. The wheels on the car specifically flash red. “I’ll draw her attention. Get the crowd off us!”

Cat Noir nods and jumps as the servants run toward them, singing “ For our dear Princess Fragrance! ” 

“So it’s a musical now? Well, I’ll bring down the curtain with a Cataclysm!” He forms the dark energy, but this time, presses his hands together. Something he figured out in his solo training is that Cataclysm can destroy anything, including molecules of air. So by crushing the molecules of air between his hands, he creates an unstable wave that he releases by sweeping his hands out, as a shockwave blasts out through the air and knocks all the servants back. Meanwhile, Anglebug gets in the car, with Alix crawling to the backseat. “I’m getting us out of here! Hang on!”

“Wait, do you even know how to drive?” Chloé asks.

Angelbug starts the car. “No. ” And the car lurches down the street, with Cat Noir jumping back onto the roof as it goes. Princess Fragrance sees the car start to drive away and frowns. “ Well, that won’t do at all!” She descends quickly and rapid-fires perfume bombs, but Cat Noir spins his staff and knocks them all away. Angered, she presses a button and a spike protrudes from the front of the gun, and she rockets in to try and stab Cat Noir, but he redirects it with a smile on his face. “Glad you could finally join us!”

She jabs several more times, but he dodges out of the way. Meanwhile, Marinette drives the car down the road and tries her best to avoid the mind-controlled servants. “You know,” Alix says from the backseat. “We’re actually doing alright!”

On the roof, Cat Noir tries to bring his staff down on Princess Fragrance’s head, but she catches it with one hand and points the gun with the other, aimed to smash through the car window. Cat Noir sees this and knows he has to go in before she can spray everyone in the car, so he releases his staff and runs straight up to Princess Fragrance. Then, replicating the attack Fu taught him, he jabs his outstretched hand into the space right under her ribs. She immediately cries out and stumbles back in pain, which allows Cat Noir to recall his staff and swing it, smashing the front of the gun and releasing the akuma. “Cataclysm!” He leaps up and destroys the akuma as Rose returns to normal. “Angelbug, we’re good! She’s down!”

Angelbug lets out a sigh of relief as she stops the vehicle. “MIRACULOUS ANGELBUG!” The car turns into the swarm of ladybugs that fly through the city and undo the hypnosis of everyone that had been under Rose’s control. Alix and Chloé fall to the ground. “Ow!” Chloé says. Alix stands up quickly. “Good, now you’re life ain’t in danger, get the hell outta here.” Chloé takes the hint and sets off down the street. Alix runs to help Rose up.

“Rose!” Juleka runs down the street and takes Rose’s other arm to help her along. Rose looks at Juleka, and if anyone else looked into her eyes, they’d see the stars flashing through them. “Thank… you.”

Juleka gives her a soft smile. “It’s the least I can do for you.” Rose blushes heavily, but Juleka is looking ahead and doesn’t notice. Angelbug and Cat Noir give each other a fist bump and jump away to detransform. 

Meanwhile, Juleka and Alix help Rose until she gets back on her feet, at which point they start walking back to school together. “So how did you get here?”

“Cerise gave me a hand,” Juleka says. “Now my question. Why were you wearing perfume?”

Alix nods. “Yeah, you never do that. Even though you would be the one to wear perfume.”

Rose looks down at her feet. “I was trying to impress someone.”

“Well,” Alix says as they get back to school, “I’m sure you did, whoever they are.”

Meanwhile, Marinette returns to the locker room and detransforms. Alya runs up. “Oh, thank god! That was a close one!”

She nods. “Very.” Her phone buzzes in her pocket. “Huh, Juleka wants to talk to me.”

“About what?”

“Don’t know, she just says it’s important.”

Alya crosses her arms. “Well, if she needs help with anything, let me know. And by the way, you still owe me an explanation for whatever you did.”

Marinette nods. “After school, I’ll tell you everything I can.” She gives her friend a high five and they leave the locker room to continue their day.

A few hours later…

Luka Coffaine, Juleka’s twin brother and Marinette’s crush, is relaxing in his room on the houseboat boat working with a guitar. In addition to his job doing food delivery, he also does some work restringing and painting guitars. It’s something he cares a lot more about, considering he inherited his mom's passion for music. Plus, since he’s homeschooled, he’s got a lot more time on his hands than others. As he works, one of the strings on the guitar snaps. “Ah damn.”

“Luka?” His mother, Anarkas, calls out from above, on the main deck of the ship. “There’s someone hear to talk to you! One of Juleka’s friends.”

“Be right up Mom!” He puts the half-stringed guitar down and heads up onto the deck. 

At the same time, across town back at the school, a massive excited scream echoes through the streets and causes the pigeons to take flight in fear. 

“YOU HAVE A CRUSH ON WHO?!” 

Chapter Text

Luka climbs out onto the deck of his family’s houseboat, the Liberty . To this day, Luka isn’t entirely sure how his mother got it. She never likes to talk much about her time with his and Juleka’s dad, who abandoned the family at a young age. But from what he’s gathered, Anarkas has had the boat ever since then. She prefers the freedom of not needing to settle down in a single place, and takes the boat up and down the Seine often, anchoring it in different parts of the city. Right now, they’re docked near the school, which allows Juleka to get home easily. But Juleka isn’t here right now; instead Luka looks out and sees her friend Rose stepping onto the deck. 

“Oh hey Rose!” Luka says as he walks over. “What brings you here?”

He notices Rose looks a bit nervous. She’s still smiling, as she always does, but he notices her fidgeting with her hands as well. “Hey Luka. I was looking for advice. Mind if we talk privately?”

She seems pretty serious, so Luka nods. “Sure, come below deck.” They go back below deck, with Rose giving a quick wave to Anarkas, who’s repairing a crack in the steering wheel. They sit down on the couch in the central living room. “So, what can I help you with?”

Rose continues to look nervous, but takes a deep breath as she admits it. “I… got akumatized today.” Luka is not surprised, as he did see some glimpses of the fight a few hours ago, but he still solemnly nods. “Yeah. I’m sorry. This has to do with why you were akumatized?”

Rose nods. “I was… trying to impress someone I have a crush on. But it didn’t go so well…”

“Oh no,” Luka says, putting his arm on Rose’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. I know how that feels. Might I ask who you were trying to impress?”

A slight smile tugs at Rose’s lips again. “That’s why I came to you for advice. I have a crush on Juleka. That’s who I was trying to impress.”

Luka, on the surface, tries to keep his cool, but internally he’s thrilled. He’s known that Juleka’s had a thing for Rose for years. Of course he has, he’s one of the only people she’s ever told. But he can’t tell Rose that it’s mutual, since he promised to keep it a secret until she was ready. On the surface, though, he keeps his cool. 

“Wow… that’s awesome!” He leans back on the couch. “You’ve been friends for so long, I never would’ve guessed.”

Rose nods, but then gets up and starts to pace. “But what do I do about it? Do I tell her? Do I try and ask her out? How do I know she even feels the same? I know you and her are both pansexual but…”

“Hey, relax.” Luka says as he grabs his main guitar from the side of the couch and begins to strum. “That’s not gonna help you get your feelings in order. You gotta find the right rhythm for that.”

Rose looks at him confused. “The right rhythm?”

“When you’re playing music by yourself, you decide how fast or how slow you wanna go. That’s the nature of it. But when you go to play a duet, you're gonna find the right balance. The chords and verses have to line up right for the song to be at its best. You know the expression ‘moving to the beat of your own drum?’ That’s kinda what I mean.” He strums another chord, which echoes through the space. “The way you know someone is right for you is when your rhythm syncs up. Then you’ve got a duet.”

Rose still has a confused expression. “So I need to find the right rhythm? Between me and Juleka? What does that mean?”

“It means do what feels right in the moment. Follow your heart and your soul. You’ll find the right rhythm buried within.”

Rose nods. “Ok, I get it! You…won’t tell her right?”

Luka chuckles. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe. It’s yours to tell.”

Rose hugs Luka. “Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind.” She waves goodbye and heads back up onto the deck and off the boat. Luka watches her leave through the window and walk down the street, heading for her own home. “I wonder how long until they’ll notice…” He says to himself. 

But his wondering is brought to a halt when his phone rings on the table. “Huh?” He goes over a picks it up. “Hello?”

“LUKA! EMERGENCY!” Marinette screams through the phone, causing Luka to jump back and nearly drop it on the floor. 

“M-Marinette? What’s going on?”

“Oh my god, I just called him.” Luka can hear her whisper softly from the other side. “Yeah, you did. What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing’s wrong! But emergency meeting! Come to my house now!” She hangs up, leaving Luka extremely confused. “So nothing’s wrong, but it’s not an emergency? Well, I guess I got some free time.” He puts down his guitar and grabs his helmet, running back out onto the deck. “Heading out for a bit! Text me if Juleka gets back!” His mom gives a thumbs up, so Luka deboards the boat, climbs on his moped, and takes off for the Dupein-Chang bakery. 

As he arrives at the bakery, Alix and Adrien are arriving as well, nearly running right into him. “Luka? What are you doing here?”

Luka gets off his moped. “Marinette called me. Said it was an emergency meeting or something?”

Alix’s eyes go wide. “Wait… she called you? Herself? Of her own accord?” 

Luka nods, and Alix turns to Adrien. “Well, that says something doesn’t it?”

“What does it say?” Alix reaches up and pats Luka on the shoulder. “You’ll figure it out eventually.” 

They go inside, past Marinette’s parents who give them a wave(Marinette already told them people were coming over) and head up to her room. Marinette is already up there with Zoe, Alya, Cerise, Nino, and Mylene. Marinette’s eyes go wide seeing Luka walk in, but she remains focused. “Good! You guys are here! To business!”

“What business?” Cerise asks. “You just called all of us, said it was an emergency, and to come to your house.”

Marinette, who’s almost jumping around with excitement, turns around to face everyone gathered. “Right, yeah. I called you all here because Juleka told me something amazing!”

Luka starts to put together the dots in his head. “She told you about her crush on Rose?”

“WHA?!” Marinette is so shocked that, as she walks up, she trips and falls onto her face. “Owww…” She springs back up. “How do you know about that?”

Luka crosses his arms. “I’m her twin brother. Of course she’s told me.”

“Wha-wow. Ok! Yeah, Juleka asked me to help her out with her crush on Rose. So that’s why you’re all here! To conjure the perfect scenario for Juleka to admit her feelings.” Everyone in the room who also knows about the plan to do this for Marinette and Luka shares a look. 

“So, here’s the plan I came up with…” They start to go over the plan. Alix and Cerise chime in with ideas to make it less ridiculous, but overall, everyone settles on the best way to help their friends out. An hour or two passes and everyone who was involved heads home, with Marinette giving an especially long goodbye wave to Luka. The only one left in her room when she came back was Alya. 

“You managed to keep together around Luka?”

Marinette nods. “It’s to help our friends. I can talk to my crushes without completely breaking down sometimes.”

Alya laughs. “Only when you’re fixating on someone else’s. But… you know why I stayed behind?”

Marinette nods. “Yeah… I do owe you an explanation. I’m not just a superhero. And I figure if I’m trusting you with that, I can probably trust you with this.” She pulls off her concealment stone and reveals her Angel form. Air catches in Alya’s throat as her best friend reveals white hair and a pair of feathered wings. “What the- You’re actually an…Angel?”

Marinette does an ehhh motion with her hand. “Half-Angel. My grandma Ginael is a full Angel, my dad and I are both half. And since at least half of my parents are Angels, I developed as if I were a full one.”

Alya nods along, a bit confused but getting the idea. “So, Angels are real?” Marinette sits down next to her. “I don’t know much. I grew up on Earth. I’ve never even been to the Divine Realm, but that’s where Angels come from. It’s a parallel world much like Earth, but with Angels as the dominant species instead of humans.” She draws a spell circle and creates an illusionary map of the Divine Realm, at least as much of it as she is aware of from her dad’s books.

Alya starts writing this down. “What part of the Realm is your family from?” Marinette points to a city on the west side of the planet. “That’s Terra-Rani, one of the Free Cities. Much of the Divine Realm is covered by a one-world government called the Crest Union. My family is from one of the independent cities. Specifically, this one was built off the designs of an Angel named Heimael the Tinkerer.” She zooms in, and Terra-Rani appears. Unlike other cities in the Divine Realm, this one is more advanced with trains, electric pipes running along the walls, and an overall steampunk aesthetic. “Terra-Rani is named after a famous hero from a war in the Divine Realm’s past. My grandma serves as its ambassador, keeping the peace within the city and ensuring nothing threatens its independence.”

Alya gazes in wonder at the image of Terra-Rani. “So what makes Angels different from humans?”

Marinette smiles and dispels the illusion. “As you’ve seen, Angels have innate magic. We absorb energy from the air around us through our wings.” Her wings flap a little in response. “We can use it to cast spells. We also have wings that we can use to fly when we get older, we have significantly longer lifespans, and we can’t lie. If I tried, my throat would catch on fire.”

“So that’s what you meant before?” Alya asks. “And how much longer?”

“Well, depends on the level of Angel. As a normal Angel, I can live up to a thousand years. High Angels can live three thousand years. My grandma is an Arch-Angel and can live ten thousand years. Any Angel stronger than that is immortal.”

Alya’s jaw drops. “So… you’re already gonna live a freaking long time?” Marinette nods. “Do you know any other Angels?”

Marinette shakes her head. “No. Angels have a long history of violence, so most of our kind stay in the Divine Realm to avoid it. But that mainly applies to the Crest Union, so Angels like my grandma can come here whenever they like.”

She puts her hand on Alya’s shoulder. “I hope you understand how big of a secret this is. We keep our existence hidden for a reason. Imagine what humans would do if they learned of other magical races beyond the stars.” Alya thinks about it for a moment, but then surprises Marinette by hugging her. “Thank you for telling me. And I promise, this secret is even safer with me than the Angelbug one.” Marinette returns the hug.

A few days later…

Juleka arrives in the park at the location Marinette texted her. She’d promised Juleka to help out with her crush on Rose, but to be honest, Juleka might be regretting asking Marinette for help. Rose is her best friend, and she doesn’t want to ruin anything by admitting she’s been in love with her for years. So she hopes Marinette has a decent plan to help her admit her feelings. 

Unbeknownst to her, as she sits down on a bench to wait, Marinette, Zoe, and Cerise are hiding behind the trees. “Ok, she’s here.” She’s lucky she was able to get Juleka to come here. Something she’s figured out over the years is that she can lie as much as she wants so long as she never speaks the lies aloud. Aka, she can text someone something that’s not true, and it won’t count. And that’s what she’s done here, because she told Juleka she’s meeting her here to give her advice, when in reality, this is all an elaborate plan to get her and Rose in the same place.

From atop a small building nearby, Alix and Luka are watching with binoculars. “This is a bad idea.” Alix says. 

“If it’s to help out my sister, what’s the harm in trying?” Luka replies with a smile. Back on the ground, Juleka is shocked to see Rose walking into the park as well. “Rose? What are you doing here?”

Rose is also surprised to see her crush. “Juleka? Not that I’m not happy to see you but… I thought I was meeting Marinette here to get a look at her new design.”

“And I thought I was meeting Marinette here…to get some advice…” Her phone suddenly buzzes with a text from Marinette. “ Sorry! Trial by fire! Good luck! ”

Juleka’s breath catches in her chest. Oh no. I can’t…why did I think this was a good idea?! But even though she tries to keep her cool, Rose notices and takes a seat right next to her friend. “Are you ok?”

Juleka quickly recovers. “Y-yeah! I’m fine! I just…was trying to find the right words. There’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for a while…but I don’t know if I can.”

Rose puts her hand on Juleka’s shoulder. “C’mon, you can trust me. Whatever you need to say.”

“Ok… the truth is… I have…” Juleka starts to hyperventilate as she has a mild panic attack. What was she thinking? She can’t do this! Rose would never like her back. Marinette and her friends notice, and immediately disregarding their plans, run out to check on their friend. “Juleka! Are you-”

Juleka gets up and backs away. “I can’t do this, I can’t! You should’ve known that! I get so nervous talking to people normally, not in a situation like this! I just… I’m sorry Rose…” She runs out of the park to be alone. 

“Wait!” Marinette shouts, but she’s already gone. “I’m sorry…I forgot.” 

Up on the roof, Alix and Luka see everything. “We gotta go after her!” They run down the steps to get back to the street. “I was worried this might happen… her social anxiety flaring back up.” Luka says as they run. 

“Fuck… I completely forgot about that.” Alix says. “We’ve been friends with her for so many years, and she’s opened up to us. I think we all completely forgot how shy and nervous she used to be.”

Running down the street, Juleka stops in an alley to catch her breath. “I can’t do it. I love her…but I’m not strong enough to admit it. Not confident enough to be with her…” She looks into her wrist mirror on her right hand, staring at the face of a girl who is too scared to admit her feelings. But all that is about to change as an akuma flies down from high up and enters the mirror, sending Juleka into the purple void.

“ Hello Juleka. Forgive my intrusion, but I sensed a great deal of distress. The tortured mind of a girl too scared to admit to her love. ”

Juleka nods. “I wish I were more confident, that I could be the kind of partner Rose deserves, but I’m just too scared…”

“ You don’t have to be. I can give you confidence. ” Hawk Moth says. “ All-encompassing confidence. So much so that you’ll wish nothing more than for everyone to be like you. ”

Juleka stands up and looks around. “But you akumatized Rose…how can I trust you?”

“ I was trying to help her too. You think you’re the only one with feelings? ”

Juleka freezes. “Rose has… a crush on me too?”

The specter of Hawk Moth appears to give a nod. “ I offered her the power to control the world for you. But I’m offering you the power to transform it for her. ”

At this moment, Juleka chooses to take decisive action. She will become what Rose deserves. 

“ And what shall I call you? ”

“Reflekta.”

Around this time, Alix and Luka reach the ground. “Which way did she go?” Luka says. They run to the park to reunite with everyone else.

“Guys!” Rose notices the binoculars Alix is carrying. “Were you guys watching us?” Marinette clasps her hands together. “I’m sorry Rose, this was all my plan. But I didn’t realize Juleka would get nervous like that.”

“None of us did. We all fucked up a little.” Alix adds. 

“I promise I’ll explain. But we need to run and find her!”

“You know,” Alya says, “I’ve started to notice a trend with this city. I think a better idea would be to run in the opposite direction. Because-” Suddenly, a bright pink flash emits from a few streets down, and the akumatized Juleka leaps into the sky and lands at the park entrance. “Then this happens.” As Reflekta, Juleka’s skin has turned pale pink with red circles around her eyes and dark purple on her lips. Her hair has gone bright red and is tied up in two massive buns, and she’s wearing a bright red and pink dress. On her hands are gloves with two purple gemstones glowing in the center.

“ Why hello friends! ” Refletka says. Her voice has changed too, becoming higher and harsher yet still recognizable. “ Sorry about earlier, but I’m all better now! In fact, I’m more than that! I’m the best anyone can be! Except you of course, Rose. ” She softens a little, looking at her crush. 

“Juleka…” Marinette starts. “I’m sorry, I should’ve realized you’d get nervous. I forgot…”

“ Don’t be sorry, be happy. Because I’ve become so much better. More confident, more assured. In fact, I’ve decided to give you, Rose, a gift: Making everyone as perfect as me! ”

Adrien finally shows up at the park at this moment. “Oh shit I’m late! Did you guys already-” Refletka points her wrist at Adrien and fires a purple beam, which hits him and instantly turns him into a perfect copy of her. Same face, same body, same outfit. The only thing unaffected is his ring, since it’s a Miraculous. “What the hell?” He says, retaining his normal voice. Everyone else freaks out and starts to run away, with Reflekta laughing and firing at all of them, turning most of them into copies of her. Alix tries to grab Rose and run away but Refletka intervenes, leaping over and kicking Alix into a tree, before grabbing Rose herself. “ Oh no you don’t! I won’t let anything happen to you Rose! You’re coming with me! ” She scoops up Rose and leaps away into the air, her wrists firing down into the city and striking anyone around. Marinette, having gotten hit in the process, tries to get away but starts to trip in the high heels Refletka was wearing. Adrien has a very similar problem, yet he manages to get into an alley and call out Plagg. “Alright let’s get out there.” But Plagg immediately notices what he’s wearing. 

“BHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!! OH SHIT THIS IS TOO MUCH! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU WEARING!?!?!?!” Plagg bursts into laughter, flying around and rolling through the air. “I got hit ok? I hope transforming will get rid of this!”

“Oh yeah,” Plagg says. “When you transform, that should get undone. Now do it so I don’t have to look at that outfit anymore!”

“PLAGG, CLAWS OUT!”

Meanwhile, Refletka takes Rose up to the top of the Eiffel Tower, where she stands paralyzed with fear as her akumatized crush thrusts out her hands again and fires another massive purple beam down into the crowd below, turning them all into copies of her. “ Isn’t it beautiful? Everyone is…just like me. ”

“Juleka…” Rose says with fear in her voice. “Why are you doing this? Why were you akumatized?”

Reflekta gives another haughty laugh. “ Because before I was scared. I was too much of a coward to admit my love for you. But now…I’ll never be scared again! I can finally be the girl you deserve! ”

Rose takes a step backward. “You’re… in love with me?”

“ I’ve wanted to tell you for years, but now I finally can. No anxiety or fear can get in the way of my love. ”

“Well we can!” Cat Noir, who’d been scaling the backside of the tower, leaps up and swipes Reflekta with his elongated staff, knocking her into one of the metal walls. “Not that we want to. In fact, how about we just de-akumatize you?”

Angelbug flies up in front of Reflekta, blocking her exit. “And then we’ll let you keep going with whatever you were doing?”

“But you did put us in that crazy outfit.” Cat Noir says as he readies his staff again. “So don’t make it too easy on us.”

“ Graa-I WONT LET YOU TAKE HER! ” Reflekta fires her beams at both of them, but Cat Noir leaps out of the way, while Angelbug casts a shield and charges into Reflekta, knocking her away. Reflekta recovers and punches Angelbug in the face the second the shield goes down and unloads a point-blank beam right at her, but Angelbug flash-steps behind her and sweeps her legs, again knocking her off balance. Angered, Reflekta leaps up and delivers an uppercut. “Shit!” Angelbug stumbles back. She casts a strength spell on herself. “Fine then!” 

Meanwhile, Cat Noir sneaks around the terrace, ending up right beside Rose. “Come on, I gotta get you to safety!”

“I can’t leave!” Rose insists. “I have to be here for Juleka.”

“Well, can you be 900 feet down there for Juleka? Where you won’t fall?” Rose tries to protest, but a beam suddenly impacts less than a foot from where she’s standing, causing her to give a quick nod. “Great! Glad we have an understanding.” Cat Noir scoops her up and leaps off the tower.

“AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” Rose screams as they plummet the whole way down, cracking the ground upon Cat Noir's landing. “That’s the second time someone’s carried me like that today…”

Cat Noir puts her down. “Well good! You’re ready for your wedding!”

Back on the tower, Reflekta fakes Angelbug out and kicks her in the chest, sending her over the edge. Her wings kick in and she flies back up. “LUCKY CHARM!” Her yoyo generates a pair of…oven mittens. But instead of being confused, Angelbug smiles as she knows exactly what to do. Reflekta takes the moment to line up a shot on Cat Noir below her, firing right for his head. “CAT NOIR!” Angelbug shouts out. 

With his enhanced senses, Cat Noir sees it coming. He turns around right as it’s just a foot away, forming a Cataclysm as he turns and cutting the beam in half with one single motion. 

Ok fine. That was badass. Plagg says in his head. But Reflekta also notices Rose on the ground with him. “ ROSE! ” She leaps down without hesitation and lands, forming a small crater. “ I WON’T LET YOU TAKE HER! ” She grabs a tree out of the ground and throws it at Cat Noir, but Angelbug flies in and snags it with her yoyo, tugging it upward enough that it flies over his head and misses him.

“Cataclysm!” Cat Noir closes his fist and creates a shockwave, sweeping out and knocking Reflekta into the air. She tries to fire at him, but Angelbug swoops in and drops the oven mittens right onto her hands, preventing her from firing. She hits the ground and Angelbug casts a plant spell, creating vines that encircle her and trap her against the ground. 

“Her right hand!” Rose shouts out. “Her wrist mirror.” Cat Noir runs up, removes one oven mitt, and taps the crystal with his third Cataclysm before she can fire, releasing the akuma. Angelbug touches down and catches it out of the air as Reflekta turns back to Juleka. “MIRACULOUS ANGELBUG!” The oven mittens dissolve into a swarm of ladybugs that sweep through the city and restore everyone who was transformed back to normal. Back in the park, Alix looks around as everyone returns to normal. “Shit, finally. I was getting sick of looking at that outfit on everyone.”

“You said we were pulling it off!” Zoe protests. 

“I lied!”

Cerise sadly nods. “I was lying too.” Alya raises her eyebrow, and Cerise gets nervous. “Not like that!” 

Luka doesn’t waste any time, immediately looking at his phone and checking social media to see where the fight ended up and getting on his moped to reach his sister as fast as possible. Cerise notices and follows him.

 Back at the tower, Angelbug and Cat Noir high-five while Rose runs to Juleka’s side. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah,” Juleka says, looking up at Rose. “Thanks.”

“Was it true? What you said?”

Angelbug and Cat Noir give each other a look and decide to take off at that moment, leaving Rose and Juleka to have their moment. The people who’d been around also start to clear out now that the akuma is gone. 

Juleka nods. “I’ve felt that way for a while… but I’ve never been able to say it.” She blushes and covers the right side of her face with her hair, but Rose brushes it away. 

“But when I was akumatized, Hawk Moth said you…were the same?”

Rose blushes even heavier. “Yeah. Not for nearly as long though. But…you’re just so kind and funny. You’re loyal. Who wouldn’t have a crush on you?”

Juleka blushes as well. “Uhh… thanks!”

Rose looks at her feet. “So… what do we do now? Do… you want to go out with me?”

But this is an answer Juleka already knows. It became clear to her after this whole day. “Rose, I do. I want to so much. But everything that’s happened today has made it clear to me that I can’t yet. I went to Marinette for help, and through everything she and her friends did to help me, I realized I am not ready. I can’t be who you want me to be yet. I want to be better, more sure of myself, without needing to be akumatized. You’re so amazing, so funny, and positive. You deserve so much more than what I can give you right now.”

Rose listens to all of this and puts her hand on Juleka’s shoulder. “You know I’d accept you for who you are now.”

Juleka nods. “I do. But I don’t think I could accept that. I couldn’t accept us being together if I’m not the version of myself I should be. I don’t expect you to wait for me, but you’re more than just a girl I’m in love with. You’re also my best friend. I don’t want to ruin that just because I’m not ready to date yet.”

Rose continues to listen, almost starting to tear up. But then, she hugs Juleka, who is surprised at the gesture. 

“You’re my friend too. If you say you need time, I’ll wait for you. I want to be with you someday, but until then I’ll be right beside you as your friend. Helping you overcome whatever you need to. Is that ok?”

Juleka starts to cry as she hugs Rose back. “I couldn’t ask for anything more. Thank you for understanding.”

Cerise and Luka, who’d arrived a little while ago, stand there watching this. Luka is beaming with pride for his twin sister as he reads her expression. “Good job sis.”

Cerise looks up at him. “Soo… I can’t hear them. Are they a thing now?”

Luka shakes his head. “No… but they will be. One day. Just not today.”

Rose and Juleka get up and start to walk towards their friends and brother, ready to face whatever the future will bring. For now, still friends. But in the future? Absolutely more…

But before we leave… One more thing

In another time, many years ago, it was the middle of winter. Cerise Bianca, now eight years old, is leaping across the ice water with her friend Alice. It’s a game they made up. When the river freezes solid, they go out and jump on the ice, going until one of them breaks through it and falls into the water, usually only an inch or so deep. But the river had been frozen for a few days now, and they’d already broken a lot of the ice they normally use, so today, they went out a bit further, and unbeknownst to them, the water was a lot deeper. They’re walking along, playing, having fun and laughing, and as Cerise jumps again, the ice beneath her feet cracks deeply. But she doesn’t notice it, instead looking at Alice

“Oooo this is really frozen!” She says with a laugh, but Alice starts to look a little concerned. 

“You almost went through it then. Maybe we should head back.”

But Cerise is still nonchalant and cheerful. “C’mon Alice just one more jump! I’m sure you won’t even go through.” As she says that, she can almost hear a second voice saying it. Like someone right behind her repeating her words. It’s weird, she’s never heard anything like it. Her words wash over Alice, whose concerned look almost instantly turns to a smile. “Yeah absolutely, you’re right! I won’t go through at all!”

She walks forward and takes a big jump onto the ice, and as she lands, it breaks under her. Alice disappears underneath the ice and into the water. Cerise’s face instantly goes from happy to horrified. “ALICE?!” She starts running down the river to try and find her below the ice. “ALICE!!!!!” And she knows it’s all her fault…

And that’s when Cerise always wakes up. Panting in her bed, that nightmare comes every once in a while. A reminder of what she’s capable of, if she lies too much. If she loses her focus…

Chapter Text

Cerise sits in her bed as the morning sun slowly rises in the distance. She’s still breathing a little faster after her nightmare. She’s able to recover from it much quicker than she used to; the first few times it left her shaking for hours. And of course, she’ll never forget the moment Alice actually disappeared beneath the ice. But even all these years later, that nightmare still leaves her short of breath. And she can’t help but think…it’s haunting her. After all, she has been using her ability more recently. Helping out Alya after she was akumatized, getting the police to back off during the Game Master incident. She almost worries the world is reminding her what could happen every time she channels her ren’s blessing. 

There’s a knock on the door, and her mother, Nico Bianca, peeks in. Cerise took a lot more from her than she did her ren, which is probably a good thing as it means there’s less that has to be covered under any illusion. “Honey? You have to head to school soon!”

Cerise, still breathing slightly heavier than normal, nods. “Yeah…I’ll be down in a minute.” Her mom looks into her eyes and sees her slightly panicked expression, immediately realizing what’s up. “You had the dream again?”

Her daughter nods and looks out at the city skyline. “Not just that…I’ve had to use it more. A few times at least. And I’m worrying another incident could happen, even though I’m in control every time.”

Nico comes into the room and sits at the end of the bed. “What happened with Alice was not your fault. You were a kid with a gift unlike any other. You didn’t know. And you saved Alice in the end, cut her from the ice with a fire spell, remember?”

Cerise picks up a mirror from the bedside table and looks at her reflection. “But that still doesn’t change the fact that I have that power. And if I ever say the wrong thing it could happen again. It would be so much easier if I never used my blessing, but I just get the feeling I can’t do that.”

“That’s because you can’t.” her mom says, grasping her daughter’s hand. “Your ren gave you that blessing to protect the things you care about. Something they failed to do in their home. It was meant to be used, and as long as you can control it, Lilo would want you to embrace it.”

A soft smile creeps onto Cerise’s lips. She’s still not entirely sure, but her mom’s words put her at ease. “Thanks. I’ll be down for breakfast in a minute.” Her mom kisses her forehead and leaves the room. Cerise reaches under her bed and pulls out an old book titled Forbidden Magics of the Savage Ages . Her ren had brought it from their home, and one particular passage in it Cerise has read dozens of times. 

Bile Blessings:

Of all the forms of magic outlawed by Emperor Belos upon his ascension, few were as forgotten as the art of Bile Blessing. Having migrated from the Eight Fangs Titans, Bile Blessings have their roots in the ceremonies undergone by Supreme Dragons. They differ from other cast spells in a single way: instead of drawing on their bile sac to power the spell, the caster draws on their soul. This creates a magic virus that latches onto whoever the Blessing is gifted to, maturing within their body and feeding on their magic to sustain itself. In exchange, the Blessing grants its host a unique magical ability unrelated to any typical magic they might use.

The reason this ritual fell out of practice primarily comes down to the fact that casting a Bile Blessing, with a soul as its power, will kill the caster. As such it primarily found use as a final spell, cast by witches on their deathbed as a last gift to their children. Some unconfirmed reports claim casting a Bile Blessing on oneself causes a witch’s heart to become a Galderstone after death, but such reports are yet to be verified. Briefly it was believed the so-called “Owl Beast” roaming the forests near Bonesbourough was the result of a failed Bile Blessing, but such rumors were quickly proven unsound.

The one thing everyone still knows is that Bile Blessings are unique among magic. They can’t be restricted by sigils, hence their ban. But since it’s a fatal spell, very few cried upon Bile Blessings being outlawed. To this day, it’s unknown how many Blessed witches still live on the Boiling Isles or elsewhere. 

Cerise finishes reading and closes her eyes, feeling her heartbeat and the much smaller sound of her bile sac. This is what she is. A Blessed Witch. Lilo Rossi, her other parent, had given her a Bile Blessing on their deathbed. And because of it, she can say any lie, and no matter how ridiculous, people around her will believe it to be the truth. 

Over the years, she’s gotten better at controlling it. But she still knows she needs to be careful. She won’t let Alya, Marinette, or any of her other friends suffer if she says the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Later that day…

Cerise walks down the second-floor walkway of the school, heading to her lunch period. Her mind is still partially distracted, but still focusing enough that normally she wouldn’t just walk straight into someone. But sadly Armand D'Argencourt is also very distracted, and in a bit of a hurry, so the two end up colliding en route to their destinations. Cerise falls onto her butt but quickly gets up with a horrified expression. “Oh my god, Mr. D’Argencourt! I’m so sorry!”

But the school fencing teacher laughs it off. “Ah, don’t worry about it! It’s my own fault for not looking where I was going!” He gets up. “I was heading off to Town Hall to await the results of the mayoral election.”

“Oh right I almost forgot!” Cerise nearly had forgotten that D’Argencourt is running for mayor. “Good luck sir! Although I must admit I never saw you as a politician.”

He laughs again. “You’re not the first. But my family has a long history with this city. In fact, during the Middle Ages, we were even its rulers!”

Cerise is shocked at this information. “Wait, really?”

“Yes! My ancestor, Phillip D’Argencourt, ruled over a period of peace among the warring factions of this city! He was known as ‘Lightblade’ for his kind and generous rule, but also his fierce defense of the people! Any who disturbed his peace faced no mercy when faced with his blade!”

Cerise listens along at his story. “So…you’re running to honor your family’s legacy?”

“Well, partly.” Mr. D’Argencourt looks out at the courtyard, in particular at Chloé who’s sitting at one of the tables. “But also because I believe I can make a real difference! Our current mayor has abused his power to bring fortune to those he favors. I’m sure you’ve borne witness to this recently.”

At that notion, Cerise nods. “Don’t need to tell me, I’ve seen it firsthand.”

“And that’s precisely why I’m in this race! I can change that, ensure no one gets special treatment for having their fingers in the right pies. Just like my ancestor did!”

Cerise smiles. “Well good luck sir. We’ll be rooting for you!” He pats her on the shoulder and walks off, heading for City Hall.

The end of the school day arrives, and many of the students gather in the courtyard as the election results are about to be broadcast live. Marinette arrives just in time, running from her nearby classroom so fast she trips and falls on her face. “Owww… Oh shit I’m on time!” She runs up to sit with Adrien, Alya, and Cerise. “Do you think Mr. D’argencourt is gonna win?” Alya asks. 

“Please!” Chloé scoffs from behind them. “Like that utterly ridiculous loser has any chance of beating my dad!” Everyone gives her a look, including Sabrina. “What?” 

Sabrina tucks her hair behind her ear. “Well…you did get my dad akumatized a few days ago?”

“I said I was sorry, alright?”

Everyone looks at her again. “YOU DID?!”

“Of course I did! Sabrina’s my friend!” Everyone turns away, very surprised, just as the news broadcast begins and the reporter begins speaking.

“ Don’t be bemused, it’s just the news! I’m Nadja Chamak, reporting to you live from City Hall! The mayoral election results between Andre Bourgeis and Armand D’Argencourt are about to be revealed! Both candidates have taken the stage and we are moments away from declaring a winner! ”

Everyone watches as Nadja walks across the screen and up onto the stage. “ The results are in! ” She opens an envelope in her hands. “ The winner of the Paris Mayoral Election, with 56.4% percent of the vote, is the incumbent Andre Bourgeis! ” People start clapping and cheering, while Armand looks devastated onstage. Andre jumps forward and starts accepting applause and congratulations. Meanwhile, Armand removes a badge from his shirt bearing the D’argencourt coat of arms and looks at it shamefully before walking off. Mrs. Bustier, who was watching with them, solemnly turns off the broadcast. 

“Alright everyone! You’re all free to go!” Everyone begins to file out over the next 30 minutes, and as they reach the exits, they hear a massive explosion. A bright purple beam of light streaks into the sky from around City Hall. “Oh shit…” The light reforms into a massive figure, a knight in purple-highlighted dark armor with a massive sword, a shining black onyx encrusting the hilt. The akumatized Armand D’Argencourt speaks. “People of Paris! I am Darkblade, your new ruler! Andre Bourgeis is a fraud who misuses his power! But I shall free you from his chains and restore peace to the land! All you must do is join my ranks!” He raises his sword, and several beams of black light fire out of it and streak into the city. All around them, Marinette and her friends watch as they begin to strike various people, covering them in dark clouds and turning them into more armored knights, with green-highlighted armor and long halberds. “RUN!” The group scatters, with everyone running down different alleys. Adrien makes sure he’s alone and brings out Plagg. “I swear, this is like the fifth time I’ve had to watch Paris be invaded!”

“I’m not even gonna ask about that. PLAGG, CLAWS OUT!”

Transforming into Cat Noir, he leaps out into the street and is quickly noticed by the newly emerged knights. “Cat Noir! Subdue him!” They lower their halberds and charge, and Cat Noir extends his staff with a smirk. “Really? Big heavy metal fans ain’t ya?” He charges to meet them, dodging out of the way as the first knight swings their halberd down, lodging itself in the ground. He jumps up it and roundhouse kicks the knight in the face, knocking him away before using his momentum to twirl his staff and send them all flying back. He pretends to brush sweat off his brow. “That was a nice warm-up, but it’s time for the main event!” He jumps into the sky towards the center of the action.

In the square surrounding City Hall, basically everyone had been turned into knights. Darkblade, who stands a few feet taller then them, slashes through several cars, using his magic to turn them into catapults and trebuchets. “Now, we march for the enemy's castle!” Cat Noir lands on a nearby building to observe. “Dammit, there’s gotta be a hundred of them!”

“More.” Angelbug appears next to him. “And unlike the other times an Akuma’s taken servants, these ones all are armed and dangerous.”

Cat Noir nods. “I tangled with a few. Fortunately doesn’t seem like their transformation comes with much extra fighting knowledge.”

“Still, getting jumped by fifty of them probably won’t feel good even with superhero durability.” 

As they watch, the army starts to march out of the plaza and down the streets, heading for the Bourgois family hotel. They can hear chaos in the city around them as other squads of knights transformed by the initial attack begin to wreak havoc. “Well, that’s the castle he was talking about.” He studies the paths they’re taking. “I can collapse some buildings, slow them down.”

Angelbug nods. “LUCKY CHARM!” She throws her yoyo up and it forms… a teapot. “I was hoping for more of a solution…” Cat Noir starts, but Angelbug is too confused to even answer him. “Why a teapot… wait…” A lightbulb goes off in her hand. “I need you to hold them. But don’t attack them head-on! Especially Darkblade, he probably knows how to fight with a sword!” He nods, and Angelbug flies off. Cat Noir steels himself and leaps down into the fray to do anything he can to slow them down. In a few minutes, Angelbug arrives at Master Fu’s tea shop. “Master Fu!” She runs in. “Do you see…”

“I saw.” Master Fu enters from the back of the store, with Wayzz flying around him. Angelbug detransforms, and the teapot disappears after he’d gotten a look at it. “The Lucky Charm led me here. I don’t know why.”

“I do. It’s because you need help.” Fu sighs and turns around to face the music box. “Tikki was telling you that you need another hero to defeat this Akuma. But letting more Miraculous out into the world…is always a risk.”

“It seems like a pretty risky moment Master. Look out there!”

He sighs again. “You’re right. And the Lucky Charm has led you here.” He walks forward and inputs the secret code, opening the hidden compartment to reveal the Miracle Box. He turns around and opens it, placing it on the floor. “Marinette Dupein-Cheng, wielder of the Miraculous of Creation, you may select one additional Miraculous to provide to someone you can trust.” Marinette looks at all the potential choices. Hidden compartments on the box open to reveal even more Miraculous. She can sense the raw magic emanating from them, so strong she almost faints. “We can’t fight them head-on. We need to draw Darkblade out, ensure he’s alone without his army.” Tikki nods. “I know exactly what we need.” She makes her selection, removing a Miraculous from the box.

 Master Fu smiles. “Good choice. However, there’s one thing you must know. Once this mission is over and the Akuma is purified, return the Miraculous to me. We can’t risk having another permanent holder operating right now. Hawk Moth probably already knows I’m here. It’s dangerous enough having two of you out there.” 

Marinette nods. “Tikki, Spots On!” She transforms back. “I know exactly who to give this to!” 

Meanwhile …

Cerise falls backwards in a panic as one of the knights cuts through Alya. They’d been hiding among the alleys attempting to find a safe way to get home, and they attempted to make a run for it. But one of the knights caught them and attacked Alya. Cerise can only watch as she turns into another faceless knight, who stands up and points her halberd right at them. Cerise looks around in a panic and notices that no one else is around. Acting fast, she draws an illusion to summon two figures she’d seen in one of her ren’s books. They’re dressed in white uniforms with grey beaked masks, and they advance on the knights. But since they’re only illusions, the knights cut through them, but the poof of blue smoke attracts Angelbug’s attention from the air, and she swoops down. “Cerise!” She casts an ice spell to freeze up their legs before unleashing a construction spell, creating earthen chains that lash around their arms and tie them to the ground. She grabs Cerise and flash steps away into an alley. “Are you ok?”

Cerise nods. “Yeah, but my friend Alya isn’t. One of those knights is her.” 

Shit. One of them was Alya? I was gonna get her help! Angelbug thinks, weighing the situation. Cerise is standing before her, and she gets an idea. “Well, we need to save her. Cat Noir is doing his best but it won’t be enough. I need your help.”

“My help!” Angelbug’s yoyo opens and she reaches into the hammerspace storage, withdrawing a long gold necklace with a fox charm on the end. “Cerise Bianca. This is the Miraculous of Illusion. You will use it for the greater good and benefit of all life.” She offers it to Cerise, who stumbles back in shock. “Wait… you’re offering me a Miraculous?”

Angelbug nods. “You’re the only one who can help us right now.” But Cerise shakes her head. “No you don’t get it! I can’t help you! All I do is make things worse!” Angelbug examines Cerise and sees her distress. Something she’s been through is preventing her from helping. So Angelbug casts another spell and creates a dome of silence around them using some illusion magic. “Is there any way I can help? You can trust me with whatever you have to say.”

Cerise looks back up at Angelbug, and makes a decision. She pulls off the Concealment Stone embedded in her necklace and a poof of blue smoke reveals the true Cerise, who looks very much the same but with longer pointy ears. Angelbug hears Tikki gasp. 

Cerise… Cerise is a witch! Tikki thinks in her head.

“ A witch? What do you mean a witch? ” Angelbug thinks back at her Kwami.

A lesser sentient species in the Arcane Realm. They tend to live on the corpses of dead Nephilim and fought most of the Eternal Wars with the Angels. Tikki explains

“Wait… that kind of witch? I thought we fought the wars with the Nephillim!”

Then they wouldn’t have been very even wars. Tikki snarks. Angelbug gets out of her own head and looks at Cerise again. “You’re… a witch? From the Demonic Realm.”

Cerise shakes her head. “My ren is. They were born in a place called the Boiling Isles. I’ve never been there, but my ren Lilo fled the realm to escape a tyrannical Emperor. Someone who’d wished them death for not falling in line with the tyranny of his Empire. A golden-eyed woman in the flea market had a way out, and for a healthy price my ren was free. And that’s where they met my mom Nico.” 

She starts to cry at the edges of her eyes. “Is… your ren still around?” Cerise shakes her head. “No. But when they died, they gave me a magic blessing. At least, it should be a blessing but it’s been more of a curse. I can lie. Flawlessly. I can make people believe anything I say. I could tell you I’ve been your best friend for years, and even though it’s a lie, you’d instantly believe it.”

Angelbug was visibly shocked at this revelation, stumbling back a few feet. “But you…”

“I wouldn’t. When I was younger I made mistakes. Used my power accidentally and one of my friends nearly died…”

A young Cerise ran panicked down the frozen stream, keeping an eye on the drowning form of Alice below it. Acting fast, she drew a spell circle and threw a fire bolt at the ice in front of where Alice was going, melting it. She ran in front of her friend and quickly pulled her from the ice.

“No one ever figured it out. But I knew. I did it. And ever since that moment I’ve sworn to never use my blessing again. And sure, I’ve broken that promise to help my friends but the fact remains. I feel like I’ve been forced into it. I feel like the world wants me to lie and be something I’m not…But I don’t want to do that! I don’t want to be a pathological liar! I just…want to know what my ren was thinking giving me this…” 

She’s cut off, suddenly, by Angelbug stepping forward and hugging her. It was shocking, but Angelbug could tell her friend needed it. “What the universe is telling you doesn’t matter. My grandma once told me there’s no such thing as chosen ones. Just us. And what we do with the gifts we’re given is up to us. Your ren gave you this gift to protect the people you love right? Well, that might be what they want, but it’s up to you to decide.” 

Cerise hugs Angelbug back before they separate. “I want to help them, and you. I choose to use my power for good. But I wanna do it myself. I’ll help you now, but after this, I don’t want to use the Miraculous again. Ok?”

Angelbug nods and holds out the Miraculous, which Cerise takes and dons around her neck. The tip of the charm glows and a new Kwami appears, this one looking more like a red fox. “Hello there!” They say in a chipper voice. “I’m Trixx, your Kwami! Ready to get wild?”

Cerise chuckles. “My parent was a Wild Witch. It’s in my blood.” 

“Then all you have to do is tell me to pounce!”

Cerise grins. “Trixx, let's pounce!” 

Trixx cheers as they’re sucked into the Miraculous, transforming Cerise in a flash of orange light. 

Meanwhile …

Cat Noir closes his fist and summons a Cataclysm, thrusting it out and creating a shockwave that sends several knights flying back, keeping them from grabbing the fleeing Alix and Zoe, who’d he’d found while trying to cut off the main portion of Darkblade’s army from reaching the hotel. One of them charges to try and stop him but he ducks to the side and sweeps the knight’s legs before delivering an axe kick that knocks them out. “You guys ok?”

Alix and Zoe nod. “Get to safety. Don’t go to the hotel, that’s where the army is heading.” Zoe looks worried at that statement, considering she lives there, but she’s also newer in town. She grew up in America with her mom, and when she chose to move here, she was warned about the reputation her half-sister and stepfather have here. She gets that a lot of people have grudges against her family, but she just doesn’t want people to get hurt in the process. Taking Alix’s hand, she leads her friend away. Cat Noir watches them go before hearing Angelbug land behind him. “Well did you manage to find…”

Angelbug isn’t alone anymore, and as she lands on the ground, the newly transformed Cerise jumps down to join them. She now has an orange and white superhero suit with black lining traveling down her legs and arms to black gloves and boots. Her hair has grown out into a bob cut with the tips colored orange, and fox ears sprout from her head. Strapped to her back is her Miraculous weapon, which for her is an orange and white flute. She stumbles a bit upon landing, still not entirely used to her increased dexterity. Cat Noir takes a step back before laughing. “You know Angelbug, I thought I was your only superhero friend.”

Angelbug pats him on the shoulder. “Normally. But we need some help with this. So this is…uh, what should we call you?”

Cerise thinks about it for a second before deciding.

“Call me Volpina. Angelbug explained the situation and I’m happy to help.”

Angelbug draws a circle and creates an illusory map of the city. “Darkblade’s going straight for the hotel, and I don’t wanna know what happens when he gets there. So we need to draw him away and out from his forces. That’s where Volpina comes in, with your flute.”

Volpina takes the flute off her back. “My flute?”

Angelbug nods. “You wield the Miraculous of Illusion. Your special ability is called the Mirage. By playing your flute, you can create an accurate illusion of anything you can imagine. They last much longer than my illusions, and you can create up to three of them before you need to recharge. You’re gonna create identical copies of the hotels here, and here.” She points to two other areas on the map. 

Cat Noir frowns. “There’s no way he’ll fall for that. He’ll see the illusion being cast,” Angelbug grins evilly. “That’s where you come in.”

A few minutes later…

Having found an open road, Darkblade and his army march torwards the hotel. They’d transformed several cars into siege weapons, with Darkblade now riding a police horse that he’d turned into a black war horse. His sword is at the ready and he’s prepared for battle. “Soon I will have my vengeance on that mayor, that LIAR! And Paris will be mine!”

“‘Fraid not pal!” Cat Noir flash steps right in front of him, his suit glowing thanks to an Angelic Blessing, and he lunges with his staff. Darkblade is so surprised that he can’t block the attack and is knocked off his horse, with Cat Noir landing in front of him. “Knights are so 1342, it’s all about spandex and superpowers now dude!” All the transformed knights turn to him and lower their halberds, but he just smiles. “Allow me to ENLIGHTEN YOU!” He draws a massive spell circle and creates a giant flash of light, blinding all the knights, including Darkblade. 

A few streets away, Volpina sees the light flash and knows it’s her time. “Here goes…” She takes out her flute and begins to play, her fingers naturally being guided to the right places to activate her ability. An orange orb forms at the end of the flute. “MIRAGE!” She chucks the orb into the air, and it splits in two. The two orbs rocket several miles apart and create two more bright flashes. When they fade, what’s left are two identical copies of the hotel. You’d pass through them if you tried to touch them, but from the outside they look like real buildings. Cat Noir sees the Mirage activate. “Try and keep up!” He flash steps into the air and starts running along the buildings. The knights recover and look around. “My Lord! ” One of them says. “ The enemy has multiplied! ” Darkblade looks into the sky and sees the three hotels, with only one being real. He growls. “ Split up! Destroy the new ones! I shall take the final keep myself! ” The knights split up and move towards the illusory hotels while Darkblade forges straight ahead, quickly arriving at the steps of the hotel. Cat Noir is waiting right on the front step. “ Ah, so you seek a duel young hero? That I can provide! I’ll take your Miraculous and make an example out of those who defy Darkblade!” He charges forward and swings his sword, but it passes harmlessly through Cat Noir. It was an illusion. 

“WHAT?!”

“Gotcha!” Volpina drops her invisibility spell, leaps in, and kicks him in the face. Angelbug follows suit, applying a strength spell to herself and attempting to pull Darkblade to the ground, with Volpina’s help, but he recovers from his stunt and flings her away with one hand before punching Volpina into the wall. Cat Noir leaps in and engages him with his staff. Back and forth the two go for a few exchanges but Darkblade is more skilled, feinting out Cat Noir and slamming him to the ground. He raises his sword. “Now to take your Miraculous!” 

“I’ll never give it to you!”

“Then I’ll take the whole arm instead! ” Angelbug shouts out and rushes in, but Darkblade reaches back with his other hand and grabs her around the neck, instantly stopping her. Volpina recovers and sees the dire situation, and makes a decision. “Hey Darkblade! They’re about to overpower you! Quick, give me your akuma so you’ll be safe!” She channels her ren’s blessing and hears their voice in the background, washing over Darkblade and causing him to pause. “ They’re about to overpower me?”

“Yeah! Trust me, I know! We’re partners remember?” The lie washes through his mind again. Yes, of course, this is his partner Volpina. She must be right. So he takes the badge of his armor and throws it to her. She lifts her flute, extends a sharp spear point from it, and stabs down, breaking it and freeing the akuma. Instantly, Darkblade turns back to Mr. D’Argencourt. Angelbug captures the akuma and purifies it. “MIRACULOUS ANGELBUG!” She releases the ladybug swarm from her hands, and it sweeps through the city, restoring everyone who’d been turned by Darkblade. Mr. D’Argencourt falls to the ground. Angelbug looks down and offers him her hand. “I’m sorry for your loss, but there are other ways to fight corruption. Things might not be ideal now, but as time goes on, people will grow tired of it. They’ll look for change. Your ancestor’s dream may come true one day.” He smiles and takes her hand. “I’m sorry, but thank you. I will not let my anger overpower me again!” The three heroes nod and exchange a fist bump. “POUND IT!” Cat Noir heads off for home, while Angelbug and Volpina retreat to an alley, where Volpina takes off the Miraculous. “Here you go.”

Angelbug takes it back. “What you did with Darkblade…that’s your ability?”

Cerise nods. “I’ve never used it to convince someone that much before.”

Angelbug puts her hand on Cerise’s shoulder. “I know. I won’t ask you to do that again.”

Cerise gives a big smile. “You know what? I’ll think about it. But now, yeah. I’m out of the superhero game.”

Angelbug nods in understanding. “Well I appreciate your help. Bug out!” She flies away, leaving Cerise alone. 

Meanwhile, in the Agreste mansion, Gabriel looks out at the city, his latest attempt having failed. 

“Who was that?” He asks Nooroo.

“That was Trixx’s power. The Miraculous of Illusion.”

Gabriel turns around in his office and accesses the secret compartment behind the painting, which contains the peacock brooch and the Grimoire. 

“So she has access to other Miraculous?” Nooroo nods. “That only proves that the Guardian wasn’t just here; they are still here. Furthermore, the more Miraculous are active at once, including us, the more likely someone will notice.”

Gabriel looks at the peacock brooch. “Someone?”

“The Miraculous are concealed by illusions. They were designed that way. But it’s not foolproof. And some Angels have methods of seeing through illusions.”

Gabriel sighs. “Then we might need to change our plans, depending on whether someone else takes action. If another Angel appears, we’ll have to be ready.”

Later…

“So, you were a superhero?!”

Cerise is back in her bedroom with Alya, having just given her an explanation(Alya has declared it an exclusive interview) of everything she did to help Angelbug.

“Yeah, one-time only though. Also…it kinda helped me more understand my ren. Why they gave me this power. I’ve been having doubts, and I still do, but this was a nice first step towards embracing it.”

Alya gives her a hug. “I’m proud of you. I can’t believe you told Angelbug though.”

“Well it seemed right at the time. I’m sure she can be trusted.”

Alya nods, but in her head realizes that Marinette now knows about Cerise. They’ll have to talk about that at another time. But that’s for another day, right now, she only has one more question. 

“Why Volpina?” In response, Cerise reaches under her bed and pulls out another book. Her ren’s old journal.

“I found the name in here. My ren…wasn’t just a runaway. They were a hero on the Boiling Isles, a member of something called G-Force before it all came crashing down. And the name they went by…was Volpina.”

Chapter Text

On a sunny Saturday morning, Tikki is watching a bit of new entertainment. Well, not new, she’s witnessed it a few times before. But it never gets less entertaining watching Marinette run frantically around the room looking for something. “Where the hell did I put the blueprint?!”

“Why are you asking me like I know?” The kwami snarks back. “You’re the one who ran out of here when Guitar Villain attacked, flapped your wings too hard and knocked everything around.”

Marinette sighs. She’s right of course. Guitar Villain’s attack came later at night, as of course, world-famous rockstar Michael “Jagged” Stone couldn’t get akumatized at a convenient time. As Marinette searches she stands up a bit too fast and stumbles over. The battle last night took a toll especially since Guitar Villain used a sound weapon that emitted shockwaves, one of the few things that can actually get through the Miraculous. Marinette in particular got hit hard by his finishing attack, with the shockwave being so strong that it stopped her heart. Fortunately, Cat Noir knows CPR so she was fine.

She opens one of the pink chests and tosses aside several wrapped gifts, which Tikki looks at suspiciously. “What are those for?”

“Preprepared birthday presents,” Marinette responds before finally remembering. “AHA!” She spins a spell circle and the chart mounted to her ceiling opens and extends, revealing the blueprint for the design she was working on. “God, sometimes I forget I have that. It comes in handy though.” Her friends refer to it as her “stalker board,” because she usually uses it to keep track of her and her friends' schedules so they can plan stuff.

“You know, maybe this isn’t the day to work on a hat made entirely of pigeon feathers.” Marinette looks at the blueprint for a second, then sighs and climbs up to her bed. “Yeah I know… I’ll just watch some videos instead.” She spins another circle from her bed and levitates her phone over, but right as she grabs it, she notices a text from Alya. “DON’T TURN ON THE NEWS!”

Marinette looks at it, confused. “Alright, now I have to turn on the news.” She flash-steps from the bed to her chair and turns on her PC, clicking through to the news channel. Her eyes go wide at the headline. 

ANGELBUG AND CAT NOIR KISS 

“WHAT THE SH-”

Meanwhile at Agreste Manor…

“-IT?” As it turns out, Adrien had the exact same reaction upon turning on the news, gazing in shock and horror at the TV as somehow, the Internet has taken him giving Angelbug CPR last night as him kissing her. And now the news is reporting that. 

“ Footage posted to the Angelblog last night is what kickstarted these spicy rumors. ” The reporter, Nadja Chamak, continues to speak. “ Now, all of Paris is wondering if there’s something more going on between our duel protectors. ”

Adrien lets out a long sigh and looks up at the ceiling. “Great, now I’m the subject of celebrity rumors. AGAIN!” 

Plagg flies over with a piece of cheese between his hands. “Wow, I get that you’re rich, but I didn’t think you were famous too. Other than the superhero thing.”

Adrien nods solemnly. “Turns out being the son of Paris’s biggest designer, and modeling all of his clothes, means everyone knows you! Sometimes I’m even in movies and stuff. But yeah, last year the whole city thought I was dating Chloé.”

Plagg is so disgusted at this notion that he spits out his cheese. “WHAT?”

“I know! And at least with Chloé she’s my friend. I’m with her a lot; I was especially back then. But this is such a bigger leap! How can I date Angelbug? I don’t even know who she is!”

Plagg eats some more cheese. “Well you’re the only one who's measuring it against other instances because well… you know you’re Cat Noir. They don’t.”

Adrien sighs again and continues listening to the report. “ While this is certainly an interesting rumor, I feel our audience deserves to hear both sides. That’s why I’m inviting Angelbug and Cat Noir onto my show tonight at 7 pm to speak their peace! I look forward to uncovering the truth, same as all of you! ” This proposal causes Adrien to perk up. “An interview huh? Maybe that’s worth a shot. Just gotta ask Angelbug.”

“This is a bad idea.” Plagg says. “And I’m the one freaking saying that!”

“Plagg, claws out!”

“Motherfu-” He starts to scream before getting sucked into the Miraculous.

While this is happening, Marinette has already turned into Angelbug, cast an invisibility spell on herself and flown to Alya’s apartment. She’s in her bedroom at this moment, working on her laptop on the new article for the Angelblog, recapping everything that happened last night. Normally, they post the footage first, then follow it up with a written report of everything they know. Cerise just sent her the first draft, and she’s currently going through it when she gets a call from Marinette. “Yeah?”

“DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS?!” Alya jerks her head away as Marinette’s screaming rings through her ears.

“No I just found out! Where are you?”

“I’m outside, just let me in!” Alya jumps up and runs out of her room to the front door of the apartment, opening it to see a very angry Marinette, having just de-transformed.

“You are lucky I’m home alone! What the hell is going on?!” Marinette storms inside in a huff. “Girl, you ok?”

“NO!” Marinette throws up her arms. “After last night, everyone thinks Cat Noir and Angelbug are a couple!” She holds up her phone and shows Alya the headline. “And they got that idea from your footage!”

Alya closes her eyes to think, before running and grabbing her laptop. Sitting down and opening up the Angelblog, she cycles through all the posted footage before finding what she’s looking for. “Is it this part when Cat Noir gives you CPR?”

She nods. Alya face-palms. “He’s clearly giving you CPR.”

“I KNOW RIGHT?!”

“Dammit…” Alya leans back in her chair. “Sorry about this.”

Marinette pats her on the back. “Eh, not your fault people jumped to conclusions. Although now Nadja Chamak is inviting us on her show for an interview, which I figure I should probably do.”

Alya looks conflicted, and a little bit worried, but she shrugs. “It’s not fully what I’d recommend, but what’s the worst that could happen?”

Marinette smiles at her, but she’s not done as she sits down next to her friend. “There is something else. Back during the Darkblade incident, something happened involving Cerise…”

Alya nods. “I know. We did an interview, but I decided against publishing it. Figured even if she’s only gonna use a Miraculous once, we’d rather not have her identity out there.”

Her friend smiles but doesn’t look fully at ease, and Alya can guess as to why. “She also said… she told you everything about herself.”

Marinette’s eyes go wide. “...Yeah. Wait, you know?!”

“She told me a month before we met you. I’m guessing you’re referring to her being a witch?”

Marinette nods, and Tikki flies out from her bag. “Not just that, she has the power to lie flawlessly and make anyone believe her.”

Alya nods. “Yeah, she’s done it a few times. But when she was younger she did it by accident, and it’s haunted her ever since. So she rarely uses her blessing. Sometimes though she uses magic.”

“I do apologize for my previous wording Marinette,” Tikki follows up. “Witches are only a lesser species in a certain view. They evolved from a more ancient race of Malakhim at a later date than the Angels or Nephilim. As such, they’re only lesser in terms of when they first appeared.”

Alya stares at the kwami. “You know about witches, too?”

The kwami nods with enthusiasm. “While they don’t grow as powerful as Angels, witches outcompete them in versatility and the malleable nature of their magic. Interbreeding with more traditional demons gives them a great variety of unique abilities and access to rituals that Angels simply cannot perform. It’s how they were such a powerful force in the Eternal Wars.”

“And Cerise’s blessing is one of those rituals, from what she tells me.” Alya explains further. “Unconnected to her normal magic.”

Marinette fidgets a little in her chair. “One thing's for sure, we’ll be there for her to help. Even if technically, I’m not supposed to know about this.”

Alya nods. “You got it.” She gives a small smirk. “You know, if you needed someone to use a Miraculous, I was available.”

Marinette laughs. “No, you were not. I’ll consider it though for the next time that much shit hits the fan.”

The two friends laugh at the possibility.

That night … 

On the rooftop of the TVi broadcasting tower, Angelbug and Cat Noir both arrive with a final exerted leap of effort. A feeling of relief spreads over both their faces as they see each other. “Oh, thank god,” Angelbug says, “I was worried I was the stupid one.”

Cat Noir gives his trademark grin. “Of course not. That’s a highly exclusive title.”

Angelbug laughs, but she regains her composure. “So… before we go in, you don’t actually have a thing for me right?”

He shakes his head. “Nah. We got a good thing going; that would only ruin it. You?”

She shakes her head as well. “I got someone I’m interested in. I do gotta ask, how did you learn CPR?”

“I was watching some training videos.” Her partner explains. “Ever since we got our powers, I’ve been worried about the fact that shockwaves like that can hurt us. Figured it was a necessary precaution.”

Angelbug nods in understanding. “Yeah. Well, I suppose I’d rather everyone thinking you kissed me than being dead. So shall we?”

Inside the studio, Nadja is already ready, but in a panicked sweat. She knows what’s at stake with this interview. The executives want big drama and big numbers, and if she can’t get them that they’re shutting her show down. She can’t allow that, especially not that she now has her daughter Manon to take care of. “Alright everyone!” Her director shouts. “We’re going live in three…two…one!”

Nadja turns to face the camera. “Don’t be bemused everyone, it’s just the news! I’m Nadja Chamack, coming to you live from the studio with an exclusive interview. Here for the first time, please welcome our protectors Angelbug and Cat Noir!” The crew waits for something, but no superheroes appear. Nadja is almost about to get worried when a vent bursts open above them and the two heroes leap down onto the set. “I told you we shouldn’t go in the vents!” Angelbug snarks at her partner, who flops down on the couch with a grin. “Hey I’ve always wanted to do it!‘ Angelbug sits down next to him. “Sorry about my partner and his theatrics. But we’re happy to be here.”

“It’s my pleasure.” Nadja breathes a sigh of relief. “So it’s been a little while now since you first appeared, and it would be an understatement to say you’ve impressed us.” A video montage plays behind them of all their battles so far. “You’re not just heroes, you’re celebrities. How have you taken to that?”

Cat Noir answers first, leaning forward with a grin still fixed on his face. “Cone of silence? I’ve always known fame can be distracting. I didn’t get my superpowers hoping people would treat me any differently.”

Angelbug nods. “It’s been a bit to adjust to, seeing people everywhere talk about you and speculate on every detail of your life. I’m just lucky I have people whom I can lean on to keep me grounded.”

“Really?” Nadja leans forward. “And are those people especially close?” Angelbug frowns at that notion and Cat Noir also leans up, his smile faded. “What do you mean by that?”

Nadja continues to smile. “I of course reference the reason you’re here at all. There’s been so much speculation online ever since a day ago, when Cat Noir kissed Angelbug in the heat of battle.” A screenshot is displayed showing what appears to be Cat Noir and Angelbug kissing. “Of course, it’s only natural. Two young people facing impossible odds have no one else to lean on…except each other.”

“Now hold on that’s not what happened!” Cat Noir objects. “That’s out of context!”

“Then what is the context?” Nadja continues to drill into Cat Noir.

“I was giving her CPR. One of Guitar Villain’s attacks really hurt her and I was helping.”

“You see that might be true Cat Noir, but you’ve been in these battles. We’ve seen that it’s very difficult to hurt you. So what makes this different? Even if you think you were helping her, perhaps there was an inner…longing for such a connection to your partner?”

“There’s none of that!” Angelbug protests. “Cat Noir and I are partners, and we trust each other deeply. We have to given what we go through. But we are not involved like that.”

“Well how can we be sure?” Nadja, despite the warnings, continues to drill knowing what’s on the line. “Plenty of couples keep their relationships private. Now if we knew your identities, perhaps it would make discerning the truth easier…”

Cat Noir suddenly extends his staff to the point where it’s a foot from Nadjas' face, and she jerks back instinctively. “You'd better back off! I’ve dealt with people like you before. We have no obligation to tell you anything like that.” He’s breathing heavily with a look of rage on his face.

Angelbug stands up as well. “Cat Noir, calm down.” He scoffs. “Why? It’s all the same. Every time. We’re done here.” He withdraws his staff and walks out. “Cat Noir! Wait!” Both Angelbug and Nadja cry out, and Angelbug gives her a dirty look before leaving. As she storms out of the studio Nadja starts to panic. “No…it wasn’t supposed to go like this! I can’t lose my job, I just can’t!” As she starts to break down, her watch catches the eye of an akuma waiting in the rafters, flying down and entering it, thrusting her into the void. 

“ Hello Nadja. Forgive my intrusion, but that didn’t go how you planned, did it? ” 

Najda nods. “My job was on the line and I screwed it up. They wanted me to create drama for the viewers, try and get them to admit to being a couple or something! If I just had some secret of theirs, I won’t lose my job…”

“ Well, how about I help you get it? I’ll give you the power to uncover whatever secret you desire from them. And in return, I’ll take their Miraculous. After all, what’s some trinkets in return for information? ” 

Nadja gives a nod of agreement.

“ And what shall I call you? ”

“Prime Queen.”

Cat Noir walks out of the front door of the building with Angelbug right behind him. “Cat Noir!” He turns around and his rage-filled face softens. “Sorry about that.”

Angelbug puts her hand on his shoulder. “What was that about? That sounded…personal.”

He turns away from her, avoiding her gaze. “I can’t say for identity reasons. But I’ve had my experiences with prying reporters. People wanting to know everything about you, make assumptions about your life. And I don’t want us to fall into that trap either.”

“I get it. I’m sorry you had to go through that again.”

He looks down at his hands. “I didn’t expect to. When I became Cat Noir, I did it so I could be free of all that. Not for it to follow me.”

Angelbug hugs him. “Don’t worry. I’ll go to the Angelblog and we’ll shut down any rumors through them. We know we can trust them.” But as she steps away, all the lights around them start to malfunction. Across the city, everyone who is watching TV, no matter what they are watching, snaps out of whatever trance they were in as a bright blue glow comes from every screen, big or small, in Paris. Alya, who is across the apartment, moves closer to her family’s TV, but two hands reach out and grab her, pulling her through. 

The same fate befalls Cerise as she goes to look at her phone, and a pair of hands grab her and somehow drag her through it. As Angelbug and Cat Noir stand back-to-back, unsure of what’s happening, the giant TV screen mounted onto the TVi building lights up with a new broadcast. 

“ Hello Paris! This is the Prime Queen, coming to you live at prime time! After Angelbug and Cat Noir refused to reveal to the people their greatest secrets, I’ve decided to find some new guests! ”

Prime Queen appears on the screen. Nadja is now in red chrome armor with a holographic blue mask over her face, her hair having grown out slightly and become more wild. She gestures behind her as Alya and Cerise appear onscreen, tied up and gagged in the front car of an empty subway. 

“Shit! Alya!” Angelbug shouts out. 

“ These two are the brave journalists who exposed Angelbug and Cat Noir’s love to the world! And now to those superheroes, I invite you to save them! Otherwise… ” She points to the controls at the front of the train, and the throttle pushes down as the train speeds up. “ Just come through the screen! Tick tock! ”

Angelbug and Cat Noir grip their weapons. “So me leaving the interview in a rage is what akumatized her?”

Angelbug nods and tenses up. “Alright, we’re going through in three, two, one…”

“Wait you serious?” Cat Noir looks over at her. “We can’t just jump in there!”

“We have to! Those girls are stuck in that train!”

“But it’s clearly a trap!” Cat Noir protests.

“A trap isn’t a trap if you know it’s a trap.” Angelbug responds. “What does that even mean?” Her partner asks.

She shrugs. “Don’t know!‘ before rocketing into the screen at top speed and disappearing. “Shit…can’t believe we have to save this lady.” Cat Noir leaps after her. The two materialize in the train and right in front of them sits Alya and Cerise. “Cataclysm.” Cat Noir uses his power to swipe through their bonds and free them. Angelbug helps them up. “You guys ok?”

Alya nods. “Yeah…” The screen on the side of the train car lights up as Prime Queen appears. “ So you’ve freed them! Impressive! But here’s the real kicker! ” She appears to be a ways down the track. Her hands spark as she forms a massive TV blocking the entire track. The screen shows the area right above the Champs-Élysées . There are still tons of people walking around. “ Either you two confess your love right here, or this train will crash into the most crowded street in Paris! Try and leave the train, it’ll crash anyway! ” Cat Noir closes his fist, but Angelbug stops him. “Wait! If you destroy the train we’ll all go splat on the tracks! And two of us won’t survive that!” Cat Noir snarls but relents, knowing she’s right. 

“ Well I reckon you have about five minutes to decide! ” Cat Noir instead destroys the screen with his Cataclysm out of pure rage. “Fuck! We need to get out of here!”

“Even if we do she’ll just surprise us again.” Angelbug realizes. “LUCKY CHARM!” Her yoyo forms a new object, this time being a red rose. She doesn’t even need to look up at anything, immediately guessing what this is telling her. “Shit…” she turns to Cerise. “I know you said you wouldn’t want to help again but-”

Cerise raises her hand in a stop motion. “Between helping and dying? That isn’t a choice. What do you need?”

Angelbug smiles. “Cat Noir, take Alya and get out of here. By my blessing.” She casts an Angelic Blessing on him, causing him to glow. “On my signal, flash-step back in here.”

“What’s the signal?”

“JUST GO!”

A few minutes later …

Prime Queen is waiting further down the tunnel when she hears Angelbug in her ear. “Prime Queen!” She quickly brings up a portal into another one of the screens in the train, where she sees Angelbug and Cat Noir standing there. “For the sake of everyone, we’ll tell you! We are in love!”

Prime Queen laughs. “ After our interview, do you expect me to believe that? ”

Cat Noir then takes Angelbug's hand and kisses her on the lips, or at least appears to. “There!” he says, “I love Angelbug with my whole heart! Is that enough for you?!” 

Prime Queen’s face immediately goes from suspicious to delighted. “ Excellent! ” She jumps into the train and waves her hand, stopping the train telepathically. “ Now just give me your Miraculous so I can uncover your final secret! ” 

“NOW!” Cat Noir, still glowing, flash-steps back into the train and tackles Prime Queen sending her careening into one of the seats. Angelbug and Cerise, who drops her Cat Noir illusion to reveal herself, quickly cast a spell that bends the metal around her and restricts her arms. Cat Noir scans quickly and sees the watch, which stands out amongst the red chrome armor, and slams it with his third Cataclysm, freeing the akuma. Angelbug swipes it out of the air with her yoyo. “MIRACULOUS ANGELBUG!” She releases the swarm of yoyos that fly through the city and erase all the created screens and restore the TV network to normal. Cat Noir grabs Cerise and flash-steps away, Angelbug following behind him. 

They appear on a building where Alya is waiting. “Sorry you guys had to go through that.” She says as they appear, with Cerise nodding. “We think posting that footage would cause this much of a shitshow.”

Cerise gets an idea. “Oh! How about we interview you? We’re supposed to be the number one site for all things Angelbug and Cat Noir!”

Angelbug and Cat Noir exchange a look before nodding. “Yeah let’s do it!” 

And so the four head off to Alya’s house where they can properly conduct a real interview that will prove once and for all that Angelbug and Cat Noir are not in love. At least, not now.

But before we go…

It’s late at night in another universe, the shining paradise known as the Divine Realm. The steampunk city of Terra-Rani gleams in the night as a six-winged figure flies over it. She passes by the skyships, bringing in late deliveries of goods from other Free Cities and the Crest Union which will go to market tomorrow. She loops around giant clockwork skyscrapers filled with other Angels going about their evening rituals as she descends into the lower city, where her friend told her to meet. 

Ginael Bianchi, the Ambassador and protector of Terra-Rani lands with a soft thud in the dark alley and quickly identifies who she’s looking for. Standing off to the side, concealed by shadow, is a four-winged Dark Angel. Ginael can’t make out her clothes, but she knows it to be the daily uniform of Crest Kindness. “You’re out here awfully late, traveler. Do you have any friends?”

The figure in the shadows chuckles. “Oh I have friends everywhere.” A tall, dark-skinned figure emerges and clasps Ginael’s hand, who pats her on the shoulder. “Good to see you Ethiel.”

Ethiel the Dark Angel smiles in return. “I’m lucky I could get away.”

“You’re lucky you got away before I left.”

Ethiel gives her an inquisitive look. “Where are you heading?”

“Earth,” Ginael answers. “Haven’t visited my family in a while, because of everything going on. You said you knew something about that?”

Ethiel nods and reaches into her uniform pulling out a bunch of papers sealed with the symbol of Crest Kindness. “Yeah. And it’s actually good that you’re heading to Earth. But that’s the second half of this. The first is in here.”

Ginael takes the folder and opens it, cracking the seal and beginning to look through the pages. Her face grows more and more concerned as she does. “Is this true? An Angel in the Demonic Realm?”

Ethiel nods. “The Council’s doing their best to keep it under wraps. I only know because the angel in question is from Crest Kindness. A girl. I hear rumors she’s leading a rebellion against the government on the other side. They’re saying she’s broken the Black Tombs, whatever that means. And if she’s doing it on behalf of the Crests…”

“Then the Union could be trying to reunify the Arcane Realm. And that would spell disaster for the Free Cities.” She turns to the last page and looks up confused. “This one is older.”

“Yeah,” Ethiel says. “I don’t know if it’s related but an Angel entered the Demonic Realm 15 years ago. There’s almost nothing on how it went, just a name and a request for a Panacea Mirror. Apparently, the Angel in question is the direct descendant of Seraph Camael.”

Ginael examines the report. “Castiel…you heard of her?”

Ethiel shakes her head. “Missionary. Never met her.”

Ginael is satisfied and closes the file. “I can follow up on this later, after I get back. What’s so urgent that you needed to meet before I left?”

“A message from the Eternal Old Man himself.”

Ginael’s eyes go wide. “Heimael? What did he say?”

“He said something about warning Earth. Asked you to go find the Guardian and said you’d know what he means, and tell them about what might be going on in the Demonic Realm.”

Ginael hugs Ethiel. “Thanks. I’ll see you soon.” Ethiel gives her a thumbs up before taking flight into the sky, leaving Ginael staring into the middle distance. 

“The Miraculous huh? Guess I’ll work that into my visit.”

Chapter Text

“This isn’t working.” Gabriel says looking at his computer screen. On it, footage from various Akuma attacks is playing at the same time. All of them have a single shared trait: they lose. Angelbug and Cat Noir have defeated every single Akumatized person that’s been thrown at them. It’s a stalemate.

“No shit it’s not.” Nathalie says from behind him, where she’s standing and looking at her phone. “Did you think taking two of the most powerful artifacts in the universe would be easy?” She takes a closer look at most of the screens and frowns. “Especially when you keep akumatizing teenagers.”

Gabriel turns around to scowl at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m just saying you have two million choices in the central city alone. And most of them are grown, aka probably more competent if you gave them superpowers.”

“Also more dangerous. These two almost took over the entire city.” He enlarges two video feeds taken from Robot Cop and Darkblade. “Plus, they’re more likely to put Adrien in danger. I won’t allow that.”

“You’re the one who allowed him to start going to school instead of remaining at home.” Nathalie points out. 

“He needed it.” Gabriel rebukes. “Emile and I had discussed it for years. You know that.”

“Indeed.” Nathalie acquiesces. “If you’re still worried about the timeframe, you do forget we have another option.” She gestures to the painting of Emile and very clearing is looking at the secret compartment inside. 

Gabriel’s face instantly goes cold. “No. Not that.”

“I am prepared-”

“I know you are, but it doesn’t matter. I won’t risk your life like that.”

“But to restore Emile-”

“Emile wouldn’t want you to put yourself on the line like that!” Gabriel raises his voice. He taps another button on his keyboard and pulls up scanned pages of the Grimoire. But they’re different; these have been translated into English. “We have the translations of the Grimoire, and with it, the ritual required to repair the Miraculous of Emotion.”

“So why haven’t you?” Nathalie asks harshly. 

“You think it’s hard to damage a Miraculous? It’s even harder to repair it. In addition to this ritual we would require two materials that quite simply do not exist in this reality. The first is Nephillim blood, a highly coveted magic resource from the Demonic Realm. And the second is Aurem, enchanted gold from the Divine Realm. And until we have both of those, we can’t risk using the Miraculous in its current state.”

Nathalie looks like she wants to protest, but relents. “Maybe Tomoe could help. She has the resources and technology to potentially synthesize an alternative.”

Gabriel looks unsure. “She probably does, but you know her. She’s ambitious and wouldn’t do anything for us without something in return. Especially not after we kept the true power of the Miraculous a secret for so long.”

There’s suddenly a knock at the door to Gabriel’s office, and he quickly closes out all the tabs that might look suspicious. “Who is it?”

The door peeks open and Adrien sticks his head inside. “Father, do you have a moment?”

His father gets up with a smile. “Of course Adrien, what’s going on?”

“Well, it’s my friend Marinette’s birthday and a bunch of us are setting up a surprise party for her. Do you mind if I go help them before the party starts?”

Gabriel thinks for a moment, but gives his son a nod. “That’s the girl from the Dupein-Cheng bakery right? Yes, of course. Do you need Placide or Nathalie to take you?”

“No, I can get there on my own.”

“That sounds perfectly alright then. Give her my regards.”

Adrien hugs his father. “Thank you! I’ll be back later!” He leaves the room, and they hear the front door to the mansion open and close.  “Glad he’s made friends like that Marinette girl.” Nathalie remarks. 

“Indeed. He seems so much happier now.”

That morning…

Marinette wakes up and groggily hauls herself out of bed. It’s a relatively normal weekend, but she can’t help but feel like she’s forgetting something…

“You forgot, didn’t you?” Tikki asks. She can already tell on her wielder's face. 

Marinette wakes up instantly and briefly panics. “Oh shit, what did I forget? Did I tell someone I was meeting them or something? Oh god oh shit…”

“No not that! It’s your birthday!” 

Marinette’s eyes go wide. “Ohhhh…dammit I’m gonna hear about this.”

“Not for me though! I got you a present!”

Marinette eyes Tikki suspiciously. “A present other than the power of Creation itself?”

“Yep!” Tikki concentrates for a moment and forms something between her hands. Marinette gets nervous for a second, knowing what could happen should a Kwami use their power directly, but this seems to be different. Tikki proudly holds up a red, arrow-shaped charm. “Miraculous birthday Marinette!”

Marinette takes it. It seems normal, but she can sense a faint magical aura on it. “Oh thanks!”

“It’s called the Kwagatama,” Tikki explains. “It serves as a living reminder of the legacy of the Miraculous of Creation. It’s a tradition for a Kwami to bestow one upon their wielder.”

Marinette smiles and hugs Tikki, which given her size, she does with essentially just her hand. “Well, it’s a legacy I’m proud to carry.”

She heads downstairs and happily accepts a birthday greeting from her parents before starting to eat breakfast. “So do you and your friends have anything special planned?” Her mom asks. 

“I’m meeting Alya in a few hours to go shopping. Other than that, nothing. Maybe some other people will come…” But as she thinks about it, there’s a knock at the door. “Who could that be?” Tomas gets up and opens the door to the bakery, and is shocked by who he sees. “...MOM?”

Marinette immediately turns around. “GRANDMA?!” Indeed, Ginael bounces inside, her wings hidden under her shirt, and wraps Marinette in a massive hug. “Oh my beautiful Marinettael! It’s so good to see you!”

Marinette laughs. “C’mon, you’re the only one that uses the Angelic name!”

“Of course!” She releases her granddaughter and embraces her son. “It’s great to see you as well Tomas!” Marinette’s dad has no Angelic name, at the insistence of her grandpa Roland, but her grandma gave her one. She never uses it though.

“Yeah… good to see you too Mom. Didn’t expect you to be here.” Tomas says, his expression a little more pained. 

“Oh, why couldn’t I miss Marinette’s 15th birthday!”

“16th,” Marinette corrects. “I’m sixteen.” 

“Oh, never mind. Regardless, I brought you a gift!” She spins a spell circle and conjures a beautiful golden necklace. “This is made from Aurem, imported straight from the Union!” Marinette takes it gingerly. “Oh wow… thank you! This is amazing!” 

Her grandma smiles, but Tomas puts his hand on her shoulder. “Can I speak to you privately?”

“Sure! You stay here, we’ll be back in a moment!” They go upstairs to the master bedroom and Tomas closes the door. “Alright, why are you actually here Mom?”

Ginael frowns. “To celebrate my granddaughter's birthday?”

“Is that the only reason? Because you weren’t here last year. And I can remember a good few birthdays you weren’t here for growing up.”

Ginael’s expression grows pained, and she exhales a long sigh. “I know…Truthfully, I was coming here solely for Marinette. I’ve been so busy lately. But I did get some other business on the way over that I have to work in.”

“...Of course.” Her son says unsurprised. “What business would you even have on Earth?”

“I need to find someone.” Ginael explains. “I don’t suppose you’ve heard of any magic happenings around this city recently?”

“Heard of them?” Tomas responds incredulously. “It’s all anyone talks about for the last few months. Angelbug and Cat Noir, the new superheroes.”

Ginael leans forward. “Superheroes?”

Tomas nods. “Started with the school year. People get turned into supervillains by this guy named Hawk Moth, who’s trying to steal Angelbug and Cat Noir’s Miraculous.”

Ginael starts to think. “Perhaps I need to meet this Angelbug and Cat Noir.”

“Stick around long enough and they’ll show up. You talked to Dad?” 

“Not yet,” Ginael remembers. “I should probably go meet him. Can I return later?”

Tomas nods. “Yeah we’re having a family dinner later. Just be back here by then. Also try not to fly-”

But it’s too late as Ginael has already flown out the window. “-where people might see you.” He finishes with a sigh.

Meanwhile, Adrien arrives at Luka and Juleka’s houseboat, where the rest of their friend group is almost done setting up. “Oh thank god I’m here on time!”

“You’re not even late!” Alix says, “Alya hasn’t even gone to get her yet. Although I wanna know whose sick idea it was to have the party here…” she mutters under her breath.

“It was mine!” 

“GAH!” Alix jumps as Zoe appears behind her. “Because now Luka will have to be here!”

Juleka walks behind her with a bunch of balloons. “You know he’s not here today right? He and Mom are in London.”

“Oh…dammit…” Zoe looks incredibly crestfallen. “C’mon Zoe, after what happened with Adrien’s birthday, would we risk having the party somewhere else? You made the right choice.”

Cerise approaches them. “Alya just texted! She’s on her way!”

Alix gives her a high five. “I really wanna know how the hell you pulled it off. Every time we’ve tried to surprise Marinette it hasn’t worked! How did you get one over on her?”

Cerise smiles. “You know Alya. She’s very convincing.” Despite Alya’s insistence, she had in fact not used her flawless lying ability to deceive Marinette into believing there was no surprise party. 

“All we need now is the cake!” Nino exclaims as he places down the last table. “Which we couldn’t order from her parents on the risk of her seeing it…”

“I still think it would’ve been fine!” Rose exclaims. 

“Rose we are so close this year I am not having the cake be the thing that tips her off!” 

“Don’t worry!” Zoe exclaims. “I got the hotel staff to do it! It should be ready about now!”

“I’ll go get it! Adrien wanna come?” Nino asks. 

“Nah you got it, I’ll stay back here and get-”

BOOM!  

A massive multicolored explosion bursts into the air several streets down, where Adrien knows there’s a small carnival going on. They had planned on going with Marinette after the party. 

“Uhh you know what, I will go with you Nino!” Adrien stammers, and before anyone can question it Nino and Adrien are running down the street and quickly leave earshot, getting to a place where Adrien can safely transform. “How long do I have to deal with this?” Adrien asks. 

Nino looks at his phone. “Assuming they aren’t held up? About 30 minutes. I can handle the cake.”

“Shit… this is gonna be tight.” Plagg flies out of his jacket. “Can we do this in under 30 minutes?”

“Realistically no, but I ain’t gonna stop you from trying.”

“Good enough for me! PLAGG, CLAWS OUT!” 

Transforming with a flourish, Cat Noir extends his staff and leaps up onto the rooftops, and just in time as Angelbug is en route as well, seeing him and flying in to a landing. “Any idea what that is?”

She shakes her head. “No, but can we deal with this fast? I got somewhere to be in 20 minutes?”

“I got the same in 30. I’ll deal with the last 10 if you take point the first 20.” Cat Noir quips.

“Deal.” She flies into action and Cat Noir leaps after her. Before long they touch down on the carnival grounds and quickly catch sight of their opponent, a pink-haired woman dressed in a suit and top hat, wielding a long staff with a star on the end. She turns to them and laughs. “ Why hello there, young superheroes! Glad you could join the festivities! ” She sweeps out her arms. “ I am the Magician! And I’m here to give you a show! Don’t worry, the price for admission is very cheap! Just those two Miraculous you have! ”

She twirls her staff and from the tip a long thin whip lashes out at them. Angelbug takes flight while Cat Noir ducks before reaching up and grabbing it. “Nice try! But I’m pretty good at sleight of hand as well! Cata-” But Magician sends a jolt of electricity traveling down the whip and into Cat Noir, shocking him and throwing him back. Angelbug throws some fire spells at her but she waves her staff again and the air thickens into a shield, dispersing the flames against them. 

She fires a bolt of energy at Angelbug, who dodges, but the bolt flies through the air and crashes into the nearby Ferris wheel, causing it to rock and start to fall over onto its side. “Shit! CAT NOIR!” Angelbug says as she rockets towards the Ferris wheel. Cat Noir sees her and gets in close with Magician, slamming her in the face with his staff before using his Mirakaté technique straight into her ribs to temporarily paralyze her. He takes the opportunity to run to the Ferris wheel as well. 

“LUCKY CHARM!” Angelbug throws up her yoyo and gets a massive inflatable airbag. “Ok good!” She gets ready to pull it while Cat Noir zips below her and Cataclysms the Ferris wheel right as it is about to fully fall, dissolving it in seconds. Angelbug inflates the bag and throws it, getting it to expand right as all the people on the Ferris wheel hit the ground, saving them in one fell swoop. “Nice job!” But the Magician has by this point recovered and swirls her staff, whipping up a massive tornado which she sends right at the heroes. Cat Noir smirks and thrusts his hand out with another Cataclysm, creating a shockwave that disperses the tornado. 

Angelbug calls up another Lucky Charm, which becomes a curved katana. “Alright, I’ve had enough of this!”

“Yeah!” Cat Noir extends his staff to fight. “ Oh I couldn’t agree more. Now let’s- ”

“Now what’s this?”

All three combatants turn to the left and Angelbug’s eyes go wide as her grandmother strides right into the middle of the fairground. “I got lost on my way back to the bakery! Never been to a fair here!” She looks up and notices the three costumed fighters. “Oh, am I interrupting something?”

“ Get out of here old lady! I’m taking down Angelbug and Cat Noir! ” Magician shouts at her. 

Ginael’s eyes go wide. “Oh, you’re Angelbug and Cat Noir?! I was looking for you two.” She looks around and sees everyone else has evacuated the fairground, before turning back to the Magician. “Sorry, but I can’t let you do that. I have my own business with them.”

“Your own business?” Cat Noir asks. Magician’s face becomes an expression of pure rage. “ Did he send you too? No…THE MIRACULOUS ARE MINE! ” She points her staff and prepares to send a giant fireball right at Ginael. 

“Lady, get out of the way!” Cat Noir surges forward but Angelbug grabs him. “She can handle this.”

The fireball flies, and Ginael flashes a slasher smile and flips down her shades. “Neka!” She conjures her staff and cuts right through the fireball with one hand. Her six wings unfurl from behind her as the illusion drops, glowing with white light. Her staff is topped with an albino monkey that Angelbug recognizes as Neka, Ginael’s Palisman.

“ Shit that’s bad! ” Plagg speaks inside Adrien’s head. “ That lady is an Arch-Angel! ”

Across the city, Hawk Moth stands in his attic. While an akuma is active, he has some perception of what the akumatized villain is seeing. And his jaw has just gone slack at the sight of an Arch-Angel.

Back with the heroes, Ginael brushes some hair out of her face and takes a single step, flash-stepping forward and appearing right in Magician’s face. Her staff becomes coated in white light and becomes a long sword which she uses to slice Magician’s staff down the middle, freeing the akuma in a single motion. Angelbug snaps out of her shock and grabs it before throwing her sword up. “MIRACULOUS ANGELBUG!” The swarm of ladybugs restores the damage to the fairground, and the Ferris wheel reconstitutes itself. 

Cat Noir is still a bit shaken by everything, but brushes it aside and lowers his staff. “So I guess we have you to thank for the assist.”

Gineal twirls her staff and slams it into the ground. “So…you’re the ones I’ve been looking for. You’ve got Heimael’s old toys don’t you?”

Their eyes go wide, and both of them can tell their kwami are surprised as well. “How do you know of Heimael?”

“Oh he’s a friend. I suppose I should introduce myself. I am Ginael Bianchi, Ambassador of Terra-Rani, and Arch-Angel Protector.”

Back at the mansion, Hawk Moth can barely move for fear. “It’s happening…Nooroo, dark wings fall.” His Miraculous dissipates and he turns back to normal. “Nooroo, it’s happening, there’s an Arch-Angel here.”

Nooroo looks out the window at the city. “I see…this is quite the predicament. I didn’t think anyone would notice so soon.”

“I’m going out there.”

Nooroo whirls around to his wielder. “You’re what?!”

“That angel is going to ruin everything! I need the Miraculous now! No more hiding!”

He starts to walk for the elevator but Nooroo flies in front of him. “Gabriel, consider this! You don’t understand how strong an Arch-Angel can be! You won’t win!”

“I DON’T CARE! I HAVE TO TRY!” He shouts back and his kwami. “You told me of the wars. Eons of blood. I will not let this Angel bring her war to Earth. I won’t let her endanger my son, my family!” The two stand off. Not just a kwami and his wielder, but two friends who had been through so much pain together, trying to figure out what to do next.

Back at the fairground, Angelbug and Cat Noir approach Ginael. “Why were you looking for us?”

“Because I heard you had those.” She points her staff at Angelbug’s earrings and Cat Noir’s ring. “You think you have a rather good idea of how to use those?”

Cat Noir gives a nervous nod. “I would think so-”

“Enough to fight a war?” Ginael points to the sky. “Enough to hold the line for this world?”

“What do you mean?” Angelbug takes out her yoyo again, unnerved by her grandmother.

“You have no idea what’s out there. The only one on this planet that might have an idea is the one who gave you those Miraculous. The reason I was trying to find you is twofold. One, I need you to take me to them.”

Angelbug eyes her grandmother up and down. “The Sacred Guardian?”

“Yes. I need to speak to them. But I also want you to prove yourself. Prove you can serve as this planet’s”

“ You’ll be speaking to no one, invader! ”

The three figures look up and see something they never expected. Standing upon the newly repaired Ferris wheel, at the very top, is Hawk Moth. In his powered form, Gabriel is dressed in a dark purple suit with a grey undershirt, and a grey ski mask wrapped around his head. In his head rests his Miraculous weapon: a cane. He leaps off the Ferris wheel and lands right in front of them. 

“ You thought you could come here, Arch-Angel! You thought you could bring your warring ways to my planet?! This does not concern you. Stand down, or I will make you! ” He points his cane at her. Ginael starts to raise her staff, but to her surprise, Angelbug and Cat Noir jump in front of her. “Ginael! Get back!” They brandish their weapons. 

“You’re gonna regret finally showing your face today Hawk Moth!” Cat Noir shouts. “Because we’re gonna take you down.”

Hawk Moth bellows with laughter. “ Really? You think you green young heroes have a chance at defeating me? I bet you can’t even your power more than three times! And you already used two of them! ”

“Doesn’t matter!” Angelbug shouts. “We’re still stronger together than you alone! We’re gonna take the Miraculous of Transmission back!”

Ginael tries to step forward. “This man threatened me, I can’t let you-”

“NO!” Angelbug turns around and looks her grandmother in the eyes. “Our duty is to defeat him! We will defeat him! You want us to prove ourselves as heroes? WE WILL!”

And as Ginael stares back at her, she recognizes the eyes under the mask. The Miraculous, Heimael once told her, uses a low-level Tactile Illusion to prevent normal people from recognizing the wielder. There isn’t a chance in hell a human would be able to make any connection between a Miraculous wielder and someone they know.

But Ginael isn’t human. She’s an Arch-Angel. She’s learned over the years spells that let her see through illusions. She has an affinity for Lightning; the element of instinct and emotion. And in this moment, she knows to trust her instinct, which is telling her one thing.

The girl this city knows as Angelbug is her granddaughter Marinette. 

And so Ginael smiles and steps back before flash-stepping up onto a building to watch. “Fine! You want to show me? Then show me! Show me you can defeat your enemy! Show me you can defend your realm!”

Beneath the mask, Gabriel admits he’s a bit offended at being used as a test. But it doesn’t matter. Before him stand the two people he needs to defeat to get his wish, to bring his wife back, to bring Adrien’s mother back. For his son, he will succeed. 

Adrien stares down the villain they’ve been preparing for. He admits he feels a bit over his head, dealing with an Arch-Angel. A being Plagg has told him very much to be cautious of. But he started training with Master Fu for precisely this purpose. He won’t hold back. 

Marinette looks up at her grandma and over at the villain she has to fight. She has no idea what Ginael is talking about, what war is going to come. There hasn’t been a war in the Divine Realm in a long time. But she knows her grandma is right. If she’s going to continue to protect people, she needs to prove herself. She needs to defeat Hawk Moth. She needs to go further. 

And so the three Miraculous wielders prepare for what may be their final battle. “ Get ready heroes!” Hawk Moth draws the sword concealed within the cane, and it extends to longsword length. “ THIS ENDS NOW!!! ”

To be Continued…

Chapter Text

Hawk Moth is the one who moves first. He knows he has to. The heroes standing before him are weakened and there’s a massively powerful Arch-Angel standing on the roof casually feeding her Palisman pieces of a butter croissant. He takes a step forward and then disappears, moving so fast that all the heroes see is a blur of purple before he’s on them. He swings his sword in an overhand chop but Cat Noir deflects it. 

Angelbug unleashes a bunch of lightning bolts, and Hawk Moth kicks Cat Noir back before spinning his sword to deflect them. She flies in and throws her yoyo, which gets past his defense and strikes him in the face. He recoils momentarily which is enough for Cat Noir to recover from getting kicked away and rush in with his staff. 

Up on the roof Ginael is watching their continuing melee with her Palisman. Neka chirps as he watches the battle and Ginael nods. “I agree. They’re skilled alright. But they’re also so young. I would need to speak to whatever Guardian chose them.”

“That would be me.” Master Fu says behind her. She whirls around and draws a spell circle, but sees…nothing. 

“And it wasn’t me who chose them. It was the kwami. Orikko, sunset.” The invisibility powers of the Miraculous of Sublimation disappear as Master Fu appears in his civilian form. “And you better explain what you’re doing here, Arch-Angel, or you will regret it deeply.”

She lowers her staff and throws up a silence spell, blocking out the people below from hearing their conversation. “I’m here to speak to you. And to see my granddaughter, who coincidentally you gave a Miraculous.”

His eyes go wide. “You…can see her?”

“Heimael’s illusions might work on humans, but as you get to more powerful Angels, we have ways of seeing.”

Master Fu narrows his vision and grasps his cane. “And you’re here to talk to me?”

“Yes, but not right now. You'd best leave before that man sees you. He already wants those Miraculous. Imagine if he got his hands on all those you’re keeping.”

Fu looks down at the ensuing melee. “But he’s right there. If we jump down we could take his Miraculous-”

“And deprive them of victory? No. Children are children, but they’re stronger than you think. If things look bad I’ll step in, but you have to leave Guardian.”

Master Fu looks unsure, but sighs and puts on a pair of glasses. “Kaalki, Canter.” The Miraculous of Migration activates. “Don’t make me regret this. Voyage.” He fires a bolt of blue energy behind him, forming a wormhole to his tea shop that he steps through and disappears. Ginael drops the silence dome and turns back down to watch the fight.

On the ground, the three wielders continue to trade blows without concluding. Hawk Moth dodges a staff swipe and parries a yoyo swing before leaping backward. “ You’re certainly impressive. I can see why none of the Akumatized have bested you. But I am not them. ” The end of his cane opens and an akuma flies out. He grabs it and absorbs its power. Suddenly, dark metal wings sprout from his back and catch on fire. 

“He can akumatize himself?!” Cat Noir asks frantically. 

“Why the hell not?” Angelbug shrugs. “LUCKY CHARM!” She uses her last Lucky Charm and gets a handheld mirror. She looks up and sees Hawk Moth’s eyes flash red, then turns around and throws the mirror at Cat Noir. “Hold it up when I tell you.” Extending her wings she flies into the air to engage him. 

“ Come on then! ” He spreads his wings and flaming feathers fly at Angelbug. She casts a shield spell to deflect them but a few get through and cut at her suit, doing no physical damage but causing quite a bit of pain. She falters and Hawk Moth rushes forward with his sword. She’s barely able to raise her yoyo to knock it away. “ An Angel you may be, but you’re also just a girl! I won’t let you bring your kind’s wars to my world! ” He swings his sword again. “ANGELBUG!” Cat Noir throws his staff to Angelbug, who catches it just in time and blocks the attack. 

“I’m not bringing war here! I’m stopping you from hurting the people of Paris anymore!” She drops the staff and flash-steps behind Hawk Moth, before drawing a spell circle and unleashing a beam of light. Hawk Moth sees it coming and dodges but that’s exactly what she wanted. “NOW!” Cat Noir, watching on the ground, holds up the mirror and the light beam bounces off and flies at Hawk Moth from the other direction. He turns around just as it flashes in front of him and blinds him temporarily, knocking him out of the sky. He lands on the hard ground with a thud, followed shortly by Angelbug. 

“Ever since you showed up you’ve used the power of Transmission to terrorize the people! Praying on their fears and pain, using it to fuel your ambitions.” 

Cat Noir recalls his staff. “And that ends today! CATACLYSM!” He leaps into the air and dives right for Hawk Moth’s brooch to break it and end this fight. Hawk Moth’s eyes go wide and he recalls his cane, throwing it up and getting Cat Noir to strike it instead. The cane turns to dust, but he can make another one later with his powers. Cat Noir’s face goes from furious to shocked as his suit turns grey, and Hawk Moth grabs him and throws him over his shoulder at Angelbug, knocking them both back. Her suit also turns grey as the Lucky Charm vanishes. 

“ Pain? All I’ve done is give people a chance! Given them the power to fight back against their oppressors! Everything I do is for others! ” The two heroes, despite their lack of powers, struggle to their feet.

“ You think me some selfish villain? Maybe I am, but what are you then?! Children toying with the powers of the universe! Especially you! ” He points at Angelbug. “ Your kind is a threat to our lives, all of it! Your endless wars, your mad gods! I’ve made mistakes, I know that! But I will fix them when you give your Miraculous to ME! ” He roars, and his wings disappear in a burst of purple energy that erupts out and knocks the heroes back again. “ That Arch-Angel up there asked a question and I want to hear the answer too! CAN YOU DEFEAT ME?! ” 

The heroes again stumble to their feet. “Angelbug…” Cat Noir says with a grunt of pain. “What do we do?”

Angelbug spits up blood and draws a spell circle. “We…go to the end…you with me?”

He smiles. “To the end.” They assume fighting stances and face Hawk Moth. Ginael continues to watch, her hand gripped on her staff. “You wanna know if we can beat you? Well I don’t know!” Angelbug shouts. 

Cat Noir extends his claws. “But goddamit we’re gonna try. We’ll prove we can protect this city and its people.”

“You might be strong!” Angelbug continues. “But we’re stronger together.”

“And we’ll show you-”

“-EVERYTHING-”

“ WE’VE GOT! ” 

As Hawk Moth approaches, he sees their Miraculous begin to flash over and over as they regain power. “ No, it can’t be! ” Suddenly, the color returns to their suits. For a second, there’s a flash of red energy and it seems like Angelbug has grown two more wings, but they disappear and she remains with only two. Behind Cat Noir, a similar flash of black energy takes the form of a long spiked tail. 

“ Your strength has grown! ” The kwami say in their heads. “ You can use more instances of your power! ”

Cat Noir smirks. “That’s what I like to hear!” And the two charge for one final battle. Hawk Moth reforms his sword and attacks but Cat Noir ducks between his legs, while Angelbug casts a construction spell to form a stone gauntlet around her arm, letting her catch the sword with her hand. Cat Noir swipes at him from behind, knocking him away. Angelbug then breaks up the gauntlet and uses another spell to fire the rocks as projectiles right at Hawk Moth, but he spins his sword and shatters them. 

“Cataclysm!” With his fourth Cataclysm, Cat Noir forms the black sword on his staff and engages in blade-to-blade combat with Hawk Moth. The two exchange thrusts, parries, and slashes all while Angelbug plays support, shooting spell after spell that Hawk Moth either parries or allows to strike him with a brief pause, letting out a grunt of pain each time one finds its mark. Slowly but surely, the two and their renewed burst of strength start to push Hawk Moth back. 

“ ENOUGH! I WILL NOT BE DEFEATED! ” He swings at Angelbug as she flies in for a pass but she recovers. Cat Noir reabsorbs the Cataclysm from his staff and closes his fist. “I was about to say the same thing!” Angelbug throws her yoyo and tugs his sword out of the way right as Cat Noir opens his hand and releases a shockwave right into Hawk Moth’s face, sending him flying out of the fairground, through the fence, and into the side of a building. 

He falls to the ground and spits blood, stumbling to his feet as Angelbug and Cat Noir approach. Angelbug throws his sword down in front of him. “It’s over.”

Hawk Moth desperately scans the situation, seeing his sword in front of him and the two heroes as well. He can’t lose here, he can’t! His family is counting on him! But as he tries to figure out a way out, he sees it. A blue feather floating down from the sky. His face goes slack as he realizes what’s about to happen. “ No… You didn’t… ” But beg as he might, he can’t stop the feather from entering the tip of his staff, and then he hears it. 

“ Hawk Moth, forgive my interruption. I am Mayura. You stand at the edge, up against your deepest fears. You are one step away from not being able to save your family. But you don’t have to fight alone. ”

“ No… don’t do it! Not like this! ” He begs with no effect. Pain courses through his voice.

“ Let your desire and despair take the form of a mighty champion, a power protector, a Sentient Monster! ”

He doesn’t want to do this. So desperately he doesn’t. But it’s too late. And as he hangs his head, a blue cloud materializes over him. 

“What the-” A massive claw suddenly bursts out and slams into Cat Noir, throwing him back onto the fairground. Angelbug looks in shock as a massive wasp appears from the cloud with six-foot-long claws and eight wings buzzing. Angelbug hears one word in her head. 

“ Duusu …”

The wasp opens its mouth and sprays a line of acid right at Angelbug, forcing her to flash-step out of the way, but that gives it an opening to grab Hawk Moth and zip into the sky. Ginael watches him fly off. “So the fight goes on…” she says before flying down. “So you’ve won!”

Angelbug and Cat Noir are still looking up to the sky. “He got away.” 

“Shit! We were so close!”

“Even so, you were victorious.” Ginael points out. “You’ll get another chance. And you’re certainly skilled.” 

Cat Noir puts his staff away. “Well thanks for the assist with the Akuma earlier. I gotta go.” He prepares to leave. 

“Oh, one more thing!” Ginael says. “If you can instruct your kwami to fly to the Guardian when you de-transform. I’d very much like to speak to them too.” Cat Noir nods and leaps away to find a safe place to de-transform. He gives Plagg some cheese and lets him fly away before making his way back to the houseboat where everyone is waiting, including Nino with the cake. 

“Oh my god! Adrien! Are you ok?” Cerise runs up. 

“Yeah I’m alright.” He says with a smile. “Nino and I got separated by the attack. I had to hide out until it was safe.”

Nino nods. “I just got a text from Alya. She and Marinette are doing the same. She says they’ll be here soon.”

But back with Angelbug and Ginael, she’s about to fly away when her grandmother stops her. “One moment, Angelbug.” She spins a spell circle and casts another illusory dome, this one blocking both sound and sight from getting inside. Angelbug looks around confused and Ginael just smiles. 

“You can drop your glamor now, Marinettael.”

Angelbug’s eyes go wide. “Wha-I’m-”

“I don’t know if you can lie in this form. But you probably wouldn’t be good at it anyway. I knew the moment I saw your eyes.”

Marinette considers her options, but this is her grandmother. She figured it out, and it’s too late. So she relents. “Spots off.” The Miraculous deactivates and leaves Marinette standing there, protected by the dome. “Oh my beautiful girl.” Ginael says. 

“How did you know? Fu said the Miraculous would protect our identities.”

“From humans yes. But not from me. I’m assuming your parents don’t know?”

She shakes her head. “Only my best friend. I have to keep it a secret, with everyone being turned into supervillains everyone who knows is a risk. I know it’s wrong I’m sorry but I can’t-”

She’s stopped from rambling as Ginael pulls her into a hug. She starts to cry and hugs her back.

“I’m so proud of you my little girl.” Her grandma says with a smile. 

Marinette looks up at her. “You’re…not…mad?”

“How could I be mad that you are fighting for what you believe in? What’s right? Fighting for people’s freedom to make their own choices, not be twisted by the whims of another? You remind me so much of myself, without all the problems. This place is your Terra-Rani.”

Marinette can’t believe it. “But I’m just a kid! I can’t even fly yet! I thought you’d be furious!”

“Just a kid?” She steps back. “Let me tell you something. I don’t know much about this, but I hear rumors floating through the Crest Union. There is a girl out there, even younger than you. Her name is Luciel. And she is accomplishing some incredible things out in the world. She is changing the lives of everyone she meets. Just like you. Every time you become Angelbug, you are changing lives. Inspiring people. Protecting them. A child Luciel might be, and so are you, but you are no less capable than your elders. If you put your mind to your dreams, follow your hearts, there is nothing you can’t do.”

Marinette smiles warmly. “This girl… maybe I’ll meet her someday.” Ginael chuckles. “Maybe. But don’t worry about her. Her path is her own, and so is yours. Follow it, and the universe is the limit.”

She pauses for a long moment….

“But you should probably tell your parents.”

Marinette laughs. “I know, I know. I’ll get to it. Can you let me handle that myself?”

Ginael nods. “You are safe with me for now.”

“Tikki, Spots On.” She transforms back into Angelbug. “I gotta go meet back up with Alya. I’ll see you later.”

“See you Marinettael.” Angelbug flies off and Ginael dispels the dome before turning invisible and flying off herself. She finds Alya waiting nearby at a coffee shop that was out of the way of the battle, and detransforms while invisible, sending Tikki off to Master Fu. “Wow, that took a long time.” Alya says as she sees her.

Marinette chuckles. “No shit. Where we heading next? The mall?”

Alya looks at her phone. “Actually we gotta swing by Juleka’s place first. She said she had a present for you but she’s in London today.” 

“Oh! That’s nice of her! Ok!” They make their way to the houseboat. “It should be right inside the cabin.” Alya says, but she lets Marinette enter first. And as she does…

“SURPRISE!!!” All of her friends jump out and Marinette sees the surprise party that was set up for her. She jumps back out of momentary shock but then gives a smile of both pure joy and…playful disappointment.

“Goddamit guys! You actually got me this year!” She stamps her foot.

“Fuck yeah we did!” Alix jumps up and down on a chair. “We got you!” 

“They didn’t have us last year.” Alya steps around and puts her hand on Cerise’s shoulder. “And we’re quite the dynamic duo!”

Cerise gives a nod. “It was the least we could do for you, Marinette. You’ve helped us make our place here. You approached us with open arms and welcomed us into your circle. Especially me…” She goes quiet for a second, and Marinette and Alya both understand why. “I’m so happy to have you in my life.”

All her other friends shout out affirmations!

Marinette starts to cry. “You… guys are the best!” She embraces them all in a massive group hug before the party properly gets underway. 

Meanwhile…

It doesn’t take long for Ginael to find what she’s looking for. Tikki sees her flying invisibly and appears right in front of her, waving and guiding her to her destination. Before long, Ginael arrives and enters Master Fu’s tea shop. Inside, Master Fu, Plagg, and Wayzz are already waiting. Fu has poured himself a cup of tea. “Welcome Arch-Angel. Please take a seat.”

She does, and Fu pours her a cup as well. “Now, proper introductions are in order. I am Wang Fu, the last Sacred Guardian of the Miracle Box. Endowed with the duty to defend this realm from threats, inside and out.” He extends his hand.

She takes it. “And I am Ginael Bianchi, Ambassador and Protector of Terra-Rani, Free City in the Divine Realm. Endowed with the duty to defend the city from all that would threaten its independence.”

Fu sits back in his chair. “So why are you here? You said you needed to speak to me.”

“Yes,” Ginael says. “Terra-Rani and the Miraculous have a surprising thing in common. Both are the creations of the Tinkerer, Heimael.”

Fu raises his eyebrow. “You know Heimael?”

“He’s a friend. I have friends everywhere, including in the Crest Union. Part of my job sometimes involves…having inside information. Heimael has a soft spot for Terra-Rani, and his high position in the Union grants him access to a lot of sensitive knowledge, the important details of which he shares with me depending on his judgment. The most recent bit of information I was given, I was instructed to share with you.”

Fu looks at the three kwami floating around him. “But why do they have to be here?”

“They’re the ones who will understand. After all, they were there when this level of threat last surged.”

“And what is this threat?”

Ginael takes a deep breath. “There is a girl named Luciel. An Angel of Crest Kindness. I have it on good authority that she has traveled to the Demonic Realm. I don’t know everything she’s doing over there, but I hear rumors she’s leading a rebellion against the ruling government on the other side. And…she’s opened the Black Tombs.”

At that last sentence, the kwami's eyes go wide. Fu just looks at them. “What does she speak of?”

Plagg has a genuine look of fear in his eyes, and Wayzz flies in front of him. “The Black Tombs contain The Divider. You know he was imprisoned correct?”

Fu nods. “Yes, that was left behind in Heimael’s text that the Guardians discovered, along with the Miraculous.”

“I don’t recall how, but during the final battle, The Divider was split into four parts. His mind, his soul, his body, and his powers. The Black Tombs were created to contain each of those parts and ensure he could not be reunited. Three of them were taken into the care of chosen Nephillim. The last was cast into the void between worlds.”

Ginael listens intently as she too has never heard this. “This is serious then…”

“Yes,” Wayzz crosses his arms. “If this girl has broken the Black Tombs, she has broken one of the most serious crimes in the Divine Realm: The Treaty of Division. I don’t recall as much about the Crest Union but I doubt they’ll stand for that.”

“Unless it’s on the Council’s orders.” Ginael points out. “There was a previous case I found, 15 years ago, of another Angel entering the Demonic Realm. But it didn’t end well. Now this one seems to be making an impact. Especially if she succeeds in toppling a Demonic Realm government, which would give the Crests more influence over said realm…”

Fu takes a sip of his tea. “So you believe this Luciel is working to free the Divider and take control of the Demonic Realm.”

“It’s not a possibility we can dismiss,” Ginael argues. “Especially if this happens. Then Earth and the Free Cities will both be at risk next.”

“I find it hard to believe the Tombs were opened.” Wayzz confesses. “Even if those chosen Nephilim are dead, their descendants would inherit their Black Tombs. They would not allow an Angel to open them.”

“That may be true,” Ginael takes another sip. “If not for the fact that the Nephillim are all dead.”

Fu feels three brief, barely controlled pulses of power flash in the room as the shock felt by the kwami can hardly be described. He’d never felt it before. Tikki can barely speak. “...dead?”

Ginael nods. “Five thousand years ago, the Nephillim, or as they’re commonly known the Titans, engaged the Seeds in battle. They were wiped out, and the Seeds were heavily wounded.”

Fu looks up at the kwami. “The Seeds?”

“The children of the Celestial,” Tikki explains. “Born Sephiroth essentially. Five siblings meant to build an archive of the universe: Satanael the Keeper, Nechael the Watcher, Azazel the Scribe, Belial the Hunter, and Samael the Collector.”

“But I don’t understand,” Plagg continues. “The Nephillim are important to the ascension of more Sephiroth. If they’d been wiped out, even we’d know about it.”

“An interesting idea,” Fu concludes. “But not something that concerns the issue at hand. You’ve informed us of the potential threat, Ginael. What would you have me do?”

Ginael puts down her cup of tea and crosses her arms. “For now? Nothing. Continue as normal. Focus on your own battles and leave these matters to those who they concern. Save one thing. The man I saw, Hawk Moth, wishes to obtain the Miraculous held by Angelbug and Cat Noir. You cannot, under any circumstances, let him do that.”

“Of that I am aware.” Fu replies. “He cannot be allowed to obtain the power that would result from that.”

“No, you are not aware,” Ginael leans forward. “The fate of all worlds may depend on it. If I am correct about the Union and Luciel’s intentions, in mere months, both of us will be staring down the Crest Union on one side and The Divider on the other. The Miraculous, in that case, will be our last and final hope.”

Fu sighs and stands up. “Well, I pray you’re wrong.”

“As do I.” Ginael stands up as well, sensing this conversation is over. “If I obtain more information, I will send someone I trust to deliver it. I don’t know when I’ll be able to get back here. I also won’t inform anyone of Angelbug’s true identity.”

“Well that’s a relief,” Fu replies. “I’ll keep everything you said in mind.” They shake hands again before Ginael exits the tea shop. “So that’s the situation.” Fu concludes. 

“I can’t believe the Nephillim are dead…” Wayzz trails off. Fu looks to Tikki and Plagg. “How did he even get away?”

“A Sentient Monster appeared.” Tikki explains, surprising Fu. “There’s no doubt about it. Hawk Moth also has Duusu’s Miraculous.”

“So our intuition from 15 years ago was right.” Fu realizes. “Tikki, Plagg, you may go. I have…much to ponder.” The two kwami bow and fly out of the shop, leaving Fu and Wayzz with their thoughts.

Meanwhile …

The Sentient Monster delivers Gabriel back to the attic of his monster. “Dark Wings Fall!” He detransforms and immediately runs downstairs. “No…Nathalie…please.”

Bursting into his office he finds Nathalie unconscious, slumped on the couch. On the table in front of her is the Miraculous of Emotion, the faint spiderweb cracks across it telling the whole story. “Nathalie!” He runs over to her and tries to wake her up. Slowly, her eyes open. “Did it work?” She says weakly. 

“I can’t believe you did that. I told you I wouldn’t allow you to use the Miraculous of Emotion!”

As he says this Nathalie regains her strength and sits back up. “You were about to lose. We would’ve lost everything. I did what I had to do.”

“I wanted to help. Saving Emile is just as important to me as it is to you-”

“And Emile wouldn’t want to be saved if it meant either of us died in her place!” Gabriel protests. “Just please…I know there might be emergencies, but don’t use that Miraculous unless it’s a last resort. Can you do that?”

Nathalie remains unsure, desiring to help, but gives Gabriel a nod nonetheless. Hopefully, she believes, she won’t need to step in again.

Later that night…

The joy of the last few hours now easing in her mind, Marinette climbs out onto the roof of her house and looks up at the stars, Tikki floating nearby. Everything’s gone by in a blur: The surprise party, the family dinner, everyone celebrating her birthday. In her hands she’s clutching Adrien’s birthday present: a very roughly sewn-together scarf. 

“You made me a scarf for my birthday, so it’s only fair I do the same!” He had said at the party. “Even though I’d never sewn any clothes before.”

Indeed, it was not exactly high-quality. Hell, it probably would fall apart if worn. But he tried, and that’s what Marinette appreciates. As she thinks about all her friends and people she loves, something weird happens…

She suddenly looks down and sees herself floating, half a foot off the ground. “Ah! What the hell?”

She looks up at her wings, and her eyes go wide. She hasn’t paid much attention to them, but they’ve grown. And they’re now keeping her aloft. She flaps them once and she ascends. A massive smile forms on her face. “Oh my god I can fly! Tikki, you see this!”

Her kwami nods. “I was wondering if that would happen.”

“If what would happen?”

“The Miraculous boosts your natural magic, allowing you to fly. And since you’ve spent a lot of time using it, the exposure has caused your own magical strength to increase. I guess unlocking another use of your power was the trigger.”

Marinette draws a spell circle. It feels more solid than normal. “How far will it go? Can it potentially allow me to…”

“Ascend? Given enough time yes. But keep in mind it’s an aid. You won’t be able to ascend from the Miraculous alone. You need to get stronger yourself as well.” Marinette grins. “That’s something I can do!”

She lands and runs downstairs. “MOM! DAD! GRANDMA! YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!” After all, she doesn’t need to tell them how she finally learned to fly.

And so this beautiful, chaotic day ends with one final moment of happiness, as the lives of Marinette Dupein-Cheng, Adrian Agreste, and so many more go on into a new chapter. 

Chapter Text

The day after Marinette’s birthday, the interview finally goes live. In the aftermath of the Prime Queen incident, Alya and Cerise had promised Paris’s new heroes a proper interview on the Angelblog. It’s something the two founders had been hoping they could pull off ever since this whole superhero thing started, and it’s finally happened. Across Paris, phones and computers chime with notifications as the Angelblog page updates. Alya and Cerise appear in front of a green screen displaying a view of the Paris skyline. 

“Hello everyone!” Alya and Cerise greet their viewers. “I’m Alya Cesaire!”

“And I’m Cerise Bianca!”

“And you’re listening to the Angelblog! Your number-one source for all things Angelbug and Cat Noir! And today is a very special day!”

“That’s right!” Cerise affirms. “Joining us today, in an exclusive interview, are our brand new Parisian superheroes! You know them, you love them, you’ve at least heard of them! Let’s welcome Angelbug and Cat Noir!”

But across the city, as this interview goes live, many people we know well have their own businesses to attend to. 

Alix grins as she looks at the notification, very proud of her friends for finally getting this opportunity they’ve been grasping after. But she puts her phone aside. She’ll listen to it later, but right now she has research to do. 

She’s back at her house, in front of her, resting a book, specifically a text on the specific relics discovered throughout the history of the Arabian Peninsula. Her brother helped find it for her in the museum archives, and she’s hoping that something in this book can help her finally understand what the hell is up with her family watch. As she’s about to open it, she hears the creak of her door as her father walks in. “Hey Alix, what do you want for din-” He is surprised to see his daughter about to open a massive book. “What’s this?”

“Jalil got this for me from the archive,” his daughter replies. “It’s on old relics discovered in the Arabian Peninsula.”

Her dad can immediately guess what this is about. “You’re trying to look up the watch?”

She nods and pulls the watch out of her pocket. “A lot of people I care about have been akumatized these last few months. You, Jalil, a lot of my friends. But not me. And it’s because of this.” She opens the watch and shows him the inside with the nephillim blood. 

“Somehow our family watch keeps me from getting akumatized, or affected by any akuma’s abilities. I was hoping to figure out exactly why.”

Alim starts to think of potential options. “Maybe we can ask Jan when she’s back in town again. Or…a-ha! I have a better idea! Come with me.” He leaves the room and Alix quickly follows. They walk back into their living room, and Alim searches a large bookshelf for what he’s looking for. He quickly pulls from the top shelf an old, leather-bound book. “This is a family tome the Kubdels have passed down through the generations. It’ll probably have more information about the watch than a more general history book.”

Alix smiles widely and takes the book. “Thanks Dad! I’ll definitely start looking through this later!”

“Great! Now what should we order for dinner?” They both start laughing. 

“Now obviously we’ve met before, but let me be the first to say it’s an honor to speak to you under less life-threatening circumstances.”

“The honor is ours.” Cat Noir says with a grin, as both he and Angelbug are now on screen, seated on a red couch conjured by Angelbug’s Lucky Charm. Alya and Cerise are seated on an identical one, as Angelbug has clearly used two instances of her power.

“Yeah. We’re happy to be here with you guys.” Angelbug replies. 

“So, an obvious question to start with in the aftermath of your other TV interview,” Alya begins, “Is what exactly is your guys' relationship? I won’t assume it’s romantic as you’ve previously said otherwise, but how exactly do you know each other?” Cerise leans forward with her microphone.

“Hmmm. Well, to be honest, we don’t know each other.” Cat Noir explains. “Superheroes have secret identities. We’ve all seen that in movies and stuff. That applies to us. Even though we’re partners, we keep our true identities secret.”

“But despite that, we trust each other when we need to.” Angelbug reaffirms. “Even if we don’t know each other’s true names, we know we can rely on each other in battle.”

“There’s a lot of online chatter about your true identities,” Cerise follows up. “Do you ever intend to reveal them to the public, or at least to each other?”

“Well, probably never to the public.” Angelbug quickly confirms, “But to each other? Maybe at some point.”

Ivan and Mylene are on a date at a cafe down by the Seine. They haven’t had a lot of time to go on a proper date but the opportunity for today seemed too good to pass up. The server brings out their food as they’re both looking out at the boats going by on the river. “You know, this is near where I was when I got akumatized.” Ivan brings up. 

Mylene remembers. “Oh yeah. That feels like so long ago. God, I wish I could’ve been there to help you.”

“Mylene…”

“I was so scared. Not of you, of course not. You’re the first person I’ve ever really loved and I didn’t know how to feel about it. I could barely talk to you without breaking down I could barely…”

“Mylene…” Ivan takes her hand in his, and it almost completely covers hers. “You don’t have to be afraid anymore. I’m here with you. For you. And I’m so proud that you were able to overcome that fear.”

Mylene’s whole face goes red. “Oh Ivan…”

The two hold hands and continue to enjoy their time together. 

“Our next question is more individual.” Cerise continues. “All superheroes have origin stories. They all have a reason for fighting crime and evil. How did you guys get here? What’s your origin story?”

Both heroes think about it for a moment. “Well I was kinda introverted.” Cat Noir starts. “I didn’t have a lot of friends growing up, and there were a lot of expectations on me. But becoming Cat Noir is an opportunity to get away from that. To be free even if it involves fighting supervillains.”

“It’s a bit less introspective for me.” Angelbug follows up. “I saw people being hurt, their emotions being used against them. I’ve always had problems with confidence, but I wasn’t gonna let that stop me from helping people in need.”

On the Coffaine houseboat, Luka is giving Juleka a guitar lesson. She strums through a basic chord progression using one of Luka’s guitars, while her twin brother watches on critically. He’s quickly noticing a problem. “Ok hang on sis.”

She stops. “Is something wrong?”

“Kinda, you’re getting all the chord progressions right but you’re using way too much force. The song is too loud.”

Juleka puts the guitar down in confusion. “But does it matter? As long as I’m playing the song right.”

“It matters more than you’d think.” He explains calmly and picks up the guitar, playing the song out himself. “Music is an experience for the audience. We absorb it through our ears and the volume has a big part in shaping that experience.”

“I don’t get it.”

“Think of Andres' ice cream, it’s delicious right? But you don’t want to eat it too fast. You take your time and apply less force to the ice cream cone, so you can eat it more slowly. That’s the level of force you wanna apply to the guitar strings, keep the experience flowing and not forcing it on your audience too fast.”

Juleka thinks this analogy over. “Huh… so not too loud?”

“Some songs call for it. But volume is important and you just gotta be mindful of that.”

Juleka nods and takes the guitar back. She tries playing again and this time is much more careful of the force she applies to the strings. The song seeps out in a more soothing manner that washes over the entire boat. When it ends, Luka claps for her. “Great job sis! You’re getting better.”

She smiles warmly. “Thanks.”

“You know, I was surprised when you asked me to start teaching you. You’d never been interested in learning guitar before.”

She sighs. “Yeah…but I figured it could help with my confidence. If I wanna be the kind of partner Rose deserves, that’s something I need to do.”

Luka puts his hand on her shoulder. “You’ll get there. I know you will.”

“I hope so.” Juleka says, smiling as she looks down at her hands, before turning back to face her brother. “Have… you thought about dating again?” While she’s here, might as well get a feeling for how Operation Kitty Section can go forward. 

Luka’s face immediately goes from proud to pondering. “Umm…yeah of course. I think about it. I just needed a break, you know? Needed to figure some things out about myself. Just want to make sure I actually be a good partner for the person I’m with, and not end up like our dad.”

“So I guess we’re both trying to be worthy of someone right?” Juleka asks. 

Luka smiles. “I guess so. Well, to twins trying to be better.”

“To twins.”

On top of the Bourgeois family hotel, Rose and Zoe are with Zoe’s stepdad Andre, the mayor of Paris. As they look on eagerly, he opens a hidden trapdoor on the roof and reveals a hidden compartment. “Whoa…”

There’s a bunch of cameras, posters, and even a clapperboard in there. 

“It’s my memory stash.” Andre explains. “When I was younger, my greatest desire was to be a director. Helm great works of art and help actors and other artists unlock their talent!”

“That’s awesome!” Rose exclaims. “Although it’s a bit of a far cry from being mayor of Paris.”

Andre nods as he reaches inside and grasps the clapperboard. “When I met Audrey I was willing to give up everything for her. I wanted the world with her. And had it been a year earlier, directing isn’t something I would’ve been able to give up.”

“What happened?”

“I made Solitude.” He hands her a black-and-white poster, showing a woman dressed in white walking down a rainy street. “I got to work with some of my best friends, people I’d known my whole life. It was my finest work, and I didn’t feel like I could ever make anything that would improve upon it. And Audrey came into my life just as I made that decision.”

“Did she want you to give up directing?”

Andre shrugs. “She would never have asked me to. But she had worked on Solitude as well. We both knew in our hearts it was the right path to take.”

Zoe steps forward. “When I first got here, you showed me this and asked me to put my dreams inside. Because being in this family would demand that I give those up.” She sighs. “It…wasn’t easy to hear.”

“But you didn’t listen.” Andre replies. “To be honest, I expected you to roll over and join Chloé in whatever she was doing. But you didn’t. You decided to make your way through the world not as Audrey Bourgeis’s daughter, but Audrey Lee’s daughter. And I could not be more proud of you for that.”

Zoe beams with pride at this remark. “Maybe you should take my advice.”

Andre thinks about it. “Maybe. After my next term I’ll give that consideration.”

“Maybe Zoe can try directing!” Rose exclaims. 

“Oh hell no not for me!” They all start laughing at that notion. 

“So I gotta ask about this Angel thing,” Cerise goes on to the next question. “What’s the inspiration behind that whole motive?”

“Well, Angels are incredibly important to me,” Angelbug answers, being very careful to technically tell the truth. “But I can’t say a lot more than that. It just sounded right. I’ve always wanted to be able to fly like an Angel and getting my Miraculous allowed me to do that.”

“And what about you Cat Noir?” Alya quickly moves over to the other hero, knowing Angelbug can’t exactly share a lot. “I mean obviously you have a specific Miraculous, but where did the name come from?”

“Well I was originally gonna go with Chat Noir, you know like Black Cat. But that seemed a bit obvious. I went between a bunch of others and kinda just…decided on the fly.”

“On the fly is right, he decided in front of me right when we met.” Angelbug snarks. “Hey I didn’t have much time before that!”

Kagami is in her room, doing some homework, when she hears a ring at the door. “Who could that be…” She heads down to the foyer and opens the door to see…Chloé and Sabrina. “Hi Kagami!!” Sabrina exclaims. 

“What are you doing here? If my mother were here-”

“Your mother can eat shit.” Chloé says. “We’re here to see you. Barely anyone has since the tournament.”

“Of course, I’ve been training…”

“You can’t use that excuse with me.” Chloé says as they walk back up to Kagami’s room. “I’ve known you your whole life. You’ve never disappeared this much. What’s going on?”

Kagami looks at the floor. “I lost that tournament to Marinette, you saw me. I brought shame to my family, especially getting akumatized in the aftermath. My mother was out of town and… I didn’t tell her. But it won’t happen again. I will be better. A thousand times better, I won’t disappoint her again. Could you ever imagine having your mother be disappointed in you?”

This actually manages to crack Chloé’s facade as a somber expression crosses her face. “More than you’d think. My mom always preferred Zoe to me. I haven’t seen her in years, but she’s never once reached out to talk to me. Yet she and Zoe speak every week!”

Sabrina nods. “I never knew my mom… but I feel that way with my dad. He does so much to uphold the law and look out for people. I don’t want to let him down.”

Kagami narrows her vision. “So… you’re here to help me feel better?”

“Well we figured you could use a break! And we brought this!” Sabrina holds up a video game. “It’s that new Super Penguino game! Everyone is playing it!”

“I wanted to try and get you a boyfriend, but Sabrina said that was a bad idea,” Chloé adds, “So I guess we can play this video game instead.”

Kagami thinks it over before cracking a small smile. “I suppose a bit of a break is in order. The boyfriend thing I’ll deal with on my own time.”

Chloé leans forward, curious. “Got someone in mind Tsurugi?” 

Kagami grins. “Oh you could say that…”

“So recently you had the help of another hero. Someone named Volpina.” Alya moves to the next question. “What can you tell us about her?”

“Well she wasn’t a full-time hero.” Angelbug explains. “I realized we would need help during the Darkblade battle. So I got someone who was willing to help us. For obvious reasons, I won’t say who.”

“Is there any chance we’ll see more heroes join you guys?” Alya asks with a bit too much interest.

“Temporarily? Sure we’d have to see. It depends on the situation.” Angelbug replies. “But most of the time it’s just gonna be me and Cat Noir. I’d like to think we’re pretty capable on our own.”

“At least I am!” Cat Noir jokes. 

“Whoa this is awesome!” Nino looks in awe at Nate’s finished comic as they stand in front of the school. After Marinette helped him, he kept working on it whenever he got time. Now, Sunblade and Sea-Walker is finally complete. 

“Thanks! I worked really hard on it!” 

Nino flips through the pages before looking up and noticing that Nate continues to look very nervous. “What’s wrong? It’s great!”

“Yeah I know… It's just the writing. I might be an artist, but I’m not nearly as experienced as a writer. Maybe if I had some kind of partner.”

“Oh! Oh!” Nino has an idea. “You should talk to Marc! He’s always looking for a new writing challenge! Maybe you can work together!” 

Nate thinks it over. “Huh, I’m not that familiar with Marc, but maybe I’ll give it a shot! Thank you!”

Nino’s watch suddenly beeps. “Ah shit I gotta get home! Babysitting my brother tonight.” He gives Nate the comic back. “See you later!” He shouts before he leaves and heads down the street on his skateboard.

“We’re coming up on time here so we have one more question for you.” Cerise starts to conclude. “You’ve got the entirety of Paris watching. Well probably not, but assume you do. What do you have to say to the people you’ve taken it upon yourselves to protect?”

Angelbug clears her throat. “Well I think our actions speak very loudly.” Cat Noir grins. “But I’d just like to say thank you. You’ve trusted us with your protection and we spend every day trying our best not to let you down!”

“Yeah!” Cat Noir concludes. “Just try and live your lives knowing we’re there for you! Don’t be afraid because eventually we’re gonna win this whole fight! And if Hawk Moth is watching I look forward to another chance to kick your purple ass!”

All four of them burst out laughing as the interview ends. “Well, that's the end of our show! Thank you so much for coming on today, Angelbug and Cat Noir, and thank you all for watching! I’m Alya Cesaire!”

“And I’m Cerise Bianca!”

“Remember to stay connected!”

The live premiere ends, with Alya, Cerise, and Marinette watching it from Cerise’s house. “Wow that turned out really well!” Cerise says proudly. 

“Yeah! You guys gave them way better questions than they got on TVi!” Marinette affirms. 

“Thanks for letting me keep the Volpina question in,” Alya says to Cerise. “To be honest I just wanna know if I have a shot.” 

Marinette peers over her shoulder. “Wait, what are you talking about?”

Cerise laughs. “I figured it wouldn’t stay a secret for long. Yeah, I was Volpina. Not doing it again though.”

“Oh I know.” Marinette laughs, and Cerise’s eyes go wide. “Wait…Alya told you.”

Alya’s eyes also go wide as she realizes what’s about to happen. “Wait Marinette, are you sure?”

“Tikki, Spots On!” There’s a bright flash and Cerise stares at Angelbug, newly transformed from her friend Marinette. For a moment, she can’t fathom what to say, but then she crosses her arms and leans back with a smile. “So that’s why you didn’t wanna tell me.” She says to Alya. 

“Spots off.” Marinette turns back. “I’m sorry for not telling you before but-”

“No I get it. I have my own secrets.” Cerise says, before realizing. “Which I told you…”

Marinette gives a sheepish grin. “Yeah, I know you’re a witch.”

“So you’re also an Angel? That’s where the Angelbug comes from?”

“...How did you know that?” Marinette is surprised.

“One of my ren’s old books talked about Angels. Used to be feared but shockingly public perception of them has changed in the last 50 years.” Cerise explains. 

“Huh… didn’t know that.” 

Cerise leans forward. “So why trust me now?”

“Same reason I trusted Alya: you’re my friend. Although you can’t tell anyone else.” Marinette affirms. “I figured keeping the founders of the Angelblog in the know is a good idea. Especially since Cerise can probably help disseminate any rumors about my real identity.”

Cerise looks uneasy. “Well, I’m not comfortable doing that too much… but if you really need it, you can count on me.”

Marinette gives her a hug. “Thanks. Glad to have you on board.”

Alya claps her hands. “Now who wants dinner?” They all start laughing again.

Back in Terra-Rani, Ginael stands on the balcony of her apartment, watching the sun set and the skyships go by. She always loves watching the sunset; it truly makes the entire city light up and reminds her of the place she’s been entrusted with. Leaving the balcony behind, she walks into her bedroom and reaches into her bedside drawer, pulling out a Divination Mirror. Casting a spell through it she starts to create a connection. “Old man? You there?”

An image comes through as a wrinkly, very furry face appears in the mirror. “Yes yes I’m here. Hello Ginael. How was your trip?”

“Very good, family’s well. I confirmed what you wanted me to confirm. There are four Miraculous active in Paris.”

“Four you say?”

Ginael nods. “I encountered three of the holders. They’re involved in some kind of feud but they’re all skilled.”

“Is it cause for concern?”

“Unlikely. I met with the Guardian as well. Told him everything you wanted him to know about what’s going on.”

“Ah excellent. They’re lucky that the Council is so occupied with the Demon Realm. I don’t know if they can detect the Miraculous, given that they never have. But I’d rather not take that chance.”

“There are no updates on the Demon Realm, are there?”

He shakes his head. “I hear talk that Luciel could be arrested if she leaves. On what charge, I have no idea. I’m one of the few who even know what the Treaty of Division is.”

“Well, let's hope that doesn’t happen. Although I suppose that would prove she’s not working on the Council’s orders.”

“Trial in front of the Seraphim Council is not a fate I’d wish on any Angel, much less a fourteen-year-old.”

“Alright. Let me know if anything changes, I’ll do the same.”

“Very well. Good night Ginael.” The mirror clicks off and Ginael starts getting ready for bed. 

A woman walks up to the steps of another home in Paris, one we’ve never seen. The woman is wearing a white kimono with a red skirt, clutching a wooden bokken. Dark glasses cover her eyes and her black hair is tied in a bun. She knocks on the door. 

Upstairs, Barry Castle is in their room, typing away at their computer. “Whoa, the servers are holding up real well-”

“Barry!” Their mom calls from downstairs. “Someone’s here to see you!” 

“Can they come up here? It’s kind of a hassle getting down the stairs.” They have a machine that does that, but it still takes a minute to set up. The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs is swiftly heard. Barry goes to open the door and their eyes go wide at what they see. “It’s you-”

“Hello Barry.” Tomoe Tsurugi says. “Mind if I come in?”

“Of course,” Barry says as Tomoe enters the room. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to see you. I assume you got my letter?” Barry nods. “Yeah. But I couldn’t imagine the head of Tsurugi Labs sending me anything…”

“Don’t be modest. In a way we’re alike. I know what it’s like trying to make your way through the world with a disability.” She points to her glasses. “And you’ve definitely proven yourself capable with technology. You won that contest at EEA.”

“Yeah, for my game Super Penguino. I didn’t think you’d be interested…”

“Normally no, but I’m interested in you. You’re adept not just with code, but also robotics. Have you had time to look over those blueprints?”

Barry nods nervously. “Yeah.” They pull the blueprints for what Tomoe called Project Lucifer up onto their desktop. Diagrams appear of the various parts and segments that would be needed to construct this. “It’s…unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

“Do you think it’s possible?”

“For a world-class lab? Yeah sure, but not a 16-year-old in Paris. I’d need a shitton of resources for this, not even mentioning the power source that would be necessary. Why do you have this?”

Tomoe grips her sword a bit harder. “When I was younger, I became aware of something. Something that fundamentally changed the way I look at the world. You see, we humans are hardly a perfect species. We war, we argue, all that. But compared to what’s out there, we’re a utopia.”

“What do you mean by ‘what's out there?’” Barry asks. 

“Angels, demons. Races that have warred for a thousand millennia and devastated the Earth in the past. Yesterday, an Angel showed up here, in Paris. Disappeared just as suddenly, but she displayed incredible power. And we have nothing to combat them. At least, until now. That’s what Project Lucifer is for.”

Barry looks back at the blueprints. “Earth-shattering revelations aside, that doesn’t solve the problems of power and resources, both things I would need to build this.”

“And you’ll have both. I’ve chosen you, Barry Castle, to build humanity’s greatest weapon. You’ll have the backing of Tsurugi Labs for resources. As for power…how about I provide an investment?” She reaches into her robe and pulls out a vial. Contained within is a deep blue liquid. 

Nephillim Blood.

“A single drop of this substance could power this entire city for a decade or more. Fully clean, near-infinite energy, in a liquid form.” She passes the vial to Barry, who holds it gingerly. “Well, that would certainly solve that problem.”

“So will you help?”

Barry thinks about it for a moment, but doesn’t take long. “Yeah. Ever since the convention, when Angelbug and Cat Noir rescued me, I’ve realized this is a new era. Even if I don’t have a Miraculous, I wanna help protect the world just like they’re doing. So yeah, I’ll build your weapon.”

Tomoe smiles, wider than she ever has for Kagami, not that Barry would know that. “Then I’ll be in touch soon.” She leaves the room and Barry is left staring at the blueprints, all the parts of which come together into one thing…

A suit of armor.

Chapter Text

The day after Marinette’s birthday comes differently for Adrien. The events of the last day haven’t left his mind: the fight with Hawk Moth, the power of Angels, all the fun at the party. But today was very much a return to normal, or at least, what passes for normal these days. 

As the sun rises in the distance Adrien sits in the dining room eating breakfast with his father and Nathalie. “So how was your friend's party?” Nathalie asks. 

“Good!” Adrien affirms. “Got delayed a few minutes, my Nino went to get the cake and almost ran into an Akumatized villain in the fairground. But he was alright.”

“That’s good to hear,” Gabriel says with a smile as Placide walks into the room. “Cars outside when you’re ready sir.” 

“Thank you Placide.” Adrien’s father responds, finishing his food. “Are you going somewhere Father?”

Gabriel nods. “Nathalie and I are heading to London for the day to meet with Audrey. She’s considering moving back here soon.”

“Really?” Adrien says, surprised. “Seems like a bad time to move to Paris with all the superhero stuff.”

“Shockingly, that’s not being reported on much outside of the city,” Nathalie explains. “It’s weird, like people know about it, but you’d think the emergence of superheroes would be world news.”

“I doubt Zoe’s told her much either.” Adrien points out. “I’ve never met Mrs. Bourgeois, but she’s apparently very protective.”

Both adults nod. “Yes, I can see why Zoe wouldn’t tell her about the situation here. Audrey wouldn’t take it well. Anyway, we’ll be back later tonight. You just have your martial arts lesson today right?”

Adrien nods as he finishes his food. “Yeah, in the afternoon.”

“Placide will be back to take you there. Have a good day Adrien.” His father gets up and hugs him before he and Nathalie leave. Adrien hears the car take off down the road. He gets up and is about to go back to his room when…

“ADRIAN!!” Plagg screams, and Adrien jumps. “Shit! Plagg what the hell? What are you doing?”

“So I was flying around invisible because I got bored of waiting for you to finish eating breakfast-”

“Plagg you know you can’t do that, what if someone sees you?”

“That’s why I was invisible goddamit! I found something in your dad’s office. We need to go get it!”

“I can’t take something from Father’s office!” 

Plagg starts to calm down and looks Adrien in the eyes desperately. “Adrien… this is important.” Adrien sighs and walks up the stairs to his father’s office, opening the door and looking inside. Gabriel had been looking through the Grimoire again and left it on the table. “There!” Plagg says. “That book!” 

Adrien gets closer and notices the symbol on the front of the book is the same as the one on the wooden box his Miraculous was in. “What is that?”

Plagg flies around it. “Kid, this is the lost Grimore of the Miraculous. It contains all the knowledge Heimael left the Guardians regarding the Miraculous and their history, as well as everything that the Guardians have figured out about them so far.”

“Whoa…” Adrien picks up the book. “How did my father get this?”

“C’mon kid, we need to take it to Master Fu immediately.” Plagg requests.

“Wait, I can’t take this! My father will definitely notice it’s missing.”

“Yeah, and that’s better than him having it!”

Adrien pauses and stares Plagg down. “What do you mean?”

“Kid, this book was lost alongside the Miraculous of Transmission and Emotion. If your dad has this, he might have those as well. Kid…your dad might be Hawk Moth.”

Adrien’s eyes go wide and a look of despair forms on his face. “My father is…what?”

That afternoon…

Master Fu puts a pot of tea on in his shop as he waits for Adrien to arrive. It isn’t long until he hears the door open and turns around to see Adrien walk in, his expression completely blank. “Adrien, good to…see…” He trails off as he sees Adrien is holding the Grimoire. “Oh my… is that…”

“Plagg told me to bring this to you. He said it’s the Grimoire of the Miraculous.” He holds it out and Fu grabs it. “By the gods…this is a miracle! The Grimoire has been lost ever since the destruction of the Guardian’s temple! How did you find this?”

Adrien looks down at his feet. “It belongs to my father.” Fu’s eyes go wide at this revelation. 

Plagg flies around his holder to face Master Fu. “If he has the Grimoire…it could be him. Gabriel Agreste could be Hawk Moth.”

Master Fu strokes his beard. “This is a serious matter, we have to-”

“No. It can’t be true!” Adrien suddenly speaks out. “My father is a lot of things. But he’s a good person! He can’t be Hawk Moth!”

“Normally, I would dismiss this too Adrien. But after Hawk Moth’s appearance yesterday, we have a slightly more accurate idea of what he looks like. Obviously, the Tactile Illusion built into the Miraculous keeps us from knowing for sure, but it can’t be denied that your father Gabriel does fit the general height and age that we can determine from Hawk Moth.”

“Well we can’t assume my father is Hawk Moth based on that alone! There are millions of people in Paris who are roughly 45-year-old men.”

Master Fu nods. “But none of them had the Grimoire in their home. Do you know where he came across this?”

Adrien shakes his head. “No. I assumed he found it at a bookstore or something.”

“That is a good point.” Wayzz suggests, flying out of the jukebox in which the Miracle Box is kept. “What reason would Gabriel Agreste, who is some kind of artist here in Paris, have to go to the mountains of Tibet where the Grimoire was likely found?”

Master Fu considers it as he opens the Grimoire and flicks through the pages, ensuring everything is there. “Well either way, until we know otherwise, we have to be careful.”

“He’s gonna notice the book is gone.” Adrien points out. “Even if he’s not Hawk Moth, and he isn’t, he’s not gonna be happy about that. The last thing I want is for the real Hawk Moth to akumatize him.”

Master Fu continues to think as he takes the tea off the stove. He goes over to the jukebox and opens it to retrieve the Miracle box, pulling from it a yellow finger glove. “How about this. Let’s assume he’s not Hawk Moth. Using the Miraculous of Sublimation, I can create copies of the information in the Grimoire. By the afternoon tomorrow I can give you the book back, and you can get it back to your father. He doesn’t suspect you took it right?”

Adrien shakes his head. “I never go into his office when he’s not there.” 

“So he’ll hopefully think he misplaced it and find it before the end of the day tomorrow. He’ll have it back, and we’ll have a copy. Is that ok?”

Adrien thinks it over, but eventually relents. “Yeah, that sounds ok.”

“Good.” He puts the Grimoire aside. “Now let’s begin our lesson.”

Adrien still looks unsure, but he puts on a brave face. “Ok. Plagg, Claws Out!”

An hour later, a slightly more bruised and sweaty Adrien gets back in his car to be driven back home. Master Fu watches him leave. “You could’ve copied the entire book in seconds using Orikko’s powers.”

Fu nods gravely. “But then we’d have no way to prove Gabriel Agreste’s identity. Now if he is akumatized…”

“You want to get his father akumatized?”

“It’s not ideal Wayzz, but it’s the only way to be sure.”

Indeed, that night after Adrien is asleep, Gabriel and Nathalie arrive back at the manor and walk inside. “You could’ve just gone straight home.” He tells her as they walk upstairs.

“I wouldn’t be that good of an assistant if I did.” She says as she opens the door to his office. Gabriel goes inside to put his things away before heading up to bed, but something gives him pause. 

“Nathalie… where is the Grimoire?”

Nathalie’s eyes go wide and she runs in to see the Grimoire no longer on the table. “You didn’t put it back in the vault?”

“No I left it on the table!”

“Did someone break in?” Nathalie quickly runs to the vault behind the painting and checks, making sure everything is there. “It’s just the book. Plus, Adrien was here most of the day. If someone broke in, he or Placide would’ve called us.”

“And there’s no way Adrien took it; he never comes in here by himself.” His eyes go wide as he comes to a realization. “The only ones who could’ve gotten in and out of here without Adrien or anyone noticing…”

Nathalie’s eyes go wide as well. “...are Angelbug and Cat Noir. And if they did take this…”

“They might figure out what we’re doing. What I’m doing.” Gabriel says with fear in his voice. “No, this can’t happen.” He starts to panic, pacing back and forth.  Nooroo emerges to try to comfort his holder. “Emile’s life is at stake we can’t let them figure out we’re doing this!” 

“Gabriel, look at me.” Nathalie puts her hands on his shoulders. “I have an idea. We can throw them back off the trail. But I’m going to need Nooroo’s help.” Nooroo flies forward. “Of course Nathalie.”

Gabriel comes back to his senses and nods. “What do you have in mind?”

The next day…

Marinette grumbles as she starts to wake up, her wings wrapped around her as a little tiny pink kwami nudges them. “Marinette wake up!” The sun is just peeking over the horizon once again.

Marinette turns onto her side. “Tikki it’s not time to go yet. I had first period free.” She’s still quite tired after the long weekend. Between her birthday, the battle with Hawk Moth, the interview going live and telling Cerise her identity, it’s felt like an eternity.

“It’s not that! Plagg talked to me last night and said you need to talk to Cat Noir.”

Marinette wakes and sits up. “So Plagg came in here last night?” 

“No, he contacted me telepathically. Plagg and I can speak from wherever we are. We do it all the time.” Marinette spins a spell circle and creates an orb of light so she can see better. “You talk to Plagg all the time and I didn’t know about it?”

Tikki crosses her arms in a huff. “I wouldn’t ask you about everything you do with your partner.”

“I didn’t know you and Plagg had that kind of relationship.”

“Well, it’s the closest thing mortals could equate our bond to. Calling it ‘love’ or ‘partnership’ is a bit small considering we’ve been together since the very embers of the universe sparked to life. The moments of great passion we’ve shared across the history of-”

“Ok, point made, I don’t need to hear about your love life.” Marinette drops out of bed, her newly strengthened wings catching her as she hits the ground. “Let’s go meet Cat Noir.”

A few minutes later, Angelbug comes into a landing on a rooftop a few blocks away from the Agreste manor. Cat Noir is already waiting there, an unusually serious look on his face. “Angelbug.”

“Hey Cat.” Angelbug looks at him with concern. “You seem…serious.”

“Well this is a serious issue. I found the lost Grimoire of the Miraculous.”

Her eyes go wide with shock. “The one Master Fu was looking for? Where did you find it?”

“A kid named Adrien Agreste gave it to me. He said it’s his father’s. Master Fu believes if Gabriel Agreste has the Grimoire…”

“He might have the Miraculous too, and is therefore Hawk Moth.” Cat Noir grimaces and turns away from her, which Angelbug notices. “Are you ok with that?”

“I just find it hard to believe, that’s all.” 

Inside the mansion, Nathalie is now wearing the Miraculous of Transmission. “Adrien is still asleep. He won’t be put in harm's way by this.”

“Good.” Gabriel says, holding up one of his sketch books that he uses for early design ideas. “Let’s do it.”

A few minutes later, as Angelbug and Cat Noir continue to speculate, they suddenly hear shouting from the Manor. They quickly leap over to observe and see Gabriel storming out the door in a rage. “You’re not listening to me Nathalie!”

“Gabriel be serious!” Nathalie says, appearing in the doorframe. “There’s no proof that they’re the ones who took your wife’s old book! And even then you can’t just go after them and force them to give it back, they’re superheroes!”

“I DON’T CARE! I might just be a man but they stole one of Emile’s precious possessions! I’ll get it back, no matter what!” He slams the door and storms off down the street in a huff. A somber look crosses Cat Noir’s face as he realizes how angry he made his father. “Let’s follow him.” Angelbug nods, and the two leap across the buildings, following Gabriel Agreste just out of sight. Gabriel turns and walks down the banks of the Seine, pausing and slamming his fist into a tree. “I’m sorry Emile…” He says as tears fall down his face. “I know how much you treasured that book…” As he starts to cry, Angelbug and Cat Noir look on. And then… appearing from the sky is an akuma, flashing in front of the hero's vision. “Oh shit… grab it!” Angelbug tries, but the akuma darts out of the way. She’s never tried to capture an akuma before it’s done its job, but apparently, akumas are more agile in this state. 

It avoids the yoyo and enters Gabriel’s sketchbook. His pupils suddenly dilate as he looks off into the middle distance. “Yes… of course… I will bring you the Miraculous, Hawk Moth.” He says before the purple mist engulfs him. 

“No, wait!” The heroes leap down to stop it, but it's too late. Suddenly flying from the mist is a glowing red book, slicing through the air like a throwing star. The heroes dodge out of the way as the mist dissipates, revealing the akumatized Gabriel. He’s now dressed all in black with white gloves, a large V across his chest in both grey and glowing red. His skin has gone purple with a red visor. The book flies back to him. “I am The Collector! And you and your Miraculous are about to join my collection!”

Cat Noir’s face is full of dread at his father being akumatized. “Kid, I know this looks bad.” Plagg says in his head. “But I guess this means your dad ain’t Hawk Moth!”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Adrien says with relief before turning to Angelbug. “Let’s de-akumatize this Collector!”

“You can certainly try!” He opens the book, and a bunch of pages fly out and shoot right at them. Cat Noir dodges and runs along the wall, batting them aside with his staff while Angelbug shoots them down with bolts of fire. She flash-steps closer and punches him in the face as Cat Noir jumps from the wall. “Cataclysm!” He closes his fist and unleashes a shockwave that knocks The Collector into the Seine. He disappears with a splash. 

“Wow, Sammy is way nicer than this Collector.” Plagg comments. 

“Sammy?”

“The real Collector. He really wanted to be my holder, but Heimael shot that down. Can’t exactly give a Sephiroth Seed the power of destruction itself.”

“Is he gonna be mad that my dad is stealing his title?”

“Na Sammy’s really nice. He doesn’t even really like the title. Also I haven’t seen him in like ten thousand years.”

“Good to know.” There’s suddenly a rumble as The Collector bursts from the water, riding on his book almost like a hovercraft. “Well that didn’t work.” Cat Noir points out. Angelbug turns to him. “What did you expect would happen?”

The Collector leaps towards them and recalls the book. They jump out of the way as he lands with a punch and cracks the ground. “What happens if that book hits us?” Cat Noir wonders aloud. He doesn’t have to wonder for long as The Collector chucks the book and he dodges, but it strikes a tree. The tree disappears and becomes a sketch in the book. Cat Noir freezes in shock, which almost gives The Collector an opening to throw the book again but Angelbug flash-steps in and grabs him before flying away. “Get back here!” Angelbug casts an illusion and creates multiple copies of them flying in different directions. The real heroes land on a rooftop as The Collector leaps into the air chasing one of the illusions. “I wouldn’t get hit with it if I were you.”

“Yeah no shit.” He cracks his back. “So what’s the plan?”

“LUCKY CHARM!” She throws her yoyo up and it generates… a pile of slime and a red remote. The slime splats to the ground. “Ok what?” The remote has a slip of paper on it, which Marinette reads. “Congratulations, you are now the owner of a Blight Industries Abomination?”

“The hell is a Blight Industries Abomination?” Cat Noir asks. 

“I have no idea.” Angelbug responds.

“I thought you knew magic!”

“This must be a Demon Realm thing! The Lucky Charm can technically summon anything after all. It just depends on what I need.”

“And what were you trying to get?” Cat Noir asks again.

“Well, his notebook probably only has a limited number of pages. I figured I could get something we can use to fake him out, get him to waste his pages on random stuff while we avoid it.”

Cat Noir leans in to look at the remote. “Let me try this.” He takes the remote and presses a button. The slime starts to wiggle and then forms into a vaguely person-shaped construct with glowing green eyes. He tries a few more buttons and the construct ducks around, throws a punch, and most importantly, Cat Noir learns he can dissolve specific parts of its body. “I think I get what we need to do. But one of us has to control this thing. You feel like fighting him one-on-one?”

Angelbug shrugs. “Unless you want to. Let’s go.” 

Meanwhile, The Collector catches up to one of the illusions and chucks his book at it. It passes through and hits a park bench, turning it into another drawing. “What-”

“That’s enough playing with illusions!” Angelbug shouts as she flies in and impacts the ground. “How about the real thing now?” 

The abomination slithers along the ground and takes its form right beside her. Cat Noir sits on a rooftop, controlling it under an invisibility spell. “What is that?!” The Collector throws his book at the abomination but Cat Noir has it open a hole in its chest, causing it to fly through and strike another tree. 

“Let’s do this!” Angelbug and the abomination charge in and double-team The Collector. Angelbug flies up and hurls a lightning bolt. Collector dodges and attempts to hit her, but she summons an ice spike and throws it at the book to intercept. The abomination gets in close and punches Collector, who grunts in pain before recalling the book and attempting to hit the abomination close-range, but every time Cat Noir maneuvers the abomination just out of the way so Collector ends up hitting either blades of grass, little pebbles on the ground, or maybe a drop of abomination goo. All of those use up a page. “Dammit!” 

“Don’t forget me!” Angelbug flash-steps behind him and casts a plant spell, summoning vines from the ground that ensnare Collector’s legs. He snarls and cuts them away with his book, causing them to become more sketches, but that leaves the abomination open to form its hand into a hammer and clobber him in the side, sending him flying into a building. She spins a large circle and unleashes an ice storm and The Collector swirls his book around to absorb the icicles, but the job has been done as he eventually runs out of pages and the icicles start to slam into him, knocking him off balance. The abomination runs up and grabs him before throwing him straight up into the air. Cat Noir drops the controller and leaps towards him, revealing himself. “CATACLYSM!” He slams his hand on the book and destroys it, releasing the akuma and quickly catches Gabriel Agreste as he falls. Angelbug swoops up and grabs the akuma before using a spell to summon the remote back to her. “MIRACULOUS ANGELBUG!” She throws it up and all the objects the Collector had turned into drawings return. The abomination, its remote gone, collapses back into a puddle and then dissolves. 

Cat Noir drops to the ground with Gabriel, Angelbug flying down next to them. “Are you alright sir?”

Gabriel dusts himself off. “...yes I am.” He still seems rather upset.

“We heard you earlier.” Angelbug says. “Whatever you think we stole, I’m afraid you are mistaken. But we’ll help find who stole it.”

Cat Noir nods. “I’ll start looking now.” He leaps away and heads back home to de-transform before school starts. “Thank you, Angelbug.”

“Just doing my job. Bug out!” She flies off back home as well. Gabriel watches her fly off before heading home himself. 

Upon returning to the manor, the first place he goes is the attic. The butterflies scatter as he ascends, and Nathalie is there waiting. “Nooroo, dark wings fall.” She transforms back and hands Gabriel the brooch. “Did it work?”

“I think so,” Gabriel replies. “They saw me get akumatized, and address you as Hawk Moth. And since no one else can see into the void, they didn’t hear you. Angelbug also said they didn’t steal the Grimoire.”

Nathalie’s eyes narrow. “And you trust her.” 

“You should.” Nooroo flies out of the brooch. “Angels cannot lie without extreme pain. You’d know if she tried.”

“Does the Miraculous provide protection from that pain?”  Nathalie asks. It’s a reasonable question.

“It shouldn’t.” Nooroo confirms. “If she said they didn’t steal the Grimoire, then they did not.”

“Well then, I guess we’re in the clear.” Gabriel says, exhaling a sigh of relief.

Later that day…

Adrien returns home, entering through the main door. He’d just gotten back from the tea shop and picked up the Grimoire. Now that they’re sure his father isn’t Hawk Moth, Master Fu figures it’s ok to return it to him. After all, he’d already gotten a copy and could start deciphering it. Apparently, it will unlock all sorts of new abilities for the Miraculous. 

As he enters the house, Gabriel is there waiting for him. “Ah, Adrien. How was school?”

“It was good Father.” Adrien nods as he slings his backpack off his shoulder. “And…I have to apologize.”

“For what?”

Adrien pulls the Grimoire out of his bag, not seeing as his father’s eyes go wide. “I figured you’d want this back.”

Gabriel takes the Grimoire, his hands shaking. “You…took this?”

Adrien nods solemnly. “I thought I’d left something in your office so I went in and saw the book. It’s some book on Tibetan folklore right? My friend Alix has a special interest in that kinda thing so I brought it to her to take a look at. But it’s in some weird language neither of us could read. I’m sorry Father, I should’ve asked first.” He bows his head in shame. 

Gabriel looks through the book quickly to determine that none of the pages have been ripped out. He closes the book and considers what to say. Now that he knows Adrien took it, he’s a lot more secure in anything about it. After all, he’s the only one who knows what it says. “It’s alright Adrien. I’m just happy it’s safe. Although in the future I’d appreciate it if you ask me before you borrow anything.”

Adrien nods. “Thank you Father. I have to ask…where did you get it?”

Gabriel thinks back, a smile crossing his face. “It was your mother’s. She’d gotten it from a friend of hers who lived out in the Tibetan peninsula. She’d always wanted to know what it said…but we could never figure it out. That’s why I was…so upset to see it gone. To the point that Hawk Moth akumatized me.”

“I heard about that. I’m sorry you had to go through that.” Adrien responds. 

“From what I hear, it’s popular these days.” He lets out a soft chuckle. “Who knows, maybe I've got some design ideas.”

Adrien chuckles as well. “Am I gonna have to model Akuma clothes?”

Gabriel smiles and hugs his son. “Probably not. I’ll see you at dinner.” Adrien goes upstairs and Gabriel returns to his room, happy to have the Grimoire back and knowing that his identity is secure. 

And back at the tea shop, Fu looks victoriously at the copy of the Grimoire sitting in front of him. “After all these years, I’ve recovered it.” He looks out the window and to the sky. “Master Su-Han, I hope wherever you are… you know I’ve begun to make things right.”

Chapter Text

It was a special day for Marinette in particular at school, as the normal classroom has been completely overhauled for a special cooking class taught by none other than her father. Tomas Dupein stands at the front of the class and is showing them how to properly roll out croissant dough. “Now it’s important to properly laminate your dough before baking, otherwise you won’t get all the flaky layers you think about whenever you eat a croissant!”

Everyone else, including Marinette, is following along at their own stations. Marinette looks up at her dad and can tell he’s not exactly working at his peak of efficiency, which makes sense considering that normally, he’s at home and can use magic. After all, that’s the reason her family’s bakery is so renowned: there’s a little bit of magic in every pastry. But here, she and all her friends are going through the process normally. Except for one person in the front row who seems to be having a little trouble…

“This is utterly ridiculous!” Chloé says in a huff from the front row as she throws down her rolling pin. “I’ve been doing this for 5 minutes and it’s still not done!”

“Well of course not, it takes time. I often get up early in the morning to prepare the day’s pastries long before we open.” Tomas explains from the front. 

“That’s a load of bullshit! If I want a croissant, I send Jean-Michael to get one and I have it in two minutes! I don’t spend hours making them! This is an utterly ridiculous waste of time! I’m leaving.” She gets up and storms out of the classroom. “Wait hang on!” Tomas shouts after her. 

“Eh, don’t bother Mr. Dupein-Cheng,” Alya remarks. “Frankly, I’m surprised she lasted this long given her general shittiness.” As Marinette finishes laminating her dough she feels a gentle rustling in her purse. “It smells so good…” whispers the Kwami of Creation from inside. 

“Don’t you dare Tikki, literally everyone would see you.”

A few minutes later, a loud ringing sound erupts in the room as the fire alarm goes off. “Oh, come on!” Alix screams. “We were almost done!”

Mrs. Bustier starts to shepherd everyone out of class. “Alright everyone outside! Sorry Mr. Dupein-Cheng, we have to cut your class short. We’ll reschedule another time to finish it.” 

“That’s alright. See you later Marinette.” Tomas replies, giving Marinette a quick smile as they are all ushered out. Once out in the courtyard, along with Chloé, they all watch Mr. Damocles come down from his office, looking rather annoyed. He starts pacing in front of all the students. “This was no fire, obviously.” He says, gesturing around. “Someone pulled the fire alarm and wasted everyone’s time, including the fire department who has to come here to check. I’d advise whoever is the guilty party to come forward and confess.” Everyone immediately turns to Chloé, who looks back at them confused. “What?”

“C’mon Chloé, you clearly did it didn’t you?” Alya asks. 

“You have no proof that I did. You were all in class getting your hands pointlessly dirty with that ridiculous work, something that was so clearly below me!”

“Chloé really?” Adrien says, “We were all really enjoying that!”

“Now Chloé you know you cannot pull the fire alarm for no reason, it’s against the rules.” Mr. Damocles says, “I’m afraid I have no choice but to susp-” He trails off as Chloé pulls out her phone and starts dialing a number.

“I could call my father right now Mr. Damocles,” She threatens. “Do you think he wants to hear about his daughter being punished for something you have no proof she did?” She waves the phone in the air.

“uhh…ergh…I suppose you are right.” Mr. Damocles says, to the shock of everyone else. “Alright, I suppose we won’t know who did this. You’re all dismissed.” He goes back to his office, and Chloé smirks with satisfaction and walks away, only to be followed by someone…

“We both know you actually did that Chloé.” Adrien says. She turns around to face him. “You didn’t need to do that.”

“Well, of course I didn’t need to Adrien. But did I want to? Absolutely.”

Adrien lets out a long sigh. “Chloé how long have we known each other?”

She smiles. “Since we were four, along with Kagami.”

“And I know you well Chloé. You’ve never exactly been a ray of sunshine, but it feels like ever since I started attending school with everyone, you’ve gotten so much worse. You call so many things ridiculous, yet so are you.”

“Wha-” Chloé stumbles back. “How could you say that about me?”

“Because it’s true,” Adrien responds stoically. “You have to be nicer to my friends. I don’t care if you like them yourself, but you have to respect that I want to spend time with them and care about them. Otherwise, I’m not gonna be friends with you anymore.” He turns around and walks away, leaving Chloé there.

Later that day…

Chloé sits back in her room after school, her mind still on Adrien’s words. She doesn’t want to lose Adrien as a friend, that she knows. So what does she do?

“Madam,” her butler Armand says from behind her. “Are you alright?”

“Of course I’m not alright Jean-Paul!” Chloé responds(She never learned her butler's name), “Adrien doesn’t want to be my friend anymore!”

“And why is that?”

“He says I’m ‘too mean’ or something, and I should ‘be nicer.’ I’m plenty nice! I’m nice to Sabrina, to Kagami, to him!”

“Might I give some advice Madame?” Armand asks. “I think you should listen to him. After all, when has Adrien’s advice ever steered you wrong?”

Chloé thinks about it before realizing that Armand is right. Whenever Adrien has suggested something to her, it usually ends up being right. “Ok maybe I could try. But how…”

“I actually have an idea.” Armand suggests. “Your birthday is coming up, remember?”

Meanwhile, in Marinette’s bedroom, her friends are helping her out with some hat designs. She has a few she’s been working on and they’ve gotten to the point that she needs some physical shots of them. So Alya and Cerise are here to take pictures while Rose, Zoe, and Juleka all try on various hats. Alix is also here for “moral support,” in that she was bored. “Alright,” Marinette says. “I think I could maybe add a streak of blue to this one…”

“No that wouldn’t look good, the rest of it is brown leather.” Alix calls out.

Cerise stares at her. “You know I’ve never seen you not wearing that baseball cap.”

“Have you ever needed to?” Alix deadpans.

“She’s been wearing that hat since eighth grade. I think we can safely ignore her advice. What’s the end goal of this again?”

“Gabriel Agreste is looking for a submission from an amateur designer for an upcoming show. Even Audrey Bougeois is gonna be there!” Marinette says excitedly.

Alix looks over at Zoe. “We didn’t know your mom was coming to town.” 

“I think she’s only coming for the show,” their friend responds. “At least that’s what she told me-”

Marinette slinks around, looking at the hats from all angles when her phone rings. “Hello? Oh hey Adrien! Here I’ll put you on speaker.” She does so. “Hey everyone!” Adrien’s voice comes out of the phone. 

“Hey Adrien!” Alya responds. “Wait, is something happening?”

“It should be. You should all have the email about now.” Everyone’s phones suddenly buzz as it comes through, and they go to look at it. Marinette watches as her friends' eyes all go wide with shock. “Uhhh what’s going on?”

“Chloé just invited us all…to her birthday party.” Alix says slowly. 

“HA! Oh, that’s hilarious!…wait, you’re serious? You all got one?” Her phone buzzes as well, indicating she just got an invite. 

“Zoe’s the only one that didn’t.” Rose points out. Zoe stares blankly at her. “You know I live there too right? Do I need an invite to go to my own house?”

“Yeah she just told me an hour ago.” Adrien says. “So… I would really appreciate it if you all showed up.”

“You’re kidding right? It’s Chloé!” Alya says. “She has to be bullshitting us!”

“I can promise you she’s not. I spoke to her after the fire alarm thing and she promised to try to be nicer to you guys. Granted, I didn’t ask her to do this or expect that, but people surprise me. But I promise she’s trying to be better, and I’d really like you guys to come.”

Everyone looks to each other to gauge reactions before coming to a mutual understanding. “Alright Adrien, we’ll come for you.” Marinette decides. “Now I have to finish the hat you’re gonna wear for that show.”

“Wait, you’re working on that? I would’ve come over!”

“That’s what the show is for!” Everyone starts laughing. “I got this. Getting you to wear it is the prize for winning! I don’t want a special advantage because we’re friends.” Adrien laughs over the phone. “Alright, bye guys!” He hangs up. They go back to work and eventually, everyone starts heading home, with Marinette, Alya, and Cerise being the last ones. “I can’t believe we agreed to that.” Cerise remarks. 

“Neither can I, but I suppose we can give her a shot.” Marinette replies. “Plus, if she really pisses us off, Cerise can tell her she was always nice to us.”

“Ok, I have my limits, and that’s a bit of a stretch.” Cerise points out. “It’s not like I could turn everyone against you with a single lie!” They both look straight at her. “I probably can’t. I’m still getting used to actually using it. And you’d know I’d never do that.”

“Yeah we know. Well, I gotta mentally prepare myself for this.” Marinette says. “See you guys later.”

The day of the party… 

Chloé walks downstairs and looks over the balcony a few minutes before the party is slated. Tables, food, chairs, the staff took care of all the setup. As Chloé starts to try and steel herself for what she’s about to do, she hears a voice behind her. 

“Adrien Agreste is a lot of things,” Kagami says, startling Chloé as she seemingly appears right behind her. “But he’s not stupid. So I have to wonder what you told him when you invited all his friends, to make him believe you were being genuine.” She leans on the balcony as well.

“Wha-How did you get here?” Chloé asks.

“I was driven here.” Kagami says with a straight face.

She scoffs and looks down at the party. “Shockingly I am being serious. Adrien said I had to be nice to his friends, or he’d stop being friends with me.”

Kagami smirks. “Sooo…the Golden Boy finally grew himself a backbone. It’s kinda attractive…”

“Ok I don’t need to hear that.” Chloé says as she sees Marinette and her friends start to arrive. “You best go greet them,” Kagami says, “If you’re serious that is.”

Over at Agreste Manor, Nathalie is downstairs going through her schedule for the rest of the day when Gabriel comes down the stairs. “Nathalie, have you seen Adrien?”

Nathalie looks up at him. “Did you forget? He left a few minutes ago for Chloé’s party.”

“Ah, I forgot that was today. Just the three of them again?”

“Actually no, Adrien told me that Chloé had invited a lot of his friends. He was quite surprised.”

This immediately starts giving Gabriel an idea. “I’ll be right back.” He runs back up to his office. Nathalie just sighs as she knows he’s about to send an Akuma over there, just in case. After all, it’s Chloé, it’s only a matter of time before someone gets akumatized.

At least…that’s what Gabriel thought. But to his surprise, the party proceeds completely without issue. Chloé greets her guests warmly, which is very much a surprise to them but they accept it nonetheless. Some of them even brought her gifts and she accepts them. But aside from a few slip-ups, everything progresses very smoothly. Eventually everyone starts to dance on the dance floor, with Nino serving as the DJ. Alix slinks over to him as he’s doing it. “Do you actually know what you’re doing?”

Nino shrugs and plays another song. Marinette and Adrien are dancing together, and Chloé begrudgingly is dancing with Kim. Everything seems alright until Armand walks over to Chloé as she gets off the dance floor. “How is everything going, Madame?”

“Good can I talk to you?” She asks. He nods and the two go back into the kitchen. “HOW THE HELL COULD YOU MAKE ME DO THIS??!” She suddenly bursts out screaming.

“Madame…what?” Armand is shocked at her sudden outburst.

“This is exhausting, it’s terrible, it’s utterly ridiculous! Having to be nice to these losers like the baker girl and all her friends! I hate it! I can’t believe I let you talk me into this!”

Armand holds his hands up. “Madame, I didn’t talk you into this. You wanted to try being nicer!” 

“Well it failed!” Chloé says. “And as a matter of fact, you’re fired Jean-Paul! Get out!” She storms out of the kitchen and runs upstairs in a huff. Armand can only fall to his knees in shock, and that’s something the akuma finally takes advantage of. Phasing through the walls, it enters his bowtie and sends him into the void. 

“Hello Armand.” Hawk Moth says. “Forgive my intrusion, but I sense deep disappointment. You tried so hard to help Chloé Bougeois become a better person, and she failed you.”

“I care about her,” is all Armand can say. “Yes she’s not exactly a kind person, but I believe she can be! Eventually…”

“Why eventually? I can give you the power to control anyone here. Then you can find Chloé and force her to become a better person! I ask for only one thing: if Angelbug and Cat Noir should try and stop you, you can take their Miraculous.”

Armand nods. He will help Chloé, even if she doesn’t want it.

“And what shall I call you?”

“Despairator.”

Sabrina and Kagami are the only ones who see Chloé burst out of the kitchen and head upstairs. “Well, that lasted longer than I thought it would.” Sabrina says. “I’ll go get her.” Kagami says and as she heads upstairs, Sabrina’s mind is filled with worry about Chloé. So much so that she doesn’t notice two dozen large bowties slinking along the ground towards her. Unlike other akumas, Despairator is small, sneaky, and split across multiple bodies, able to leap between people and take them over via contact. And while she’s looking up, Despairator leaps onto her shirt and she suddenly freezes up, with a green glow appearing in her eyes. 

Meanwhile, Marinette sees Sabrina go all stiff. “Sabrina? Are you ok?” She suddenly turns around, and her eyes go red. “Must find Chloé!” She runs upstairs, and Marinette quickly sees all the bowties going towards her. “Oh shit! EVERYONE LOOK OUT!”

The bowties leap into the air and start grabbing hold of a lot of the party-goers. Adrien manages to dodge out of the way, while Alix is protected thanks to her watch, but pretty much everyone else gets hit somewhere. Their eyes all go red, and they turn to the stairs. “Must find Chloé!” 

“Oh shit!” Alix says as she grabs Adrien’s hand “C’mon we gotta get outta here!” Marinette follows behind them… or at least her illusion does. The real Marinette ducks into the kitchen as Tikki appears. “Well we went an hour without an akuma! Frankly, that’s impressive given it’s Chloé.”

“Looks like we have a split akuma!” Tikki explains. “You have to destroy all the objects for the akuma to be released.”

“Got it! TIKKI SPOTS ON!”

On the street, everyone is fleeing in multiple directions. Adrien manages to break away from Alix’s grip in a nearby alley. “I’m going back in there!”

“Dude, that’s not a good idea! Whoever is akumatized has all of our friends!” Alix protests.

“I don’t care! Chloé’s my friend too, and they’re all going after her! I have to stop it!”

“And how do you plan to do that?” Alix asks.

Adrien looks around to see if anyone else is there and weighs his options. He really doesn’t have much of a choice right now does he? Alix can’t get akumatized or controlled, so there’s not much risk of her being forced to give up anything. Plus, Alix is his friend. He might not have known her for long, but she’s been as fiercely loyal to him as she has to everyone else. He can trust her. “Ok, Alix I need you to promise not to tell anyone what’s about to happen. Not even our other friends, except Nino. He already knows. Can you do that?”

Alix nods, but then her brain starts to work, and she slowly realizes. “Wait…are you about to…”

“Yep. PLAGG, CLAWS OUT!” He transforms into Cat Noir, revealing his identity a second time to one of his friends. “You know I’m less shocked than I should be.” Alix observes. “Well shit, thanks.” Cat Noir says sarcastically. “Stay away from the hotel until it’s safe, ok?”

She nods. “And I’ll take this to my grave. Thank you for trusting me.”

“Hey, we’re friends, aren’t we? Now I gotta get in there!” And he leaps away.

While this has been going on, Kagami has been trying to find Chloé. She tries knocking on various doors to find the room Chloé ran to. “Come on Chloé, you said you were going to throw this party!” She hears a large group of footsteps coming from downstairs and people shouting “Must find Chloé!” 

“Oh no…” There’s a crash from a hotel room off to her right and the door bursts open as Cat Noir leaps into the hallway. “Well, thank shit that there was no one in there! You alright?” He asks Kagami.

“I’m just looking for my friend. What’s going on?”

Angelbug flash-steps to her partner’s side. “Everyone here’s been mind-controlled. And it's a split akuma.”

“Ah shit, I hate those,” Plagg says inside Cat Noir’s mind. “I don’t have enough charges to destroy them all.”

Suddenly, the controlled mob makes it upstairs. “Angelbug! Cat Noir!” They all shout together. “We are Despairator! We will find and help Chloé Bougeois, even if she doesn’t want us to!” They all charge forward. 

“CATACLYSM!” Cat Noir closes his fist and unleashes a shockwave sending everyone flying backwards. “Holy shit, I love doing that!”

Angelbug casts an ice spell on the ground to slow them down further before grabbing Cat Noir and Kagami before flash-stepping to the roof, surprising Chloé who is hiding up there. “What the hell is going on?”

“Who did you get akumatized this time?” Kagami demands. “What do you mean?” 

Kagami grabs Chloé by her sweater vest. “Everyone you invited is under mind control! What. Did. You. Do?!”

Normally, Kagami is incredibly stoic and unflappable, but both Chloé and Cat Noir are aware that if she ever gets angry, some real shit is happening. “I…fired my butler for suggesting this party.”

“Of course you did.” She lets Chloé go while Cat Noir faces the door with his staff brandished. “Angelbug, any ideas?”

Angelbug looks around. Aside from a rooftop pool, there’s nothing up here. “Only one. LUCKY CHARM!” She throws her yoyo up and gets… a box of plastic forks. Before she has a chance to guess at what they could be for, the mob breaks through the barrier. “There’s nowhere left to run, Chloé Bougeois! You will be a better person, whether you want to or not!” The bowties are now all fixed to the center of their heads, and as Angelbug thinks, they all flash red. So does the Lucky Charm and Cat Noir. “God, this one’s complicated. Cat Noir! Stick these in all the bowties!” She throws half the forks at him and casts a light spell to blind the mob. They all recoil at the bright flash as the heroes leap forward and race through the crowd, Angelbug flash-stepping between targets, and Cat Noir just being generally very fast. They use just enough force to stick the plastic forks into the bowties and hook a few strings between the prongs. “What are you doing?” Despairator asks. 

“This!” Angelbug casts a telekinetic spell and recalls all the forks to her, with the bowties peeling off everyone’s clothes with them. They all instantly snap back to reality as Cat Noir touches his staff. “Cataclysm!” He forms the black blade and slices it through the air, destroying all the bowties in a single strike and releasing the akuma. Angelbug leaps forward and snatches it out of the air. “MIRACULOUS ANGLEBUG!” She throws the forks up and repairs…well, what little damage has been done. This was a very contained and non-damaging akuma. Armand reappears with the akuma purified. “Alright everyone back downstairs!” Cat Noir starts guiding all their friends back down to the party, but Kagami pulls Chloé aside. “Fix this.” She warns before heading down too. Chloé gulps and approaches Armand. “Listen, Jean-Frank-”

“My name is Armand.” He says

“Ok Armand. I’m…sorry, you were just trying to help me. You don’t have to be fired. You can stay.”

He gets up and dusts himself off. “Well, thank you Madame. I hope you will reconsider your previous opinion.”

Chloé thinks it over. “You know what? I think I’ll give it another shot.” She heads downstairs to rejoin the party. Meanwhile, Marinette and Adrien have gone off to de-transform, Adrien reuniting with Alix in the process. “Alright, that’s all settled.”

They fist-bump and head back to the party. As everything gets back to normal with the party, Alix finds Nino again at his DJ station. “Hey, by the way, I know about it now.” She whispers to him.

Nino looks over at her. “About what?” Alix points to Adrien and then makes cat ears with her hands. Nino’s eyes go wide, and he pulls her aside. “He told you?” 

She nods enthusiastically. “Sorry dude, you’re not special anymore.”

He takes it in stride. “Glad to have another on board the train.” They high-five and go back to the party.

Later that day, Chloé sits back in her penthouse looking over all the presents she was given. There’s a knock at the door, and Andre walks in. “Sweetie? I’m home!”

“Hey Dad.” She says, not looking over at him. “How was your party?”

She thinks about it for a moment before smiling. “Honestly, I thought I was gonna hate it. But it actually wasn’t that bad.” He smiles at this response before heading to his own room. Zoe is waiting for him in the hallway. “She liked it, didn’t she?”

He nods. “Maybe Adrien’s plan is starting to work after all.”

Zoe smiles and jumps up and down with happiness. Maybe after all this time, her sister is starting to change. 

Chapter Text

The call went out, and Cat Noir answers. He lands on top of the building Angelbug told him to come to. “Alright I’m here. Now where is-WOAH!”

A giant ball of ice cream flies straight at him before he has time to get his bearings. “CATACLYSM!” He thrusts his hand forward and destroys it. “What the shit?” He looks in front of him to see…something huge trying to swat Angelbug out of the air.

“Is that guy…made of ice cream?” Plagg says within his head. “Yep…yes he is. Not what I expected today.” Cat Noir grimaces and leaps into the fight, right as the ice cream man gets in a lucky hit and knocks Angelbug out of the sky. “Shit!” Cat Noir uses his staff to leap forward and catch her out of the air, causing them to both tumble onto a nearby rooftop. “You must be thanking your lucky stars I got here now!” 

Angelbug groans in pain and gets to her feet. “Thanks.” She looks back up at their opponent with Cat Noir, who is still partially shellshocked. “Mind explaining what the hell this is?”

“It’s Andre, the ice cream guy who always sets up on the river. He prides himself on being able to find soulmates via his ice cream. Until he was wrong once and got akumatized. Now he’s Glaciator and is turning everyone who ever bought ice cream from him into statues.”

Indeed, as she’s explaining, Glaciator lets loose a hail of ice cream from his hands and strikes a bunch of pedestrians, freezing them solid. “Why don’t you just use a fire spell or something?” Cat Noir asks.

“I tried that. He’s too cold for my level of fire magic to be able to melt.”

Cat Noir thinks for another moment. “Wait…did he actually turn into ice cream?”

“No it’s like an ice cream suit, the real guy is inside with the akuma in his ice cream scoop and…where are you going?” Cat Noir leaps right at Glaciator across the buildings. The giant sees him coming.  “Ah, Cat Noir, how lovely for you to join-what are you doing?”

“CATACLYSM!” Cat Noir directly Cataclysms Glaciator, instantly destroying his entire ice cream suit and leaving Andre floating in the air with his ice cream scoop. “And…Cataclysm!” Cat Noir leaps forward into the air, grabbing Andre and destroying the scoop with his other hand to release the akuma, which Angelbug catches. “Well, that was easier than I thought…MIRACULOUS ANGELBUG!” She lets the wave of ladybugs go forth and heal everyone who was frozen. 

Cat Noir brings Andre to the ground. “Ice cream cannot predict the future, and there’s no such thing as soulmates!” He says before leaping off. Angelbug flies in to add “But keep trying to bring people together, it’s very admirable.” She then flies off as well. 

One hour later…

Cerise jumps off her bicycle, now having arrived at Nino’s house as the late-afternoon sun shines on the horizon. He’d texted a few of their friends, saying he needed their help with something, and Cerise was all too happy to provide. Giving a quick hello to Nino’s mom, she runs upstairs to find Marinette, Nino, and Alix all waiting there. “Is this everyone?”

“Yeah. Sorry for the short notice but I kinda need your guys' help.” Nino explains. “You see… I kinda have a crush on one of our friends.”

“Is it Marinette?” Alix asks, and Nino laughs. “No, that was last year.”

Marinette looks back and forth, surprised. “Wait, you had a crush on me?”

Alix laughs as well. “Marinette, most of our friend group has had a crush on you at one point. Except me. You know, maybe that’s how Rose guessed I was aro…” 

“Ok that’s besides the point!” Marinette interrupts. “So you want our help?”

Nino nods. “Yeah… I have a crush on Alya and I was hoping you guys could help me ask her out.”

“ALYA?!” Everyone reacts. Cerise especially, considering she’s known Alya for longer than the rest of them. “Yeah,” Nino says, a little embarrassed. “Well, we have to help you now.” Marinette affirms.

“Yeah. I’ve known Alya longer than all of you. I’ll happily do this for her.” Cerise confirms. “So how do you wanna do this?”

“Oh!” Alix says. “There’s a firework show at the Eiffel Tower in a few hours. You could ask her to that!”

“That’s a great idea!” Marinette says. “Here, I’ll come with you to provide moral support!”

“I will too!” Cerise adds. “Nora is back in town. It’ll be nice to see her again.”

They say goodbye to Alix, who has to run across town to help her dad with some shopping, and start heading to Alya’s house. While Nino is listening to music on his headphones Marinette pulls Cerise back. “Nora?”

“Yeah, Alya’s older sister. She’s a kickboxer, so she’s often out of town doing some kind of event. She hasn’t been back in town since we met you guys. She’s nice but can be a little overprotective sometimes.”

“Hmm…” Marinette thinks. “You know I’ve never asked: How did you and Alya meet?”

Cerise thinks back. “It was about a year ago. I was sitting on my own at lunch in my old school and she came up to me. I had kinda tried to avoid making close friends for a while, after what happened when I was younger…”

Marinette remembers what Cerise had told her when she used the Miraculous of Illusion.

“I didn’t want to get anyone else in danger if I accidentally used my powers again. But Alya was just so determined. Said something like ‘I live for the action shots.’ And I guess after a while, she just grew on me. Hell, I might’ve had a crush on her for a little while, but not anymore. And eventually, once I told her I was… a witch, with a parent from the Boiling Isles, she accepted that too. No matter if it was dangerous for her.”

Marinette smiles. “That sounds like her. And I’m glad she helped you open up again. There will always be people who would accept. You just have to let yourself meet them. And I’m happy she, and we, were those people to you.”

Cerise beams with happiness. “So am I.” 

At this point they’ve arrived at Alya’s building and head up to her apartment. Cerise knocks on the door. “Coming!” A gruff voice says from inside as Nora Cesaire, Alya’s elder sister, opens the door. “Hey Nora. Is Alya here?” Cerise says. Nora is tall and muscular, with long dark hair styled into dreadlocks. She’s wearing a yellow hoodie and shorts, each with her boxer's insignia of a spider etched into them, and her hands are wrapped up in bandages. “Cerise! C’mon in!” 

They all head inside as Nora pats Cerise on the shoulder. “It’s good to see you! How longs it been?” Cerise thinks for a moment. “Like… four months? You were on that tour in the States right?” Nora nods. “Got some real nasty bruises over there. Some of those guys are no joke!”

Cerise laughs. “These are some of our new friends. Nino Lahiffe,” Nino waves shyly. “And Marinette Dupein-Cheng.”

Nora laughs and shakes both of their hands. “Good to meet you guys! Alya’s told me a lot about her new friends.”

“I sure hope not,” Marinette replies. “We all have our own secrets after all.”

“Oh haha! That’s true! Got that from her didn’t you? Yeah, Alya’s in her room. She probably has headphones on, or she would’ve heard you. ALYA! YOUR FRIENDS ARE HERE!”

They hear a bit of scrambling as Alya comes out of her room. Cerise is continuing to talk to Nora, keeping her a bit distracted.“Oh hey guys! Didn’t expect you to be here!” 

Marinette nods. “Yeah! I wanted to meet your sister.” She nudges Nino towards Alya. “Also Nino wanted to ask you something.”

“Hey wait-” He tries to say, but Marinette glares at him with a clear look of Just do it. So he tries to force up the courage and walks over to Alya. “So…hey. There’s this firework show tonight at the Eiffel Tower and…I was wondering if you want to go to it with me?” He asks with his face slowly going red.  

Alya’s eyes go wide as she realizes what this is, before she starts to blush a little. “Are you…asking me out right now?”

“Yeah.” Nino says, “I guess I am.”

Alya thinks about it and then smiles at him. “Yeah. That sounds great. As long as Nora says it’s alright.”

“Uh, are you kidding sis?” Nora walks back over. “Congratulations and all, but you can’t go to that!”

Everyone is shocked at this statement. “Wait, why can’t they go?” Marinette asks.

“Alya told me what’s been going on in this town,” Nora explains. “Every few days or so, someone is getting turned into a monster by a weird butterfly or something! There was a giant guy made of ice cream stomping around an hour ago! And while Mom and Dad are out of town, I have to keep you and the twins from getting hurt by any of these crazies!”

“Uh, Nora was it?” Nino asks. “I understand your concern, but I promise I will make sure Alya stays safe.”

“And I also told you there are superheroes in this city now.” Alya adds. “Angelbug and Cat Noir would deal with any akumatized villains. I’ve met them myself and trust them to do so.”

“Well, that’s great for you Alya, but I don’t have reason to trust them myself.” Nora declares. “When I started kickboxing, I chose to call myself Anansi, after the African trickster god. Because in the ring, you can’t trust any move your opponent makes. They could always be tricking you.” She thinks for a moment. “But you seem really determined Nino, so I’ll cut you a deal. If you can beat me in arm wrestling, I’ll let Alya go to the fireworks.”

Nino doesn’t even hesitate. “Deal!” Marinette and Cerise give each other a look. They both quickly realize there’s no way Nino can beat Nora in a straight arm-wrestle. But Marinette has an idea. As Nino and Nora get set up, she casts an illusion to hide her movements and readies a strength spell pointed right at Nino. Alya stands between them. “Alright, ready, set, go!” Marinette releases the spell and a burst of strength flows through Nino’s veins as he struggles to overcome Nora’s pushing. But after a few seconds, he slams Nora’s arm onto the table. “Alright I win!”

Nora looks down at her arm, shellshocked. How could she lose to this lightweight? “But…it can’t be.”

“Guess you must be having an off-day sis.” Alya suggests. “So I can go to the firework show?” Her sister nods and Alya jumps up and down in celebration. “Alright! Let’s do it!” She squeezes Nino’s hand as they take their leave, with Nino and Alya heading to the Eiffel Tower while Marinette and Cerise head to Marinette’s house quickly to pick up some snacks. 

Nora is left to stew in her own disappointment. She takes out the helmet she uses while boxing and holds it up, thinking to herself. This helmet represents her desire to protect her family, and how can she do that if they don’t want to be protected? But as much as she was worried about people at the firework show getting akumatized, that worry would ironically attract the akuma to her, as it flies through the window and enters the boxing helmet. She finds herself thrust into the void. 

“Hello Nora, forgive my intrusion but I sense your desire. You wish to protect your family from the threats you see all around you.”

“Yeah, threats like you!” Nora stands up and shouts into the void. “Why are you doing this?”

“Because I want to help you. I can give you the power to keep your family safe. Wrapped up in webs, unable to come to harm. And when they come for us, you’ll be able to keep your family safe.”

“Who’s they?”

“Unimportant. But in exchange, I require something to keep my own loved ones safe. The Miraculous of Angelbug and Cat Noir.”

Nora smiles. “Why not? I’ve been dying to meet these heroes anyway, see if they’re up to snuff.”

“And what shall I call you?”

“What else? Anansi!”

Back at Marinette’s house, Cerise and Marinette are packing some pastries into a box to bring to the fireworks. Her parents are out doing other deliveries as they left. “How the hell did Nino beat Nora?” Cerise asks out loud. 

Marinette rubs the back of her neck. “I may…have cast a strength spell on her.” Cerise whirls around. “You did what?!”

“Hey, I wanted to help Alya!”

Cerise rubs her temples. “I know, but she probably got really pissed off because of that! And when people get pissed off these days-”

Right on cue, they hear a massive crash outside as the akumatized Nora leaps through the street. Marinette catches a glimpse of a large shape with what looks to be eight arms leap up onto the buildings lining the street and start to crawl along, seemingly shaking the entire block as she does so. Cerise turns to Marinette with a blank expression. “Ok this one’s on me. What was I supposed to do? Not let Alya go on her date?”

“I could’ve told her she agreed to it.” Cerise suggests. 

“Yeah but you said you were uncomfortable doing that! I don’t wanna force you into anything. Anyway, we gotta find Alya fast! TIKKI SPOTS ON!”

Meanwhile, Adrien is in his room watching the fireworks show on TV. “Wait, we’re not gonna go see them ourselves?” Plagg asks as he munches on a piece of cheese.

“We just fought a giant guy made of ice cream. I think I’m all good for the day.” He suddenly sees two people he recognizes walk in front of the camera. “Holy shit, it's Alya and Nino! And are they holding hands?”

Plagg flies up close to the screen. “Dang. Maybe we should head down there.”

“I clearly missed something,” Adrien gets out his phone. “Maybe I’ll ask…Marinette…” His eyes narrow in on the background, where he sees something large climbing up the framework of the Eiffel Tower. He sighs and facepalms. “Two in one day?”

“So I guess we’re heading down there after all?”

“Yep. PLAGG CLAWS OUT!”

At the tower, the gathering crowd notices the giant spider-like figure climbing the tower. Alya quickly recognizes her. “Oh god. Nora?!”

Anansi is wearing a brown and yellow bodysuit with a yellow helmet, her hair bright yellow and tied into a sharp ponytail. Eight arms protrude from her body as she climbs. “There you are Alya!” She leaps off the tower and lands in front of them. “Gotta say, I was worried about this Hawk Moth guy but he’s actually not bad! He’s given me the power to keep you safe!” A few of Anansi’s arms reach down but Nino gets in front of Alya. “I’m not letting you touch her!”

“Aw cute. But that was a fluke, flyweight! You can’t beat me!” She pulls a fist back to attack, but the second of hesitation was all Angelbug needs as she flies in and unleashes a light spell right into Anansi’s eyes. “AH! DAMMIT!” She tries to grab Angelbug but the hero darts around her and unleashes several firebolts across her body, causing her to stumble back in pain. “C’mon Alya let’s get out of here!” He takes her hand and tries to run away. 

But Anansi hears that. “NO!” She blinks to recover her sight and smacks Angelbug out of the air, sending her careening into a tree before jumping after them. She smacks Nino aside and grabs Alya. “AHHHH!” Nino flies through the air, but Cat Noir leaps off a building and grabs him, setting him down on the ground. 

“You gotta get outta here! I got this!” Cat Noir tells his friend as he jumps into battle. Alya squirms in Anansi’s grip as the spider-woman walks back towards the tower. “C’mon sis! I’m just doing what Mom and Dad asked me to! Keeping you safe from all these weak-ass superheroes!” 

Angelbug recovers and flies up alongside Cat Noir. “Get her into the underside of the tower! I got an idea!” Cat Noir nods. “Looks like she’s heading there already!” He leaps into the air and slams his staff down on Anansi’s head! “How about you back off the lovebirds Spider-Woman? Aren’t you supposed to be in New York?”

“You’re one to talk, you Black Cat wannabe!” She keeps Alya safely up high and starts to attack Cat Noir with her other seven arms in a flurry of punches. Cat Noir nimbly evades them. “Let’s not get anyone in trouble with the copyright gods ok?”

He jumps over one of her fists and leaps up to uppercut her, sending her reeling. He prepares to unleash a shockwave but Anansi recovers and bats him through the air with a few of her fists before sending him flying. Right as he recovers, she opens her mouth and fires a big ball of webbing right at him, encasing him in a cocoon. “SHIT!” Cat Noir screams as he flies away. Anansi turns around and walks to the underside of the tower. Firing more webbing, she creates a giant spider-web between two of the legs and sticks Alya right in the middle. “You wanna watch the fireworks! Do it from here, where I can watch you!” 

But that’s the moment Angelbug is looking for as she flies in and flash-steps past Anansi, grabbing Alya, and flash-stepping out. “NO!” She immediately lunges forward but Angelbug throws a bolt of lightning that hits her square in the face, paralyzing her for a moment. While she’s stunned, Angelbug throws her yoyo, stretching it further than she ever has as she covers the underside of the Eiffel Tower in several dozen layers of magical string, wrapping them around the legs and then stopping and anchoring her yoyo in the ground with a construction spell, encasing it in a stone pillar. 

“YOU BASTARDS!” Anansi begins slamming the sides, but Angelbug casts another strength spell to ensure the strings hold. Across the way, Cat Noir Cataclysms his webbing and leaps back into the fray. “You caught the spider in its own web! Impressive! Now, how do we get the akuma?”

“Working on it.” Angelbug says. “LUCKY CHARM!” Without the yoyo, she simply creates the energy in her hands and summons a Lucky Charm… a teapot. “Is this really the time for tea?” Cat Noir asks, but Angelbug understands. 

“Shit! It means Master Fu… you have to go take this to him Cat! It’s telling us we need an ally.” She gives him the teapot. “Why not you?”

“Because I am the only one who can keep this cage intact! We’re partners Cat. You have just as much right to choose someone to help us as I do! Now GO!” Cat Noir hardly has time to argue as Angelbug applies an Angelic Blessing to enhance his speed, which he promptly uses to leap into the air and pole-vault across the city. He reaches Master Fu’s in minutes and runs inside. 

Fu is already waiting with the Miracle Box on the table. “I see you need-wait, Cat Noir? What are you doing here?”

Cat Noir detransforms and places the teapot down, upon which it disappears. “Angelbug’s keeping our friend busy. Is this a problem?”

“No, of course not.” He opens the Miracle Box to reveal all the Miraculous inside. “Adrien Agreste, wielder of the Miracles of Destruction, you may select one additional Miraculous to provide to an ally you can trust. But once the threat has been dealt with, you must return the Miraculous to me.”

Adrien looks through all the potential choices. “What do you think?” Plagg asks. “Well, we’re gonna have to get in close. So we need something that can help us take some hits. Is there like a Miraculous of Defense?”

Fu nods and holds up his wrist. “Yes it’s mine.”

“Oh…” Adrien says. “I don’t suppose I can borrow that one?”

Meanwhile, Nino and Alya are getting to safety. “You alright?” He asks his date.

Alya nods. “Yeah. Fortunately, she doesn’t wanna hurt me. But the longer she’s in that cage, the angrier she’s gonna get. Then all bets are off…”

Behind them, Anansi continues to snarl as she beats against the cage, with Angelbug concentrating her magic to hold it together. Anansi opens her mouth and fires a barrage of webs through the gaps, aiming right for Alya and Nino. “Oh no! Watch out!” But Cat Noir leaps in and cuts through them with a Cataclysm-enhanced sword. He grabs Nino and jumps away. Cerise arrives as well, grabbing Alya’s hand and leading her to safety. Cat Noir deposits Nino on a rooftop. “Alya! We gotta go back for her Adrien!”

“No, we need to defeat Anansi. And I need your help for that.”

“My help?” Cat Noir nods and holds out a bracelet with a jade stone attached to it, shaped like a turtle. “Nino Lahiffe, this is the Miraculous of Protection, which you will use to help the people.”

Nino blinks and steps back for a second. “You’re trusting me with a Miraculous? Why? I couldn’t even keep my own date safe from a supervillain. Nora was right, I’m not strong at all…”

But Cat Noir grabs his shoulders. “Who says you have to be? Angelbug and I might not be a couple, but we are partners. And that means we’re stronger together. Alya was there to back you up; now it’s your turn to back her up. So what if Anansi is stronger than you? Facing her down despite that is true strength to me Nino. I trust you to be there and help everyone. So are you ready to do that?”

Nino considers for a moment before taking the bracelet. Wayzz appears in a flash. “Whoa! Hey turtle dude!” 

“My actual name is Wayzz. I’m the Kwami of Protection. Are you ready to act?”

“Born ready.”

“Then all you have to do is tell me to armor up!”

Nino puts on the bracelet and adjusts his hat. “WAYZZ, ARMOR UP!”

Back at the tower, Anansi focuses all her strength and breaks through the cage. The strength spell breaks and Angelbug is thrown back as Anansi finds enough slack in the string to pull herself out of the bottom of the tower. Angelbug hits the ground with a painful thud and Anansi grabs her. “Looks like you’re all out of juice you weakling! Now I’ll take your Miraculous!” She pries open Angelbug’s hand and looks. “Wait, where’s your ring? Don’t you have a ring?”

“No you idiot!” Hawk Moth speaks in her brain. “Her Miraculous are her earrings!” But that brief moment is all that is needed as a green circular shield flies and hits her in the face. Angelbug takes the opportunity to flash-step out of danger as Cat Noir leaps forward. “Cataclysm!” He closes his fist and unleashes a shockwave, sending Anansi stumbling backwards as Cat Noir rejoins Angelbug, alongside the transformed Nino. He’s now wearing a superhero suit with various shades of green and a hexagonal pattern on the front. He has a hood up over his head and is wearing bright green goggles. He catches his Miraculous weapon, the circular shield, and attaches it to his back Captain America-style. “I’m guessing you’re our new ally?”

He nods. “Name’s Carapace. Glad to be here.” Anansi recovers from the shockwave. “Dammit! Now I've got three bugs to squish!” She goes on the attack again. Carapace steps forward. “Let me handle this. I got something of a score to settle!”

He steps forward to meet her. Anansi unleashes a flurry of blows but Carapace holds out his shield and activates his special ability. “Shelter!” A green energy barrier appears in front of him and Anansi’s attacks bounce harmlessly off it. “What the hell?” Carpace drops the barrier and throws his shield up, hitting Anansi in the head before grabbing it and throwing again to strike both of her legs. “Argh!” She throws another punch but Carapace runs forwards between her legs and leaps up behind her, throwing the shield again and hitting the back of her head. 

“LUCKY CHARM!” Another Lucky Charm is called up and becomes a pair of boxing gloves. She quickly understands and throws them to Cat Noir. “Be ready to go for the knockout!” She says before leaping into battle. Together, her and Carapace trade shield hits and magical attacks and Anansi’s flurry of blows. At one point, Anansi gets a lucky hit and sends Angelbug flying, but Carapace acts fast. “Shelter!” He fires out another Shelter with the second use of his power, this time as a projectile that encases Angelbug in a bubble and cushions her landing. But it still knocks the wind out of her. 

She gets up as the shield drops. “Alright, enough of this shit!” She casts a two-handed construction spell as she flies forward, gaining speed. Rocks fly in front of her and form into a massive drill head as she starts to spin, spinning the drill head with her. She slams into Anansi, drilling into her with the drill-head and sending her flying back, crashing into the legs of the Eiffel Tower. The entire tower groans and shakes. “NOW!” Cat Noir leaps in, charging his boxing gloves with a Cataclysm, before delivering a two-handed haymaker to the side of Anansi’s head. The boxing helmet disintegrates, and the akuma is released. 

Angelbug snatches it with her yoyo and levitates the boxing gloves into the air. “MIRACULOUS ANGELBUG!” The damage to the area and the city by Anansi is repaired by the swarm of ladybugs. Carapace lands back on the ground and joins his fellow heroes. “POUND IT!” Alya and Cerise run up, with Alya helping her sister off the ground. “Are you ok Nora?”

Nora takes her sister’s hand and gets to her feet. “Yeah…I’m alright. Dammit, I let that bastard get into my head.”

“You won’t be the last,” Carapace says, with Angelbug and Cat Noir beside him. “But rest assured, superheroes like us will always be there to help anyone who falls under Hawk Moth’s influence.” 

Alya looks up at her sister. “You see Nora? I know it’s scary, but there are people out there to protect me if I get in trouble. It’s not all on you.” Cerise gives Angelbug a nod, with a clear look of I don’t need to help with this. 

Nora looks at her sister's determination, then laughs and pats her on the back. “Seems you’ve grown a bit of a backbone! Hah! But for real, I’m sorry. I guess I’ve been away for too long, I don’t know how shit works anymore.”

“Don’t worry sis.” Alya holds up her phone. “Cerise and I have a website that will explain everything!” 

Meanwhile, the heroes leap away, with Carapace and Cat Noir going to a private space. “Armor off!” Nino detransforms and gives the Miraculous back to Cat Noir. “That was awesome!”

Cat Noir chuckles. “Yeah. You did a good job out there. You’ve got the makings of a great superhero!”

Nino rubs the back of his neck. “Ah shucks. But if you need me again, just say the word. Carapace will be ready to jump back into action!”

Cat Noir gives him a high five. “Good to hear! Now, have fun on your date!” He leaps away, leaving Nino to head back himself.

Back at the tower, Nora prepares to head back home. “Have fun sis.” She gives Cerise a firm handshake. “Keep an eye out for her will ya? She’s lucky to have friends like you and Marinette.”

Cerise smirks. “Don’t worry. I can get her out of any jam she gets in.” Marinette arrives with the pastries as Nora departs, leaving the firework show to get back on track. 

A few hours later, the show concludes, with Nino and Alya watching it on the grass. “You know, aside from my sister getting akumatized,” She says as she takes Nino’s hand. “This was really fun. Thanks for inviting me.”

Nino blushes. “I’ve…been thinking of doing something like this for a while.”

Alya smirks. “In that case, I suppose I’m a lucky girlfriend.”

Nino freezes. “Did…you just say you were my girlfriend?”

“Yeah.” She leans in closer and kisses him on the cheek. “If you want me to be.”

Nino blushes even harder. “I’d love that.”

And nearby, Marinette, Adrien, Cerise and Alix do a silent dance as they celebrate two more of their best friends finding love. 

Chapter Text

Paris, 1991.

A thunderstorm rocks across the night sky, the claps of thunder hiding Paris’s dark activities from the prying eye. An alarm sounds and glass breaks as the windows of a jewelry store shatter. Six men in ski masks, armed with crowbars and the occasional pistol, flee from the store and into the night, bags full of jewels and cash slung over their shoulders. “We got the biggest score tonight boys!” The lead thief says to his friends and they cheer in response. Catching sight of the red and blue lights of a police siren in the distance, they sprint off into an alley, where the police won’t be able to find them.

But the police aren’t who they need to worry about, as a pair of eyes watches them from the roof. 

Back with the thieves, they splash their way through the alley until…a sound. Behind them, they hear footsteps. “We got company!” One of them turns around and fires his gun, but there’s no one there. All around them, they keep hearing it. The swishing of a cape, footsteps in the dark. “There’s someone out there.” 

“Where? I can’t see ‘em!” They keep scanning the darkness, until…a dark human shape springs from the shadows and attacks one of the thieves. He swings his crowbar, but the man dodges and effortlessly knocks him unconscious with just a few strikes. He stands up straight as lightning flashes in the distance. The leader steps forward.

“Who the hell are you supposed to be?”

The figure turns around to face them, and the thieves finally get a good look at him. He’s dressed in darkened brown and black camo, with a winglike black cape and a cowl shaped like an owl’s face. He charges forward and engages the rest of the thieves. They fight back, but it’s hopeless. With the figures' speed and strength, he easily and methodically takes each one down, saving the leader for last. “Who am I?” He says as he blocks the leader’s crowbar and hits him in the stomach, causing him to double over, groaning. 

“I am Justice. I am the Owl!”  

A roundhouse kick to the face knocks the final thief out. The Owl stands for a moment overlooking his work until he hears voices as the police close in, so he leaps away. There’s more crime out there for him to stop…

Present Day…

“You can’t be serious.”

It’s lunchtime at Collège Françoise Dupont, and Adrien is eating his lunch with Nino and Alix. “Isn’t the Owl that guy I’ve been seeing around pretending to be a superhero?”

“The modern Owl is,” Alix explains. “But apparently in the summer of ‘91, there was a real superhero named The Owl running around Paris.”

“He’s almost an urban legend,” Nino follows up. “Hardly anyone ever saw him but police records would often find would-be thieves and criminals beaten up and unconscious, with no sign of who did it.”

“But it was only for one summer,” Alix concludes. “He disappeared after that, like he never existed. People started calling it the Summer of the Owl, till they eventually forgot about him altogether.”

“Huh,” Adrien says, sitting back in his chair. “So this new Owl guy is a fan? Either way, this guy shouldn’t be doing any more of this. He could hurt himself.”

“Well, maybe you should talk to him,” Alix suggests. “As…you know..” She makes cat ears with her hands. 

“You don’t have to do that Alix.”

“Hey, it’s called code. Try it sometime.” She snarks back. “But yeah, if you and Angelbug go to him and ask him to stop, maybe he’ll listen.”

Adrien thinks about it. “Hmmm…worth a shot I guess. Anything’s better than someone hurting themself trying to imitate some long-forgotten hero.”

The rest of the day passes without much incident, before everyone starts to head home. But as Mr. Damocles watches all his students leave, a serious expression flashes across his face. It’s time. 

Ducking into his office, he checks to see if anyone else is watching. But the coast seems clear. Reaching under his desk, he presses a hidden button and opens an app on his computer. “Owlbert, time to fly.”

“Password?”

“Ninety-one.”

“Acknowledged. Welcome back, sir.” 

The right wall inside his office suddenly lifts aside, revealing a secret compartment within the wall. He opens it to reveal a superhero suit.  Because Mr. Damocles isn’t just a fan of the Owl. No, in 1991, he was the Owl. And because of Angelbug and Cat Noir, he’s decided to break out his old gadgets and suit and go back on the prowl!

Meanwhile, Angelbug and Cat Noir are relaxing on a rooftop, drinking smoothies. Recently, they’ve decided they need to take the time to actually hang out together and get to know each other, instead of just meeting up when there’s an akumatized villain to fight. 

“So when you ascend…” Cat Noir is asking, “Or whatever it’s called, what happens?”

“Well I get two more wings,” Angelbug explains. “Big boost to my magic, and my overall lifespan triples.”

“So do you have to like, relearn how to fly?”

Angelbug raises her eyebrow. “Why would I need to relearn how to fly?”

“Because four wings!” Cat Noir exclaims. “Don’t you have to learn to flap them together so they don’t hit into each other? That feels like it would hurt.”

“I don’t think I need to worry about that. Magic wings, remember? I’m not a bird.”

“Well, you won’t know until you get them,” Cat Noir takes another sip. “Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to catch you if you fall out of the sky.”

Angelbug laughs and punches him in the shoulder. “Yeah and I’ll catch you first. Remember, furball, at least I can fly.”

“Fair.” Cat Noir looks out over the city and sees something in a park down below them. “Wait…is that…oh here we go.”

Down in the park, a girl is crying and pointing up at one of the trees. “Help! My cat got stuck up there and is too scared to come back down!”

“Have no fear, citizen!” Mr Damocles, now suited up in his ill-fitting superhero suit(he’s gotten much bigger in the last 30 years), leaps out from behind the tree, scaring the girl even further. “I will retrieve your cat! For I am the Owl! Hoo-hoo!”

It’s safe to say The Owl isn’t capable of the same feats he was back in the day. It’s been nearly thirty years after all, and age stops for no one. But that doesn’t matter, as the Owl is still capable of being a hero! At least, so he thinks. “Go! Owl Talon!” He produces a grappling gun and fires, but the gun jams and fails to grapple onto anything. “No matter! I’ll use my Owl Claws!” Little claws protrude from the end of his fingers and he sticks into the tree to try and climb up and get the cat. Angelbug and Cat Noir are standing at the entrance to the park, watching this. 

“That’s the Owl? Looks like he’s let himself go.” Angelbug remarks.

“Wait, you know about him?!” Cat Noir inquires, surprised.

“Yeah. My grandpa’s big into old comic books. And he lived here in ‘91 when The Owl was running around.”

“Well, looking at him, and based on what I’ve heard, I doubt it’s the same guy.” Cat Noir says. “We should probably make sure he doesn’t hurt himself.”

Back with The Owl, he manages to get up onto the tree. “Alright! Here kitty, let me reunite you with your owner!” But the cat hisses and pounces at him, scratching him across the face multiple times before leaping off his face and onto an even higher branch. “OW!” He falls out of the tree, at which point his grappling gun finally fires from his belt and wraps around the branch, causing him to be suspended by his belt, dangling out of the tree.

“Cataclysm.” Having walked up, Cat Noir grabs the rope and dissolves it, causing the Owl to crash to the ground. Angelbug flies up and grabs the cat, floating back down and giving it to the little girl. “Here’s your cat.”

Her face lights up. “Hooray! Thanks Angelbug! You’re my real hero!”

The Owl looks disheartened at this statement as he gets up and dusts himself off before turning to face Angelbug and Cat Noir. “Thank you for the assist young heroes! I am happy to see new faces joining me in my crusade!”

Angelbug crosses her arms. “You know you’re lucky you didn’t hurt yourself. I don’t think you have superhuman endurance.”

“Oh don’t worry about me! I can take a punch! Why back in the day-”

“It’s not back in the day anymore.” Cat Noir says, staring him down. “Look, I appriciate that you’re trying to help out. But we kinda need you to stop doing this Owl thing. I get that you might’ve been a fan-”

“A fan! No you’re mistaken! I was The Owl!”

Angelbug facepalms. “It really doesn’t matter. This isn’t the 90s anymore;  you’re out of touch. We’re fighting real supervillains, not street criminals. And you’re just going to end up getting yourself hurt or getting in the way.”

“But I can help! Just give me a-”

But Angelbug and Cat Noir are gone, having flown off and leapt away before he could respond. Hanging his head in sadness, he walks away to change out of his costume. 

The next day…

Mr. Damocles arrives at school early the next day and is now staring longingly at the costume hung up on the wall, along with all his gadgets. “Am I really out of touch. I thought the world would be ready to welcome the Owl back, but…”

In his funk, he fails to notice the akuma flying through the window and entering his computer. He finds himself transported to the purple void. 

“Hello. Forgive my intrusion. You wouldn’t happen to be the Owl, would you?” Hawk Moth asks. A tiny bit of pride comes back to Mr. Damocles.

“I was. Back in the day, but these new heroes don’t understand. I want to protect the city as much as they do! But I don’t have superpowers or magic artifacts. I never did.”

“Exactly. What do they know? But I respect your history. I can give you your strength back, and provide you with an arsenal that you can use to become Paris’s only superhero! All I ask in return is that you bring me the artifacts that are the source of your rival’s power: the Miraculous of Angelbug and Cat Noir.”

Mr. Damocles nods and clenches his fist. He won’t let these upstart heroes force him out of action again!

“And what shall I call you?”

“Dark Owl!”

Meanwhile, Marinette is walking to school with Alya and Cerise. “So I finally figured out the right design for my hat!” She shows her friends a picture. 

“Oh shit, that looks great!” Alya replies. “To be honest, one feather is more than enough.”

“Yeah, I decided to have that as my personal touch.” Marinette explains. 

“How is a feather a personal touch?” Cerise asks, only for Marinette to point at her concealment stone. “Oh…wait…you’re really gonna…”

“Yep! For the final design that’s gonna be one of my feathers!” Marinette exclaims. “I think they grow back right?”

“Why are you asking us? You’re the Angel.” Cerise remarks. Marinette laughs and puts her phone away. 

Alya starts looking at her phone as well, but her eyes go wide at a text from her dad. “Oh shit…like two dozen animals went missing from the zoo!”

Both Marinette and Cerise crowd around her to see the photos. “Missing? Where could they have gone?”

But then Cerise looks up and sees something. “Oh shit… does it have anything to do with that?” They all look up to see a giant owl-shaped plane streaking across the city. Caught in its talons are a polar bear and a tiger. Marinette’s eyes go wide. “Oh no… I think The Owl got akumatized.” They rush into an alley. “I know we have to get to school, but-”

“Go check it out,” Cerise affirms. “We’ll cover for you.”

Tikki flies out of her bag. “Dammit…did I make a mistake trying to get The Owl to stop?”

“It’s never a mistake trying to keep people from getting hurt.” Tikki replies. “That’s our number one duty, and that’s what we have to do now.”

Marinette nods. “TIKKI SPOTS ON!” She transforms into Angelbug and flies after the Owl Jet, but right as she’s catching up to the jet near the TVi building, it suddenly vanishes. “What the hell…” 

“You saw it too?” She looks down to see Cat Noir perched on a rooftop. He’d been at an early morning lesson with Master Fu when he saw the Owl Jet flying over the city. “I think I can guess who got akumatized.”

“Yeah…” Angelbug casts a vision spell to try and see if the jet went invisible, but she gets nothing. It’s like it was never there.

“It was an illusion. There was no jet.”

She flies down and lands next to Cat Noir. “But the animals are very clearly missing from the zoo. I saw it on the news.”

Suddenly, the TV screen on the front of the building starts to glitch, and across the city, Angelbug watches everyone stop as all their phones do the same. “Hello, citizens of Paris!” Dark Owl appears on the screen. He looks far more like the Owl did in his heyday, but his costume has changed to black and orange colors, and his eyes are now red. His computer, which the akuma entered into, is now a wrist communicator built into his glove.

 “It is I, the Dark Owl, taking over the airwaves to address my new nemeses, Angelbug and Cat Noir! You want to be Paris’s superhero protectors? I have something to say about that! So here’s what’s gonna happen! I’ve taken two dozen animals from the zoo and placed them in a bus, dangling from the Eiffel Tower!” The camera cuts to show exactly that: two dozen assorted animals crammed in a bus suspended from a rope. “If you do not give me your Miraculous in ten minutes, a bomb will detonate and destroy the rope, dropping the animals onto… a car full of small children!” The camera pans down to show a large van with a bunch of small children in it. “Follow the Owl Signal to find me! And don’t try anything funny! I know every move you could make! Dark Owl out!” 

The video cuts out. “Well, this is some Silver Age Batman bullshit.” Angelbug says. “I feel like this whole guy is a Batman rip-off. Which is still a problem as it means he has all the cool tech and stuff…”

“It’s definitely a trap right?” Cat Noir suggests. “That jet was an illusion. Maybe this is too?”

“Maybe, but we can’t take that chance. Especially not if lives are on the line.” Angelbug starts to think. “And he said he knows every move we could make. So we have to do something he wouldn’t expect. Like this…LUCKY CHARM!”

She throws up her yoyo… and gets the teapot again. “Alright, that would count. I’m gonna go invisible and scout out theEiffell Tower. You go get help. And make sure it’s someone so he can’t have any information on them!”

Cat Noir nods and leaps away, while Angelbug casts an invisibility spell and flies to the tower. He arrives quickly at Master Fu’s and places the teapot down. 

“A bit early today, aren’t you?” Fu asks as he takes out the Miracle Box. “Gotta be unexpected.” Adrien replies.

Fu opens the Miracle Box. “Adrien Agreste, wielder of the Miraculous of Destruction, you may select one additional Miraculous to provide to someone you can trust. Once the threat is neutralized, return the Miraculous to me.” 

Cat Noir detransforms and looks at all the choices. Obviously, he can’t go to Nino, so he has to pick someone else with a new Miraculous. As he looks between his choices, one catches his eye. He picks up a small chain, attached to which seems to be a blue and white rabbit's foot. Fu’s eyes go wide. 

Adrien holds up the Miraculous. “The Miraculous of Dominion?” Fu says, “Interesting choice. That’s one of the most rarely used Miraculous I have.”

“Well, it’s all about being unpredictable today,” Adrien says. “And I know exactly who to give this to!”

It doesn’t take him long to find the person he’s looking for. Alix is just leaving her house for school. Cat Noir finds her skating down the street and quickly pulls her aside. “Shh, keep it down!”

Alix breaks away. “I saw the video. So The Owl got akumatized?”

Cat Noir nods. “After I kinda told him to stop doing it. Think I might’ve gotten him akumatized.”

“Shit…I know you were just trying to help.” Alix says to her friend. Cat Noir nods. “But now to save him, we need your help.”

He pulls out the rabbit's foot. “Alix Kubdel, here is the Miraculous of Dominion, which you will use to protect the people of this city. Are you in?” Alix thinks for a moment and steels herself. 

“You know, I feel like I’ve been given some kind of gift.” She pulls out her watch. “But I’ve only been able to use it to keep myself safe, while I had to watch all my friends and family get akumatized around me. I’m ready to finally do some shit. Anything you need, I’ll help with.” She takes the Miraculous and a white bunny Kwami appears. “Hello! I’m Fluff, the Kwami of Dominion!”

“Alix, put her there!” She holds out her fist for a fist bump. Fluff looks at it confused, before they sniff the air. “Ooo! I sense some magic in you. Strong magic!”

“Yeah, it’s probably this.” Alix opens the watch to reveal the inside. “Nephilim blood! You don’t see that often in the Human Realm! Ok, so I’m your kwami, so I suppose I’ll give you a heads up. The power of my Miraculous will temporarily cancel out whatever effect your Nephillim blood is providing.”

Alix nods before slipping the watch back into her shorts. “Yeah, I’m fine with that!”

“Great! So let’s get started. Just say Fluff, emerge!”

Alix grins from ear to ear. She finally gets to be a hero herself. “FLUFF, EMERGE!”  

Meanwhile, Angelbug arrives invisible at the Eiffel Tower and takes a look at the sight. Dark Owl is standing up high on the first floor, scanning the area. With her invisibility, Angelbug decides to sneak up on him, flying around the tower and behind him in the hopes of an ambush. He speaks into a communicator on his wrist. “Owlbert, any sign of them?”

“No, sir. I’m continuing to scan. If they approach, I will see them. Ten minutes are up, sir; it's time to drop the bus.”

“Beg to differ!” Angelbug shouts as she charges from behind, but Dark Owl hears her just in time and ducks out of the way, avoiding her punch before landing a kick and sending her back. “I see you’re here Angelbug! And right on time.”

“Right on time to kick your ass!” She draws a spell circle and fires off some firebolts, but Dark Owl holds out one of his gauntlets, and the firebolts disappear into it. Angelbug gets in close and throws a punch, but Dark Owl releases the absorbed fire to send her back again. She recovers, but it gives Dark Owl time to jump off the Tower. 

“Shit!” Angelbug watches as the real Owl Jet streaks under the tower right in time for Dark Owl to land in the cockpit. He flies up into the air and the jet opens fire on Angelbug with machine guns, so she flash-steps off the tower and flies around to avoid them. Still, the rapid fire is keeping her on the defensive, until one of the bullets pierces her right wing. “ARGH!” She plummets out of the air, but she’s caught before she hits the ground by none other than Cat Noir. 

“See? Told you I’d catch you when you fell!” He jokes as they land on the ground. 

“I hate it when you’re right.” She casts a quick healing spell to fix her wing. “Where’s our help?”

“Waiting in the wings until we need her.” Cat Noir smirks as the jet flies around again to face them. 

“Well, with you both here, I suppose I can do…THIS!” Dark Owl fires at the rope and snaps it, causing the bus to fall right onto the awaiting car full of children. “SHIT! NO!” The heroes both run and fly at top speed right for it, and it looks like they’ll reach the car in time to get it out of the way. Angelbug prepares to flash-step the car away but… it vanishes. 

“What the hell?” They hit the ground, and the bus crashes into them, revealing its true form as a large metal cage, the gaps in which are covered in electrified wires. Angelbug quickly goes to flash-step out of it, but the cage sparks and shocks both of them, disrupting her concentration. “AUGH!!!” They scream in pain as Dark Owl lands his jet and laughs. 

“Didn’t you forget what I said? I know every move you’re going to make. My assistant Owlbert just so happened to stumble upon a hidden data archive within the city, containing everything I needed to form countermeasures against you. Such as my beautiful Owl Cage! You try and do any magic or anything, it will shock you into submission!” 

“CATACLY-AHHH!” Cat Noir attempts to form a Cataclysm but the cage sparks to life again and shocks him until he falls to his knees, smoking. 

“You’ve lost, Angelbug and Cat Noir! Now I am the only superhero in Paris!” But so focused he is on his enemies that he fails to notice the figure sneaking up behind him…

A foot slams into his face, sending him flying backwards as Alix lands back on her feet. In her hero form she’s wearing a suit with a white torso, gloves, and boots, with a cyan blue coloring everywhere else. Her mask is a white-and-blue combo, as are the bunny ears sticking out of the top of her head. Strapped to her back is her Miraculous weapon: a blue umbrella. 

“Who are you?” He throws several boomerangs at Alix but she makes a claw motion with her hand. “Burrow!” Her special ability activates as a blue sphere forms around them, translucent and about a hundred feet in diameter. “And…Hop!” She disappears right before the boomerangs hit her, appearing right behind Dark Owl as she whips out her umbrella and slashes at his back. “The names Bunnyx, and I’ll be your new opponent!” She shouts as Dark Owl recoils from the hit and turns to face her. 

“Owlbert! Fire up the jet!” The Owl Jet switches to autopilot and takes off into the air, but Bunnyx is ready for that. “Hop!” She vanishes again and reappears in the jet just before it leaves the dome. “Ooo, what does this do?” She presses a few buttons, and immediately the jet spirals out of control and crashes to the ground. “Hop!” She appears again right next to the cage. 

“How are you doing that?” Dark Owl attacks with a punch, but Bunnyx blocks it with her umbrella. “This area is my Burrow, and while you’re in it, you play by my rules! Hop!” She disappears and appears behind him again, kicking him in the back. 

Bunnyx then throws her umbrella away from them. “Hop!” The umbrella suddenly swaps places with the Owl Cage, freeing Angelbug and Cat Noir. Angelbug catches the umbrella as the cage crashes to the ground fifty feet away. The Burrow drops, as it does whenever Bunnyx swaps two objects that aren’t herself.

“CATACLYSM!” The two heroes join the fight, with Cat Noir forming his black blades and clashing against Dark Owl’s claws. Black sparks flash through the air. Angelbug flies up next to Bunnyx. “Thanks for the assist,” she says as she calls up another Lucky Charm. This time it’s in the form of a cellphone. She looks between it and Dark Owl and sees his right gauntlet flash up red. “Can you do that Burrow thing again?”

Bunnyx nods. “Two more times. It only drops if I Hop two things when one of them isn’t me.” 

“The akuma is in his gauntlet, which he’s using to talk to his AI. Just be ready to…” She whispers her plan to Bunnyx, who nods and makes the claw motion again. “Burrow!” The dome comes back up as Angelbug charges in. As she does, Cat Noir crosses blades with Dark Owl again.

“Hop!” Cat Noir and Bunnyx suddenly swap places as she kicks straight up into his jaw, knocking the wind out of him and sending him into the air. “And… Hop!” She switches places with Angelbug, who casts a wind spell and blasts him over towards Cat Noir. The hero of Destruction slashes at his right gauntlet, using his Cataclysm to destroy it and release the akuma. Angelbug catches it and throws up the cellphone. “MIRACULOUS ANGELBUG!” The swarm of ladybugs sweeps through the city and repairs all the damage. The zoo animals reappear, as even though Dark Owl had captured them, he was keeping them in a secure location. 

Dark Owl is de-akumatized, and Mr. Damocles appears before them. All three of the heroes' eyes go wide, but they keep their composure. “Are you ok, sir?” Cat Noir asks.

“Yes, I’m fine.” He says, standing up. “Though I suppose my secret is out…”

“So you were the Owl all along? Even back then?” Angelbug asks. He nods. “For one glorious summer, but it quickly became apparent it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t fix all the problems with this city. So instead, I dedicated my life to teaching the next generation, in the hopes they could make things better instead. Until I saw you all…and I thought you would need the Owl again to help you. But you’re right, the world has moved on.”

Angelbug puts her hand on his shoulder. “The Owl might not work for the modern world as he was, but it doesn’t have to be that way. There are other ways for The Owl to be a superhero. You don’t have to fight supervillains or even rescue cats from trees to be a hero. Any deed, no matter how small, contributes to making the world better.”

“Even something like helping an old lady cross the street?” He asks. Cat Noir nods. “How about this? We handle the big stuff, you handle the small stuff. We’ll protect this city in all ways, together.”

Mr. Damocles bursts into a big smile and shakes Cat Noir and Angelbug’s hands. “I accept! Looks like the Owl’s flight isn’t over yet. Hoo-hoo!” He runs off to head back to school and the heroes go to de-transform. Angelbug reunites with Alya and Cerise as they head to school. “Fuff, hibernate!” Alix detransforms in a nearby alley and hands the Miraculous of Dominion back to Cat Noir. “I think I did a good job!”

“You crushed it Alix.” Cat Noir says, giving her a fist bump. “If I ever need you again, can I count on Bunnyx to show?”

She laughs. “You know it!” Holding out her watch, she looks at the Nephillim blood. “Whoever made this thing, with its power, I hope I’m making them proud. Alright, see you at school!” She heads off, waving goodbye as she goes. Cat Noir detransforms as well. “Well, that turned out ok!” Plagg says as Adrien gives him a piece of cheese. 

“Yeah, except for one thing…”

“Which is?”

“Dark Owl said he found a data archive containing ways to defeat us.” Adrien recalls. “Who the hell is developing those kinds of plans?” 

He thinks for a moment, but decides it’s a problem for another day as he heads to school as well. 

Meanwhile…

“Are we secure?”

In a hidden workshop across the city, Barry Castle sits at their computer, typing away furiously. “ANGIE, is there any more risk of other hackers?”

“No,” Their AI program, ANGIE, confirms. “That was an akumatized villain. Nothing short of another one will get access to our countermeasures.”

“Good.” Barry says as they turn around to face the suit of armor that they’ve been building, with the backing of Tsurugi Labs. It’s over halfway constructed. “We can’t let anyone else know about this. If shit hits the fan…we have to know how to defeat any enemy that threatens the planet.” They look at another computer screen at a spreadsheet, which says one thing at the top. 

Project Lucifer…3 weeks until Completion.