*Author's Note: Well, here it is! The sequel you have all been waiting for! I am sorry it took so long, but I hope that the wait was worth it. The new villain is a creation all on my own. If the villain happens to be similar to one seen in season 2, I can assure you it was all a coincidence. I will be posting updates weekly. Anyways, enjoy chapter 1 of Guardians of the Heart.
Chapter 1
Adrien opened up the trap door into Marinette's room. He was holding a large bowl with a lid on top and had a smile on his face. She recognized the bowl from Fiona's restaurant and wondered what she had made her that time. Every time they went in to that restaurant she always made them something special, and every time it had been delicious.
"Hi," he greeted.
Marinette sat up despite her achy body. She caught the flu and hadn't seen Adrien in three days. It was practically a crime to be away from him for that long.
"Hi," she said weakly.
He sat down next to her on her bed and set the bowl of soup on her nightstand. She could smell something savory wafting out from underneath the lid. He leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on her forehead.
"How's my bugaboo? Feeling any better?"
Marinette smiled at his nickname for her. She used to find them a little annoying, but now she found them endearing.
"No," she grumbled. "It's been horrible without you here."
He chuckled. "I'm sure it has," he said. "Just my very presence is enough to cure any illness."
Marinette reached up and smoothed down the collar of his shirt. "Well, I hate to break it to you, kitty, but I'm still sick," she said with a small smile. "How's your aunt coming with the redecorating?"
He shrugged. "Well the office and dining room are completely done. She's almost finished with the movie room. She's having the projector and screen hooked up today."
"It sounds like she's been having fun," she said with a smile.
He nodded. "Yeah. Hey, tomorrow's Saturday. How about you come home with me tonight and we have a movie night, break in the new movie room? It'll make you forget about being sick and get you out of the house."
She bit her lip as she thought about his offer. She so badly wanted to say yes, but their first night together? They weren't going to do anything, but still. It was big for them. She wasn't sure her parents would go for it, but then again, her parents loved Adrien. They would probably be all for it. She almost agreed but then remembered. It was Friday night. Patrol.
She sighed. "I wish I could, but you have patrol tonight."
His face fell at the revelation. "Oh. Right, I forgot," he grumbled. "Tomorrow night then, and I'm not taking no as an answer."
Marinette smiled widely. "Fine. If you insist." She leaned over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. She might not had been contagious any longer, but she didn't want to risk him getting sick. "Just make sure my parents are okay with it."
"Oh, I already asked," he said with a grin. "They're cool with it."
Marinette closed her eyes as she chuckled. "I love you," she whispered.
"I love you, too," he said. "Even enough to do this." Adrien didn't care about getting sick. He leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss. He hadn't done that in over three days.
"Don't come crying to me if you get sick," Marinette said when he pulled away.
"It would be totally clawful if I did," Adrien joked.
Marinette wasn't up to her full strength, but she did manage a light punch to his shoulder. "Will you ever stop making puns? Aren't you getting tired of them after all this time?"
"Come on, Marinette! You know you'd be paw-sitively lost without them."
She rolled her eyes at him, but she was still smiling. "So what did Fiona make?"
Adrien then went on to rave about the ragout Fiona had made for her. It had tender pieces of beef and potatoes and leeks and truffles and a whole bunch more deliciousness thrown in there. She ate it slowly to give her stomach a chance to get used to having food in it. She had been barely able to keep even consommé down the last couple of days. That morning she had been able to eat more solid food thankfully. Even though her body didn't feel better, her stomach was ravenous at that moment.
Adrien hung around for a couple more hours after giving her the soup. He didn't want to leave her, but he had a duty to the city. Hawkmoth might've been behind bars, but there was still plenty of people out there ready to destroy their great city.
He kissed her on the forehead before transforming. She watched with a smile as Adrien turned into Cat Noir. He winked before jumping out her open window. She shook her head at him. Ever since they found out about each other, Adrien had been more Cat Noir like around her, but it was still no contest to how he acted in costume. It had to be part of his superpowers, or it was just a habit he didn't want to break. She honestly would never want him to. She loved both sides of Adrien, and she didn't want either of them to change.
Cat Noir went up to the Eiffel Tower and perched himself as high as he could. He looked out over the city and listened for anything unseemly happening. He knew that his fake tail was swinging lightly back and forth. He couldn't control it exactly, but it was more than just an accessory. It was the same thing with his ears. They didn't function as ears, but they reacted to his real hearing, which at the moment was so acute he could hear a pigeon flap its wings a mile away.
Cat Noir was about to move to a different location when he heard the alarm at the Louvre go off. He jumped down from the Tower and extended his staff down to the ground. He gripped it tightly as he slowed his descent to the earth. He made his way to where the alarm was coming from. It had been disconnected by that point but he already had the location.
Cat Noir had stumbled upon what was clearly a museum heist. That was going to be too easy. He went over to a skylight near where the robbers were. They were near an Egyptian exhibit. He broke the lock with little effort then jumped down to the center of the lobby. He stood up and placed his staff on his shoulders with his arms draped over it.
The robbers turned around at his sudden entrance. They had on black hoodies that completely shrouded their faces in shadow and with his normal sight he wouldn't be able see their faces, but thanks to his night vision he got their faces easily. He quickly glanced around the exhibit and at first he saw nothing stolen.
"You know, if you're going to be cat burglars, you could at least try to act a little feline," Cat Noir said. "I could give you some good cat tips."
The burglars were obviously not amused by his attempt at joking. What did they know? He was hilarious.
The guy who was clearly the leader glared at Cat Noir. "Kill him," he ordered.
"Okay, first off, you've got to be quick," Cat Noir said casually. He easily dodged the attacks of the leader's goons while landing blows of his own. He incapacitated his last attacker then back-flipped and onto a bench. "And light on your feet. Like this, see?"
His opponents were all on the ground moaning and groaning as they were recovering from the beating Cat Noir gave them. The leader pulled out a gun, but Cat Noir wasn't fazed.
"Second tip, you need to be sneaky," he said. Cat Noir jumped off the bench just before the gun went off. He used the darkness of the room to his advantage and ran around to behind the cat burglar. Like a real cat, he made no sound as he moved. Even the bell on his costume stayed silent.
"There's no point in being a cat if you can't be sneaky," Cat Noir continued. His voice echoed throughout the room and the man with the gun shot in a place that was completely opposite of Cat Noir's position. He smiled to himself. When he wanted to he could easily throw his voice.
With the burglar's back turned, Cat Noir ran straight at him. "And three? You pounce when the advantage is yours," he said as he struck the burglar with his staff. He hit him in the stomach then landed another one to his head effectively knocking him out.
"I'd thought this'd be more of a challenge," he said casually resting his elbow on his staff.
"Well it's still early," someone said from behind him.
He turned around with his staff held out. A woman walked out of the shadows. She seemed relatively normal at first glance. She had on simple black trousers with a matching blazer and a dark gray top underneath. Her dark hair was left down and ended in a modern bob. She looked ordinary, except for the fact her eyes were glowing blue. They were literally glowing. It wasn't in the same way his cat eyes were. This was different, and much creepier.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
She smirked. "Someone who doesn't like cats," she said. She held up her hand and lightly flicked her fingers. With the movement Cat Noir got flung across the room until he hit the wall. He groaned as he fell to the ground. That was going to hurt in the morning.
"I'm impressed at how you took out my men," the lady continued. "And you did it with very little effort on your part. I trained them myself, yet you take them down in under five minutes. You are very talented, Cat Noir."
"Thank you," he groaned as he stood up. He retrieved his staff and hooked it back into its holster. "Now what are you doing here?"
She shrugged. "I needed something," she explained. The lady started slowly walking around the room. Cat Noir recognized the movement. She was circling him, and he took it as a threat.
"And you couldn't just buy it online?" he asked her.
"What I need can't be bought," she said with a small smile.
"Uh-uh. So what is it do you need exactly?" Cat Noir asked. She was still circling him slowly. His tail was twitching nervously. It was the only outward sign that he was scared, and he hoped she wouldn't notice.
"All in good time, kitty."
Cat Noir bristled at the sound of someone else using Marinette's nickname for him. He felt like she was the only one who should use it.
"Who are you?" he asked again, giving her a more meticulous glance. He saw a slight bulge in her jacket but he couldn't figure out what kind of object was making it.
She sighed. "I see that Master Fu hasn't been teaching you, or else you'd already know. I am Lillian."
The name didn't ring any bells in his head, though he knew it should have. She knew about Master Fu. He had met him a few days after his father was taken in, except that it wasn't the first time he met him. Once he saw the old man, he recognized him as the same person he helped the day he received Plagg. Master Fu explained everything to him, but he hadn't been teaching them anything.
"You know, that name isn't really that frightening or anything," he said, trying to play down the situation. "The Great and Powerful Lillian really rings a bell and just purrs right off the tongue."
She sighed again and flicked her fingers. Cat Noir got thrown against the opposite wall. He immediately regretted his joke. Marinette told him his jokes were going to get him into trouble one day. He should have listened.
"I see you are a joker," Lillian said. "It has been awhile since one has worn the black cat Miraculous. I forgot how annoying they could be. Anyways, au revoir, pussy cat! I have work to do."
Cat Noir could barely move his arms to sit up, let alone go after her. The police rushed in after a minute. Officers took the burglars away in handcuffs while one of them helped Cat Noir to his feet. He stretched but it didn't help. He just knew he was going to have bruises all over his body in the morning.
"Are you going to be okay, Cat Noir?" Lieutenant Roger asked.
He nodded. "Yeah. I'll be fine. Thanks."
His body was healing, but it was doing it very slowly.
"Did you see what was stolen?" he asked him.
He raised an eyebrow. "No. What was it?"
"Part of an ancient cypher disk," the curator said coming up behind Lieutenant Rogers. "It was very old, one of the oldest objects here. I believe it to be part of a larger piece. It was on loan from Egypt. When they find out it was stolen we're going to lose half of this exhibit!"
Cat Noir felt somewhat responsible for that, but he couldn't have done anything. He saw the bulge in her jacket and he should have gone for it. He knew she had something hidden on her person, but he had no way of knowing if it was stolen or not. If he did pounce at her, she would have killed him. He would take bruised and battered over dead any day, unless Marinette was in danger. He had already given his life up for her once before. When they fought Timebreaker the first time around, he sacrificed himself for Ladybug. He didn't remember until she used her Miraculous Ladybug, but when it set things right it gave him the memories of the Cat Noir from the first timeline. He had given his life for her once; he would gladly do it again.
After resting for a few minutes Cat Noir left the museum and was immediately bombarded by several news crews.
"Cat Noir! Cat Noir!" they yelled, hoping to grab his attention. That was the first time they had been able to catch him or Ladybug for an interview in weeks. The city had been very quiet since Hawkmoth was put behind bars, so there hadn't been much need for Paris's famed superheroes.
"Cat Noir! Do you know of the connection between the other robberies?" a reported asked. The reporter continued before he could get a word in. "All across France, there have been multiple museum robberies just like this one. Do you know who's behind them?"
He was stumped. He hadn't heard anything about other robberies in the last few weeks, though he knew immediately who was behind them.
"Ladybug and I are working on it," he quickly lied. "Don't worry, we'll figure out who is behind it and put them behind bars where they belong! You're favorite superheroes are on the job!"
He inwardly cringed at his choice of words, but they were the first thing that popped into his head. Cat Noir got out of there as fast as he could. His body was screaming at him to just relax, but he didn't go home. Instead he went to Marinette's. He landed on her little balcony and jumped through the trap door.
Marinette had fallen asleep early that night. That flu was really kicking her butt, so she didn't notice the door to her balcony opening nor did she see Cat Noir walking over to her bed. He sat down on the edge and fell back onto the mattress staring up at the ceiling.
She woke up with the movement of the mattress. She opened her eyes and recognized a familiar figure on her bed. He had only laid down a moment ago, but he looked like he was asleep even though his cat eyes were wide open.
"Cat Noir?" Despite her knowledge of his real identity, it was very hard to not call him Adrien when he was still transformed. She knew it was for the better since the last thing they needed was to accidentally call out their civilians names in the midst of battle.
"Bonjour, my lady," he said, closing his eyes. He was taking in such deep breaths she thought he had fallen asleep.
She sat up and moved closer to him. "What are you doing here?" she asked him in a hushed whispered. Her parents were still awake, and if they found him there dressed like that there would be a ton of questions to be answered.
"Rough patrol," he explained vaguely as he moved to get more of his body on the bed. He ended up with his head in Marinette's lap and his body curled up on the bed.
"Tell me about it," she said softly. Marinette started lightly stroking his hair. She chuckled softly as she heard him purr. It was something she had discovered a couple weeks before. They were out in the park next to her house having a picnic. He had laid his head in her lap. She had started absentmindedly stroking his hair while she read a book; then he started to purr. She found it adorable but he was beyond embarrassed, which made it even more adorable.
"There's a new super villain in town," he said slowly. He sounded like he was about to go to sleep.
"What?" she exclaimed loudly before remembering her parents might hear. She snuck a quick glance to her door and after a few moments she was satisfied that they didn't hear. Her next words were whispered in hushed tones. "How do you know this?"
"She pretty much told me," he said. "Not to mention she threw me against a wall. Twice."
"Was it because you told a bad joke?" Marinette asked with a sigh.
He opened one eye and smiled at her exasperated expression. "The first time no, the second time… I might've joked a little," he admitted sheepishly.
She rolled her eyes. "I told you those jokes would get you into trouble."
"Yes you did, my lady," he said, closing his eyes again.
"Is there a reason you're not transformed back?" she asked. "I'm sure Plagg is just as exhausted as you."
He sighed. "I wanted to talk to you without Plagg making gagging noises every five seconds, but if you insist. Claws in." With those words he was transformed back into Adrien. Plagg flew out of the ring and groaned as well.
"Why'd you wait so long?" Plagg asked as soon as he was out of the ring. "That was a rough one."
Adrien sighed at his Kwami.
"Cheese is in the usual place, Plagg," she told the Kwami.
"Thank you, Marinette," he said.
"Oh, you'll thank her?" Adrien asked with an accusing glare.
"Of course!" Plagg said as he went to the small stash of cheese Marinette kept for the black cat Kwami. "She doesn't complain about it."
Marinette smiled smugly while Adrien just sighed even harder.
"So who's the super villain?" she asked, still stroking Adrien's hair. She remembered the first time she first ran her fingers through it. It was their first kiss.
"A woman named Lillian. She knew about Master Fu," he explained. "She said we would know her if he was training us."
"Does she have a Miraculous?" Marinette asked, but she was sure that that wasn't it. All the Miraculouses were safe. After Mr. Agreste was arrested and the peacock Miraculous was found in his safe it was returned to Master Fu.
Adrien shook his head. "No. She had magic though, and her eyes glowed."
"Like yours do in the dark?"
"No. This was… this was different," he said. "It's hard to explain." Adrien slowly sat up. Marinette winced at the sound of his joints popping. He was going to be sore for a few days. "Plagg, have you ever met anyone like this before?"
Plagg looked up from his cheese. "Of course. She's gone by dozens of names over the years, but over the last couple centuries she's gone by Lillian."
Adrien raised an eyebrow waiting for me, but he never said anything more. "Do you mind telling me more about her?"
"I will," Tikki said sleepily. She flew from the little bed Marinette made her and over to them.
"Oh, Tikki, I'm sorry we woke you," Marinette apologize.
"Don't be," Tikki said. "Lillian is a dangerous person, and she needs to be stopped. If she's active again then that means she has something bad planned."
"Like what?"
"She said she needed something, but she wouldn't tell me what it was," Adrien said.
"She doesn't want our Miraculouses, does she?" Marinette asked.
Tikki shook her head. "No, but she does want power. She's looking for something that she lost thousands of years ago."
"What was it?" Adrien queried.
"A jewel," Plagg answered. "A pretty ugly one at that."
Tikki shook her head at him. "It is a jewel," she explained, "similar to a Miraculous, but much older and extremely powerful. Whoever wears it is granted the powers of a god. It's called the Jewel of Rubati."
"How godlike are we talking here?" Marinette asked, but she was afraid of the answer.
"She could destroy the earth with the snap of her fingers," Plagg said.
"So pretty godlike," Marinette muttered. "Good to know, but why would she break into the Louvre? There's no mystical godlike jewels there."
"That's not where the jewel is," Adrien said. "She stole a cypher disk I think. The curator said it was once part of a larger piece."
"The Menes Decoder," Tikki muttered. "Oh no."
"What's the Menes Decoder?" Marinette asked. She held back a cough but it couldn't be helped.
"Marinette you shouldn't be talking about this," Adrien said. "You're still sick."
"I'm fine," she said after a coughing fit. The medicine she took earlier was starting to wear off.
He reached up and brushed back a lock of her hair. "You are not fine," he told her softly.
"He's right," Tikki said. "You need to rest. I can feel your energy, and it is not well. We'll discuss this when you're feeling better."
"No. We need to talk about this now," Marinette said vehemently. "Sick or not I'm still Ladybug, and Ladybug has a duty to Paris and the world. If there really is a new villain in town who is much worse than Hawkmoth then nothing will keep me from trying to help."
Adrien looked at her with a wistful smile on his face. Even sick she was still strong and fighting. She would go into battle on her death bed if it meant she could help save the world.
"Okay," Tikki said. She knew that her girl wouldn't go quietly. "But if you wake up tomorrow in worse shape, don't blame me."
"Do you know what else she stole from those other museums?" Marinette asked, trying to change the subject.
"I didn't stick around long enough to find out," Adrien said, "but I'm sure a quick internet search will find what was taken."
Adrien got up from the bed and walked over to Marinette's computer. She was glad she had thought to take down the totally embarrassing wallpaper she had on there before. She got red just thinking about it. He pulled up a search engine and typed quickly. She watched silently as his green eyes scanned the screen. It was such a simple act, but there was just something about him sitting there at her desk that made her smile. Some part of her still couldn't believe that he was dating her, and he actually wanted to. She was so afraid for so long that he wouldn't find her interesting or like her enough to date that it was hard to get over it.
"Here we go!" Adrien exclaimed. "I found it!"
Marinette tried to stand up to be next to him, but Tikki pushed her back down. Tikki gave her a warning look that was frighteningly similar to one her mother used to give her when she wanted to have ice cream for a sore throat.
Marinette grimaced but she stayed where she was.
"Looks like the items stolen were just random gold objects," Adrien said confusedly. He leaned back and stared at the screen like it would give him the answers if he won a staring contest.
Tikki flew over to Adrien to look at the screen. Adrien rolled back to give Tikki some room. She typed in a few more things then stared at the screen for a few moments. After a bit Tikki's eyes went wide. "Oh no. I was afraid of that."
"Afraid of what?" Adrien and Marinette asked at the same time.
Out of the corner of her eye Marinette saw Plagg make a disgusted face. He hated when they talked at the same time.
"She's gathering the pieces for the Menes Set."
"The what?" Marinette asked.
"The Menes Set," Tikki repeated. "It's a two piece set consisting of a sextant and a decoder that when used together are used to read the map that leads to the location of the jewel."
"How many pieces does she have?"
"Only a few," Tikki answered gratefully. "There are still dozens of pieces of the set scattered around the world that are much harder to find."
"But she will find them," Marinette said.
Tikki sighed. "Unfortunately, she will. Lillian has unlimited resources, sooner or later she'll have all the pieces."
"Is there anything we can do to stop her?" Marinette queried.
"I don't know," Tikki said quietly.
"Wait, what about the map?" Adrien asked suddenly. "Even with the decoder and sextant, she still needs the map to actually find the jewel. If we can find it before her, and destroy it then all is well."
"The map was lost thousands of years ago," Tikki said.
"That's good, isn't it? If she can't find the map, then she can't find the jewel," Marinette said while holding back a cough.
"Okay, so we just need to find the map before she does and we're all good!" Adrien said with a little too much enthusiasm.
"Oh, and I suppose you suddenly have an ancient map locator app on your phone now?" Marinette joked.
Adrien gave his girlfriend a wry smile. "No, but that still doesn't mean we can't do research of our own," he said.
"How do you propose we do that?" Marinette asked him.
"We are not doing anything," he said. Adrien got up and walked over to Marinette's bed and sat down next to her. "You are going to relax until you are over this flu. Once you're better than you can help."
"I'm perfectly able to help now," Marinette refuted, but a cough ruined her argument. "Some silly little flu isn't going to keep me from helping out."
"Marinette, you've already gotten worse since we started talking about this," Tikki told her. "Listen to Adrien, please. You'll be better in a couple days; you can help then."
Marinette sighed. In a couple days Lillian could have the map and then nothing would stop her from getting the jewel. Marinette didn't say anything to them about this. She was starting to feel exhausted and couldn't handle arguing anymore. Maybe they were right. Maybe she was still too sick for this.
"Get some rest, Princess," Adrien whispered to her. "I'll come back tomorrow." He leaned over and placed a tender kiss on her forehead.
"I love you, kitty," she said with a smile.
He smiled back. "I love you, too. Fur-ever and ever!"
She had to close her eyes at the ridiculousness of that pun. She shook her head and sighed.
"Oh, come on. You knew that was coming," he said with a chuckle.
"You're going to be making puns on our wedding day, I just know it," Marinette said before she could catch herself. When she realized what she had said her eyes went wide and she started panicking. "Oh! I-I-I-I didn't mean— I m-m-mean—" She couldn't get out any intelligible words and just kept fumbling over them endlessly. Her cheeks were hot and all she wanted to do was crawl under covers until scientists found a cure for embarrassment.
Adrien was stunned by her statement, but the sound of it was very pleasant to his ears. Adrien glanced at Marinette and he saw the exact moment when she realized what she had said. She was beyond embarrassed. Her cheeks were tomato red and her words no longer sounded like words.
He reached up and placed a hand on her cheek to get her to calm down. "Marinette. Mari, calm down," he said comfortingly. At his touch she stopped trying to talk and just let him relax her. If he hadn't done that she might have gone on for hours.
His smile suddenly got very sly as a thought occurred to him. "And yes," he continued, "I will be making puns." Adrien quickly placed a quick kiss on her lips then left without another word.