*Author's Note: Hey everyone! I hope you're enjoying the story so far! This chapter is my favorite thus far because I too have recently visited London. All the sights and experiences Marinette and Adrien do I have done as well. Their reactions are my own, so this chapter is very personal to me. And if you like it, please favorite or follow, or even leave a review! Enjoy Chapter 4!

Chapter 4

Marinette heard her alarm go off, but since it was four fifteen in the morning she turned it off and rolled back over. She would've fallen back asleep if Tikki hadn't pulled down her covers and reminded her what the day was. Despite the knowledge she was going to be in London in a few hours, Marinette still didn't feel awake. She dragged herself out of bed and took a quick, cold shower hoping it would awaken her senses.

Marinette dressed in clothes good for traveling then double checked her duffel bag to make sure she had everything she would need and double checking that she had her passport. Her parents were awake when she went downstairs. They hugged her for several long minutes until there was a knock at the door. Her father opened it revealing Adrien and his aunt Kathi. Kathi was bright-eyed and bushy tailed while Adrien looked like he was about to fall asleep any second. Marinette chuckled at his state. He must've gotten less sleep than her. Aunt Kathi and Marinette's parents spoke for a few more minutes, going through the schedule and telling them generally where they'd be. Tom and Sabine, despite their excitement for their daughter, were still apprehensive about their daughter going away. Marinette promised she would call them twice a day to check in before her parents would let her go.

The events leading up to the train were a sleepy blur to the superheroes. Once on the train, Marinette and Adrien took two seats together while his aunt grabbed one in the row in front of them. Adrien took the window seat and Marinette took the aisle. The two of them chatted easily while waiting for the train to depart, but once it got out of the city their conversation started to fade. They were both feeling the effects of waking up that early.

The first leg of their train ride was uneventful, but Marinette did enjoy seeing France in the early morning hours. It was calm and quiet and peaceful. To Marinette it felt like a whole other world, one that couldn't possibly have the looming danger of the end of the world hanging over their heads. Adrien had fallen asleep as soon as the train hit the countryside. He was sound asleep next to her. She heard a faint snore, but it wasn't from Adrien. She bit back a smile when she realized that it was Plagg. The little Kwami was curled up on Adrien's shoulder nestled up to his neck like a normal cat would do. Marinette shook her head and smiled. Those two were made for each day other, she thought to herself.

Once the train went down into the Channel Tunnel, or Chunnel as she was told, Marinette fell asleep. There were no more beautiful landscapes to keep her mind awake so she started to doze off.

Adrien hadn't noticed he had fallen asleep. One second he was staring out the window watching the sunrise the next he was waking up to the sight of concrete walls. It took his waking brain a moment to realize he was down in the tunnel. He felt Plagg nestled up against his neck and rolled his eyes. He was snoring softly in his ear, but he was used to that. He fell asleep to that sound almost every night. What he wasn't used to was Marinette sleeping against his side. Before the train departed they had lifted up the arm rest between them. Marinette had moved so she was resting against his side slightly curled up. She had been staring out the window before he had fallen asleep. He smiled down at her, at the fact she was completely curled up against him, and she called him a cat.

Marinette didn't wake up until the train came out of the tunnel. She had woken up next to something very warm and when she realized it was Adrien her cheeks turned pink. He had woken up sometime before her, but he didn't notice that she was awake. He was on his phone, but Marinette couldn't see what he was doing.

"What is that?" she asked sleepily.

Adrien jumped slightly at the sound of her voice. He had gotten used to the silence and wasn't expecting her to wake up for a little while longer. Marinette chuckled at his reaction as she sat up.

Adrien nodded. "A book," he said with a smile. "It's a new series. I rented the e-book to see if I like it before I buy a hard copy."

"Do you like it?"

He shrugged. "It's too soon to tell. I'm only on chapter three."

Marinette smiled. She sat up and stretched then looked out the window. Her eyes widened when she saw that they were out of the Chunnel. They were actually in England! She was in another country! It looked so different and strange that it fueled her excitement.

"How far are we from London?" she asked.

"Another hour and we'll be there," he said.

Marinette couldn't wait to reach the city. She didn't care that their reasons for coming were not for fun or leisure. The excitement of leaving Paris and going to another city was enough to drown out her worry about Lillian.

At Kings Cross, Marinette was like a kid in the candy store. After a quick passport check they were free to go wherever they wanted. Marinette looked around at the train station. She couldn't quite believe that she was there. Her feet were standing on a different country. She didn't understand a single word that anyone was saying, and she didn't care.

"You look like you've just seen your first rainbow," Adrien joked.

She lightly nudged him with her elbow. "Give me a break! Let me have this moment," she said.

"You heard her, Adrien. Let her have a moment to absorb all this," Aunt Kathi said, taking Marinette's side. "How about we go check out the shops before we check in to the hotel?"

The amount of stores in the station were equal to that of a major airport. Marinette and Adrien visited about half of the stores in the station. Neither of them bought much. The real fun started when they reached the Harry Potter shop. Aunt Kathi had to almost drag them away from the replica wands when it came time to check in to their hotel. It wasn't far from the station, just a quick cab ride from King's Cross Station.

They checked in and after dropping off their bags in the room they headed out to their first sight-seeing destination. Aunt Kathi took them to the British Museum first. It was the closest to their hotel so it seemed fitting to do it first.

As they stood in the short line to get in, Adrien and Marinette wandered gazed up at the Greek-esque building before them. There was a Pantheon in Paris, and she had seen it several times, as had Adrien, but this was something else. This building was bigger. The Greek columns in the front, she believed were called a colonnade, had to be a meter in diameter. The carvings in the pediment were expertly done. It was hard for Marinette to believe this building was only a couple hundred years old. It seemed like it had jumped right out of Ancient Greece.

Once inside, the grandeur of the building continued. High above was a glass and steel ceiling illuminating the stark white of the Great Room. They collected museum maps, and for a little while they were regular museum goers. The first artifact they saw was the Rosetta stone. She and Adrien took turns taking photos with it, feeling like real teenagers for the first time in a long while.

Aunt Kathi trailed along after the teenagers as they explored the artifacts and exhibits on the ground floor of the museum. Those two were incredibly enthusiastic about the museum. She had never seen two teenagers that enthused about history. If they were that intrigued about history, she wondered how they would be at the other sights she planned for them to see.

After spending a good hour and half exploring exhibits on the ground floor, they headed up to the upper level where the exhibition containing the Ladybug tablets was supposed to be. Since it was brand new it was a bit crowded, but they were able to move around fairly easily. Marinette found one of the tablets that contained a picture of a spotted hero. She was more than intrigued as she looked it over. The picture of the spotted hero was similar to the one on the papyrus from Egypt. The hero had a yoyo and was wearing a polka dot outfit. She looked at other hieroglyphics on the tablet and saw someone that reminded her of Cat Noir. He had cat ears and a tail and was holding a staff.

She took a photo of the tablet, and of the other tablets around the exhibit. They all seemed to be telling a story, but Marinette couldn't figure out what. It wasn't in order that was for sure. She knew Tikki had taken to popping her little red head out of her bag every few minutes, but that was all she could do without exposing the red Kwami. There were too many people around.

"This doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know," Marinette whispered to Adrien.

He nodded. "I know. Let's go see if we can find the graduate student. What was her name again?"

"Amelia Cretu. But wait, what about your aunt?"

Adrien glanced over at his aunt, who was gazing at one of the informational displays by one of the tablets. He walked over to her and said, "Hey, is it alright if Marinette and I go explore on our own?"

She seemed hesitant to answer. Finally, she said, "As long as you both stick together. We'll meet down in the Great Room in one hour. The bookshop sound good?"

He nodded. "One hour. We'll see you then!"

Marinette and Adrien left the exhibit and found the nearest museum employee. He was walking around giving some information about various artifacts to anyone who asked. He looked young, maybe another graduate student.

Marinette hung back while Adrien spoke to the employee. She couldn't join in on the conversation even if she wanted to. She listened to Adrien speak in perfect English as he asked where Amelia was. The employee, as far as Marinette could tell, seemed very helpful. She let out a sigh of relief when Adrien smiled, and the employee gestured for them to follow him. That was easier than she thought it would be.

He led them out of the exhibit and down to the ground floor. He brought them to a doorway that was marked "Employees Only." Once inside, Marinette noticed that it seemed to be just offices. Most of the doors were labeled with names, but others were probably used for archives or something similar.

He finally stopped at a door that had several names on it, one of which was the name of the graduate student they wanted to talk to. Adrien and Marinette walked inside and saw that it was a large shared office. There were five large desks, but the room could easily fit three more and still have room for table tennis.

Amelia Cretu was at a desk on the far side of the room. On the cork board next to her she had tacked pictures of what the superheroes assumed were of her friends and family. The other pictures were taken at a dig site with other team members.

Amelia looked exactly like her picture. Her light brown hair was pulled back into a chignon and she was wearing a light gray cardigan over a simple purple blouse. She was typing away at her computer and didn't look up until the museum employee who brought them there announced their presence. After a few words in English by the employee Amelia stood up and smiled at Marinette and Adrien.

"Bonjour," Adrien said. After that he went into English so Amelia would understand. Marinette stood back feeling a bit awkward. She needed to learn another language so she wouldn't feel as left out.

"I'm Adrien and this is Marinette," Adrien continued in English. "You are Amelia Cretu?"

She nodded. "Yes," she said, also in English, but with a Romanian accent. Luckily, Adrien had been speaking English long enough to understand her perfectly. "What can I help you two with?"

Adrien smiled. "We came to ask you about the site in Kazakhstan."

Her smile faltered at his words. "What about? It was just a normal site. Nothing strange happened."

"We want to ask you about the artifacts that were found," he explained.

"If that's all you wanted to know, then you can go up to the exhibit," Amelia said. "Everything you need to know about that site is up there." Marinette had no idea what they were saying. She recognized a few words but the conversation was going too fast for her to make anything of it, but she did notice when Amelia started looking shifty. She raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, not yet.

"We've looked at the tablets, but there's no description of what is being said," Adrien explained. "All we know is that they are about Ladybug and Cat Noir."

Marinette recognized their superhero names. She bit her lip, hoping that Adrien wasn't going to get them into trouble. He was prone to bad luck with the black cat Miraculous on his finger. She hoped her tendency for good luck would be enough to outweigh it.

Amelia shrugged. "That's because the translations are still on going. It takes time to decipher those hieroglyphics… Adrien, wasn't it?"

Adrien's senses were being kicked into overdrive. He knew she was hiding something, but what was it?

"Do you have any idea of what they say? Even just an overview?" Adrien probed.

She shook her head. "No. I'm afraid not," Amelia told him.

Adrien noticed that Amelia was a very bad liar. She knew what they said, but she wasn't telling him. Why was she not telling him?

Marinette brushed her fingers against Adrien's arm to get him to look at her, and then she asked him, "What is going on?"

He quickly gave her an explanation of what had been said. He explained to her that he felt like she was hiding something, and Marinette had noticed the same thing. They were starting to slip into their superhero habits as they mulled over what to do.

"Adrien, ask her if there was anything else found there besides the tablets," Marinette quickly suggested.

"Why?" he asked his girlfriend.

"Well, maybe there's something not on display yet that could be useful," Marinette said.

Adrien nodded and turned back to Amelia who was staring at them curiously. She didn't speak French, so their entire exchange was lost on her.

"Amelia, was there anything else interesting found at the site?" Adrien asked. "Maybe a broken tablet or a carving or something?"

Both Marinette and Adrien noticed how Amelia stiffened up and bristled at Adrien's question. That was a giant red flag. Marinette raised an eyebrow at that reaction. It was definitely not something she was expecting, but it told her that there was something else found there.

"I'm sorry, what did you say this was for?" Amelia asked them, getting a little defensive. "I don't believe you said."

With that Adrien was stumped. They had never thought of a cover story for their visit. Honestly, neither of them thought they would need one.

"I think you two should leave," Amelia said in a hard voice.

"No, wait! Please! Just wait," Adrien pleaded. "Just tell us what else was found and we'll leave…. Please."

Amelia was hesitant to say the least. She was fidgety and uncomfortable.

"I can't," she finally whispered.

"Why not?" Adrien asked.

She shook her head. "I'm sorry. I just can't. Now go before I call security."

Adrien pursed his lips and sighed. "Fine. We'll go."

He reached over and grabbed Marinette's hand.

"We have to leave," he said to Marinette, slipping back into French.

"Why?" Marinette asked. "What'd she say?"

"I'll tell you later," he said.

They left her office and headed back out to the Great Room. They still had a half hour until they had to meet his aunt, but neither of them felt like exploring anymore. Instead, they went into the gift shops tucked underneath the Reading Room that sat in the center of the Great Room. Even though they tried to focus on the souvenirs and trinkets, their hearts weren't in it. When it was time, they walked around the circular structure to the bookshop. Aunt Kathi was there flipping through a copy of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

"Did you two have fun?" Aunt Kathi asked when they walked up to her. She put the book back on the display.

Marinette and Adrien smiled easily. They showed no sign of what had just happened to them.

"Oui," Marinette. "It was a lot of fun."

"Wonderful! Now, how about some souvenirs?"

Aunt Kathi bought them some trinkets from the Museum, including a couple of key chains and some postcards. After that, they headed out for food. They were able to find a restaurant within minutes of leaving the museum. It was a simple chain restaurant, apparently popular with the locals, but it still had the typical British foods. Feeling adventurous, Marinette ordered a British pie filled with steak and ale gravy while Adrien and his aunt went classic and got the fish and chips.

After the hearty British food the three of them headed back to the hotel. They were all exhausted from waking up early and the long train ride up there. It was starting to get dark, and none of them were in the mood to do much sightseeing.

Marinette had her own room, but it was connected to Kathi and Adrien's room so all they had to do was leave the door open between them. Marinette went into their room and together they watched some movies on a French channel Kathi had found.

Marinette and Adrien watched the movies, but neither of them could really pay attention to what was going on. Both of them had their minds on Amelia Cretu and what she was hiding from them. They hadn't had much of a chance to talk about what happened back at the museum. The only conversation they've had on the subject was Adrien telling Marinette exactly what had happened. Beyond that, they hadn't spoken a word about it in fear that Aunt Kathi might overhear. They were both sure of what they needed to do though. All they had to do was to wait until Adrien's aunt fell asleep. The superheroes transformed and then went up onto the roof of the hotel.

Cat Noir had seen the view before, but she hadn't. He stood back and watched as Ladybug walked forward, staring in awe at the view in front of them. He smiled as he watched her take in the skyline of London.

Ladybug stared in wonder at the view of London. From the hotel roof she could see all the iconic London landmarks, and since it was night they were all lit up magnificently. The London Eye was lit up in bright, deep blue that contrasted with the night sky. Big Ben had green lights shining on it, and the sky scrapers were bright white and twinkling. The entire sight was full of golden light and color.

"It's so beautiful," Ladybug whispered.

"Yes you are," Cat Noir said.

She wanted to play off his little flirt like she normally would, but it was so sweet that she only blushed.

"Come on, Cat. Let's go figure out what Amelia's hiding," she said, getting them back to the matter at hand.

They ran through the unfamiliar streets of London, staying out of sight of anywhere the general public could be. No one needed to know that they weren't in Paris. The rumors and speculation around them would be outlandish, but many of them would be too close to the truth.

The superheroes arrived at the museum in no time at all. They walked around the building and found the window where Amelia's office was located. The light was still on and shining. Through the shades they could see at least one figure moving around. The found a good spot where they could watch what was going on inside. Behind them were the buildings that lined the street. One of them was a hotel, others were residences or buildings. All that mattered was they were hidden from view.

"What is she doing here so late?" Ladybug whispered. She pulled out her yoyo and flipped it up to get to the screen. She zoomed in so she could see what was going on inside. Amelia wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary. She was at her desk typing stuff, looking at binders, writing things down. She wasn't doing anything that would be considered suspicious.

"She probably has a deadline to finish," Cat Noir muttered. Maybe they had looked too deeply into Amelia Cretu. They could've been overthinking the situation with her earlier that day. Of course that didn't explain his animal instincts going into overdrive.

"Or maybe she's waiting on someone," Ladybug said. She had noticed Amelia glancing nervously towards the door.

"But who?" Cat Noir asked. "Her boss? Someone else?"

He paused and his eyes glazed over as he went over the possibilities in his head.

"Lillian," he finally whispered.

Ladybug's eyes went wide at his suggestion.

"Of course," she muttered. Ladybug sighed and put her head in her hands. After a moment she lifted her head and aimed her yoyo's screen at the office once again. "She beat us to it. Whatever else was found there, Lillian got to it first."

"The map," Cat Noir stated.

"Most likely."

"That was our only way to stop her," he said.

"We still don't know what's happened," Ladybug reminded him, but it was mostly to remind herself. That map was the one thing that gave them hope in stopping Lillian. If Lillian already had it in her hands, then there was nothing else they could do. The superheroes couldn't locate any of the pieces in time. They didn't even have the resources to even begin to look for them.

"Maybe it's not the map," she continued. "It could be just another piece of the sextant. Or maybe the decoder. We still don't know."

The superheroes continued watching the screen for a few more minutes, and they were about to leave and try again the next night when the air in the space next to Amelia's desk started to shimmer and spark. Cat Noir and Ladybug gasped as Lillian appeared in a flash of blue light. Amelia wasn't surprised by her sudden appearance, leading the superheroes to believe that Lillian was the person she was waiting for. They looked at each other gravely. They knew what was going to happen.

Amelia kept watching the clock nervously. Once those two kids had left she sent a message to Lillian, just as she was told to do. She was told to contact her if anyone came asking about what was found at that dig site. Amelia never thought it would happen. During the first few weeks after her encounter with the strange woman Amelia was fidgety and nervous. Every person she spoke to she suspected wanted to talk about the site and what was found there. Then the weeks went by and her mind started to calm. She thought that no one would ever come to ask her about it, but she was wrong.

She noticed when the air started to shimmer and spark, telling her that Lillian was about to arrive. Amelia took in a deep breath just before Lillian appeared. Amelia stood up and composed herself so she didn't reveal how scared she was on the inside.

"I got your message," Lillian said immediately, talking in Amelia's native Romanian. "Someone was asking about the dig site?"

Amelia nodded. "Yes. Two kids both from France. Why would they be interested?"

Lillian raised an eyebrow at Amelia's question. "What did they look like?"

Amelia thought back to that afternoon. "They were around fifteen or sixteen. One was a boy with blonde hair. He was kind of tall. The other was a girl. She had black hair tied in pigtails. She looked at least part Chinese."

"Just as I thought," Lillian said, not the least bit surprised by Amelia's descriptions.

"Who are they?"

"Not your concern," Lillian told her. "Thank you for telling me."

"Wait, before you go, what's so important about what was found?" Amelia asked. "You never told me."

Lillian smirked. "Did you ever think there was a reason for that?"

"I know, but it was just a piece of old parchment," Amelia continued. "It didn't even have any words on it. It was blank."

"Maybe to you, but not to me."

Lillian glanced out the nearest window with an inquisitive expression. It passed after only just a moment, but it was long enough for Amelia to notice.

"Good bye, Amelia," Lillian said with a small, secret smile. In a flash of blue light she was gone.

Amelia turned around and glanced out the window. The shades were closed, but she couldn't help the shiver that ran down her spine. Lillian had glanced out there as if she could see someone or something out there. Ever since Amelia felt like she was being watched.

She went out to the window and pulled up the shades. She cupped her fingers around her eyes and peered out the window. She thought she saw something run away, but it was probably just a cat. She could've sworn she something that looked like a tail.

Amelia went home soon after her encounter with Lillian. She was edgy and shifty her entire way home. The streets were empty, yet she felt like eyes were on her everywhere. Amelia was relieved when she made it into her apartment. She rushed in and shut the door, leaning against it with a sigh. She locked the deadbolt and put the chain in place. She relaxed once it was in its holder.

The yoyo and the staff had a translation module in them, so they were able to catch the entire conversation between Amelia and Lillian. It scrolled across their screens like subtitles on the television.

"It was the map," Ladybug muttered.

"Not only that, but now Lillian knows it was us who asked about it," Cat Noir said.

She glanced over at her partner. "Do you think she knows our secret identities?"

He shrugged. "I wouldn't put it past her." His cat eyes flickered up the window just before Amelia lifted the shades. "Quick, duck!"

The superheroes dodged out of sight of Amelia's office window. They headed up to the roof of the building so they wouldn't risk being noticed. Cat Noir sat down on a nearby ledge, watching Ladybug pace back and forth across the roof. His only movement was his eyes following her.

"What are we going to do, Cat?" Ladybug asked, but he was sure she was asking it rhetorically. "Lillian has the map. There's nothing we can do. We lost."

"We haven't lost," Cat Noir assured her. "She doesn't have the jewel yet."

Ladybug stopped pacing and faced her boyfriend. "She might as well have the jewel! There's no way for us to stop her! We don't know where the pieces are! There's nothing for us to do! We're out of options. This entire trip was a waste."

"Maybe there's another option," he suggested, but he was grasping at straws. He scrambled his brain for anything that could help them. His mind went to the conversation he had with Amelia. He had been so focused on the map situation lately that he had forgotten about something else Amelia had lied to them about: the tablets!

"She's leaving," Ladybug said. She saw Amelia walking down the road running next to the museum.

"We should follow her," Cat Noir said, coming to stand next to the spotted superhero.

"Why?"

"So we can talk to her about the tablets," he continued. "She lied about not knowing what was on them. Maybe she'd be more willing to tell a certain pair of superheroes." He wagged his eyebrows and smiled slyly.

"You forget, minou, I still don't speak English!" she reminded him.

"Fine, I'll go talk to her."

She put a hand on his arm to stop him. "I don't think that's such a good idea," Ladybug said.

"Why not?" he asked.

"She might get a little suspicious, don't you think? Two French kids show up asking about the Ladybug and Cat Noir tablets, then all of a sudden Cat Noir shows up asking about them? She'll definitely notice a connection."

"I think it's a risk we should take," he said. "We have to know what's on those tablets. Besides, we didn't even know who we really were, and we saw each other literally every day."

"You really think it's worth the risk," she said, not sure if she was asking or stating it.

"Oui."

"Then let's go."