So here is Part three! I am so very glad everyone is enjoying this story! In this chapter lots and lots of running around… Hehe just wait till you get to the end. Two more chapters after this and this story arc will be complete! I didn't realize it had grown quite so large. Oh well suspense is fun right!

A plant akuma attacks Paris drawing the superhero duo into a battle that will change their lives forever. Rated T just to be safe.

Oh yeah I forgot this last time... I dont own this show.

The Meaning of Marigolds

(Part Three)

As the flash of light dissipated Marinette held out her hands instinctively allowing both kwami to flop tiredly into her cupped palms.

"You should put my ring on so it can't get lost or stolen." Plagg said when she didn't move for several minutes.

"I-I don't know what to do." Marinette whispered feeling as if she weren't quite connected to her body.

"Put on my ring and find a place to hide." Plagg answered and Marinette focused her eyes on the tiny kitten in her palms.

"I think she is in shock Plagg. She really likes that boy Adrien and to find out that not only is he Chat but that she has to leave him…" Tiki trailed off looking up at Marinette whose gaze had locked back on the newly forming pod.

"She had better come out of it soon because we don't have a ton of time." Plagg replied causing Marinette to blink and shake her head roughly.

"S-sorry..." Marinette whispered her fogged over mind starting to clear a little. Plagg grinned weakly up at her and opened his mouth when a voice interrupted whatever the kwami was going to say next "Hereeee kitty, kitty, kitty…." The voice of a 6 year old girl sang spookily. "Comeee ouuut kitty, kitty, kitty."

Hearing the voice sent a shiver of fear through her and in the late afternoon sun Marinette could make out several vines sweeping over the rooftops nearby. She didn't know where it came from but a memory of Chat, a grin firmly in place, leaping in front of her to take a blow meant for her crossed her minds eye and deep within her a spark of stubbornness answered the shiver of fear.

"No. I will not give up. Not here, not now." Marinette said and slowly, shakily, she stood. "You guys can both fit in my purse so I can run right?" Both Kwami flew up from her palm and nodded before diving into the small bag.

Looking around the rooftop Marinette slid Adriens ring onto her finger as she fixed her position firmly in her mind so she could return later. Slowly she closed her eyes as she struggled to come up with an idea of what to do next the ring weighing heavily on her finger.

"For something so small it feels incredibly heavy." Marinette whispered twisting the band.

"That's because you carry his heart." Plagg said from the purse.

Instead of intimidating her Plaggs words warmed her and in the next second Plagg asked "Do you have any cheese?" ruining the moment.

Marinette managed a weak chuckle. "We will have to find you some as soon as I get us somewhere safe."

"Oh Kiiiittttyyyy…." The little girls voice warbled again but this time instead of making Marinette flinch in fear it simply annoyed her. Picking out a path along the closest rooftop Marinette darted forward leaping across the gap between the buildings.

"Uh I think they know we are here." Tiki noted as the vines swung towards them as if sensing her movement.

"Wonderful." Marinette panted and put on a burst of speed so she could clear a larger gap as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop. She had been awake since the early morning and had so far spent most of her afternoon fighting, dodging, and getting slammed by psycho vines. Marinette was in great shape from being Ladybug but even her body had its limits and she was getting tired. As she cut across a rooftop a vine surprised her cutting off her initial path. Ducking sideways her feet almost sliding out from under her she cut away from its sweeping arc and sprinted forward to the edge of the roof where she jumped crossing a span that she could usually clear with ease. Her exhaustion betrayed her however and she nearly fell short the tips of her toes just making the edge so she tipped forward rolling across a small soon to be vegetable bed. The fresh dirt made for a soft landing and with only a few small bruises to show for the near miss she stumbled back to her feet covered in dirt. Swiftly making her way to the edge of the bed Plagg flew up from the purse taking in her disheveled appearance. "Kid you've got to find a place to hide. You can't run from those vine things forever."

Marinette nodded tiredly as she kept an eye on the vines as they swept the rooftops for her. Jumping across the gaps seemed to confuse them in their search for her at least. "I've got to get off the roofs. I'm getting too tired to keep leaping about like this, I'm going to end up missing one of these times."

Tiki darted up from her purse and pointed at a small alcove on the other side of the roof. "That looks like an entrance!" she said catching Marinette attention. She made it all of two steps towards the door however before a vine slid across it slinging out tendrils that searched the small space. Finding nothing the vines headed in her direction and Marinette turned running the opposite way hissing "No time."

She was swiftly running out of roof with nowhere to jump to next. Just as she was starting to feel cornered she spied a length of cord off to the one side that was probably used for washing. Thanking her luck Marinette ran forward scooping it up and coming to the end of the roof she swiftly tied it to a bar that jutted up from the roofs edge. She tossed the rest of it over the side peering down to see some planters about three quarters of the way down. Seeming to sense what she was about to do Tiki flew down and tugged on the cord herself asking "Will that hold you Marinette?"

Marinette shrugged "I guess I'll find out." She answered dropping over the side of the building as the vines started sweeping the part of the rooftop she had just been on. The cord held her weight just barely and she swung wildly as she ducked some dangling tendrils while trying to lower herself to the street. The cord bit into her hands painfully and the slight twang sound was all the warning she had before the cord snapped. Being Ladybug had had given her many new skills and swinging from rooftop to rooftop using nothing but a yoyo had greatly sharpened her reaction time. Plummeting towards the ground Marinette flailed wildly refusing to scream. As she fell Marinette twisted feet first instinctively as she frantically tried to snag the wall. A moment later her hand caught the wrought iron decoration of one of the window box she had seen from the roof top. She held on for dear life praying the box would support her weight as her body jolted to a painful stop, her shoulder and arm protesting the motions she was putting it through. Ignoring the pain she grabbed the box with her other hand and slowly started to heave herself up so she could peer into the window. Her luck held with the window box and as a bonus the window was already half way open. To her amusement both Tiki and Plagg were gripping the shoulders of her jacket doing their best to try and help her as she scrambled in through the window. She slithered through the gap falling to the floor in a heap and decided to stay there.

"Marinette the window!" Tiki cried waving too catch her attention. Recognizing the danger of the vines possibly following her in she lunged forward slamming the window shut then collapsed to the floor a frantic giggle slipping from her lips.

"Marinette?" The two Kwami queried concerned for the young girl.

A lump seemed to form in her throat and Marinette found she couldn't answer. Her vision blurred as she stared out the window and to her surprise she could feel a tear leak from one of her eyes. A wave of pity, fear, and countless other emotions rolled through her.

"I need to keep moving." Marinette whispered to herself turning on her knees to face the concerned Kwami. They hovered in the air watching her, their expressions unreadable. Sniffing Marinette swiped a stray tear from her cheek and once more climbed to her feet.

"Lets get you guys something to eat and we can figure out to do from there." She said her voice soft. "Cheese Please!" Plagg cried making a brief smile flicker on her lips.

They were in someone's apartment and from the look of things they hadn't been home when the akumas attack had started. After checking that the windows and doors were secure Marinette moved into the kitchen and found the Kwami and herself something to eat. She felt a little bad stealing this random persons food but she knew that she didn't have much of a choice.

As they ate Marinette started to make a plan. "This place seems safe enough so I think we should stay here until its dark out and regain some of the energy we will need to fight. Plants don't move around much at night so if this Marigold holds true to that we will be able to sneak up on her then. Adri.." her voice broke for a second and she cleared her throat before continuing. "Chat was right I think when he said she is underground so we can probably find her either in the metro or the catacombs."

"There won't be a ton of room for you to maneuver around down there." Tiki warned and Marinette nodded.

"I will have to find a flashlight or something to use so I can see too." Marinette said already thinking of stuff she would have to collect.

Plagg snorted "You won't need a flash light. You will have night vision because you will be using me."

Marinette blinked not thinking she heard him properly. "Using you? I can do that?"

Plagg nodded swallowing a large chunk of cheese whole. "Adrien gave me to you willingly and I want to help you so you will have access to all of Chat Noirs powers. You can use them in conjunction with Ladybugs normal powers too. Just say Claws Out to give me a heads up as to when you decide to go for it."

Swallowing the bit of fruit she had in her mouth Marinette asked "I can give you back to Adrien when this is all over right? Using you power won't mess up your connection with him?"

Plagg shook his little head "Nothing can mess up our connection. Besides you're already a part of our connection. How do you think he always finds you so darn fast?"

Marinette chuckled dryly and stood once more. "If we are going to do this we need to get some sleep. Do you guys mind taking watches?"

"You go to sleep Marinette we will keep watch and wake you once its fully dark." Tiki answered and Marinette managed a small smile before wandering over to a small couch and collapsing into it. She was unconscious almost instantly.

Something nudged her in the darkness whispering. Marinette groaned and tried to roll away from the nudging only to meet empty space then suddenly the floor. "Gah!" Marinette cried as she hit the ground coming awake instantly.

"Marinette! Are you ok?" Tiki cried her little body producing enough of a glow that she could see her hovering less than a foot above her.

"Tiki?" Marinette asked confused as she sat up. It was pitch black in the room and Marinette could only just make out the generalized shapes that were furniture. As more shadows came into focus in the dark room, a small pair of green eyes shined out of the darkness making the air catch in the back of her throat.

"Boo!" Plagg cried and dodged Marinettes hand chuckling as she swiped at him in fear.

"Plagg!" Tiki scolded and the events of the day came swarming back to Marinette.

"It… It wasn't a dream then." Marinette whispered to herself pressing her lips to the metal band that encircled her finger.

"Sorry Ladybug but we haven't escaped this nightmare quite yet." Plagg said quietly. "However, if you want to go after this Marigold now is probably the best time."

"Lets get to it." Marinette answered climbing to her feet. She was no longer exhausted though her shoulder and some other parts of her were very sore or stiff from the skirmishes as well as sleeping in a single position for such a long time. Tiki led the way with Plagg following close behind whispering to Marinette where to step as they made their way out of the apartment and to the main stairs.

"How long was I asleep for?" Marinette asked as she began to feel her way up the stairs.

"About 8 hours." Tiki answered causing Marinette to stumble.

"Eight?!" Marinette cried "Why did you let me sleep that long?!"

"Besides the fact that you needed the rest?" Plagg quipped dryly

"This akuma has been on the loose since lunch… yesterday now! It's never taken us this long to wrap up a capture before!" Marinette hissed worried for the people of Paris especially those that had been cocooned.

"Its not like you could help it, besides the vines really only stopped fully moving about two hours ago. Plus your body and mind needed to recover from the shocks it had received, also now's the best time to move about if you're a creature of the night." Plagg grumbled

"Yeah well I'm not really a creature of the night either!" Marinette whisper screamed in his direction since she couldn't actually see where he was.

"You will be once you go through that door." Plagg retorted and received a scolding hiss from Tiki as they arrived at the rooftop exit.

"We are with you all the way Marinette." Tiki whispered to her placing a gentle kiss on her nose.

"Trust your gut. You will be ok." Plagg said his green eyes hovering creepily out of place in the darkness.

"Ok…ok…I can do this." Marinette whispered to herself the very air around her changing as she focused. "Tiki, Plagg, Spots On and Claws Out!"

Closing her eyes as the transformation swept over her Marinette noted that it felt very different from normal. As the light of the transformation died she shifted trying to place what felt so strange. For one thing she felt stronger her soreness disappearing for the moment.

"You can use all our powers and you have our combined strength too." Tikis voice whispered to her in her mind.

Warmth surged through her giving her the courage to open her eyes and nearly jumped out of her skin as she saw the person standing off to the side of her. She twisted towards them hands coming up only to realize that it was her reflection in a mirror.

"Who the heck puts a mirror on a rooftop exit?" she muttered feeling slightly embarrassed by her knee jerk reaction.

Having night vision was really cool though and curious she took a step closer while eyeing the changes to her costume. Ears adorned her hair and a petite bell hung around her neck. Her gloves ended in claws and she could feel the difference in traction of her clawed shoes. She couldn't really make out colors very well even with the night vision but she could tell her normal spots mostly covered her body except where they swirled to what she assumed was solid black at her hands, feet, neck, and belt. Reaching behind at the small of her back she discovered Chats Baton and a tail to her amusement. Her yoyo hung in its normal position at her side.

"I'm so glad plants don't use cameras." Marinette muttered thinking of how Alya would be having a field day if she could see her like this. Turning away from her reflection she slowly cracked the door to the roof open alert for any incoming attacks or stagnant vines. Seeing neither she slid out the door on silent feet and started her run over the rooftops towards what she hoped would be the final battle between her and Marigold.

Everyone Welcome Ladycat! So I actually have no idea if this is possible for a single person to use two kwami at the same time but I suppose it would have to be. Otherwise why would Hawkmoth want the other miraculous if he couldn't use them?