Peridot Turtle

by KaliAnn

In a split second, life can change in an instant. What should be is now what could have been. Instead of a pair of magical earrings, a glowing bracelet. Instead of a Heroine a Guardian. Instead of a Ladybug a Turtle. An AU when Marinette gets the Turtle Miraculous instead of the Ladybug one. First of its kind and independent of my other Miraculous stories.

7. Lost now Found

Important announcements. One, I switched the order of one episode because it was important to the flow of the chapter. Two, I know I told reviewers I would finish this in eight chapters, but I realize that I need to add two extra chapters if I'm to cover everything I want accurately for all of you. Three, I'm giving a person who was akumatized, but not seen a chance to appear in this chapter. Four, I love all your reviews and stuff, but I would appreciate it if you stopped mentioning how my story should go. I have a plan and I wish write this in my own words. Thank you and enjoy.

---

"So we've located Duusu, she's in the Agreste manor," Wayzz said excitedly.

Marinette frowned, "Perhaps, there were three other pictures in that album that showed them wearing the Miraculouses, but two of them had Mrs. Agreste with the Butterfly Miraculous and Mr. Agreste with the Peacock, and the other two were vice versa."

Wayzz nodded and recalled that there was a painting in the manor that showed Mrs. Agreste surrounded by butterflies. At the same time though the label of the Agreste brand was a butterfly. A few years ago, he had an entire line based on the bird. According to Adrien, Mrs. Agreste loved peafowls, and had collected figurines and the bird was her favorite.

"Do you recall if Mr. Agreste was the holder who never returned Duusu?"

Wayzz pinched his face, but he couldn't recall at all. "There were side effects from me being abused and my powers used to kill people. It effected my memory, I have difficulty remembering certain events."

"Why didn't you tell me earlier? That's part of the reason you wanted me to do all that research isn't it? I don't understand Wayzz, why didn't Master Fu heal you?"

"He did, but to truly heal I would have needed to spend a few years in my Miraculous. When Kwamiis are dormant, we not only sleep and recharge, damage to our psyche is fixed. Master Fu begged me to rest for three years in my Miraculous, but I refused on the grounds I must always be active."

Marinette shook her head. "Wayzz, you really need to start taking care of yourself, if you don't you'll never be happy. As soon as things are peaceful again you are going to rest for a good long while, no exceptions."

Wayzz was shocked, but he figured he could he could talk Marinette out of it when the time came. His job was too important to be dormant for such a long time. Right now they needed to focus on the job at hand. Figuring out where in the mansion Duusu was hidden. "Your other self was certain that Duusu would be found in the Agreste mansion, so we will focus on finding her."

Marinette rolled her eyes. It's not that she didn't want to retrieve Duusu, it was the fact that she felt like she was taking advantage over Adrien. It wasn't like she could just ask him to give her blueprints to the mansion and find a secret safe. "Adrien doesn't know where the Miraculous is. All he told me was that his mom lost hers and his dad hid his in a safe place. A mansion like that has to have at least a few safes, but he doesn't know where any of them are."

"That does pose a problem. Maybe you could get closer to Mr. Agreste? Find out his secrets?" The look Marinette gave the kwami cause such a fright he hid under the rock in his terrarium Okay Mr. Agreste is off limits he thought. Who else can we ask? The Gorilla doesn't talk, Nathalie would be suspicious if Marinette asked questions. Talking to Chloe would be just a bad idea. Oh, what could they do to get a better look at the house?

"Face it Wayzz, there is no way I'm going to be able to find a safe in that house without losing my boyfriend or being blacklisted," Marinette moaned. Why did it have to be Adrien's family that had Duusu! "My brain hurts, you stay here. I'm going to bake something. It always helps me when I have a problem I can't solve."

Downstairs her parents were busying in the bakery making new pastries. With the increase in the business's popularity, combined with the need to get some extra money to help Marinette's dream come true, her family had been slowly introducing new items to their store's menu. Today the new recipe was for lotus seed buns. It was a Chinese pastry made from steamed yeast dough and wrapping it around lotus seeds. "Smells good, how long have you been steaming that dough?"

"For about three hours to make it just right. Do you want to help us put in the seeds and fold them into buns?" Sabine asked.

"Yes, this smells so good. I hope we have a few left over to eat for ourselves."

"I do as well. A true baker must sample all his work to make sure he can perfect the recipe. I can't wait to eat my share." Father and daughter worked together to make the best buns they ever had. They even dyed some of the dough to make colored buns. Marinette added a different amount of lotus seeds to the treats, hoping to discover which amount was the best to use.

As they placed their treats in the display case, once more Marinette wondered how she was going to find Duusu in the Agreste mansion. She had already been inside for a few times, but a dormant kwami was difficult to detect and her Miraculous wasn't giving her any hints of where to look. She really wished Belle Bleue had been a little more helpful by telling her where she found the Miraculous.

If she just let me talk to Duusu, I wouldn't be struggling so much. Wait talk? Why didn't I think of it before? I can contact Duusu! I need to talk to Wayzz right away!

When Marinette told him her idea, Wayzz wasn't sure if it would work. "The last time you connect with Duusu, you were in a state of limbo as you were working to come out of Hibernation. It's not safe for you to use Hibernation when nothing is wrong."

"There's got to be some way to contact her. What about Trixx or Pollen?"

Wayzz reminded her that neither one had that kind of power. Asking help from Tikki and Plagg was not an option, and even though they had a probable location, Duusu was still dormant, reaching her might me impossible.

Marinette wouldn't give up! She kept listing possibilities, meditation was not an option. She would have to have been a Miraculous wielder for at least three years before she could connect with the other six Kwamiis anytime she wanted.

What about dreaming? She had been clearly receiving unusual dreams lately. Couldn't she send one to her? Wayzz hated to admit it, but it was easier for Nooroo to do that because emotion and change usually comes from deep within the unconscious mind.

The young teen kept tapping her head. Something had to work! If she could just quiet her mind down a bit, and enter that same limbo state, as she was in before, she knew she would be able to reach Duusu. She kept scanning the web pages until something caught her eye. There!

"Hypnotist and party entertainer Simon Grimault, will be making a special appearance, along with Jagged Stone, and Mr. Gabriel Agreste on TVI special segment, "From Unknown to Fame," this Wednesday night." This is perfect!

She was already dialing Adrien's phone praying he would be able to answer it. "Marinette? I can't talk long, I have to get back to my basketball practice."

"I'm sorry Adrien, I forgot. I just saw this announcement about the TV segment your father's going to be in. Are you going to the show by any chance?"

"I have to go, you know show the family unity. Father said I could bring one guest along. I was going to ask Nino, but turns out he has a party to DJ that night. You want to come?"

"Wild horses couldn't keep me away." Yes she was in! If she could talk to Simon, he might do his trick on her and she could make brief contact with Duusu. This was going to work.

---

Being at the TV station was very exciting. Marinette had been here a few times before, mostly when she was dropping Manon off if her Nadja couldn't get off work on time, but this was the first time she had been allowed in an actual studio!

"This is exciting, I've never had a chance to be in the audience of show before. What is your dad doing for his segment of the show?" she asked bouncing up and down with excitement. She had chosen to wear one of her outfits she designed for a dating outfit collection for last summer's fashion camp. She was wearing a ruffled pink top with a light yellow ribbon attached to the front, a pleated yellow and pink skirt, with low black boots and fashionable hat with a fake feather in it.

Adrien had to wipe the drool off his face as he looked at his girlfriend. She was really making him look like a slob these days. "I'm not sure, he didn't tell me. Anyways were to wait here in the green room, until they come to get us for our seats."

Inside the green room, was Simon Grimault, who was shuffling his cards and practicing, for his part of the TV segment. He was also taking to himself making sure he wouldn't start talking in gibberish. He looked up when he saw the two teens enter. "Ah the famous Mr. Adrien Agreste graces my presence and his lovely lady friend is quite fetching. Will you be on the segment with your father tonight?"

Before Adrien could correct him Marinette spoke boldly, "So do you know real hypnosis or are your cards to help give suggestions to people?"

"It is always nice to meet a fan. You're very smart. I don't hypnotize people, I use my talents to put people in a relaxed state where I can show them a card and suggested they do what is on it. As they come out of the relaxed state they generally laugh at what they did."

"So you never make them do anything embarrassing or illegal?" Adrien asked.

"No, the cards are harmless suggestions. Take this star card, when I suggest they act like a star most people pretend they're an actor or sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Harmless."

Marinette asked him if he needed someone to use for his segment and volunteered herself. Adrien was surprised by that considering how shy Marinette could be. Remembering how excited she was to be here, maybe she just wanted fifteen minutes of fame. He couldn't fault her for that.

A few minutes later the kids were leaving when a manager from the set arrived. "I'm sorry, Mr. Grimault, but we have to drop you from the show."

"What do you mean by that? The show starts in ten minutes and I was guaranteed a spot by my agent. I even have the contract right here!"

"I apologize Mr. Grimault, but someone from the mayor's office just called and told us that we had to drop you from the show to make room for the Mayor. The executives aren't willing to risk their careers over an issue like this. I'm sorry."

Marinette couldn't believe what she was hearing. The Mayor appeared regularly on TV, had his own online radio show, not to mention a documentary about his "humble" beginnings to fame had been broadcasted on all channels last month. This was very disrespectful and to do it at the last minute was a slap in the face, telling Simon he wasn't worth anything. She watched Simon leave in tears and felt so bad for him.

Adrien and her had just sat down, when the Bourgeois arrived. The Mayor was issuing out orders as he was getting make up done. Directly behind him was Chloe and she was wearing something new. Instead of her normal shoes she was wearing boots. She smiled flirty at Adrien, before giving Marinette a dark look.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Marinette whispered. The show had just started, as Alic and Nadja started asking questions, when someone threw the doors open and in stepped Jackaday. It appeared Hawkmoth had found his next victim.

"Hello everyone! I know you all came to see a spectacular show, but of course the big man had to come an ruin it for you all. Don't worry folks; I'll restore your previous program."

The Mayor furiously got up yelling at the akuma and telling him to stop ruining his night, when Jackaday slapped him with a card with a baby face on it. Immediately the Mayor started acting like a baby. Jackaday laughed and tossed more commands at the audiences making them do all sorts of crazy stunts.

Then he turned his sights on the hosts, the other guests and spotted Adrien trying to get away with Marinette. "I don't think so. Jackaday commands you to turn around and come back here." Instantly Adrien found himself sitting next to his father, while Jackaday was holding Marinette by her wrists. "LET HER GO!"

"Adrien, quiet!" his father hissed holding his son back from making an ill-advised move. Turning to Jackaday; he asked in calm controlled voice. "What do you want from us?"

"To make all of you suffer. This was supposed to be my first TV appearance. My agent would be booking me for more shows and performances." He waved his card hand at the hosts and the other guest. "Apparently I wasn't important enough to not be kicked off ten minutes before show time!" Again he gestured to the hosts telling them they could have said no to the Mayor and he was angry at the other guests, who already had enough fame that it wasn't a big deal if there appearance on camera, didn't happen.

"You are the worst person up here young Agreste."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Adrien demanded. He kept his eyes on Marinette who had stopped struggling to get free.

She was looking at the Akuma waiting for her chance to run and get free. She let out a yelped as Jackaday pulled her up until she was even to his head. "I saw that look you gave your girlfriend. You were not only jealous, but angry that I agreed to let her on the set with me instead of you. You have enough fame boy toy, why not let others take a turn in the spotlight?"

"Please put me down Mr. Jackaday. I know how you feel, I have to deal with someone like the Mayor everyday getting whatever she wants and putting down others. In fact, she was here a few moments ago. But doing this won't solve the situation. I don't think you want to hurt me. There will be other chances to be on TV," Marinette pleaded.

The Akuma gave her a tender smile. "You my lovely lady, are the only one who doesn't deserve to be hurt. Your kindness and understanding heart shouldn't have to be tarnished by these people. For you, I'll set you free from this place."

Jackaday gently tapped a card with a symbol for dreaming on Marinette's head. "Sleep lovely lady and dream sweet dreams." Marinette yawned once and felt her eyes get heavy. Soon she was sleeping peacefully on the floor.

---

Marinette felt herself slipping away from her body as she floated upward. The world around her was slightly distorted, as if it was just out of focus. She looked down at herself. She was slightly see through, but mostly solid at least to her. When she tried to press her hand on the camera that had been abandon and it went through, but she remained on top of the floor.

"What is going on? Why does my voice echo like this?"

Wayzz poked his head out of her purse and flew up. He looked just like her. Due to their bond he had fallen asleep with her. "You are astral projecting, you set your spirit free to journey on the astral plane, which connects to the dream world at night. The Akuma's powers must have activated this ability by accident."

"Will I be stuck like this forever?"

Wayzz shook his head. As long as she could return to her body and it remained normal, she could snap back to it as soon as the Akuma was defeated. Also, in the astral plane time moved differently, so even if Ladybeetle and Chat Noir defeated the akuma in an hour, it would be like three had passed here.

"We need to use whatever time we have to confirm if Duusu is in the Agreste mansion and figure out where that safe is. You simply have to think about where you want to go and your astral body will take you there. Be cautious, we don't know what other spirits are wandering in this place right now."

Closing her eyes Marinette pictured herself in the Agreste mansion and found herself standing in the foyer. She saw Nathalie working frantically on a strange consul and her eyes kept darting to large flat screen in the room.

The channel was broadcasting the akuma attack. It appeared that Jackaday had taken his revenge on Jagged Stone by literally turning him flat with one card and his pet and friend into dolls. Now he was pursuing the Agreste who had managed to get away and were heading to the mansion for safety.

"I hope Adrien and his dad are okay."

"Let's just hope they brought your body with them. It's always a good idea to keep the body as close to the spirit you when your astral self is walking about," Wayzz told her. "Come let's find Duusu."

Marinette floated up the stairs and started calling out for Duusu. "Duusu! Duusu are you here? Can you hear me? Duusu where are you?" she asked anxiously.

She walked over to Mr. Agreste's bedroom doors. They were most likely locked, but that didn't stop a spirit from entering the room. What she saw was not what she expected to find at all.

The room was slightly bigger than Adrien's, but instead of being filled with a teenage boy's dream, it was sophisticated. Unlike the rest of the house, this room had a beautiful carpet made from the softest wool dyed cornflower blue that covered the entire floor. The walls had a dozen different large scale photos on them. The pictures were either from collections from the past or of different family members. Hanging opposite of the king size bed was a family portrait, most likely taken several years ago, judging by the appearances of the family. Adrien looked really cute as a five year old.

Tasteful furniture had been arranged near the windows, to gaze at the elegant view outside. There were a few dress forms with half-finished designs on them, as if Mr. Agreste had some sudden burst of inspiration and had to make it real. There were a knickknacks collection from him his travels set around the room.

"Whoa, it's almost like a shrine to his entire career and family in here. I never suspected this would be his room."

"I doubt anyone would have guessed this based on Mr. Agreste's personality. He keeps his private life very private."

The sound of a bird call made them stiffen. They looked around, but couldn't find the source. They heard the call again this time coming from the hallway. Rushing out the room they followed the sound of the bird call. The sound was coming from another room. "I think it's coming from the third floor. Let's go."

They climbed the stairs and hurried through the hallway, the call getting louder and louder. At the end of the hallway, was a small room, the door locked. Entering the room, Marinette instantly realized where she was. This was the room where Mr. Agreste had stored everything belonging to his wife. Here she could literally feel sadness, confusion, and grief.

Sitting on top of a wardrobe was a small kwami that was blue, had feathers, and was singing with a single tear coming from her eyes. Like them she was slightly see through and the area around her was distorted. "Duusu?" Marinette asked hesitantly.

The kwami opened her eyes and spotted the astral projections. "Great Guardian, Wayzz! I sensed you were nearby once more, but this time as spirits! If you hadn't come like this, I doubt you would have heard my call at all, while I slumber."

Duusu flew over to them shaking hands with Wayzz and telling Marinette she was a beautiful Great Guardian. The teen looked embarrassed by the praise. "We've been trying to find you Duusu. Are you here in this mansion?"

Duusu nodded her head. "I'm in this mansion, but not in this room, I know that for certain. My Miraculous was rejected in a moment of intense grief and anger. Even now, as I slumber, I can still feel echoes of grief that hasn't been healed. A terrible feeling for a healer."

Wayzz, who understood what that felt like, patted on her shoulder. "You've done your best Duusu, but you can't stay here anymore. You need to come home."

"I want to Wayzz, but you know it's not that simple. I was rejected, but if I'm hearing echoes from the bond that means…."

"Your last wielder might reclaim you one day. I didn't know that was the case."

So if a person rejects the Miraculous, but isn't ready to let it go, there's a chance they might be reactivated by their previous wielder. If that's the case here, I have to use the sorrow breaker Marinette thought. She shuddered at the thought of using that pendulum.

Duusu locked eyes with Marinette. "Please don't use the sorrow breaker to free me. I don't think my past wielder can deal with anymore grief. Perhaps you can talk to my wielder and persuade the wielder to give me to you?"

"We'll try, but you know the chances of that are slim if your wielder hasn't returned you by now. Can you tell us where your Miraculous is hidden?" Wayzz informed her.

"The safe, behind the painting of gold and butterflies, on the first floor. That was the last thing I saw before I went dormant again. It must still be there, because I've never been able to astral project outside the house."

Marinette nodded, she had confirmation and a location of the safe. The painting she mentioned had to be the one of Mrs. Agreste that she had seen before and it was big enough to hide a safe in the wall without being obvious. "It might take a little more time, but I promise I will bring you home and do my best not to harm your past wielder."

Duusu nodded pleased. Her feather's lifted up and glowed. "Our time is up, we must return to our bodies. Be careful, you two. Until we met again." She vanished from sight and Marinette felt a sharp tug.

She phased out of the room following the tug. Entering Adrien's room, she found him hovering over her still sleeping body. He was very anxious and scared. Not wishing to see him like that she returned to her body.

Blinking open her eyes, she sat up in the bed. Instantly she was engulfed in a hug and tears fell onto her outfit. "I was so worried about you Marinette! Ladybeetle and Chat Noir defeated Jackaday fifteen minutes ago and fixed everything, but you remained asleep. I was worried you might never wake."

She hugged him back and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm fine, I was having a nice dream and I guess I didn't want to leave until it finished. How long have I been resting?"

"An hour and a half. I thought my father was going to kill me, when I refused to leave you behind in the studio, when Ladybeetle gave us an opening to escape," Adrien whispered. He looked down at her and remembered the incredible strength he discovered as he carried her bridal style from the station to here before finally letting her go when the security system went up.

"Well it all worked out in the end," Marinette said brightly. She didn't tell him that for a moment before he hugged her, she felt like someone was watching her from the astral plane. Dismissing it, she got up and ready to head home.

---

Marinette was having a girl's day at Sabrina's house. Sabrina was slowly recovering from her stress induced health issues, but it could take a few years until her body completely recovered. To Marinette's delight, Mireille and her best friend Aurora, had also been invited to come over.

The girls were lounging around in the room. Healthy snacks and lemonade had been provided for refreshments. Each girl had something with them related to a hobby they liked and also brought stories to tell, and some materials for the makeover for their host. Sabrina had invited them over to help her find out what she liked and wanted to do with her post Chloe's best friend life.

"So anyways I was skating alongside Sabrina, she had finally taken off the training wheels. I was trying to teach her to break hard, because she wasn't ready for a downhill speed, but she couldn't stop herself!" Alix was telling the story as she stuffed a strawberry down her mouth. "You should have seen her! I think she was clocking twenty mph!"

"It felt like a whole more, especially when I mixed up the gears and the brakes. I was lucky Ladybeetle was patrolling and managed to stop my bike before it shot into the street," Sabrina admitted. She didn't notice the small look of triumph on Mireille's face. "I think I'll put off learning to ride downhill for some time."

Alix waved her hand saying was no big deal. "When you want to try again, just come to me. I even got you this cool helmet!" From her bag, she removed a black helmet with racing stripes on it.

"I think you're a bit obsessed with sports accessories Kubdel. You're brother on the other hand, he spends too much time with his nose in a dusty book," Aurora pointed out. She and Mireille were sitting on old bean bag chairs. Alix was on the floor a few from her. Aurora was new to the group so it was taking a bit of time to adjust to her presence.

"Don't mess with my brother or he might go all Pharaoh on you."

"Then he be getting a taste of Stormy Weather."

"Lady Wi-Fi would have love to film you Stormy Weather vs Time Breaker. What about you Mylene, can the Horrificator beat them both?"

"Maybe, but only if Stoneheart was there by my side."

"The real question would be who would win a fight against Bubbler, Dark Cupid, Evilstrator, or Gamer," Mireille added in a dramatic voice before pretending to swoon.

Sabrina looked at the girls with frank expression. "How can you all joke about something like that? When my dad was turned into one I was so scared for him. He could have ended up really hurt."

Marinette patted Sabrina's shoulder. "I'm sorry, we didn't mean to upset you. The student reps thought it would be a good idea to make a support group for people who have been turned into akumas and the effect it had on their friends, family and others."

"It's been really helping my Dad and I. He feels so bad about ruining our day at the zoo, but he and that Theo guy, the one who made the sculptures in the park, they're bonding and helping each other heal," Alya explained.

The other girls agreed saying they first learn to take control over what happened to them by making their Akumanzation less scary by laughing at it. Rose and Juleka mentioned they had attended a few sessions to help the stay positive and not let negative emotions take them over.

Sabrina nodded, noting she would suggest that for her dad. She picked up some lavender nail polish, some eye liner and a brush. "So who wants to give me a makeover?"

Rose giggled as she took over painting nails. Juleka started applying the makeup and Aurora was the one who took the brush as she started to improve Raincomprix's hair style. Behind her Mireille started picking out hair accessories, why Alix and Mylene argued over jewelry and shoes. Alya was filming the whole thing calling out advice.

While this was going on Marinette was making sure the outfit she selected for Sabrina to try on was not wrinkled. She didn't want the outfit to be totally out of Sabrina's comfort zone, but show her that she had a few options.

Sabrina was taking a big first step in finding a new look to show that she was a new person. Her new friends had promised not to overwhelm her and if she got frustrated or stressed, they would back off.

Twenty minutes later Sabrina looked in her full length mirror checking out her new look. Her hair was the same color, but now had a layering look with a few curls giving it some bounce. Two heart shaped barrettes clipped back her bangs. She wore light green eye shadow, with long eyelashes. Her face had a bit of color added to it and they had swapped out her princess pink lipstick, for a fuchsia one.

Around her neck was a delicate gold chain with key on it. On her wrist was a gold charm bracelet. One of them was a lock. When you fit the key into the lock and it opened you could put a small picture of someone inside. Small gold hoops hung in her ears.

The outfit was very comfortable and new look without losing her identity. She had on a purple elbow length shirt with a few argyle diamonds on the front. A bright blue belt helped keep up a pinkish purple skirt with lines running through it. Instead of leggings, she wore knee length white socks with some punk style boots.

It was different and in a good way. The outfit was simple yet fashionable. Her make up highlighted her features, but wasn't so obvious she had any on. The jewelry had the unique charms, she really liked. The boots were not her first choice, but she could get use to them. She really loved her hair. "Thank you everyone, I love my new look. I'm going to go show my parents right now!"

Everyone cheered happy to help Sabrina find her own path. A make-over was a start. Now helping her find a hobby just for her, might take a little more time.

---

Life was never easy, especially when someone was juggling as much as Marinette was. Since she learned about the location of Duusu and her Miraculous, the bluenette had been trying to figure out the best way to retrieve it. "I want to avoid stealing it back if we can. Duusu really thinks her wielder would be devastated beyond help if we broke the bond with the sorrow breaker," Marinette commented as she looked at the pendulum dangling from her hands.

She could feel the power inside the magical crystal. It was a quite hum for now, but she couldn't help, but shiver at the memory of watching Master Fu use it. With Keung he had no choice, but did she? It was still unclear who was bonded with Duusu.

"As I told Duusu that is a long shot at best. Her wielder rejected her and has selfishly kept her. The bond is weak, her past wielder will barely feel a thing!" Wayzz assured Marinette. The teen wanted a second opinion.

A short time later she was at Alya's house who didn't have to watch her little sisters today because they were on a play date. "I like to propose a hypothetically question to you."

"Oh challenging, I like those. What do you got?" Alya said as she propped her head on her fist as laid on the couch.

"What if you were trying to get something back that belonged to you, but you gave it to a friend for a time, except now that they've grown attached to it and don't want to give it back?"

Alya raised an eyebrow and wondered what prompted this question. "Did Chloe take something from you a long time ago and didn't give it back, because if she did you should have your parents demanded for it back."

Marinette waved her hands in protest informing her that she would never lent anything to Chloe. Besides the question was hypothetical. Alya nodded and thought for a moment before replying. "You should just take it back no questions asked. It was a loan and you always have to pay back your loans no matter what."

"Isn't that technically stealing?"

"How is it stealing if the supposed object belonged to you in the first place? It doesn't matter if the person's attached to it, you have to show you're not a pushover."

"Even if the person the object is loaned to gets upset?" Alya nodded stating that the person only caused their own sadness and a person shouldn't be bothered by taking back what was rightfully theirs. It seemed that both Wayzz and Alya believed that the moral concepts didn't apply to this situation.

Marinette walked home still thinking about the dilemma she faced. If she could just convince the past wielder to return Duusu then she wouldn't have to break into her boyfriend's house and avoid being captured by the Gorilla or the security system. "I know that as the Guardian, I have to do some unethical things from time to time, but I don't want to atone for breaking and entering or stealing."

Maybe she could approach Mr. Agreste as Peridot Turtle and ask nicely for Duusu back. No, too risky, especially since she knew how much he hated having to depend on Ladybeetle and Chat Noir to protect him from Jackaday. Leave him a note? Complicated, but possible. Then again he had the resources to find out where a note came from, even if she typed it up.

She would not drag Adrien into this mess. She was willing to risk her identity, but not his. If Mr. Agreste discovered the truth about Adrien, he would be caged up again and that would end up killing him. What other means of communications did have? Well there was one crazy idea and she could give it a try.

It was a few days later. Mr. Agreste was in his business office reviewing reports from his different departments. He frowned when he read the proposal for a slight increase in the formal wear department. He'd already given them a generous budget, if they needed more they should have planned better.

He was just about to call them when something that didn't belong fell out of his personal mail pile. It was a postcard with a picture of a peacock on the front, turning it over there was no return address and the stamp indicated it was local being sent yesterday. Judging how quickly it got here, it had to come from the public mailbox just down the street from his building. That mailbox was used throughout the day, it would be nearly impossible to figure out who sent it.

The message was written in cut out letters from a variety of newspapers, magazines, and a brochure. A few pictures had been thrown in also. It was clear the sender didn't want to be identified by handwriting and by the slight smell of plastic, gloves had been used to avoid leaving fingerprints. There wasn't even any scents attached to it. Clever indeed.

"To Mr. Agreste, I am (a picture of a turtle) of the (picture of a jewelry set). I know that you have Duusu. Her (a picture of a spirit hovering over a body) told me her location. She has begged me to not (a picture of two hands shaking in red circle with a slash through) with her past wielder. I don't know if you or your (picture of a bride), was her past wielder. What I do know, is Duusu wants to come home. Hawkmoth is only one of many (picture of a supervillain) to come out of the wood works. She will be needed in the future to protect Paris. Please, (a picture of a person getting out of jail), and let her come home. You can respond to this by putting a small ad in the paper with a coded message. Think about Duusu's health please. Sincerely, (a picture of a turtle)."

Mr. Agreste looked at the postcard in shock. He quickly called Nathalie and told her to cancel everything for that day. He hurried home silently thankful that Adrien was at fencing today. He went to the painting of his wife and swung it open, and began checking to make sure everything was still in there. The Peacock Miraculous was still there resting against the picture of his wife. The Miraculous was dormant as ever, not even a hint of its magical properties. He didn't even know that a kwami's spirit could speak when they were dormant.

This must be a new Great Guardian if there unsure of which Miraculous belong to my wife and I. They only know that she's here in the mansion in a safe. The Great Guardian wants to avoid a conflict without having to break the bond between wielder and kwami Gabriel thought.

He pulled out the pin and rubbed its surface. Duusu did belong with the other Miraculous if Hawkmoth was just the first evil to haunt Paris. The Miraculous should have been returned a long time ago. "I can't, I'm sorry, but I can't let you go Duusu. You are the only link to a time in my life where everything was perfect." He put the pin back and locked the safe once more. Straightening up, he strode off to set up the ad in the paper.

The next morning Marinette went out and bought every newspaper she could find and began scanning the ads section. She finally found the response she was looking for. A turtle plus talking about a peacock. Then a peacock and a shaking head and a turtle looking sad. The message was clear. Mr. Agreste was not going to give the Miraculous back to the Great Guardian. Her plea hadn't worked, now she had no choice, but to devise a plan to steal back the Miraculous.

---

Devastated by this, Marinette really didn't pay much attention to what was going on around her for the next few days. It was Wednesday again and she was sitting in her room playing dolls with Manon. The little girl was enjoying being Ladybeetle and Chat Noir, while Marinette was playing the role of villain with her newly complete doll, the Magician of Misfortune.

"When did Ladybeetle and Chat Noir deal with that one? Who is he?" Manon asked eagerly.

"Well he's a boy in Mireille's class." Manon eyes got star struck. "The class was performing a little talent show for some elementary kids for a community service project. Jean was going to do some magic tricks, but before he went on he found out someone had vandalized his props and costumes."

"Van da leas?" Manon asked as she tried to say the word. She was very attentive as Marinette explained the word meant someone destroyed something that belonged to someone else to hurt their feelings.

"The Magician of Misfortune, wanted revenge for having his act being ruined, but Ladybeetle and Chat Noir saved the day before he made the Eiffel Tower disappear forever." She didn't mention that was after Chat Noir saved his partner from being sawed in half. Manon didn't need the gory details.

"Whoa, can we play that out, but make something else disappear!" Her little eyes darted around before lighting up. She hurried to the toy chest and pulled out a little stuffed bird. She tossed the animal to Marinette and they started their new game.

"You can't stop me, I'm the great Magician of Misfortune, and ah that is a mouthful. Can we just call him Magician?" Manon nodded and they started to play again. Marinette used her pretend powers to try to stop Manon's dolls, but the little girl was winning when Nadja came upstairs to collect her daughter.

"Manon it's time to go. Put the dolls away, we need to get going." The little girl whined not wanting to leave just yet. When her mother tried to take the dolls from her, Manon accidentally ripped Ladybeetle's.

"Now look at what you've done. You can't always have what you want Manon. Apologize Manon and grab your bag. I'll meet you downstairs in a minute."

"Sorry Marinette."

"It's okay, I can fix this. By the time you come over next it will be good as new. Maybe you can help me make doll that looks just like you!" Manon giggled and grabbed her bag. With Marinette's back turned, she didn't notice the little girl snatch up the Magician doll and hide it in her backpack.

As soon as the little girl was gone, Marinette retrieved all of Wayzz's stuff from the hiding place and reset his home up. The little kwami came back in the room as he had been on the balcony sunning by her little garden. "She's still a bit grabby isn't she?"

"Manon is a little girl, she'll grow out of it. I just want to relax today Wayzz. It's been a busy couple of days and rather not be dwelling on everything I have to do or wait for." She pulled out a small bottle of freshly made essential oil. "I even did my homework assignment for you. I created an essential oil that not only has curative properties, but can block evil and free the mind of darkness."

Wayzz took a sniff. The lavender and rosemary blended together with an only a bit of sage in the mixture as well. This oil could be used to help free a person temporarily from being controlled by Hawkmoth. They hadn't tested it yet, but she was sure it would work. She had followed Wayzz instructions to the letter.

The two of them sat there quietly as she worked on fixing the damaged Ladybeetle doll, when it began to get cold in the room. There was a loud bang and tons of stage smoke. While the smoke still covered the room, Marinette hastily threw some shirts over the terrarium and Wayzz dove into her pocket.

"Presenting the one, the only, Magician of Misfortune! I want those dolls Marinette and I want them now!" The akuma said, but it wasn't his voice. It was Manon's!

"Manon?! What's going on?"

"Give me the dolls now! I want all the dolls you have!" Magician tapped his hat with his wand releasing stage smoke once again as it collected the villain dolls. It was inching closer to the duo's dolls. Marinette snatched them and climbed frantically up to her bed and out to the balcony.

The Magician reappeared on the balcony. "Foolish Marinette, did you really think you could keep me from the dolls?"

A yo-yo came out of nowhere pulling the Magician's hat away from him as Chat Noir scooped Marinette up and carried her to safety. Ladybeetle stood confidently on the roof. "Time to upstage you Magician." She ripped the hat in two expecting the akuma to come on out, but nothing happened.

"Bad choice Ladybeetle. Once my dolls come to life I'll be able to add you and Chat Noir to my collection." Magician/Manon sang. "Long live the Puppeteer!" In a flash of smoke he was gone.

Chat Noir set Marinette back on the balcony as the two heroes tried to understand what just happened. "I destroyed his hat, his akuma should have come out."

"Yeah, but did you hear him talking? He sounded like a frustrated little kid."

"That's because he's being controlled by one," Marinette interjected. "He sounds just like Manon, the girl I babysit. She loves those doll and he mentioned the Puppeteer, that's got to be her. You have to help her."

Ladybeetle assured her they would and took Chat Noir's doll and he took hers. They headed to the TV studio telling Marinette it was too dangerous for her to follow. "They're going to get brainwashed if I don't do something. Wayzz get the oil and transform me."

---

Twenty minutes later things were not going good for Ladybeetle. She had dropped Chat Noir's doll. He was holding the doll of her up to Puppeteer who was going on about how she was going to enjoy playing with her. "Time to become my dolly!" Manon laughed. She liked her collection of Lady Wi-Fi, Magician, Rogercop and Chat Noir. Now she would have Ladybeetle too!

"I'm no one's doll. Lucky Ch…." The words died on Ladybeetle's lips as she became a puppet. Puppeteer cheered ordering the duo to stand before her and give her the Miraculouses. Back in his lair; Hawkmoth was ready to jump for joy. Finally, he would succeed.

The moment before the Miraculouses were removed, both teens had ball weight wrap around them as they were pulled to the ceiling. On one of the rafter's was Peridot Turtle.

"Who are you and why are you taking my dolls away?!"

"I'm Peridot Turtle, I'm the mentor of these two and you shouldn't take things that belong to others Manon."

"My name is Puppeteer! Ladybeetle and Chat Noir, get her Miraculous and bring it to me as well as your own." The two heroes broke free of the weapon as the villains edged closer.

Peridot Turtle moved, jumping around and dodging attacks. The duo attacked her, but their weapons didn't break her shell or carapace. Landing on the ground, she rushed towards Puppeteer.

The little girl waved her magic wand, but without a doll version of the heroine it was useless on her. Peridot snagged the wand and jumped back into the rafters making her way towards the duo. Holding her ground she waited for them to come to her. As they sprinted towards her, she splashed them with the essential oil she made.

Both of them blinked a few times and looked confused. "What the? Why are we, Peridot Turtle?"

"No time for talking! Destroy this and purify the akuma fast!" Doing as they were asked within a two minutes everything was back to normal and Manon was apologizing profusely for the trouble she caused.

"Now, now, let's get you back to your mom. In the future, you shouldn't take things without asking or if you've been told no," Peridot Turtle advised the little girl, who giggled. She turned to the duo and told them she would be in touch in a few days to discuss something of importance with them.

Back in his lair, Hawkmoth was throwing a bigger temper tantrum, then Manon ever did. He didn't even notice when he detransformed or that Nooroo was enjoying watching the show. He just kept screaming next time would be different.

---

It was Saturday night and Mireille was finishing up her homework. Tikki was on the desk helping her. "So in conclusion, the process of going from a monarchy to a republic was a long odious journey that helped France become the country it is today. Does that sound good enough?"

"I think your history teacher will be very pleased by your report. Learning history, especially true history, is something enjoyable to do," Tikki remarked. Her wielder smiled before logging on to the LadyNoir blog, checking out the recent updates from the site. There was a poll up asking how many people thought that LadyNoir was a real couple or not.

"I can't believe eighty percent of people believe I'm in a relationship with my partner Tikki. Chat Noir is a bit too wild and independent for me."

The kwami shrugged her shoulders. "It's Alya you know. She wants to be a great reporter, but she needs to learn to double check her facts. Thankfully, she hasn't gotten any pictures of Peridot Turtle yet. The Great Guardian doesn't need this kind of attention."

Mireille shivered remembering if it wasn't for Peridot Turtle's intervention she would have lost Tikki and been exposed. "Does Peridot Turtle have something that alerts her if we're in trouble?"

"The Great Guardian keeps watch from afar, but never too far away they can't intervene if they think their fellow Miraculous holders are in danger. Speaking of which, she's trying to call you right now."

"Spots on!" She enjoyed the rush of power as she turned into Ladybeetle. Flipping open her yo-yo she saw Peridot Turtle on the other end. "You said we needed to talk. What is it we need to talk about?"

"Meet me on the top of Notre Dame. I'll be waiting there for you and Chat Noir. Be prepared for some special training." The screen went blank and Ladybeetle hurried out of the room heading to the Eiffel Tower.

When she reached the top of Notre Dame, Chat was already there leaning against his elongated baton. Peridot Turtle was standing nearby occasionally looking around for trouble, but found none. "Hello Ladybeetle. It's nice to see you."

"It's good to be seen. I can't thank you enough for what you did for us with Puppeteer," she said shaking the other girl's hands. Chat Noir did the same which caused the turtle girl to blush. Ladybeetle rolled her eyes, Chat Noir was handsome enough to make a girl swoon.

Collecting herself Peridot Turtle explained why she had brought them up. To help them start on learning to use the gifts associated with them, to help them out in tricky situations. "Your powers cover the creation and destruction aspect. Your own actions inspire hope and optimism. In Chat Noir, showing it's okay to feel what people term negative emotions as long as you take personal responsibility over them. So the only thing you need to learn is to control your luck."

Both of them looked flabbergasted upon hearing that. Both their Kwamiis had said it would take years before they were ready to consciously use that power for themselves. Now their mentor was telling them she could teach them.

"The former Great Guardian taught me the basics. Turtles have to be spiritually aware of any changes in the natural energy around us. It's been very helpful for me as a civilian, doing my best to prevent people from turning into akumas in the first place."

Hearing that inspired the other two. Even if the training only helped them get started, it would be worth it. Peridot Turtle told them to sit down and take a few deep breaths. "We're going to meditate first. To connect with the field of luck, you must first drown out all distractions and calm the storm in your mind. Only with absolute focus can you master this connection."

Chat Noir swore under his breath he heard something like that once before on a YouTube clip. Taking a few deep breaths, he tried to do as he was instructed. He did some deep breathing exercises. He let the sounds of the city drown away. A few more deep breaths, he felt his mind calming down, the turmoil of his life drifting away.

An image of his father looking at him in disappointment. Being locked up in the mansion for years. Nathalie and the dreaded schedule in her hands. Even the Gorilla's stoic manner scaring him. He tried to push past it only to see an image of Marinette lying lifeless on his bed.

He let out a yell and flopped on his back, his concentration broken. Next to him Ladybeetle was having a panic attack as Peridot Turtle helped her calm down and breath. "You're safe, your fine. Nothing can hurt you." At last Ladybeetle was back to normal.

Peridot Turtle turned her attention to Chat Noir. "Are you okay? You screamed."

"I'm fine, I just saw something I didn't like."

Peridot Turtle patted him on the shoulder. "Whatever it was, I hope it doesn't come true." Standing up she looked at the duo. "For a first time, you did well. You both were able to drown out all distractions of the outside world."

Ladybeetle mumbled, "But we couldn't calm the storm in our minds. When I tried, I saw my biggest fear come true. That I would fail and die." She looked away ashamed by admitting it.

"I saw all the things I hate about my personal life, but I was starting to push past it, when I saw someone I love, lifeless," Chat Noir admitted softly.

Peridot drew closer to them and gave the duo a hug. "You both have become accustomed to drowning at worldly distractions because of how many akumas you've fought and the trust you have with one another helps you relax."

She paused for a second thinking about the words she should use. She looked at Ladybeetle, but decided to address Mireille. "I know what has brought about this fear of dying. I know as a civilian you are still struggling with overcoming personal fears and your natural shyness."

Ladybeetle nodded, remembering how Peridot Turtle knew who she really was. She knew her "mentor" was right. "I don't know what to do about it."

"Only you can go through it. Fear is a part of us, you can't beat or avoid it. You just can go through it and become stronger."

Chat Noir looked at Peridot Turtle as walked over to him. "I know your personal life is complicated and that what you saw made you question your value as a hero and human being. You need to start valuing yourself. Only then will the doubts be erased."

The teen model nodded. His doubts had always been holding him back. He need to be stronger if he was going to protect Marinette from other akumas. Heck, if he wanted to stop Hawkmoth he needed to believe in himself. "I'll do better."

"I'm glad. It's getting late, we should all head for home. Practice on your own. I alert you when I want to meet up again. Good luck." The three of them took off in different directions, one wondering if she had done her job as mentor right and two hoping to conquer the storm in their minds.

Almost every night over the next week, the three of them came together on Notre Dame practicing their skills. Each night they did a little better than before only the same problem keep coming up. Neither of them could achieve absolute focus.

Ladybeetle flicked the top of her antennas frustrated. "Why can't I figure this out? I thought talking with my best friend would help, but I'm still afraid that I'll fail and die." Tikki had done her best to cheer her up and keep her positive. There was nothing wrong with a healthy fear of death.

Peridot Turtle sat down next her. She rubbed her jewel for a few minutes then admitted something. "I'm still learning too. I have learned how to pick up and sense a disturbance if I'm close to someone. But I still haven't been able to pick up things far away."

Peridot Turtle's confession helped Ladybeetle realize something. "You're still struggling aren't you? Even after all this time you still have doubts about being the Great Guardian?"

Peridot Turtle looked past Chat Noir and to the rest of Paris. Something about her mannerism changed for a few moments. She seemed to lose her confidence and patience. There was a look of regret on her face, but it lasted only a second. "All you can keep doing is trying. Remember you can move past fear, but it will always remain part of you."

Ladybeetle nodded before admitting she had to split. Her family was going on a day outing just outside Paris tomorrow and she needed plenty of sleep. She waved goodbye leaving Chat Noir and Peridot Turtle on top of the church.

Peridot Turtle watched him for a few minutes before gently shaking him out of it. "You need to get going. You have an early morning shoot tomorrow before having to go to your fencing tournament. Not to mention all your other lessons and you need to finish your homework I bet."

"You sure you aren't a tortoise shell cat underneath that shell? Because you are so warm and furry," he purred at her. She laughed and told him to stop. He looked at her troubled. "It doesn't feel right, you know who I am, but I don't know who you are? When are you going to trust us with that?"

"Very soon, I've made a big break and I'm going to be retrieving the Peacock Miraculous tomorrow night. Once it's safely back where it belongs I'll be ready to talk about my identity. Have a good night."

---

Back in her room, Marinette curled under her sheets. She felt guilty beyond belief. Instead of lessons this week Wayzz had been preparing her for retrieving Duusu.

During the training sessions she had managed to "borrow" Chat Noir's baton, to check out all the weak points in the security system he used to slip in and out without notice. She had managed to get the access codes to the system when she copied them to her phone when asking Nathalie if she had any connections that would help her get inventory for the massage/spa.

She had watched the Gorilla's perimeter check schedule and had managed to discover where in the house the control room to all the cameras were. Mr. Agreste was the wild card, but she had learned his habits. Tomorrow night, there would be a forty five minute window to get in and get out without being caught.

She was back in the room and for once she welcomed it. Any place was better than the waking world. Her eyes grew big as she saw the claw marks on the door. Scuff marks at the bottom indicated someone had managed to open the door a tiny bit, only to meet with sharp claws and door being swung back and locked into place.

"What happened here?"

"He tried to take advantage of your wavering will to get in here. I clawed that monster with my fancy pedicure and shoved that door back in place," she heard a purr behind her. Sitting on her stain glass window frame was Chat Noire running her claws through her wavy short hair. Her tail swished in slight annoyance. "What has gotten into you? I'm you the second most often, but even I wouldn't have let a moral dilemma shake me so badly.

Marinette felt embarrassed and looked at the ground. That's when she saw the difference. On the floor the tiles had been changed. The floor showed the heavens, the earth, and people as the clashed in a fight for survival. "Why did you do this Chat Noire?"

Chat Noire jumped from the sill and landed in a crouch. She pounced on Marinette and made her look closer at the picture. "Destruction isn't pretty, but sometimes it necessary if you are to bring about change and creation."

The cat girl helped Marinette up and beckoned her to the bench. Reaching behind her Chat Noire used her baton to point at pictures of people. "Tell me, have you ever heard the expression doing the wrong thing for the right reasons?"

"What? Isn't doing the right thing for all the wrong reasons?"

"It can be both. You don't want to steal the Miraculous or break the bond Duusu and her wielder share. You can't justify it in your mind, but let me propose a different question." Her baton tapped a small picture.

It showed a little boy stealing bread while the police chased him. On the opposite side of the picture it showed a family starving to death. The boy was divide in the middle, one side going to prison the other bringing the bread to his family.

"Stealing is against the law, no matter what your circumstances, because stealing hurts someone. Yet the boy isn't stealing for himself, he stealing food for his family to eat and knowing he's not going to get any, even though he's the one who took the risk." Looking Marinette in the eye she asked which punishment was fit.

"Obviously stealing is wrong, yet it's clear that he's trying to help his family even though he knows it's wrong. Putting him prison leads to death for the family, but if he doesn't go to jail then the baker doesn't get the money to keep his business. It's not a clear cut issue, it's to gray."

Chat Noire snapped her fingers and exclaimed, "Exactly! Whatever choice a person makes, there is always someone who gets hurt whether we know it or not. Taking back Duusu is important for survival and it will hurt someone. You can't avoid it, just like I can't misfortune and destruction."

Marinette looked at her other self, wondering if this version was crazy. Yet as she looked in Chat Noire's eyes she knew what she was conveying. "I'm the one who is going to be hurt the most, I have to live with the destruction I cause. Atoning isn't just for paying for a crime, but to heal a person so they don't self-destruct."

The cat girl nodded and pointed at the door, "The difference between him and you is that you take no pleasure from your actions, that you feel the pain of what you did. He doesn't care, in fact he gets pleasure and power from it. Don't ever let him inside here again. Promise?"

"I promise. Thank you for your advice." Nodding, the cat girl gave her a mischief smile and purr, then jumped back into her window.

---

Marinette woke up from her dream and looked at her phone. She had overslept! She quickly put her clothes on and headed downstairs to help with the bakery. Imagine her surprise when the bakery was closed.

"Mama, Papa, where are you?" she called out. She didn't get a reply so she continued to look around for some indication of what was going on. "Mama, Papa, come on out, this isn't funny."

That's when she saw the note on the counter. "Visiting a baker friend of your father's. Won't be back until tomorrow. Take care and remember to finish your homework. Love Mama and Papa."

I guess I'm lucky there gone today. It will make the heist a bit easier knowing that they won't be checking up on me in the middle of the night. Heading upstairs she hoped that Chat Noire was right about that the crime she would be committing tonight, wouldn't bring her any pleasure and that her atonement would prevent self-destruction.

Up in her room, Wayzz was waiting for her. He was hovering over the box containing the sorrow breaker pendulum. Opening it up, she gently picked it up and gazed at feeling its power. "So how can I use this to free Duusu? In the memory; Master Fu had to physically touch the Miraculous while it was active to break the bond between you and Keung."

Wayzz nodded. That was the best way to use it, but since they didn't know who was Duusu's wielder was, they would have to use the second method. "This is where all that special training you've been doing with Adrien and Mireille comes in. You have to have absolute focus to make the bond visible to you. Once you can see it, swing the sorrow breaker as hard as you can, slicing the bond. Once you do that, we'll need to make a quick exit."

"Because whoever her wielder is, will feel the bond being torn. What if what happened with Keung happens to one of the Agreste parents?I don't want to deal with someone who wants revenge for taking a Miraculous from them."

Wayzz assured her it would be like that. Keung was a one-time thing and it was extremely painful for him because he had been wearing Wayzz's Miraculous. Once Duusu was safe she could send some healing energy to her previous user making the pain dull a bit.

"You can do this Marinette. Think of it as practice when you have to take the Butterfly Miraculous from Hawkmoth. You can't hesitate. You took an oath to do whatever it took to retrieve a lost Miraculous. I believe in you Marinette."

I just wish I believed in myself. Even after all this pep talk, Marinette didn't believe she could do something like this. She really didn't want to hurt Adrien's family any more than they already had been. Gripping the pendulum tightly she started preparing for her heist tonight.

Three hours before the time she needed to do the heist she arrived at her stakeout place. She had created her own little lean-to to make herself more comfortable as she waited for her chance.

She took her binoculars to enhance her already incredible eyesight and stated watching the mansion making sure everything was routine. The perimeter patrol was the same. She saw Nathalie leave the mansion for the night and arm the system. She kept an eye out for Mr. Agreste watching his window closely. He was the wild card.

"Come on, how long can you stay up? You have to go to sleep sometime!" she whispered to herself. She checked the screen on the weapon. It was nearly 2:00 am in the morning. Her opening started at 2:20 and ended at 3:05. Every second counted.

Finally, Mr. Agreste went to bed at 2:15. She gave herself ten minutes, hopefully he was a heavy sleeper. Time to get this heist over with. Spinning her meteor hammer she tossed out one end as it wrapped around a lamppost across the street. She swung down and pushed herself off the post curling up tightly as she passed over the iron spikes. They grazed her shell slightly, but it didn't hurt.

Keeping to the edge of the back yard, she eased herself over towards the side of the building where the ivy was. Counting to ten she started to climb up the ivy and hid behind one of the domes. Like clockwork, the Gorilla did another patrol, this time looking up, to see if anyone was on the roof. When he moved on, Peridot Turtle scrambled up towards the third floor.

She found the window near the end of the third story hallway. She knew this window didn't properly lock and the sensor was not working on it. Slowly she opened the window and slipped inside. Now came the tricky part.

She started tiptoeing around the hallway, because she had to avoid tripping the alarms. Peridot Turtle took her time carefully getting through the hall and finally getting to the control room. Using the access code she got in and then used the other codes to shut the system down. She needed to hurry now, she couldn't keep the system down too long or the family would be alerted that someone had entered the room instead of a random power surge.

Peridot Turtle thanked Wayzz for helping her learn to walk fast without tripping over air. At last, she was in front of the painting. Feeling around, she managed to get it to swing open revealing the safe. She needed to use the combination to open it. Taking a deep breath, she started turning the dial knowing deep in her heart what Mr. Agreste would use for the combo. The day before his wife vanished and the world started falling apart.

The safe door opened and she was looking inside the contents. A few pictures, plane ticket to Tibet, a book, and there propped up was the lost Peacock Pin. She had found Duusu!

Checking her clock again, she only had fifteen minutes left to accomplish her mission. She picked up Duusu's Miraculous and started to gain absolute focus. Slowly the tiny strands of the weakened bond appeared to her. Pulling out the pendulum she started swinging it around as it gained power.

She soon had enough to use it. One last twirl and she brought it towards to bond to slash it. At last second she adjusted her swing missing the bond. She watched it dissolved and hung her head down. "I can't. I can't do this. I'm disobeying my oath, but I can't break a bond that might hurt this family even more. Sorry Wayzz," she whispered.

Regrettably she put Duusu back in the safe, closed it up, and headed upstairs to turn the security system back on. After making sure everything looked normal, she exited the mansion and headed home crying at her inability to do what was right.

Peridot Turtle didn't know it, but someone had been watching her from the second floor. A certain black cat had returned from a nightly stroll and had just returned to civilian form when he heard the footsteps that didn't belong to his family. Ducking out of sight, he and Plagg had witnessed the whole thing, even Peridot Turtle admitting she couldn't take that Miraculous back. Watching her leave he wondered what to do.

---

Plagg was already flying down the stairs. "Plagg get back here! Plagg, the cameras!" Adrien hissed as he quietly walked down the steps. The cat kwami refused to listen to him. Right before Plagg would cross into the room and ending up caught by the camera, Adrien smacked him to the floor and scurried to a hiding spot just out of range of the camera.

There were the sounds of the Gorilla's footsteps pausing at the door. The teen really hoped he wouldn't get caught. At last the footsteps went in a different direction. "Plagg, what did you think you were ahhhh!" Adrien let out angry hiss as his kwami bit him to release him.

"I'm going to…"

"Quiet! We need to get into that safe and bring the contents back to your room. The Great Guardian wouldn't risk something like this and leave something valuable behind if there wasn't a good reason."

The kwami pointed the camera and then his kitten. "This is your chance to use the skills you've been practicing. You need to make sure that camera doesn't work while I get the safe opened."

Adrien started to protest when Plagg gave him the most serious look he'd ever seen. Heck, his stare was scarier than when he tried to eat a huge tower of cheese in one sitting.

Closing his eyes, he drowned out the entire world. His fears were there. He could see so many people telling him he was weak and worthless. He grunted trying to push past it. That's when a new image appeared in his mind.

Peridot Turtle, his mentor and friend. The girl who had actually chose him for the Black Cat Miraculouses. She hadn't looked very confident, only sad and disappointed in herself. She hadn't wanted to hurt his family. He needed to know what that was about.

He felt something surrounded him, an ever changing energy field, he could make out numbers and different colors. Pictures of people and things. He focused on the picture of the camera in his home. He tapped the picture and felt a spark coming out his finger.

Opening his eyes, the camera's recording light was off and it was tilted out of sight. Plagg was already managed to move the picture a tiny bit. He dove into the safe as Adrien came off. The door opened and Plagg's eyes were wide and in shock. He was holding a peacock pin in his paws, but kept using his tail to point to the book. "Get the book kid quick. We need to get up to your room now!"

Six minutes later they were in Adrien's room, well to be more precise they were in his bathroom. Plagg was very paranoid at this point and didn't want to risk being caught in a room with a camera.

Plagg was clearly agitated and talking to himself. "I can't believe she couldn't do it, to be so close and then call it off, her heart must be really messed up." He laid his paws on the book and was muttering even louder. "No way would she have left this behind if she knew it was here. Wayzz must not have known. Stupid kid, I don't know if I praise her strength of heart or tell her she's crazy."

Adrien dragged the book back towards him. He was sitting on the bench in his shower. Curiously, he opened the book to a random page and was stunned. There were pictures of Kwamiis. Other pictures showed different Miraculous users, and there was a small list written in code on a page. "What is this?"

"Something that's been lost for the better part of four centuries. This is the Miraculous Book. It contains the history of the Miraculous. Information about wielders and Kwamiis. Even secrets that I don't know about," Plagg informed in awe. Plagg looked at the book, touching it to make sure it was there. "This book was stolen centuries from a Great Guardian, forcing them to use other methods to keep track of everything. This belongs to Peridot Turtle."

"Then why didn't she take it? Why break into my house and take a piece of jewelry out of the safe? Why was she swinging that…?" Adrien went quiet as his kwami hovered in front of him, deep in thought. How was he going to answer the kids question without him talking a mile of a minute?

He picked up Duusu's Miraculous. He wished he could wake her up, but she was still dormant. He could feel the weak bond that kept her from accepting a new wielder. His best chance was too dumb it down. "Remember what Peridot Turtle told you and Ladybeetle about her mission priorities?"

He nodded. He recalled their last conversation. No it couldn't be, he would have known if there was another Miraculous in the house wouldn't he? "My parents were Miraculous wielders?"

"At some point if those pictures in your album are accurate. Hard to know who had who considering the pictures show them swapping them. If she was trying to break the bond via the Miraculous then the Great Guardian doesn't know either." Plagg handed the pin to Adrien watching him carefully.

The pin shimmered in his hand and suddenly images appeared in his head in flashes. A person dressed in a peacock costume gender unknown. Then a picture of a kwami, followed by the same kwami terrified eyes as the safe door shut, then one final flash, it was him in wearing the Peacock Miraculous and next to him was Peridot Turtle also dressed up like a Peacock.

Adrien dropped the Miraculous as he started to have difficulty breathing. He couldn't hear Plagg urging him to calm down. His color drained as he realized he'd been fed more lies. What did those flashes mean?!"

Water was splashed in his face, causing him to come out of the panic attack. Surprisingly, the book repelled the water. Once Plagg was sure he was okay, he got the Miraculous again. "Sorry, I forgot that Duusu's abilities leak out sometimes."

Duusu, that's what Peridot Turtle had called the Miraculous, now he understood she was talking about the kwami inside. "You said something about her breaking the bond, what does that mean exactly."

So Plagg explained that Great Guardians had do some extreme things to uphold their oaths, especially if it was retrieving a lost or abused Miraculous, from a bad wielder. He emphasized that the sorrow breaker caused emotional pain and likely this Great Guardian had tried to avoid doing something this extreme. In the end she did come here to take it, but refused.

"This new Great Guardian is a good person and is still learning like you. She probably isn't ready to do perform the more drastic actions of her oath. I think she stopped herself because she knows your family life is difficult and didn't want to make it worse."

Adrien looked at the two items and thought about the situation. It was vital to keep the Miraculous and Book away from evil. The Miraculous Book clearly belonged to the Great Guardian after looking through it. She was probably the only one who could decode it.

As for the Miraculous, it made him warm inside to know his parents had been Miraculous users like him. They had probably faced many dangers and done good deeds. Still, he knew that Duusu was being kept a prisoner here, in the mansion as he had been. It wasn't right.

His mom or father, should have given Duusu back when their adventures ended. From what Plagg and Peridot Turtle said, heck even Ladybeetle mentioned it one time, was that the Kwamiis belong together as a family.

"I'll get you back to your home Duusu. I promise to make sure my family isn't broken apart by this." Hiding the two items he went to bed, promising to figure out something in the morning on how he was going to get the items to Peridot Turtle.

---

The next morning Adrien had hidden the two items in his bag carefully, so they wouldn't spill if he accidentally dropped his bag. He was surprised to see his father at the table.

"Good morning Adrien."

"Good morning Father. I'm surprised to see you this morning."

"Even I need to eat son," Gabriel acknowledge his son. They sat together without saying anything as Nathalie went over the schedule. Neither was really listening until she mentioned last night's malfunctioning cameras.

"The security system was tampered with?" Mr. Agreste demanded when she mentioned it.

"I'm not sure. There were no unauthorized entries in the house last night, the control room wasn't tampered with. It just appears that the camera stopped working for a few minutes then turned back on, except one camera that's DVD recording meltdown after it overheated," Nathalie explained.

She pushed her glasses up and stood up straighter. "I contacted the alarm company to come over and take a look. They said that it's possible there was an electrical surge last night and it could have damaged some of the equipment."

"Make sure they remedy the problem and prevent it from happening again. I have no wish for a system that fails do to such a simple and random event." He had a grim look on his face. He got up ready to leave when he paused. "How is your relationship with Ms. Dupain-Cheng proceeding?"

"I wish you didn't compare my relationship with Marinette to a business venture," the teen admitted out loud. He then slapped his hand over his mouth couldn't believe was he just said to his father.

Noting his son's fear Mr. Agreste decided to alleviate if for now. "I apologize, you are right. Relationships are not like business ventures. That was one of the problems I had with your mother early in our relationship."

Adrien blinked his eyes surprised to hear that. "You never talk about yours and mom's relationship."

"Perhaps it's time I did. Your girlfriend Marinette is a lot like her, a tad more serious and driven, but very much like your mother. Your mother, she was very kind and caring, she put the needs of others including myself, above her own." He was lost in his own world for a few minutes before speaking again.

"As enduring as that quality is, I realized it could be draining on your mother, who was not use to putting herself first. I had to show her that she was important too and that whatever burdens she had, we could work through them together."

Adrien realized how similar this was to Peridot Turtle's problem. Plagg had warned him that while Turtles worked best alone, sometimes they needed support to show them they didn't have to be alone.

"Thank you for sharing Father. I need to be going. I don't want to be late for class picture day." His father dismissed him. As his son left for school Gabriel was left to wonder if perhaps he had been keeping his own burdens to himself for too long. Maybe talking with his son more often would help ease his grief of his wife's disappearance.

At school, Marinette didn't look well at all. She was paler than usual and had rings under her eyes. She was swaying a lot not having eaten at all. Her hair was a mess. When you talked to her, she wasn't all there.

"What do you think is wrong with her? She looks like didn't sleep at all last night. She did sleep last night right?" Rose inquired Alya. The other girl shrugged her shoulders not having an answer.

"You don't think my curse jumped to her today do you?" Juleka asked quietly.

"No, Juleka you're not cursed and even if you were, I doubt it would jump to someone else." Alya raised an eyebrow asking about this supposed curse as Juleka explained about her problems with pictures.

"I'm sorry to hear that Juleka," Marinette voice said. The girl had made her way over to them and suddenly collapsed in Alya's arms. "I'm okay, really I'm fine."

"No, you're not. You look really sick. Did you eat anything this morning?"

"I don't know, I was busy feeding Wayzz and he was upset with me for not completing my mission last night," she muttered. Her friends looked one another and came to the same conclusion. Marinette was clearly experiencing delusions.

"I'll take her to the nurse's office. You two get ready for the photo. We don't need all of us missing, from the photo."

Rose went to Ms. Bustier to tell her about Marinette as Juleka brushed her hair and checked her appearance in her hand mirror. She looked nice and she took a deep breath believing in herself. This picture day would be different.

Adrien called out to her and she turned to greet her classmate. Ever since Adrien had joined the class, everyone had started noticing her more. They included her in stuff and she felt like she mattered since she started participating in his father's testing group.

"Hey, Juleka, have you seen Marinette? I wanted to ask her something before our photo was taken."

"Alya took her to the nurse's office. She must have caught a bug or something. She was like a zombie whose brains had been partially eaten." Adrien winced at the description, but accepted his first class photo would not include Marinette in it.

Juleka suggested maybe Alya could take an absence picture of Marinette and later add it in the yearbook so Marinette felt included. That sounded like a good idea. Soon Alya and Rose rejoined their classmates waiting for their photo to be taken.

"Alright, Ms. Bustier's class it's time for your photo. Please line up as you are directed."

"Hold it!" a familiar voice called out. Everyone turned to Chloe, who was wearing her hair in a new style, it was styled in a braided manner so that she looked like a Greek Goddess. "My father hired a real photographer for my class picture. Sergio!"

A well-dressed Spanish man with a tricked out camera appeared. He let out a dismissive sound and flat out said, "This is the best you can do for school photos? It is a good thing Sergio is here to fix this disaster." He snapped his fingers and several assistance appeared out of nowhere.

Vincent was forcefully removed from his spot and his memory card removed so he couldn't take anymore photos. Lights were set up blinding the adults as Sergio deemed them unnecessary for the photo. Student's found themselves being stripped out of their clothes in front of others and forced into new ones.

"Makeup and hair, do your best to make these ugly ones at least decent if you can. You'll need all the help you can get with that giant and depressive Goth girl. Ah Chloe my star. You'll be center stage of course. Where is the special dress we ordered for the star?"

An assistant answered he had it and escorted Chloe to a private tent. A few minutes later Chloe returned looking like the Goddess Hera, complete with a crown. The other students were set up to look like her attendants offering her items for her pleasure.

"Now hold on a minute, you can't just…" Mr. Damocles started to argue when he was slapped with a restraining order and escorted off the property along with Ms. Bustier. The other classes were locked in their rooms by security to make sure they didn't interrupt Sergio's vison.

The rest of the class was humiliated as the photographer took shot after shot glorifying Chloe. He took shots of each class member doing something different things with Chloe. Adrien had to kiss Chloe, Sabrina had to look like she a mortal suffering diving punishment. The worst was Juleka who was forced to hide her face behind a basket of fruit as Chloe took her time to pick something to eat.

Finally the humiliation was over and Sergio informed the school, they had no choice, but to accept the photos for the yearbook, the parents, and he would be using them in his latest gallery collection, even though he didn't have permission from their parents.

His team started to leave, tossing the torn clothing to the class and removing his equipment. He told Vincent that he could go back to taking the ugly people's pictures now. He said he would have to have a huge amount of luck, to make the rest of the classes look as beautiful as the goddess Chloe was.

That's when everything exploded. A column of purple black smoke covered Juleka. The class all took steps back while Sergio's crew looked puzzled by the smoke. When it vanished there stood Reflekta.

"You think that we are ugly, that thing is a goddess? I'll make you all pay for ruining our class photo and continuing my curse!" A beam flashed from her hand mirror and all at once Sergio looked like exactly as she did.

Everyone started running as Reflekta started zapping people one by one. In her need for vengeance, she was unintentionally zapping her classmates. In her classroom, Mireille was looking for a way out of her classroom to transform into Ladybeetle. Chat Noir was already on the scene trying to calm his classmate down, but she wasn't having it.

She zapped him, depriving him of his powers and his Miraculous. She bounced around the school zapping people as she went. A few students managed to avoid being changed. Reflekta kicked open the door to the nurse's office zapping the nurse. She walked over to Marinette and stared at her. She raised her hand to zap her, but stopped.

"Why aren't you changing her to your image? I thought you wanted revenge?"

"What is the point Hawkmoth? She's already suffering and it would torture Chloe to know her rival maintained her looks while she is under my spell. Besides, I need to get Ladybeetle's Miraculous."

"Very well, but don't transform her until you have the earrings."

Reflekta left Marinette alone. A few minutes later Chat Noir checked in on her and let out a sigh of relief. She was safe and it didn't appear she was in any danger. A minute later Ladybeetle landed next to him. "I know you're concerned for the students here, but we need to get going. Even when you look like that, we have a duty to stop the akuma."

"On it! The sooner we crack that girl's reflection, the sooner I look purrfect again."

Marinette slept through the entire attack. She was so out of it she never saw how close she came to being transformed or how hard Wayzz worked to get her energies balanced again. By the time Reflekta was turned into normal, she had managed to finally sit up in the cot. "Ugh what happened?"

"You were sick, as the light and dark inside you, battle one another. Last night's mission pushed you into a situation where your energies couldn't handle the results of your choice. You're fine now," Wayzz assured her.

He filled her in about the akuma attack and how lucky she was that Reflekta had found her a waste of time. Everyone was back to normal and Vincent had agreed to redo the class picture once it was discovered that the memory card from Sergio's camera had been destroyed beyond repair.

"Their even coming to check on you to see if you're up for the picture."

Marinette nodded and exited the nurse's office running into Alya, Rose, and Juleka. "Hi girls. How are you?"

"We're feeling fine, how are you? You were pretty delirious this morning going on about missions and feeding people."

"I'm good, I just had a bug. So did I miss the class picture?" The girls told her what happened, though she already knew, and managed to look very surprised and happy about the new photo.

The whole class save for Chloe, was in the photo. Juleka took center stage in a few of them as they rotated everyone around until they had a good collection of shots. He would submit the class one to the school and got permission from the students to use the rest of the photos to advertise his business. It turned out to be a good day.

---

That night, Peridot Turtle waited on top of the school for Chat Noir. He said they had to talk. She was nervous about what he wanted to talk about. She saw him land and saw what he was carrying. She looked away, "I'm so sorry I tried to steal from you. I couldn't do it, even if Duusu was in danger. It was wrong."

"What was wrong was one of my parents keeping her prisoner after they had finished their job. I know what it's like to be a prisoner. I don't want Duusu to feel like that anymore." He gave her the Miraculous and held her hands.

"You don't have to do this alone. I will help you deal with both sides of breaking the bond." Smiling at Chat Noir, she brought out the sorrow breaker and proceed to break the bond. She felt a slight pain in her chest and heard an echo of sadness.

Chat Noir squeezed her tightly telling her she did the right thing. That she needed to focus on making Duusu healthy and happy again. "I'll help you in any way I can. I have something else for you." He gave her the book and told her what his kwami had said.

"I feel something when I hold this. There's a connection between me, the Miraculouses, everything. I have to show this to my kwami. If it's been missing as long as you said, he might be the only one who can read it. Thank you Chat Noir. I won't forget anymore that I can ask for help." The two waved goodbye knowing that together, they were stronger.