The next week flew by and soon it was opening night. Chat Noir and Ladybug hadn't patrolled since the night they kissed, but were scheduled to the day after the opening night of the play. Everyone was running around in a frenzy, hurrying to get last minute adjustments made as the audience filed in. Alya was frantic, trying to fix even the tiniest of problems. Nino was more relaxed as he sauntered his way around backstage.

Marinette walked out of the dressing room in the Ladybug costume at the same time Adrien walked out of his dressing room. She smiled at him and made her way over to talk.

"You nervous at all Mari?" He asked as she approached. She smiled, finding herself relaxed in his presence for once.

"A little bit but not really, I know we're gonna do great!" Adrien smiled back at her.

"I hope so, looks like we have a full house." He said, peeking out from behind the curtain. Marinette looked beside him and saw he was right, every single seat in the schools large theater was full. Adrien seemed as if he was looking for someone.

"Someone in particular you want to see?" Marinette asked. He hesitated and then answered.

"I want to see if my father is here. I don't think he would come but it'd be nice to see if he cared." He looked down sadly, clearly not seeing his father. Marinette sympathized with him. Then they both felt a pull on their collars and were forced back.

"What are you two doing?! You should be practicing your lines or something, don't let the audience see you!" Alya scolded them.

"Sorry! We just already know our lines and we were curious how many people were out there." Marinette said.

"We sold out in case you were wondering so you better be on your A-game alright!?" Alya yelled at them and walked away. Adrien and Marinette stood there like scolded children. Suddenly, a scream was heard from the outside the curtain. They both rushed forward and while peeking out they gasped at what they saw.

It was an akumatized villain who seemed to take a page from Medusa. A laser-type thing shot from her eyes, causing the victim to be turned to stone. Her dark tiny braids floated around her like snakes, and she laughed as the audience ran around screaming.

"I am Stone Cold Killer, and I will freeze all of you!" She announced, her low voice thundering throughout the room. She looked around and just before her gaze fell on Marinette and Adrien, they were pulled back again. It was Alya again, frowning.

"Are you stupid?! She's been akumatized which means she's after Ladybug and Chat Noir, who you both happen to be dressed up as right now! If she sees you she will turn you to stone, so you have to get out of here!" She said pushing them both toward the exit.

"Why don't we just change out of our costumes?" Adrien suggested.

"Yeah that's a better idea! That way we won't be targets!" Marinette seconded, needing a private area to transform in.

"There's no time, just both of you go to your bakery Marinette, you guys can change there." Alya continued pushing them out the door.

"What about you? Aren't you leaving too?" Marinette asked, suddenly worried for her friend.

"Not yet, everyone else needs to get out first and also Ladybug will show up here any minute, I need this for the Ladyblog!"

"Alya that's ridiculously dangerous!" Marinette chastised her.

"That's what being a journalist is Mari! Getting right in the danger! And don't worry, I'm good at hiding." She opened the door and pushed the two out. Right before she closed it Marinette interjected.

"Fine! But be safe okay?"

"I always am aren't I?" She winked and closed the door, with Adrien and Marinette being left outside. They both looked at one another, unsure of what to do next so Adrien took the lead.

"Let's get to your place but stick to the shadows, we don't want to attract too much attention." Marinette nodded and they began to stealthily make their way out of the alley they had been dumped in. Police cars were already gathering around the school along with news vans. Suddenly, a spotlight was struck right on the two teenagers.

"Look! It's Ladybug and Chat Noir! Hey guys, we need help over here!" A policeman shouted. Marinette panicked and tried to explain.

"No you have it wrong we-" Adrien interrupted with his denials as well.

"We aren't-"

"Certainly not-" Another scream cut off their explanations. The policeman looked at them expectantly.

"Are you going to help us or not?" Marinette quickly realized there wasn't a way out of this and decided to go with it. She winked at Adrien before speaking.

"Yes of course we will Officer, come on Chat." The policeman smiled and began leading them towards the school, and Marinette pleaded silently that the real Chat didn't show up now. Adrien was looking at her, clearly confused, but went along with it. They were lead to the Chief who gave them the rundown.

"She turns people to stone and calls herself Stone Cold Killer. None of our men can get close enough to take her down without being petrified! We don't know what to do!" The two looked at each other and Adrien spoke.

"We'll handle this, don't worry. But first may I speak to my Lady in private for a second?" The man nodded and he led her away, his strut and voice all perfectly imitating Chat Noir. He turned to her as soon as they were secluded. "What are you doing Marinette?! You-I mean we aren't Ladybug and Chat Noir!" Oblivious to the mistake he made, Marinette replied with as best of an excuse as she could.

"Yes but we look exactly like them! Maybe we can help keep her distracted until the real duo shows up!" She really just wanted to be able to hide for a second so she could transform, and couldn't do that with Adrien right by her side. "Adrien, Alya is in there and I don't feel right leaving her." She pleaded.

"You're right. We can't leave everyone in there, Nino's still there also. We have to help in some way."

"Then let's do this!" They high-fived and waltzed back to the Chief, and he opened the door for them. The room was littered with statues of frozen people, all with expressions of horror adorning their faces. It was like a creepy garden of death. And in the middle of it all was the floating woman. Stone Cold Killer turned around with an evil smile on her face as she saw them walking in, her eyes glowing red.

"Ah, Ladybug and Chat Noir. Just the heroes I was looking for. I hope you don't mind me crashing this little play in your honor, I wanted to have statues of both of you and I heard the two kids look just like you. I figured they would be suitable replacements until you showed up." She laughed.

"Leave these people alone, they never did anything to you." Marinette tried to reason.

"Oh but they did Ladybug. My sculpture garden got torn down today because it was deemed 'unsightly' by the neighborhood committee. And it was this neighborhood! Now they can all be my sculptures instead!" A laser shot out and Marinette and Adrien jumped out of the way just in time. Marinette wasn't used to acting as Ladybug without the enhanced speed and flexibility her transformation brought her, so she knew she had to transform soon. She just hoped Adrien could hold his own until Chat showed up.

Landing on opposite sides of the room, they jumped and leaped as lasers hit only centimeters from them, using the statues as crude cover. Marinette dove behind the curtain when Stone was turned to Adrien, and using her head start, ran into the dressing room seconds before Adrien got behind the curtain as well. Transforming, she stepped out and saw Adrien was nowhere to be seen, and assumed he ran been able to run out the exit again. She stepped back out to the stage, and saw Stone landing on the floor.

"Hello Stone Cold Killer, if you're looking for that girl dressed up as me she's gone now. If it's me you're looking for well then hello."

"What?! That was a teenager I was wasting my energy on? Ugh she really does look like you! No matter, now I have you here. But where did that damn cat go?" She said disgustedly.

"That cat was the other kid, the two decided to be kind and give us some extra time to get ready. It takes preparation to look as beautiful as I." Ladybug smiled when she heard the familiar voice and turned around to see Chat strolling towards her. "We should thank them for that later by the way." He said smiling.

"Yes we should, but let's take care of this first." She smiled back at him, feeling relieved to have her friend with her. They went to work, the duo already knowing the strategy they would use. Chat distracted Stone, dodging her attacks with ease and using the statues as cover again but purposefully getting close so she would stay on him. In the meantime, Ladybug prepared her angle and shot her yo-yo out, wrapping it around her leg and pulling it out from under her. She fell but floated back up, and turned around to shoot Ladybug. Ladybug jumped out of the way just in time, and was now the target for her attacks. The attacks came quicker, and she almost got hit several times. Chat tried grabbing Stone but she turned and he was an inch away from being hit. Suddenly an idea struck Ladybug.

"Chat! The rafters!" She pointed up to the beams above and Chat immediately knew what she wanted.

"Cataclysm!" He yelled, the ball of black energy appearing in his hand. Using her yo-yo, Ladybug flew up to one of the large beams and pulled Chat up as well. He touched a beam and it rusted, falling down on top of Stone. The crash was deafening and she was trapped underneath. She couldn't move her body but her head was still fine. She continued her assault on them, and they both had to jump down to avoid the shots. We can't get close to her, Ladybug thought while bobbing and weaving.

"Lucky Charm!" She shouted, feeling the blast of radiance and joy as an item materialized from thin air. A spotted sleeping mask dropped into her hands.

"Oh this is too easy." She said smiling. Stone kept shooting and Ladybug dodged as she got closer. But then her foot caught on wires and Ladybug fell to the ground. Stone smiled and Ladybug prepared for the petrification, knowing she couldn't get up in time. The shot rang out but Ladybug shrieked when Chat Noir jumped in front of her, his body freezing into stone in midair, the thud off the statue hitting the ground thundering throughout the room. Luckily no pieces broke off, but the sound was terrifying all the same.

"NO!" She yelled, and Stone laughed.

"Come out from behind your tomcat, little bug. Or should I say your decoration?" Her voice was hard and mocking. Ladybug was angry now, and jumped out from behind the statue of Chat, dodging the lasers with no problem. She moved behind Stone's head, right where her eyes couldn't follow, and held the sleeping mask in preparation.

"No one turns my teammate into stone!" She yelled in anger, placing the sleeping mask over her eyes. Now harmless, Ladybug quickly found a small snake necklace around her neck, and smashed it with her foot. The black butterfly flew out, and using her yo-yo, purified it into a normal butterfly. She then took the sleeping mask off and threw it into the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!" She proclaimed as healing magic sweeped through. All the stone was turned back into the person it was, the beam was fixed, and Chat Noir returned back to normal as well. And in Stone's place was a very puzzled looking and quite beautiful, woman.

"What am I doing here?" She asked, the chocolate skin around her eyes crinkling in confusion.

"You're fine, you kinda decided to crash a school play." Ladybug said smiling.

"Yeah you did, but let me say your sculptures are the cat's meow." Ladybug smiled as her heart leaped, and turning around immediately squeezed Chat in relief. And then, without thinking, she kissed him, much to his surprise. The act was greeted with a round of applause from the now unfrozen audience, but the two ignored them. She was just so happy to have him back, having been paranoid something might've gone wrong with her healing magic. Then she heard the all too familiar beeping of both their Miraculouses, and together they quickly made their way out the door and onto a nearby rooftop, with the police outside applauding them as well.

"Well that kiss was a pleasant surprise m'Lady." Chat said as they overlooked the city.

"I knew that after using the healing magic you would be fine, but I was still paranoid that something would happen." Ladybug said, thinking of the story of Antoinette and Maximus.

"Don't worry, I'll always be around to protect you." He said gently, putting his arm around her shoulders. His voice reminded her of a certain someone, and she remembered something that had slipped her mind.

"Oh no! I forgot about Adrien!" She said, more loudly than she meant to. Chat looked at her, startled.

"Whose Adrien?" He asked in a stressed tone.

"This boy who was with me before I transformed, I completely left him! I need to see if he's okay!" Chat's eyes widened at this, but he quickly shook himself back to normal.

"You better go check on him then. Don't worry, we'll see each other tomorrow." He said smiling. She smiled and kissed him lightly on the cheek, and as her earrings beeped again she yo-yoed back to the school. De-transforming quickly, she took her hair out of her pigtails to make it clear she wasn't Ladybug. Then she ran inside the school building and looked around. Alya spotted her immediately and ran over.

"Marinette! There you are! You won't believe it but I was able to film everything during the fight, no one saw me once! And when you and Adrien were pretending to be the actual Ladybug and Chat Noir I was trying not to give my hideout away by laughing!"

"Alya! Where's Adrien? He and I got separated!" Before Alya could answer a familiar voice came from behind.

"I'm here! Oh Marinette you're okay. Where did you go? You ducked behind the curtain and totally disappeared." Something in his voice was off but Marinette ignored it. He was still in the costume, but the ears and mask had been taken off.

"I ran out the back door as fast as I could, I thought you were right behind me! It wasn't until I was a block away did I realize you weren't with me so I started freaking out. I just got back now." She said, rushing her words to make the lie sound more realistic. She jumped a little when he hugged her suddenly, but she quickly relaxed. He stepped back though, awkward about what he had just done. Alya was smiling cheekily.

"It's a good thing you're both safe. So Alya, what's this video you have?" He said, his voice still hiding something. The rest of the night was a blur as Alya gushed about how awesome the video would be on the Ladyblog and how the kiss between the superheroes was movie perfect. The play's opening night was rescheduled for the next day, with Alya joking that Adrien and Marinette had had the ultimate acting test that day.

That night as Marinette was getting ready for bed, wearing pink spotted pajamas and brushing out her wet hair, she was startled when she heard a knock on her door to the roof. Opening it, she saw it was Chat Noir sitting on her terrace.

"Hello Princess, how are you this fine evening?" He said in a suave voice.

"I'm fine. Why are you here Chat?" She said, instantly wary.

"Oh I'm just here to thank you for giving me and Ladybug extra time to arrive by keeping Stone Cold Killer busy. You did a great job acting like Ladybug by the way, I saw that video on that popular Ladyblog. You sounded and looked just like her." Something about his tone was off, he was lying about something. She stepped out onto the terrace and stood in front of him.

"Yeah I keep getting comments about that, I don't know I never thought we looked that much alike." Marinette said, trying to play cool.

"I didn't think that either till I saw the video…" He said, swinging his tail. Marinette knew something was up and decided to address it directly.

"Cut to the chase, we both know you're not just here to thank me and comment about how I look like Ladybug." She said sharply, causing laughter from the cat.

"Wow looks like the claws are out! No, you're right I'm not just here for that. The thing is, Ladybug told me something right before she left tonight, and I can't get it out of my head." Marinette's eyes widened with fear as she realized how careless her words had been.

"You see, she said she was with a boy named Adrien right before she transformed. And I happen to know Adrien Agreste, and he told me he was with you in the auditorium pretending to be me and Ladybug, and then you disappeared…" He looked at her expectantly and Marinette immediately realized she was trapped and couldn't lie her way out of this one. Even though she had decided to reveal her identity to Chat the next night, she was angry he had figured it out on his own.

"Dangit you stupid cat! I was going to tell you tomorrow night on our patrol!" She exclaimed angrily, trying to keep her voice down since they were outside. He smiled when he realized he was right, and immediately embraced her in his arms, laughing.

"Sorry m'Lady, I should've waited." He said still laughing. "I guess now I should-"

"No." He looked shocked when she interrupted him. "Before you ask yes I want to know who you are, but since you figured it out before I could tell you, I want to figure it out myself. I'm right in assuming we know each other?" He nodded. "And am I right in assuming we go to the same school?" He nodded again. "Are we in the same class?" He nodded again and her heart skipped a beat realizing he had been so close to her this whole time. "Then this should be easy to figure out. If I don't figure it out by the end of our patrol tomorrow, then you can tell me."

"Giving yourself a time limit bugaboo?" She frowned at the nickname.

"Yes because if I can't figure it out in a day then I'll never figure it out on my own." She said, still frowning. He laughed again and kissed her, and she could tell he was relishing kissing her for the first time while knowing who she was. She pulled away and put his face in her hands. "Now go you silly Kitty, I have thinking to do." He smiled and jumped away, disappearing into the skyline. She climbed back down and explained to Tikki what happened, who laughed and reassured her that she'd figure it out. Suddenly exhausted, Marinette fell asleep quickly that night.