Chapter 9

Alya rubbed the back of her neck as she sat in the school's courtyard. The prickly feeling wasn't going away, and Alya had the sneaking suspicion that someone was watching her. She looked around, but she couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Alya frowned at her lack of information. Maybe if she ignored it, the feeling would go away.

"So, Alya, after school you wanted to go to the cinema?" Marinette asked, snapping Alya out of her reverie.

"Huh? Oh, right! I forgot about that," she said. "Yes, I did."

Her best friend smiled. "What movie did you want to see again? Wasn't it a romantic comedy?"

Alya nodded, glancing around one last time.

"What are you looking at?" Marinette asked.

"Nothing," Alya muttered. "Do you feel like you're being watched?"

Marinette shrugged. "No. Why, do you?"

"I'm not sure." Alya shrugged it off. She couldn't focus on that, no matter how much the feeling was bothering her. "Anyway, movies! Let's go there as soon as classes end," Alya suggested.

"Sounds good," Marinette said with a smile, but it was a blank one. Marinette let her blue eyes wander around the courtyard, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. She couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, but Alya wasn't one to make things up.


On the way to the cinema, Alya received a text from Jalil. He said that he had the more of the translation ready for her.

"Marinette, wait," Alya said, lightly grabbing the arm of her best friend to stop her.

Marinette, despite the assist from Alya, still flailed her arms around as she tried to catch her balance from the sudden stop.

"What is it?" she asked once she had both feet firmly planted on the ground.

"Do you mind if we make a quick detour to the Louvre?"

"Why?"

"I just got a text from Jalil. He has more of the translation," she explained.

"Oh!" Marinette said. "Well, no. I don't mind. We can just go to the next showing, if it takes too long."

"Wonderful!" Alya exclaimed. "Come on! The Louvre is back the other way."

The two friends turned back around and headed to the nearest bus stop. The girls took the last two open seats, which just happened to be in the back of the bus. It was quite busy, but that was no surprise. The busses were usually busy up until the late-evening. Marinette glanced around at all the people surrounding them. Some of them were getting off from their jobs, others were sight-seers taking the cheap way to the sights. One person caught her eye though. It was a woman near the front of the bus. Marinette and Alya had passed her on their way to the back, but somehow she hadn't noticed her until a moment before. The woman looked familiar, but not in a good way. The familiarity sent chills down Marinette's spine.

The woman, as if sensing her gaze, turned around and locked eyes with Marinette. The young superhero froze as she recognized the woman, Lillian. Adrien was not kidding about the glowing eyes. The sight of them were deeply unsettling to her. They were unnatural.

"What are you staring at?" Alya asked, nudging her best friend.

Marinette snapped out of it. She quickly glanced at Alya, who was staring at her curiously, and then back up to the front. Lillian wasn't there. Had she imagined it? No. What she saw was not a product of her imagination.

"Nothing," Marinette muttered. "I was just thinking."

"About what?"

She shrugged. "The future, I guess."

"I think about that, too. It makes you wonder where we're going to be in a few years."

"Where do you want to be?" Marinette asked.

Alya smiled. "I don't really know. I hope doing an internship for a journalism company. Investigative journalism is what I really want to do."

Marinette already knew that. Alya was relentless when it came to investigating Ladybug and Cat Noir. She would be relentless about anything she investigated.

"What about you, Marinette?"

Marinette's plans for her career hadn't changed in the slightest since taking up the ladybug Miraculous. At first, she was worried she would have to give up designing in order to be a superhero, but then things got easier. Marinette found it easier to balance school and being a superhero. She knew that she could have a career as a both a superhero and a fashion designer.

"I hope to be interning under a famous fashion designer one day after finishing design school."

Alya smiled. "You want to be the next Coco Chanel."

"No. I want to be the first Marinette Cheng."

"You've already done that, girl," Alya praised. "Now, what about you and Adrien? Do you two think you'll still be together a few years from now?"

Marinette liked the sound of them being together years from then, but she had no idea how the future was going to turn out. Were they still going to be Ladybug and Cat Noir, or would they hang up the Miraculouses? She didn't know, and Marinette both liked and disliked not-knowing. It would take a huge weight off her shoulders if she knew, but not knowing was part of the fun. If she knew she was going to be Ladybug beforehand, then it wouldn't have been as much of an adventure as it had been.

"I hope we are going to be together years from now. I really, really like him, but, Alya, we're only sixteen."

"So? There are a lot of people who meet their soulmate at only sixteen. Trust me, you have found your soulmate. You two are perfect for each other. You don't even know how perfect."

"What about you and Nino?" Marinette asked, quickly getting the subject off of her. She couldn't think about the future right then, not when they might not even have a future in a couple months. "Do you think you'll be together years from now?"

Alya shrugged. "I hope so, but it all depends on where our careers take us. Nino wants to DJ professionally. He's talked about going to New York City. They have a lot of record companies over there."

Marinette smiled. "You could go with him! New York City is like the place to study journalism! Even my parents get a copy of The New York Times."

Alya shrugged again. "I don't know, Marinette. It's just such a big change."

"But that's what makes it good!" she encouraged. "What's life without risk, and you can trust me on the risk part. I've taken more risks when it comes to Adrien than any person should."

Alya chuckled. "You can say that again," she said with a smile.

Marinette rolled her eyes and gently pushed her friend. "At least I finally got him," she said wistfully.

"Yes you did, girl," Alya said proudly. "All your incoherent noises and mismatched sentences managed to come together to create the correct words."

"Are you ever going to let me live it down?" Marinette asked.

Alya shook her head. "Nope."

Marinette rolled her eyes. She reached up and pulled the cord. "Our stop is coming up, in case you forgot why we were on this bus."

"Of course I didn't forget," Alya said.

The girls got off the bus and headed into the Louvre. Marinette followed Alya through the hallways until she found Jalil's office. Seeing him brought up the memories from her battle against his alter ego. Marinette hadn't seen Jalil since that day, but it looked like that day didn't dampen his spirits.

"Alya, glad you could you make it!" Jalil exclaimed. "I believe that what we have translated thus far will be very interesting."

Marinette stood back while Alya spoke to Jalil. She already knew exactly what Jalil was going to say, and it caused her stomach to drop to the floor.

"What'd you all figure out?"

Jalil opened up a folder and pulled out a few sheets of paper. He spread them out on his desk so he could explain them to Alya.

"So, after Ladybug and Cat Noir defeated the Shadow Witch, the elders of the town decided to hide the objects she was looking for."

"What was she looking for?" Alya asked excitedly.

Jalil gave her a sly smile. "You are never going to believe this, but she was looking for a sextant and a cypher disk." He paused for a moment to let that sink in.

Alya had to think about it for a moment, but then when it hit her she gasped. "Are you talking about the same sextant and cypher disk mentioned on the news?"

"We believe it is the very same.t The ceremony described in the tablets talks about breaking the pieces apart into dozens of pieces and scattering them to the four corners of the Earth. As we know, over the past couple of weeks items are being stolen from all over the world that seem to be connected in some way. Our theory, and it is a pretty sound one, is that these two items are connected."

Alya's eyes were wide as she took in this information. All of that was better than she could've hoped for! She knew there was a connection between the stolen items and the tablets! She finally had proof!

"The robbery last week, the one where a woman was caught on camera, do you think she could be the Shadow Witch?" Alya asked.

At her words, Marinette bit her lip to keep from saying anything. She was internally freaking out over all of what she was hearing. Alya was getting way too close, as was Jalil and his coworkers. Marinette dreaded the thought of Alya posting that information on her website. Her stomach started twisting and her breath got caught in her throat. Marinette had felt fear plenty of times before, but this fear was different. This fear was a true, life or death feeling. For once, she wasn't confident that she or Cat Noir's abilities were enough to defeat the villain. She wasn't sure that anything was going to be enough. Yes, technically, Ladybug and Cat Noir had defeated her once before, but that was a different time and it also wasn't them. It was a different pair of Ladybug and Cat Noir's. They could've had different powers than them at the time, and they were probably also older than they were. She and Adrien were only sixteen. They were too young to have all that responsibility put on them, but it was their fate. Marinette wasn't afraid, however, that they wouldn't use their abilities at their fullest. She was afraid that they wouldn't be enough.

Alya and Jalil continued to talk for a few more minutes. Marinette took that chance to text Adrien and catch him up on what Alya knew. She tried to keep it as short as possible, but the text ended up being the length of paragraph.

As they left the museum, Alya was more than thrilled about what she had learned. Marinette tried her best to act innocent and to pretend she didn't know anything, but it was getting harder. Alya was so close to the truth that she basically knew everything, except how much danger she was in.

"Just think about what this means!" Alya was saying as they stood in line for tickets. "Who knows how many other cultures have mentioned Ladybug and Cat Noir!? What if someone from there decides to make an appearance? We used to think they were a one-time thing, that Hawk Moth was an anomaly, but what if he's not? Can you imagine the possibilities this means?"

"I can imagine you getting hurt," Marinette found herself saying.

"What?" Alya asked. "I'm not going to get hurt."

"You told me yourself that Ladybug and Cat Noir didn't want you to have any part of this. They are training to fight against her! No story is worth it if you get hurt, Alya."

Alya gave Marinette a strange look, but then quickly shook her head. "I'm not going to get hurt," Alya said in a hard voice. She walked up to the front of the line and bought her ticket for the movie. Marinette did the same moments later.

"And how do you know?" Marinette asked once they were away from the ticket desk. "You don't know who the Shadow Witch is."

"Neither do you!" Alya said.

Marinette froze for a second, doing her best to keep her poker face up. For a second she thought that Alya was trying to trick her, but if she was Marinette wasn't going to let it happen.

"You're right. I don't know who she is, but I do know she's not a basket full of kittens," Marinette told her. "I'm just worried for you, Alya. I don't have a good feeling about this."

Alya sighed. "I'll be fine, Marinette. I can take care of myself. Now let's just get something to drink and watch the movie."

Marinette bit her lip. She wanted to talk about it more, but decided to drop it. Marinette feared that if she kept pushing Alya she would lose her friendship. Of course, if it meant that Alya wasn't hurt or killed in their crusade against Lillian it might be worth it.

After buying their movie snacks, the girls headed over to the correct theater. Just before they walked inside Marinette turned around. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't care once she spotted someone. Leaning against the wall, almost hidden by a cardboard stand for the latest blockbuster, was Lillian. A chill went down her spine as she continued to stare at the Shadow Witch. Lillian turned to look at Marinette. Her joints stiffened and all her strength left her body as Lillian's glowing eyes continued to stare at Marinette's bluebell ones.

"Marinette? Are you okay?" Alya asked, lightly placing her hand on Marinette's shoulder.

At Alya's touch Marinette whirled around from reflex and was about to put up her fighting stance but relaxed when she recognized her best friend.

"What were you staring at?"

Marinette glanced back around to where Lillian was standing, but she wasn't there anymore. That didn't bode well.

"Nothing," Marinette whispered. "I was just lost in thought."

Alya didn't believe her at all, but she let it go. "Well, come on. All the best seats are going to be taken if we don't hurry."

"Yeah. Right," Marinette muttered distractedly. On automatic she followed Alya into the theater and to their seats. The two girls sat down and ate their movie treats in silence. Marinette was too worried about Alya's safety, and Alya's mind was making connections.

Marinette's extreme worry for Alya sent up one too many red flags in Alya's mind. Her best friend was way too worried for someone who only knew what Alya knew. Yes, Marinette had a tendency to overreact, but not like that. Marinette looked… petrified. She had never had that expression before.

One by one, the pieces started falling into place. Everything started making sense. All the strange disappearances and odd excuses, they suddenly became clear. Marinette was good at hiding her expressions, but not that good. Alya had seen Marinette's expression over the past couple weeks, even when Marinette thought she wasn't looking. It was so obvious to her now.

Alya knew the truth, though what she lacked was proof. She didn't know Marinette before Ladybug had shown up, at least not for very long. What Alya did know was that when Marinette wanted to be, she showed the same confidence as Ladybug. She could stand up to Chloe or run for class rep.

Marinette was Ladybug. It explained everything. It explained why Marinette was so adamant against Alya digging into the robberies and the Shadow Witch. Yes, Ladybug and Cat Noir had given a very cryptic and indirect warning about Lillian, whom Alya assumed to be the Shadow Witch. It was too big of a coincidence for them to be two separate people, but Marinette didn't know about the warning. Alya never told it to her. She mentioned that they didn't want her posting the video, but not about digging into Lillian. Only Ladybug could've known that information.

Alya looked over at Marinette. She wasn't paying attention to her. Marinette had a faraway look in her eyes and was looking directly ahead at the screen currently showing advertisements. Her eyes, her pigtails, her height, everything about her was the same. She glanced at the black earrings on her ears. They had to be the Miraculous. How did she not see it before?

A part of Alya wanted to be mad at Marinette for keeping such a big secret, but she immediately knew why Marinette had to. Alya hadn't exactly been the biggest supporter of keeping Ladybug's identity secret, and if Lillian or the Shadow Witch or whoever was as dangerous as Marinette was making it out to be then having Alya know put her in danger.

Alya's mind was spinning with this new information. She desperately wanted to say something, but at the same time she didn't. Alya had to wait for the right time. This kind of information wasn't something said right before the latest tear-jerker romance was about to show. It was big news, the biggest Alya had ever found out in her life, and yet Alya couldn't find the words to express it.

Together, the two best friends watched the movie in silence. Neither of them were in the mood for a movie anymore, but they were committed to sit through it. Once the movie ended, they gathered their things and left in silence.

"Okay. It's official. I don't like romance movies," Marinette finally said, about a block away from the theater. "At least sappy ones like that." She was ready to break the silence. It was becoming deafening to her, and she wasn't even sure why Alya was being quiet. They've had worse fights than the one they had before the movie started. Alya was a bit quiet during the movie, but she could've just been thinking about what she learned at the Louvre.

"Why? Things not going well in the love department?" Alya asked, momentarily forgetting that the person she was talking to was a superhero.

Marinette smiled. "No. Things are going very well in the love department. It's the fact that these movies usually have the relationship end badly that I don't like."

"Well, I can certainly say that you and Adrien are much more interesting than any romance movie," Alya said.

"Thanks, Alya. Adrien's going to get a kick out of that."

Alya chuckled, but her heart wasn't in it. She suddenly wondered if Adrien knew. How could he not know? And how did Adrien feel about Cat Noir flirting with Marinette all the time? Granted, their flirting was harmless and never lead to anything, but it had to bring up some jealously. Adrien was usually reserved, but he was still human.

The girls jumped at the sound of police sirens coming towards them. They turned around saw a half dozen police cars rush by them and made a quick turn at the corner.

"That's in the direction of the Louvre," Marinette said.

"Let's go check it out," Alya said excitedly. "Come on!"

Within minutes the girls were at the Louvre, but it wasn't how they were used to seeing it. There were dozens of police cars and ambulances all centered around one of the side entrances. Marinette took in a small gasp when she realized that was the entrance nearest to the Asian Antiquities. Marinette did not have a good feeling.

Alya pushed her way forward until she was right at the edge of the police line. Marinette hesitated, but did the same thing. She recognized a few of the police officers from her times wearing the mask, but others were unknown to her. The flashing lights from the cars were bright in the dim light from dusk. It was like a scene out of those American cop TV shows.

"What's going on?" Alya asked one of the other bystanders.

"I'm not sure, but I think someone was murdered," he said.

Alya nodded and turned her head back towards the scene in front of them. Marinette desperately wanted to go and see what happened, but she couldn't do it with Alya right there. She felt Tikki flying around in her bag, and Marinette knew exactly how she felt.

Marinette recognized the sound of Cat Noir's baton hitting the stone ground. He came from over their heads and landed lithely on his feet in the center of the action. Marinette was itching to join him. She saw him look around, but after a moment he went over to Lieutenant Roger and immediately started speaking with him.

Suddenly, Alya grasped Marinette's hand and pulled her away from the crowd.

"Alya? What are you doing?" Marinette asked.

Alya sighed and then started pacing. Marinette stood there watching Alya do what Marinette normally did.

"Is everything okay?" Marinette asked after a moment.

Alya shook her head. "No. Everything is not okay, and we're going to talk about it later, but right now you need to go in there and join Cat Noir."

Marinette raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"I know, Marinette, I know who you really are," Alya said. "I can't believe that I didn't see it before, it seems so obvious now. I know you're Ladybug."

For a moment Marinette was speechless, and then all she could form were incoherent noises. It took her a couple of moments to gather her thoughts enough to form a real sentence.

"Alya, that's insane!" Marinette said, though she wasn't sure why she was protesting it anymore.

"No, it's not, and don't even try to deny it, girl. You'd just be insulting my intelligence. Now go hide behind a tree or something and go join your partner in fighting crime."

Marinette hesitated. There was so much she wanted to say, but there were more important things to deal with.

"I'll explain everything," Marinette promised.

"You'd better," Alya said.

Marinette turned and ran behind an advertisement that would keep her away from the main crowd of people. She opened up her bag and out Tikki flew.

"How did she find out?" Tikki asked.

Marinette shook her head. "I don't know, Tikki, but we can deal with that later. Right now, spots on!"

She felt the rush of power as Tikki's god-like powers energized her. She felt the transformation swirl around her, magically erasing her clothes and putting in its place the red and black spotted suit which kept her from physical harm. She felt herself get stronger, and immediately her hand went to her yo-yo. She swung it and hooked the yo-yo around a spire at the top of the Louvre and used it to vault herself over the crowd of onlookers to where the police were.

"Ladybug, glad you could drop by," Cat Noir said with a smirk.

She wasn't even in the mood to be annoyed by his puns, something which Cat Noir noticed.

"So catch me up. What's going on?" Ladybug asked. "I heard on the news someone was killed?" She hated saying the word. It was a confirmation that all their fears were coming true.

"As I was telling Cat Noir here," Lieutenant Roger said, "we've been withholding certain information from the reporters. Yes, there was someone killed here, but it wasn't just one person. It was a massacre."

Ladybug took in small gasp.

"Yeah," Cat Noir said. "That was what I said."

"Though, if I'm being honest, I'm not sure what you two can do here."

"We might have a lead on who is responsible," she said.

The lieutenant sighed. "If you two really want to go see the crime scene, I'll let you in, but it's not going to be pretty."

"We can handle it," Cat Noir said.

"Alright. Follow me."

The superheroes followed behind Lieutenant Roger as they were led into the building. The more they walked through the building, the more Ladybug's dread grew. She had been in that same exact area only a couple hours earlier.

She leaned in close to whisper in Cat's ear. "I have a feeling I know who was killed."

"Who?" Cat Noir asked in the same hushed tone as his girlfriend.

She hesitated. "You know the people that gave Alya her information about the tablets?"

His face paled at her words. "You're saying that Lillian killed them because they gave Alya the translation?"

"I think so," Ladybug answered.

"Then, how come Alya isn't… you know?"

Ladybug shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm just glad she's safe… for now. Speaking of Alya, I need to tell you something."

"What is it?" he asked.

She opened her mouth to tell him, but Lieutenant Roger spoke up before she could say anything. They were stopped at a corner, one she recognized. Ladybug's stomach dropped all the way to the floor. She had been there only hours before. It was hard for her to come to terms with.

"You might want to brace yourselves," he said. "It's gruesome in there."

Ladybug and Cat Noir shared a look, and then gave a slight nod.

"We're good," she said.

"Alright." He led them around the corner and to the crime scene. There was police tape sectioning off the area, and there were about six officers doing various things. Ladybug noticed some flashes coming from the room. As they were led past the tape and into the crime scene, she steeled herself for what she was about to see.

To say it was gruesome would be an understatement. Even though she expected something horrible, she wasn't prepared for what she saw. She swallowed back some bile that threatened to escape and gingerly took steps through the room. The crime scene investigators had in a way flagged off some safe areas to walk. As she walked around, examining the faces of the people who had been killed, she felt herself get sicker and sicker as she recognized them. There was no doubt these were the employees who had helped Jalil with the translation, but Jalil was nowhere to be found. For that she was glad, especially since he was the brother of one of her friends, but that didn't lessen the horror of what was in front of her.

Cat Noir, when he first walked in, almost ran right back out. He almost couldn't take in what he saw, but he stood strong. He glanced over at Ladybug, who indeed looked horrified, but not for the same reason he was. She was looking at the victims with… almost a type of sadness. Did she know them? She did mention that she needed to talk to him, was it about this?

He sighed and did a cursory examination of the room. His cat eyes thankfully could pick up more than his regular eyes could, but what caught his eye was definitely visible with normal human vision.

"Ladybug, look," he called, pointing in the direction of what he saw.

Ladybug looked up to the wall directly across from her. On the wall, written in blood, was a message. Except it wasn't in French, or in English, or in any discernible language. In fact, if she wasn't mistaken, it looked like the hieroglyphs on the tablets.

"Lieutenant, do you know what that means?" she asked, pointing up at the foreign words scrawled across the wall.

"I'm afraid not, but we have put our best code analyzers on it."

She sighed quietly. She wasn't sure that any code analyzer was going to have any luck, though most languages were technically just a type of code. She thought back to the slip of paper with the tablet's translation on it. Together, with Tikki and Plagg's help the four of them could probably get most of message translated.

A few moments after that, the Lieutenant escorted them away from the crime scene and out the building. Once Ladybug was outside she immediately spotted Alya in the crowd. The young journalist had managed to fight her way through to the front of the crowd. The two girls locked eyes for a moment, and then Alya turned away. Marinette frowned at the sight of her best friend leaving. She knew that her room wasn't going to be empty when she got there, but first she had to tell Cat Noir.

Together, the young superheroes swung and vaulted away from the crime scene at the Louvre and headed to their favorite spot in Paris. Once up at the Eiffel Tower Cat Noir sat down and let his legs dangle over the edge, but Ladybug was too anxious to sit down. She started pacing back and forth, making Cat Noir anxious in return.

"Will you stop with the pacing? You're going to wear a path right through the metal," Cat Noir said.

She immediately stopped. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"What's gotten you so anxious? Cat got your tongue?"

She was too distracted to even care about his joke, which immediately caught his attention.

"Whoa, you must be worried if you don't even scold me for a bad joke. What is it? You said you wanted to tell me something earlier." He stood up and walked over to her. He grabbed her hands and gently held them in his.

"I did."

"Then what is it? You can tell me anything."

"It's about Alya, and also about the massacre," she began.

"Did you and Alya go to see them earlier? Was that why you looked so freaked out?"

"That's part of it," she said.

"Because what we saw back there was horrible enough and having just met them would make it ten times—"

"Adrien, Alya knows," she said, interrupting him mid-sentence. "She knows I'm Ladybug."

Cat Noir froze at her words. It took a moment to process what she said, and even longer to realize that she used his real name. His thumbs had been stroking the back of her hands, and the moment the words left her mouth he stopped.

"She knows?" He finally asked. "How does she know? Did… did you tell her?"

Ladybug shrugged. "No. I didn't say anything. She must've pieced it together herself. I had only just found out right before I arrived at the Louvre."

Cat Noir rubbed the back of his head, but he didn't seem to be aware of the action. "How much does she know? Does she know about me or about Master Fu or Lillian?"

She shrugged again. "I honestly don't know, but it won't be long until she finds out."

"Are you going to tell her? About me? About everything?"

"Do you want me to tell her about you?" She asked. "Because if not, then I'll only tell her about Lillian."

He thought about it for a minute. On the one hand, he would be glad to have another person to share the secret with, but at the same time he would be excluding Nino. If he were to let Alya know the truth, then he would tell Nino. He knew that if he didn't tell his best friend, especially if Alya knew, then he might lose Nino as a friend. He would have to tell Nino himself, and soon.

"Tell her," he said.

She nodded. "Are you sure? Because if you don't want her to know I don't have to tell her."

He shook his head. "No. Go ahead and tell her. I'll tell Nino tomorrow, about both of us."

Ladybug nodded. "Alright." She took in a deep breath. "Are we sure we want to do this? Because, once it's out there, we can't take it back."

He nodded. "I'm sure. Besides, the cat's already out of the bag," he said with a sly smile. "We might as well let it run free."

She rolled her eyes, but was thankful for his reassurance. Having him on her side made her feel so much better about revealing the truth to Alya.

"I must say," Adrien said, "it will be nice having them know, especially after lying to them for as long as we have."

"I feel the same way, even though I am totally freaking about Alya knowing, at the same time I'm… kind of relieved that she knows. Speaking of, I need to get home. She's probably waiting for me there."

"Then I shall wish you a goodnight, my lady."

"Goodnight, Cat Noir," she said softly.