In writing this chapter, I realized that I never explicitly stated that it is now Bastille Day, and has been since Ch. 8. I've edited the earlier chapters, but I didn't want to confuse anyone!

Marinette doesn't even remember getting home. Somewhere in the last hour she must have transformed and made it into bed. She'd spent a fruitless hour before that trying to track Adrien's location with her yo-yo - didn't Master Fu say that their Miraculous would provide them with what they needed? Yeah, right. She'd slammed the yo-yo down in frustration after every query she tried turned up nothing. And Fu's response? "Go home, rest. Your mind will be clearer and you can start the search again."

Lying here in bed, sleep is elusive. Her mind is not clearing - instead it's whirling with worries and theories and ways she's failed her partner. There's a knot in her stomach and a weight on her chest that won't lift. Adrien's in Hawk Moth's hands now. And there's nothing she can do.

She turns over on her side, curling up around the blankets as if hugging Adrien the way she wants to, never letting him go. She still has the cat Miraculous in her tightly-closed fist. She hasn't let it go since she first snatched it from the air. Tikki flutters up beside her to nuzzle her cheek. She doesn't offer condolences or advice. Just companionship.

At some point Marinette realizes that there's a knocking coming from the trapdoor to her room. Probably her mother, coming to check on her or maybe offer a snack. She's not hungry, she'll never be hungry again. Her mother usually goes away after a while if there's no answer. She's always been very respectful of Marinette's privacy, which is why keeping a secret identity has been easy enough.

The trapdoor squeaks open. So much for privacy.

"Marinette?"

The voice is not her mother's. It's Alya's. Tikki phases through the blankets to hide, but Marinette doesn't stir. "Hey." It's all she can manage right now.

"Oh, my god, I'm so glad you're here," Alya says, coming into the room talking up a storm. "Why don't you answer your texts anymore? I mean, I thought maybe you were out with your family for Bastille Day, but your mom says you've just been out in town. Did you see on the news what happened with Ladybug and Chat Noir today? It's the craziest thi—" Alya cuts off once she's close enough to see Marinette's state. "What's wrong?"

"I don't want to talk about it." And she can't talk about it, either, since it's all Miraculous stuff. Which sucks. It's never sucked more than it seems to right now.

"Don't want to…?" She feels Alya sit on the edge of the bed. "Or can't?"

Alya can always sense the truth, even if it's not the full truth. Marinette buries her face in the pillow. "Does it matter?" she says, mouth muffled.

"It matters when you're my best friend. My best friend who has been acting weird all week and looks like she's going to spend all of Bastille Day in bed. What is it?" Her voice softens, and she runs a comforting hand across Marinette's shoulder. "Is it Adrien?"

It is about Adrien. Even though it's not what Alya thinks, not the supposed 'disappearance of Adrien Agreste' that has been on everyone's lips since that press conference. Yet, it is. She's lost him—she truly has—not just Adrien, but Chat Noir. Both of them and one in the same. Tears leaking from her eyes, she grips the ring in her hand even tighter, the metal cutting into her palm. If she could grip it tighter, she would.

"Oh, honey…" Alya's arms come to encircle Marinette's chest. "It's okay. They're going to find him. I know what Mr. Agreste said, but I trust Ladybug and Chat Noir. My girl would never stop looking."

Alya's confidence in her should lift her spirits, but instead despair bubbles from her throat and she lets out a long sob. "But what if she doesn't find him, what if she doesn't…."

Alya doesn't contradict her, she just holds Marinette tighter. From below the covers, Tikki snuggles closer, her tiny body radiating warmth. It helps, but it's not enough. The man who has made Adrien's life a living hell—both in and out of costume—has him, and there's nothing she can do.

"What?" Alya says, stilling.

Marinette freezes up, too. Did she just say that out loud?

"Who has him?" Alya's voice is flat, disbelieving.

"Tell her," Tikki whispers, somehow audible through the layers of blankets. "You can trust her."

Marinette knows that. She's always known Alya would understand. But how does Alya knowing the truth help anything? She doesn't have a Miraculous.

Tikki must somehow know what she's thinking. "Sharing a burden makes it easier to bear."

"Hawk Moth has him," Marinette says quietly. "He sent his butterflies after him and I don't know… spirited him away." She pulls her hand out from under her pillow, the one clutching its precious cargo, and open it to reveal the Chat Miraculous. "All I have left of him is this."

Alya sits up straight, eyes wide and blinking. She looks from the ring in Marinette's hand to Marinette's reddened eyes. She takes a long moment to note Marinette's pigtails, her eyes, her earrings. A series of emotions crosses her face in quick succession. Shock, excitement, betrayal, worry, determination, then cycling back again. Which one will the roulette wheel finally stop on?

Alya closes her eyes and takes a deep breath to calm herself. "Okay," she says, "so you and Adrien are Ladybug and Chat Noir."

Marinette nods, afraid to speak until she's sure what Alya's state of mind is.

"Have always been Ladybug and Chat Noir. Since the day we met. Since the first day Adrien started coming to our school."

Marinette nods again, this time adding a sniffle.

"No, no. I would have figured it out by now. There would have been some slip up, some clue…"

At that moment, Tikki phases back through the blankets to float into Marinette's lap. "Is this enough of a clue?"

Alya stumbles back off the bed, hitting the floor with a thump. "Wha—what is that!?"

Tikki giggles. "I am Tikki, Marinette's kwami. I help her transform into Ladybug."

The shock of seeing the kwami shifts to excitement, like a flipped switch. "Oh my god, you are Ladybug. My best friend is Ladybug!"

A ghost of a grin touches Marinette's lips. She's imagined how Alya would react a dozen times, but seeing it is something else. Picking herself off the floor, Alya squeals, "I can't believe how well you hid it! Acting like you had a crush on Adrien! And really you were fighting crime with him every day! Maybe you should be going into acting instead of fashion. Both of you!"

And now the grin is gone, the reality of Adrien's disappearance washing over her momentary happiness. "I didn't know Adrien was Chat Noir. Not until a few days ago."

That stops Alya's excited babbling cold.

"And he still doesn't know about me," Marinette continues. "And now his father has him locked up somewhere and I can't find him. As long as I'm keeping this ring safe, I have to keep my identity safe from him, too."

"Wait. His father? I thought you said Hawk Moth—"

She might as well know it all now. "Hawk Moth is Gabriel Agreste." She laughs, a bitter bark. "Miraculous holders run in his family." Shaking her head, she adds, "But we didn't find out until yesterday."

"Oh my…! No wonder you've been acting so weird." Alya nudges her gently. "I mean, weirder than normal."

For Alya's benefit, Marinette smiles briefly. "Yeah, I've always been a little weird." To punctuate it, Tikki flutters up onto her shoulder.

Alya takes her hand and squeezes. "So how are we going to stop Hawk Moth?" That's just like Alya, ready to take on anything—even a supervillain—for her friends.

"I don't know," Marinette tells her, bones aching with frustration and defeat. "We've spent months fighting Hawk Moth, never knowing when he was going to unleash a new akuma. We've always had to react, to go on the defensive. If we'd only known who we were up against from the beginning…" The bitterness in her voice increases. If Master Fu had been upfront with them! "...we wouldn't be in this situation. Adrien wouldn't be missing."

"Do you…" Alya nods toward the ring in Marinette's hand. "Do you think he's going to ransom Adrien for your Miraculouses?"

Marinette's fists clench. "Yes. Getting our Miraculouses has always been more important to him than his own son."

"Then what if you try to lure him out? Promise him your Miraculous if he confronts you in person, and then pull the old switcheroo? Couldn't you take him?"

"Alone?" Marinette doesn't know. It's always taken both Ladybug and Chat Noir to defeat Hawk Moth's akumas.

"You've got me! I could be your—your tech support." Her voice rises as she talks. "I've been collecting data from the akuma attacks and tracking the path of butterflies before and afterward. I bet we could narrow down his base of operations."

Marinette feels the first stirrings of hope in a long time. "Let me see what you have."

Marinette pushes through the crowd. Are there always so many people out for the fireworks this early? It's barely eight o'clock. She and Alya had spent the rest of the afternoon in Alya's bedroom going through the data and figuring out the most likely location for Hawk Moth's lair.

Why did it have to be so close to the Eiffel Tower?

"Excuse me," she murmurs as she threads her way past a family with two young kids, both of whom are jumping up and down to see something that won't start for at least two hours. She could avoid all this if she were in Ladybug form. But she knows the second she transforms, Hawk Moth might be able to sense her location. Stealth is more important than speed.

"Hey, wait up!" Alya complains behind her. She's got her tablet under her arm, checking it every so often to make sure they're on the right track. As they take a breath to rest against a wall, Alya asks, "Wouldn't this be a lot easier if you, uh," —she lowers her voice— "transformed?"

"I'd be a lot less tired, yeah. But I want to wait until we're as close as we can get. Ha—Mr. Agreste—always seems to know where we are… at least the general neighborhood." She blows out a frustrated breath. "Haven't you ever noticed that his attacks almost always happen at or near school?"

Alya raises an eyebrow. "I run The L—your blog. Of course I have." She pulls Marinette a little closer for privacy. "Just because I never figured your deal out…"

"You got close so many times, you don't even know."

Alya's mouth crinkles up on one side. "You don't have to try to make me feel better. Is that location sense, like, one of his powers? Like the telepathy?"

Marinette shakes her head. "We don't know. Maybe it's a feature of his cane, like what we can do with the yo-yo or the staff."

"Hmm." Alya's quiet for a moment. "Why does he want your Miraculouses so badly? Do the tools combine into a supertool or something?"

"Master Fu told us that the combined power of the Cat and Ladybug Miraculouses are more powerful than any of the others combined."

"Others?"

"Yes." There's so much that Marinette's going to have to explain to Alya once this is all over. "There are five other Miraculouses, at least. Though only four are active right now."

"Four?" Alya counts on her fingers. "The fourth is this Master Fu person?"

Marinette nods.

"So…" Alya glances toward the bag slung over Marinette's shoulder. "Why haven't you tried combining your Miraculouses to defeat him?"

Before Marinette's mouth can open in surprise, Tikki zooms out, heedless of being seen. "No! She can't do that! It's too dangerous!"

They both turn in toward the wall to protect Tikki from being seen. "What would happen?" Alya asks.

Tikki almost shivers in the air. "The power is so great that only the most experienced Miraculous holder can handle it without losing themselves and causing untold damage. Hawk Moth thinks he is ready, but…"

Marinette knows she isn't. She's only been Ladybug for less than a year. "I won't try it Tikki. We're going to get the ring back to Adrien, where it belongs."

Tikki smiles, her little body slumping with relief. She flies back into Marinette's purse, and they set off again. Only a few meters down the street there's a ping from Alya's tablet. "We're close."

Marinette lifts her eyes to look all around the area—above, below, to the highest rooftops. The crowd is thick here, too. What if he's hiding in plain sight? With a sinking feeling, she realizes that nothing stands out. Any of these places could be Hawk Moth's lair… or none of them, if Alya's algorithm isn't correct. The only way to find out for sure is to show herself.

There's an alley right here, but with all the people around, anyone could step in and see her transform. Alya grabs her by the hand and drags her behind a dumpster. "I'll play lookout. Do your thing!"

Marinette is suddenly overwhelmed with love for her best friend and hugs her close. "Thank you." Why didn't she tell her months ago? Then she hands Alya her purse—the ring is in there, and she's not sure what would happen to it during transformation. "Hold this for me?"

She spins into her transformation, praying that the sparkling red light won't attract any attention. Hopefully the crowd is anticipating the big show too much to notice her own little fireworks display.

"You done?" Alya asks.

Ladybug answers by looping her yo-yo around a pipe above her and swinging around to land in front of Alya.

Alya rolls her eyes. "I had no idea you were such a show-off." It's too affectionate to be a real complaint.

Ladybug laughs. "Hey! When you've got it, you've got it!"

"Can't argue with that." Alya lifts her tablet to point toward the yo-yo. "Call me with that if you need—" She breaks off, frowning at something that has popped up on her screen.

"What?" But Ladybug hears something in the distance that draws her attention—shrieks of fear.

"Akuma," they both say.

"Go," Alya tells her. "I'll track you from here."

Ladybug nods and springs away. At the street she sees it—a figure three stories high, covered in a waterfall of paper strands. No, they're more like tentacles. As Ladybug watches, a strand slithers into the crowd and plucks up a girl and lifts her high. At first she screams and struggles, but as the paper binds her, wrapping her tight, she goes still and silent. There are three other girls twisted up in the strands as well.

All of them have short, black hair.

Ladybug jumps to the ledge of a building and shouts, "Hey! You! If you're looking for me, I'm over here!"

Immediately the akumatized villain turns to her. The girls tumble to the ground as their paper prisons unravel. She doesn't have time to check on them because with a roar, the villain lunges for her.

She sprints for the rooftops, leading the villain away from the Eiffel Tower and the thousands gathering there. She's running away from where they suspect Hawk Moth is hiding Adrien, but with innocent people's safety on the line, what else can she do?

When they're far enough away, she whirls to face it again. "Hawk Moth!" she shouts at the villain. "I know you can hear me. Why do we always have to play these games?" She dodges a paper tentacle. "Come after me yourself, instead of your minions! Maybe we can work something out!"

"I'm Ticker Tape!" the paper monster says, every word rustling, crackling, and crinkling. "Not Hawk Moth. He—!"

The voice stops dead, and the features morph into a familiar face. "Ladybug," says the smooth baritone of Hawk Moth, though shot-through with the rustle of paper as well. "Are you ready to surrender your Miraculous?"

A few strands shoot out toward her to capture her, but she dodges again. "Not to this creature! Only to you. And only…" She hesitates, not sure who can hear them. "... only if you bring your son!"

He chuckles, nothing more than a scraping sound. "You'd do anything for him, wouldn't you?"

Heat suffuses her face, but he's right. She would. "Yes."

"Then I believe a meeting can be arranged." Hawk Moth, through Ticker Tape, gives her a wicked smile, more terrifying because of the villain's oddly shaped maw. "Shall we set a time and location?"

"Right now," she tells him, body thrumming with determination. "At your lair."

"Very well."

The words have barely left his mouth when strands shoot out in all directions, an impossible web. Ladybug spins her yo-yo to cut through them, but it catches, tangling hopelessly. The last thing she remembers is fighting off paper tentacles as they slowly encircle her body, tighter and tighter. Then, only darkness.

Alya gasps when she sees Ladybug's body go limp. She's been following someone's streaming video from their phone. It's not close enough to get any audio, but the video is clear. Ladybug has been captured.

Dumbstruck with fear, Alya clutches the screen tight with both hands. As she watches, the paper monster stalks away with his prize, farther and farther from the video feed. Frantically, she searches for another feed… there's nothing.

She leans back against the alley wall with a frustrated thump, and there's a sharp pain in her side as she smashes something against the bricks. It's Marinette's purse. "What do you have in here, girl? Rocks?"

No, she realizes, not rocks. A ring. The ring.

Should she? No, it's crazy. It doesn't belong to her. It may not even work…

She finds herself lifting it between her fingers, studying the green paw print on a black field. Maybe nothing will happen. But maybe something will…

She closes her eyes and slips it on.

This is heavy exchange season for me, so updates are going to be farther apart. I'll do my best not to go too long, though! Thanks for all your continued support.