SO SORRY THIS UPDATE TOOK SO LONG, EVERYONE!
Chapter 10: Didn't See That One Coming
The broken voice left everyone in the room shaken to the core. Before their eyes, the image of the carefree Chat Noir suddenly shattered to reveal a devastated Adrien Agreste.
"Why?" Adrien demanded, "WHY?!"
Sarah covered her mouth, struggling to stifle a sob. The phone trembled in Foxy's hands.
"LOOK AT ME AND TELL ME WHY, PAPA!" Adrien demanded, desperate, confused, and absolutely heartbroken, "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS?! You hurt people! You hurt my friends! You-! LOOK AT ME, PAPA!"
As if it would help, or perhaps because it didn't matter anymore, Adrien tore off the mask with one furious yank, "LOOK AT ME!"
It finally dawned on Sarah why Hawkmoth had claimed she'd regret unmasking him. He'd known. Gabriel had known Chat Noir was his son.
"You knew?" Ladybug choked, having come to the same realization, "You knew and you still did all this?!"
Adrien was startled by the new line of thought, "You...you knew I was Chat Noir...?"
"I saw it through The Siren's eyes when she took his Miraculous," Gabriel claimed coolly.
"LIAR!" Ladybug snapped, "She had her eyes closed! How long have you actually known?!"
His expression remained stoic, and he did not reply.
"Wait, if he knew...wouldn't he just take the ring himself?" Blue asked.
"...no," Ladybug seethed, "His wife was the previous Peacock. We would have suspected him immediately."
"WHAT?!" Adrien's eyes bugged.
Ladybug winced, "...okay, so maybe you didn't know that..."
"Interesting you would know, seeing as someone stole my wife's Miraculous," Gabriel stated coldly.
Sarah gaped at Ladybug, "Wait, is he saying you stole a Miraculous?"
"Recovered!" Ladybug retorted, "And it was the Guardian's idea, not mine! He insisted that we needed Peacock, and Madam Agreste...wasn't around..."
Ladybug looked away, falling silent.
"...anything else you've been hiding from me, father?" Adrien ground out.
Gabriel did not respond.
Fiddling with the Miraculous in her hands, Sarah suddenly looked at in realization, "Hey, how do you make the Kwami-"
She yelped when it suddenly lit up, and a little lavender Kwami appeared in front of her face.
"Ah! Greetings!" he bowed quickly, "I am Nooroo, Kwami of the Butterfly Miraculous...and I am so terribly sorry for what my previous Wielder did to you, I-"
"It's okay, really!" she stopped him, "I'm fine now!"
"...you do not wish to wield me," Nooroo noticed, then his eyes widened at the sight of her bracelet, "Oh! You are Wayzz's chosen?!"
"Wh-what?" she blinked, confused.
Nooroo blinked, and pointed at the bracelet, "Is that not the Turtle Miraculous in disguise?"
"I, uh...i-it's just a regular bracelet...I think..."
There was just no way her bracelet (which she'd owned for years) was the Turtle Miraculous, but if it had caught a Kwami's attention so easily, maybe she was missing something.
Or maybe she had just had a very long, emotionally trying day, and, with Hawkmoth turning out to be her friend's father, her sense of reality was a tad shaken.
"F-forgive me," the Kwami looked mortified, "I forgot for a moment that a Wielder would have been shielded from my powers, so clearly it could not be...it's just it's been a long time since I've been called out without the intent of possession...and you just happen to wear a bracelet...so I jumped to conclusions, please forgive me."
"I-it's fine, please don't worry about it," she assured him, "I just wanted to talk to you because I figured you might be able to help us understand...this."
She waved a hand at Gabriel as a way of explanation, "He's not talking."
"If it is something I can answer, I would be happy to assist," the Kwami promised, "Though I'm afraid he did not share much with me..."
"Anything you know would be great," she told him.
"He seeks the ultimate power that is achieved by combining the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculouses," the Kwami explained quickly, but then deflated, "But I do not know why he desires it so."
"…o-kaaay...anything else?" Sarah asked, deciding it was better for her focus and sense of sanity not to question what the heck happened when you combined Miraculouses.
"Well...oh, he altered the shape of my Miraculous's dormant form. I believe there is a picture within the pendant?" the Kwami said, pointing down at it.
"Oh..." Sarah looked down at the pendant in her hand. Slowly, cringing as she tried to open it as carefully as possible, she breathed a sigh of relief as it opened easily. She peered at the photo, "...she's beautiful."
"My wife," Gabriel spoke, "My wife who I could have had returned safely home with the power of the Miraculouses."
Silence fell, as realization slowly dawned on the group of teens.
"...you did all this to bring her home?" Adrien asked finally.
"I would do anything for your mother, Adrien," Gabriel said.
The pang of sympathy was felt by even the most furious hearts in the room, but the anger that followed could not compare.
"You should have told us!" Ladybug shouted, "We would have helped!"
"And I was supposed to risk everything on the hope you might help?" he replied coolly.
"You could have told me!" Adrien snapped, nearly choking on a potent mix of emotions, "You knew I was Chat Noir! You could have trusted me!"
"So you could despise me for what I've become?" Gabriel looked away.
Adrien shook his head, frustrated beyond words.
"He had the right to know the truth!" Blue declared, furious, "Regardless of your reasons, you hurt people! You hurt your son! You hurt the people he cares about! If all you wanted was to bring Adrien's mom home, you should have found another way! You should have stopped this, but you didn't! You're a selfish, heartless coward, and even if your son can forgive you, I never will!"
"Seconded!" Foxy snarled.
"What I want to know is, how the h*ll the Miraculouses are supposed to bring Madam Agreste home?!" Bee demanded, "Tell us!"
"Thank you, Bee, I think we'd all like to know how to bring Adrien's mother home," Ladybug asserted.
"Definitely," Foxy and Blue spoke in unison.
"Well perhaps if that girl hadn't already wasted the Black Cat's power, I could show you, right now," Gabriel claimed.
Humiliation and rage shook the exhausted girl, "If you hadn't attacked me, I wouldn't have had to use it!"
"Was it even yours to use?" he provoked.
She opened her mouth to retort, but it was all she could do to keep her tears from falling.
"Don't listen to him, Sarah, he's just stalling!" Blue declared.
"Should she listen to the boy who wears my wife's stolen Miraculous?" Gabriel turned on him.
Blue faltered for a brief moment.
"Hey! Just where do you think you get off saying things like that?!" Foxy snapped.
"Stop it, you idiots! He's distracting us from the real issue!" Bee snapped at all of them.
"That's what I just said, Bee!" Blue retorted.
"Enough!" Ladybug declared, gritting her teeth and glaring daggers at the man who had once been her idol, "Tell us what we want to know, Gabriel!"
"I should answer to a liar and a thief?" he replied.
She hardened her expression, preparing to retort, but she wasn't the only one offended.
"DON'T YOU DARE TALK TO HER THAT WAY!" Adrien yelled through the speaker, "ANSWER THE QUESTION!"
"Is that any way to speak to your father?" Gabriel narrowed his eyes at the phone.
Adrien shook with frustration and rage.
"WHAT SORT OF FATHER DOES THIS SORT OF SICK TWISTED THING TO HIS SON?!" Blue yelled.
Despite all the yelling, Foxy's ears then twitched at the sound of something else.
"Someone's coming!" she called out.
Four teens looked to the doors, but Foxy's head jerked up to look at the broken window.
"ABOVE!" Foxy cried, as a shadow fell over them.
Ladybug barely dodged a projectile in time. While she was off kilter, Gabriel yanked against her string, throwing her off even more.
"Ladybug!" Blue was the closest to catch her.
A group of people, shrouded in black with only the shine of their eyes visible, fell in through the window, landing with practiced ease. Then, before the teens could properly assess the situation, more of these "ninjas" burst in through the two doors.
In a matter of seconds, six men of slightly varied body types, three women (one looked a bit younger), two teens (a boy and a girl), and an escaped Gabriel Agreste surrounded the startled group of heroes, cutting off all retreat.
"Bee has the ring, and that girl has the broach!" Gabriel pointed at Sarah.
Adrien was left in horrified shock as Foxy turned off the phone and pocketed it. Obviously Foxy didn't want to cut off her friend, but she had a bunch of weird attackers coming after her, so she would have to regret it later.
Twelve trained (non-magical) fighters armed with various weapons and grabby hands, not under the influence of anything that could dampen their mental processes, verses four emotionally shaken magical teenage heroes, and one beat up teenage girl with limited fighting ability, was pretty unfair.
The heroes tried to stand together, but ended up split in three groups: Foxy with Blue, Ladybug with Bee, and despite best efforts Sarah was left alone with Nooroo and cornered against a wall by the two younger members of the assailants.
To say Sarah was shaken and terrified would have been a gentle way of putting it. Also, her arm was screaming from how one of the older attackers had grabbed and yanked a short while prior, before a friendly projectile konked him on the head. The lucky hit had been the only thing to keep her from losing the Butterfly Miraculous till that point.
"It's in her hand!" the muffled voice of the teenage girl declared.
Sarah quickly buried the Butterfly Miraculous into the safest pocket of her coveralls, and raised her arms in preparation for a fight.
A loud cry came from behind them, and the girl whipped around, her pale eyes widening, "That idiot!"
One of the men, tall with a slim build, had been sent sprawling across the ground, and was now nursing what was probably a massive headache.
"That. Is. It! You get the broach, and watch your back!" the girl ran off to help the person.
"Guess it's just you and me then," the boy shrugged, not once having taken his eyes off his target.
"Aww, is this your way of asking me to dance?" she quipped, trying not to act as cornered as she felt, but the shakiness of her voice betrayed her, "Sorry, but you're not my type."
Her remaining opponent was just a little taller than her, undoubtedly male, fast and strong. He was possibly in the same danger range as an untransformed Chloe, which, while still not in Sarah's favor, encouraged her to hope she had a chance.
A chance to keep him from taking the Miraculous from her until someone could rescue her sorry butt was all she needed.
It was too dark to tell, but her opponent's ember-like eyes seemed to sneer down on her, while she glared up at him with desperate, furious moonlit eyes.
"Haven't you had enough?" his voice, muffled by cloth, seemed to question her sanity.
"I will never let any of you hurt Nooroo again," she swore.
Hovering near her ear, Nooroo blinked at her declaration in surprise.
"How noble of you," the boy in black commented, stepping closer, "But who are you to judge us?"
"Who are you to try and claim a Miraculous?" she shot back.
"Shall I introduce myself?" he asked as he lunged.
She managed a block, and a spin away from the wall out into the open. He caught up quickly, however, and swiped at her feet with his leg extended close to the ground. Her legs knocked out from beneath her, she fell on her back, her head hitting the ground with a painful thump, despite curling inward just before impact as she'd been taught.
"Mademoiselle! Mademoiselle!" Nooroo called out in concern.
She struggled to open her eyes, vision blurry and spinning. Her head ached horribly, and she was trying to remember how to breath for the umpteenth time that day. Floppy arms barely managed to raise in time for her to grab at the hands grasping at her coveralls.
"S-stop!" she gasped out, struggling against him, "Don't!"
It was far too easy for him to pin her arms over her head. If she had been more self-aware at that moment, mortification of being straddled by a strange guy would have definitely been happening. As it was, she was preoccupied with struggling against his hold.
She was also really sick of being pinned to the ground, regardless of how it was accomplished, or which jerk was guilty of it. (This was the third freaking time, for crying out loud, and already the second time that night!)
"Nooroo! Butterfly attack!" she yelled out.
"Wh-what?!" Nooroo started.
"I'm counting on you here!"
"B-but-"
"Wow, you're out of it," the boy commented.
She just grinned at him, "You wish. Nooroo! Now!"
"Uh...attack!" Nooroo declared uncertainly.
"THE H*LL?!" the boy yanked back in surprise as a swarm of white hit his face, reflexively trying to swat the invasive insects away.
She jerked under him. He tried to grab at her blindly, but before he could get a good hold on her she managed to jerk her knee into his gut, hard enough she heard the air whoosh right out of him. It gave her just enough time to begin scrambling away, and she just barely yanked her ankle away before he could grab it.
The boy recovered fast though, and, while she tried to make a break for the nearest (and still open) door on shaky legs, he quickly caught up. She cried out in pain when he yanked her back by her braid, and blindly struck back at him with little success. He managed to slam her against the wall and pin her there, the impact winding her as well as causing her to hit her head again. With her head throbbing, vision blurred and spinning, and every muscle in her body aching and exhausted, she knew her chances of fighting him off had expired.
"Please...don't take Nooroo..." she knew she was crying again, and she hated it, "Please..."
She never saw the flash of pity in the boy's eyes, or how his free hand hesitated over her pocket for a precious few seconds.
Bee didn't see it either, not that that would have stopped her from fly-kicking him away from Sarah.
"Come on!" Bee grabbed Sarah's wrist and bolted for the doorway.
"I got you covered, Bee!" Blue called from behind them.
The front was clear, allowing them to run down the stairs unhindered. Sarah stumbled to keep up with Bee, who finally just scooped Sarah up and over her shoulder so she could leap down the staircase faster.
"You're heavy!" Bee griped.
Sarah was too busy being terrified and in pain to answer.
The rest of the team was already right behind them, with their assailants attempting to pursue. Like whatever freaky ninjas they were, some tried to close the distance with dare-devil means, leaping, swinging, and landing like crazy performers. Fortunately, not all of them were as inclined to do this, and all of the four heroes were perfectly adept at dodging and out-running pursuers (thank you, Akumas!), so they managed to break out of the building, and launch themselves out onto the rooftops with the badies still eating dust. After a few streets, they managed to outdistance them, and lost them completely thanks to another illusion from Foxy.
Once they were certain it was safe, they paused for breath. Bee set Sarah down on her own feet, and Foxy whipped out Marinette's phone to call Adrien.
Adrien answered immediately, "IS EVERYONE OKAY?!"
"More or less, yeah," Foxy said, turning the phone so he could see everyone.
"We got away before they could take anything," Ladybug told him, "Hold on, okay? I'm gonna come get you...wait, where are you?"
"Er, next to the school," he looked back behind himself, "I was...um...nevermind..."
"Okay, that's fine, which side?"
"...meet you on the front steps?"
"Alright, try to stick to the shadows," she nodded to him, then she looked at the others, "I'll take the ring to him. I want the rest of you to go straight to Master Fu's. We'll meet you there."
"Who the heck is Fu?" Bee blinked.
"Someone I trust. I believe Foxy and Blue know the way," Ladybug replied, then held out her hand, "Ring, please."
Bee was only supporting the wobbly Sarah with one arm at that moment, so she had a hand free to pull the ring out of her collar and hand it over.
"Stick together, make sure no one sees you, alright?" Ladybug asked, tucking the ring safely away in her own collar, and turning to fly off.
"Be careful," Blue said, "Bring him back, LB."
Ladybug nodded, then threw out her yo-yo, and was off.
"Alright, I'm gonna let you go now, boy," Foxy told Adrien, "Hang tight, alright?"
Adrien nodded, "Stay safe, you guys."
"See you soon, Foxy out," Foxy hung up, put the phone away, and turned to the group, "Alright, just follow me, everyone."
"Wait, you can just drop me off with a cab or something," Sarah protested, pulling away from Bee despite her shaky legs, "I don't want to slow you down."
Nooroo, perched on her shoulder, blinked at her.
"If you weren't so banged up already, I would punch you for that," Foxy glowered.
"They're just after the Miraculouses, they won't want to bother with me," Sarah argued.
"You're slowing us down by arguing, so shush," Foxy told her.
"But-"
"Nope, ignoring you now," Foxy turned to Blue, "You mind taking over if Bee gets tired? I need my hands free."
"Roger," Blue offered a casual salute.
"Ugh," Sarah groaned.
"Try and be a little more grateful!" Bee snapped, "You're heavy, you know!"
"I heard you the first time," Sarah dead-panned, "I get it. You saved my damsel-in-distress butt back there. Thank you. A thousand times, thank you."
"I know, I'm amazing," Bee flipped her hair.
"That is a word for it, yes," Sarah sighed, exhausted.
"Also, Bluebird, I'm tired," Bee said.
"So saw that coming," he rolled his eyes.
"I think we all did," Sarah scoffed.
"Come on, guys!" Foxy waved her hand at them, trying to hurry them.
Blue quickly pulled Sarah up on his back, making sure she was secure before moving to follow Foxy.
"Ugh, I'll make this up to you later," Sarah told him.
"What about me?" Bee demanded.
"For you, I'm going to pretend you did not just call me fat," Sarah dead-panned.
…
Adrien turned as Ladybug dropped beside him, the whizzing of her yo-yo in the quiet night air having foretold her arrival.
"Ladybug, I-"
Ladybug pulled the ring out, and held it out to him, "Come on, we should hurry."
He deflated in relief at the sight of the ring, and he naturally held his hand out to receive it. The moment it landed in his palm, Plagg appeared in a flash of light.
"Need...Camembert..." Plagg wilted dramatically into Adrien's hands.
Adrien quickly shrugged off his bag, setting it down, and pulled out a round container. The moment the lid was opened, Plagg wasted no time pouncing on the pungent cheese, and began chowing down ravenously.
Stepping back to allow his Kwami to finish eating, Adrien put the ring on, and turned to look at Ladybug. He found her looking around nervously, anxious to leave the memory-filled space that, at that moment, felt incredibly unsafe and exposed.
"...I'm sorry," Adrien said.
Ladybug looked at him in surprise, and suffered at how her partner was clearly wrecked with guilt. She lunged, startling him greatly as she grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.
"Don't you dare! Don't you dare apologize!" she snapped, furious, then suddenly she was hugging him tightly, shaking, "Don't apologize, please...none of this is your fault...none of it...you got that?! You got that, you stupid cat?!"
Closing his eyes tightly, he hugged her back just as fiercely, his voice coming out as a whisper when he finally managed to speak, "...thank you, Ladybug..."
She did her best to stifle a sob, sniffling, "...I wish...I wish Lucky Charm would let me fix this...I'm so sorry, Chat...I'm so sorry, Adrien..."
"Fine, I'm done eating, can we go now?" Plagg complained.
"Plagg!" Adrien hissed.
"W-we should go," Ladybug started to pull away.
Adrien hugged her tighter, surprising her, "...as long as you are on my side, I know I can get through anything. Thank you, Ladybug...and thank you, whoever you are under the mask."
Ladybug flushed, ducking her head even though he couldn't see, "...and I'd be nothing without you, idiot..."
His heart fluttered, and he blushed, "...that is a pawsitively ridiculous notion, milady."
"A crazy cat lady without her cat is just a crazy lady, dummy," she snorted, pulling back to look him in the eye, "And I mean it...I never could have come this far without you. No matter what happens next...you'll always be the most purrfect partner a lady could ask for."
She blushed and ducked her head as she said the last bit. Adrien smiled warmly at her, deeply touched.
"Can we go now?" Plagg whined.
"Plagg, transform me!"
…
Fu blinked in surprise when he answered the door to find four exhausted teenagers, three in-suit, and all four looking like they'd been roughed up.
"Long story, long night, we need a safe place to hide for a bit and figure out what to do next," Foxy summarized, "Ladybug and Chat Noir are on their way here."
"Please, come in," Fu stepped aside, regaining a visage of calm.
His eyes widened when, as Blue passed him, he caught sight of Nooroo on Sarah's shoulder. He then turned in time to see Bee pause, gaping at him.
"Hang on, you're that weird old man who-"
"Get in the house, Bee," Foxy snapped.
Bee frowned at the politely smiling elder as she followed her teammates inside. Fu closed the door behind her, and followed them to the guest-room most of them were familiar with. Foxy helped Sarah climb off Blue's back, but left her standing on her own when she received a call on her flute.
"On our way!" Chat announced, "You guys there yet?"
"Yup, we're all good," Foxy assured him, "Hurry up and get your butts over here!"
"Right, Chat Noir out!" he hung up.
"Shouldn't be long now," Foxy put her flute away.
"Are you alright, Mademoiselle McCoy?" Fu inquired, noticing how unfocused her eyes had become, and how off her balance was.
Sarah either nodded and fell forward due to the imbalance, or she just collapsed period. Several quick hands reached out and grabbed her, saving her from a collision with the wood floor. Her name was called, somewhat frantically, but she did not respond.
"Lay her down on the mattress," Fu advised, gesturing to the mattress in the middle of the room, "I'll take a look at her."
With a little fussing, Sarah was soon laid down on her back, with Fu calmly inspecting her pulse, pupil dilation, breathing, and examining her head for visible injury. He hovered his hands over her, eyes closed, then sat back.
"Her injuries are mild. She just needs rest," Fu stated, "I imagine you must all be worn out as well. Please, make yourselves at home, I will get some medicine. Wayzz?"
The Turtle Kwami hesitantly flew out of hiding, "Yes?"
"Ha! I knew it!" Bee crowed in victory at the sight of the Kwami, "And Sarah thought you were just a normal ol-!"
"I am only 188," Fu interrupted quickly, as if that would somehow defend his case.
The three teens openly gaped at him.
"Come, Wayzz, we have work to do," Fu continued as if nothing was wrong, gesturing for the Kwami to follow him to another part of his home.
"...so...I gather you noticed him keeping tabs on you," Foxy threw out.
"Of course!" Bee held a hand to her chest, everything in her tone and posture openly declaring that anything less would have been ridiculous, "But Sarah wouldn't believe me! She thought I was crazy!"
Foxy rolled her eyes, "Aaaanyway, he's the Guardian. He's the one who gave you your Miraculous in the first place. That's why he was keeping an eye on you."
"Well, he could have said something!" Bee huffed.
"The Kwamis decide if and when it's time to reveal him," Foxy shrugged, "He doesn't interfere unless he has to."
Bee hummed in reply, losing interest.
"Hey, um, does anyone know where Nooroo went?" Blue questioned, looking around.
"Er...he was here a minute ago..." Foxy said, looking now too, "Did he follow after Fu?"
"Nooroo~, are you still in here~?" Blue called in a hushed tone.
"You need not worry, he is still here," Fu said as he walked in, carrying a tray of medical supplies, "Sarah formed a temporary bond with Nooroo, allowing him to be present, but it severed when she lost consciousness, so he has returned to his dormant state."
"Oh...how exactly did she do that then?" Foxy asked, "I thought the Kwami just appeared with a new owner, and stuck around until you transformed? But Nooroo didn't reappear right away when Sarah took the Miraculous off Hawkmoth..."
"If you reject a Miraculous, the Kwami will not appear, no matter how long it is physically in your possession," Fu explained, setting the tray down on the floor, gathering from it what he needed, "When each of you first found your Miraculouses, you knew they were meant for you, and so you claimed them, even if you did not realize it.
"In Sarah's case, she was aware that the Miraculous did not belong to her, and so Nooroo did not appear. However, at a later point she must have wished for Nooroo to appear, despite not claiming his Miraculous as hers, and so a frail bond was formed. As you can see, he vanished as soon as her desire for his presence did. As long as his Miraculous is in her possession, he will only reappear if she wishes it upon waking."
"...but, um, hypothetically speaking...what if you just really wanted the Kwami to go away after just finding the Miraculous in your possession?" Blue asked a bit guiltily.
"The Kwami is connected to the Miraculous. Unless you genuinely rejected them both, the Kwami would remain," Fu explained, a knowing look in his eyes.
"Ah, okay," Blue smiled sheepishly.
"Let me guess, you thought your Kwami was a monster that wanted to eat you," Foxy teased.
"What about you?" he shot back.
"I made the grand mistake of thinking my Kwami was the cutest thing in existence when I first met her," Foxy swore, "...okay, so she's still cute, but she's a huge pain in the butt!"
"Does she have a stinger?" Bee snarked.
"Uh, no."
"Then what do you have to complain about?" Bee demanded.
"...she has claws, and fangs," Foxy defended, "...okay, look, I hear your Kwami can be legit brutal...but Trixx is the biggest smart-Alec in existence, I swear...and she's constantly showing off her "worldly knowledge" every chance she gets. And she pulls pranks!"
"Dude...she sounds a lot like you," Blue pointed out.
Foxy gaped at him, obviously offended, "You-!"
Fortunately for Peacock Blue, that was the moment Ladybug and Chat Noir arrived, and so Foxy Rouge forgot to throw derogatory verbs and adjectives, or her fist, at him.
"Ladybug, Chat Noir, welcome," Fu greeted them, pausing his efforts in treating some of Sarah's more visible cuts and scrapes.
"Is she okay?" Chat asked, worried.
"She passed out when we got here," Foxy explained, "Fu says she'll be fine though, so don't worry."
Ladybug gave Sarah a slightly haunted look, then looked away with clenched fists.
"...I guess she's been though a lot today..." Chat said softly, suffering a painful mix of guilt, heartbreak, and anger.
Ladybug reached over to gently squeeze his shoulder.
"Come on, you guys," Blue called them over with his hand, "We're having a team sit-together. You're making it an awkward mix of sitting and standing."
"Get your depressed butts down here so the rest of us can stay sitting, please," Foxy added.
Ladybug attempted a smile, and nudged Chat with her shoulder. He followed her to the spot she picked, and sat down next to her. After a moment, she entwined her fingers with his, which brought a faint, grateful smile to his lips.
"We...haven't told Fu anything really yet," Foxy voiced.
Chat Noir winced.
"...I understand you were somehow able to recover the Butterfly Miraculous tonight," Fu said, looking at Chat in concern. Wayzz phased into the room, but paused at the tense atmosphere.
"...Hawkmoth was my father," Chat admitted, unable to look anyone in the eye.
Fu looked grieved, but perhaps not so surprised.
"He didn't really tell us why he did all this," Ladybug spoke up, "He mentioned Adrien's mother, but he refused to clarify anything...and then suddenly friends of his came in and attacked us, so we had to run."
"...I see..." Fu nodded slowly, looking down.
"...I don't know for how long he's known...but he already knew I was Chat Noir," Chat ground out, trembling slightly, "I don't understand why he did all this...but I know it's wrong."
Every heart in the room ached for him. Ladybug squeezed his hand a little, and without looking at her he gently returned the gesture.
"...I do not know about your father...but I know that I was right to choose you as Chat Noir, Adrien," Fu said, surprising the boy into looking up, "Standing up for what is right, even where someone you love dearly stands in the wrong, is a most difficult choice to make."
"...thank you, Master Fu..." Chat said finally, looking down again, but with a somewhat more relaxed expression than before.
"...the brew is finished, Master," Wayzz called Fu's attention meekly.
"Ah, thank you, Wayzz," Fu got up.
Ladybug looked like she wanted to say something, but stopped herself, biting her lower lip as she watched the elder leave the room.
Soon after, Fu returned and handed out cups of the brew to each of the heroes, setting the last one aside for Sarah. Several faces were made at the taste.
"What is this again?" Foxy tried to say with a straight face.
"An old family recipe, it will help you heal faster," Fu explained.
Bee almost set her cup away.
"What, the Queen Bee can't handle it?" Foxy challenged.
"I'm not even hurt!" Bee swore.
"Would your Kwami agree with that?" Blue asked.
A few seconds later, Bee was sipping at the brew again, with obvious distaste. Foxy smirked, and Blue covered a small laugh.
Ladybug finished her cup before finally voicing her thoughts to the elder, "...Fu...with the Butterfly recovered...it's safe now for us to reveal our identities to each other, right?"
Chat looked at her in surprise, as did the other conscious teens in the room.
"If you believe you are ready," Fu said, a mysterious glint in his eyes, "Though you might consider waiting until Mademoiselle McCoy awakens, if wish to include her."
"It's not like she doesn't already know who all of us-...craaaap... Blue winced.
"What?" four teens looked at him in surprise.
"...okay, so you all know she knows who you are, right?" he grinned nervously, "She...accidentally let me know that she knew...though I still don't have a clue who you guys are, okay? I mean, other than Adrien or Chloe, obviously...all I know is somehow she managed to learn who all of us are...except for Master Fu."
As far as he knew, anyway.
"H-how could she know?" Ladybug looked dizzy, "I can understand her knowing about Adrien and Chloe, since they go to school together, but...you and Foxy..."
Blue laughed nervously, "Well, she found you out, Ladybug, so why not?"
"Yeah!" Foxy latched onto that thought, "If she could find you out, out of everyone in Paris, how hard could it be?"
"Uh...maybe you have a point," Ladybug laughed to hide her nervousness, "So, uh, I suppose I don't mind waiting for Sarah...knowing her, she'd love to see your reactions..."
Foxy smirked knowingly at Bee, "Oh yeah, she'd loooove to see certain reactions...I'm down for sharing with you guys. What about you, Blue?"
"Seems only fair," Blue shrugged, "I don't like keeping secrets anyway...waaaait, does this mean I can tell my girlfriend about me now?"
"Only if I can tell my boyfriend," Foxy crossed her arms, "God knows he's terrible at keeping secrets, but if we can tell people now, he deserves to know."
Ladybug looked to Master Fu, who smiled, "I will trust your judgment."
Sighing, Ladybug nodded, "...the risk of minion-makers is gone, but we still need to be careful who we share our identities with. Unless those fighters become a regular problem, we probably won't have to run off on our friends and loved ones as much now, so I would still recommend keeping it on a need-to-know basis...but if you have someone you know you can trust with this, I guess we all know just how valuable a confidant can be...so...please use your best judgment, everyone."
Foxy and Blue nodded, relieved.
"My girlfriend is...er...wow, um, you guys might not want me to tell her when you find out who she is, but I swear she's completely trustworthy," Blue promised, "She's one of the nosiest people I know, but when it counts, you can count on her, you get me?"
"Nosy like Sarah?" Foxy raised a brow.
Blue cringed, "When those two put their heads together, sh*t happens."
"Sarah knows your girlfriend?" Foxy was slightly surprised, "I didn't realize you were that close."
The other teens were surprised as well.
"Well, er, she's actually closer to my girlfriend than me, I think..." Blue squirmed a bit, "I mean, they have code-names for their schemes. Don't get me started. Leaving them alone for too long is dangerous."
Foxy's jaw dropped, then she pouted at the sleeping girl. She was definitely going to have a little talk with Sarah about "cheating" on her with another schemer. And then she was going to demand to meet this girl, and find out what they could possibly be scheming about. Surely it had to be interesting!
Blue had no idea why Foxy was frowning at Sarah, but he decided not to ask.
"Everyone who matters already knows my secret," Bee humphed, "Adrikins, Sabrina-..."
Eyes wide, Bee yanked out her communicator, and began texting with lighting-fast fingers. She slowly began to relax after a minute, when Sabrina texted her back that she was fine. With a quick glance towards Chat Noir, she decided to keep her story vague for the time being. As long as Sabrina knew to play it safe and go home (just in case Gabriel had realized who Honey Bee was and sent his goons to the hotel), that the Miraculouses were all safe, and that Chloe herself and Sarah were...well, alive, then that would do for now.
"Everything alright?" Chat asked.
"Ga-...my identity is most likely compromised..." Bee looked away, "I was just making sure Sabrina was aware."
"Sh*t, Marinette!" Foxy realized, "He heard us mention her name!"
Ladybug jolted at her name (not that any of the other teens noticed, because they were too busy being surprised at the familiar name and/or worrying about their friend), and out of habit jumped to protect her cover, "Oh! I have her number, I'll text her!"
"But I have her phone!" Foxy pulled out and frantically waved the item, wide-eyed.
"She, uh, has another phone!" Ladybug scrambled, "J-just hold on a minute, I have a way to contact her, okay?"
If they'd chosen to press the matter further, she would have given up the ruse and just admit she was Marinette (since she was planning to reveal herself soon anyway), but they let it go, so she didn't. Bee almost said something, still not sure how Marinette and Ladybug could possibly be so close (she'd only just heard, back when they'd been tracking the phone to Hawkmoth's lair, that Marinette was apparently someone Ladybug trusted), but a text from Sabrina distracted her.
Ladybug used the "busy time" to text her parents, and make sure they were alright. Of course, now she had to admit she was...out...because...she...was with Sarah! For reasons! Yup!
"Sh*t, what about Alya?!" Blue gasped, "You don't think they'd mess with her, do you?!"
"Uh...you know what, I have her number, I can check in with her," Foxy volunteered.
She wasn't quite ready to be revealed just yet. As she messed with her communicator, her thoughts also went to her family, and how they just might be wondering where she went...and boy did she have a story to tell! Being contacted by an Akuma who wanted Alya to help her help the heroes defeat Hawkmoth? She could not wait to post the results to her blog! Paris would be so relieved to know that Ladybug and Chat Noir had not in fact been defeated!
But it would have to wait, because her team had some rather distressing details to sort out first. Stupid Hawkmoth just had to be f*cking Gabriel Agreste, and then just had to have an army of freaky ninjas just waiting to jump out and attack them...d*mn it all...
"Whew, all safe," Ladybug sighed in relief as her parents texted her back, "It doesn't look like anyone has bothered them. If those people were going to approach her, I'm sure they would have tried already. I think the Dupains should be fine."
"Okay, but I'd feel better after doing a sweep around the bakery as soon as any of you feel like running out with me," Foxy said, checking the texts her mom sent back to her, "As for Alya, it looks like she's somewhere safe, and no one has bothered her family either."
Chat was about to say he'd go with her to the bakery, but Blue cut in too fast.
"Where is she?" Blue really wanted to know.
"I just told you, she's safe," Foxy snarked, "She's not where those creeps will find her, alright?"
"She doesn't exactly have the best track record for lying low," Blue crossed his arms.
"Look, she knows that none of us are out on scene, so she has no reason to be looking for a scoop. She's not stupid," Foxy's tone dared him to argue.
Blue frowned, but said nothing more.
"Where's the bathroom?" Bee demanded to know, frowning at her reflection where she had a mirror briefly replace her communicator screen.
Master Fu calmly directed her, and she walked off.
"Er, before we go out and check on anything...I really think we need to...discuss a few things..." Ladybug grimaced.
There were several things they all wanted to avoid talking about, but they had to face the facts soon...
"...so, when Bee gets back from primping then?"
Foxy's suggestion was met with unanimous silence. After a moment, Ladybug leaned over to check on Sarah, who was still out cold.
"When do you think she'll wake up?" she directed to Fu.
"Unless we wake her, she may very well sleep for hours," Fu replied.
Ladybug sighed, disappointed despite anticipating the answer.
After everything poor Sarah had gone through, Marinette really wanted to do anything she could to compensate for it. The wait was still frustrating though. She really wanted to drop the act and come clean about her identity, but she didn't want to disturb Sarah's rest either. If Sarah didn't wake up soon, she would likely cave and reveal herself. It wasn't that she really owed it to Sarah to wait for her, just...she wanted to.
Why couldn't anything ever be easy?
"...why are you glaring at Marinette's phone?" Chat blinked at Foxy.
"No particular reason, just hoping to return it soon," she grumbled.
Alya really wanted to talk to her friend...about a lot of things. Mostly she just wanted to know for sure that her friend was okay...but she was also worried about another issue. Now that she knew that Adrien was Chat Noir...that really complicated things. Knowing just how much Adrien loved Ladybug...really loved her...it made her worry. She wasn't sure what she could actually tell Marinette...but not being able to tell her anything at all, because the girl didn't have her freaking phone, was quite vexing.
Then a certain blond girl returned (much sooner than expected)...with her Kwami perched on her shoulder.
"Did I miss anything?"
Actually facing the fact that Honey Bee's secret identity wasn't a secret anymore left the group a little tongue-tied and awkward.
"Er...not really," Ladybug answered lamely.
Pollen cleared her throat.
"This is Pollen," Chloe tilted her head slightly toward the Kwami, half-rolling her eyes.
"It's, um, nice to meet you, Pollen," Ladybug said.
The other three offered waves and uncertain smiles.
"Welcome back, Pollen," Fu nodded to her.
Pollen nodded back, then nodded to Wayzz before flying down to check on Sarah. On her own now, Chloe retook her seat.
If anyone would have bothered to observe more closely, they would have noticed a red mark on Chloe's forehead where Pollen had head-butted her, just before accepting the girl's apology for throwing her Miraculous away earlier that day. Whatever they had discussed, any tension between them was now gone.
"So...you transformed back..." Blue said hesitantly.
"Unless you guys think we're in any way prepared to go on a manhunt, I'm done running around for the day," Chloe huffed, "And unlike most of you, I don't have anything to hide anymore."
Chat cringed in on himself slightly.
"...I suppose you're right..." Ladybug admitted softly, "I don't think any of use are up for instigating anything more tonight...the important thing is, we have the Butterfly Miraculous...uh..."
"It's still in one of Sarah's pockets," Foxy shrugged, "Apparently she didn't really lay a "claim" on the Miraculous, so Nooroo went poof when she passed out."
"O-kay..." Ladybug shook it off, "As I was saying...they can't pit Akumas against us anymore, and we're...together."
She looked to Chat, who offered her a small, encouraging smile. Taking his hand again, she squeezed it gently, silently promising that, no matter what, she would be there for him.
"...I suppose I can take care of Sarah for tonight," Chloe said, avoiding any eye-contact, "Knowing her, she'll probably be out until morning."
Chat's eyes glowed with pride at Chloe.
Ladybug winced, "...I...was rather hoping to share my name with you all before the night ends..."
"If you think you can wake that human log up, be my guest," Chloe scoffed, "Screaming, smelling salts, ice cubes, poking, pinching, slapping, none of it works. It takes hours to get her up in the morning."
"Less than two hours," Pollen corrected, "But rarely less than one."
"Unless Pollen stings her," Chloe shrugged.
"Then it takes 15 to 30 minutes," Pollen nodded.
Ladybug groaned, recalling her own issues trying to wake up Sarah one very cold night close to a year ago...and how the girl had slept through being carried like a potato sack out a window, and through the air to the nearest rooftop. Good grief.
Blue snorted, "Yeah, when my Kwami tries to call her too late at night, she never answers."
"Your Kwami calls her?" Foxy blinked.
"Yeah, to complain about my sleep habits," he rolled his eyes, "Then when Sarah won't answer her phone, she complains to me about Sarah ignoring her."
"I guess fussiness must be a peacock thing," Foxy smirked slyly.
"Well, yea-waaaaait, that was a shot at me too, wasn't it?" he gave her an unimpressed look.
"Was it? I hadn't realized," she blinked, suddenly the epitome of innocent ignorance.
"Okay, now I know it was," he rolled his eyes, but let it go.
"Anyway, before Chloe tries to take Sarah home, we should probably do that patrol," Foxy said, standing and stretching, "Who's with me?"
"Yep!" Chat bounced up, ready to go.
"Uh-wait!" Ladybug floundered, "I-I need to, um...I...I'll check on Marinette and her family! I need to, um, take care of something over there anyway...?"
It was really hard to drop an act after over two years. Gosh dang it.
"O-kay...?" Foxy blinked.
"Where's Alya? I'll make sure she's okay too," Blue stood too.
"Actually, I'll take care of that," Foxy said quickly, "It would be better to have your eyes and Chat's hearing to scout around the hotel, right?"
"Exactly!" Ladybug agreed, feeling relieved, "You two are our best scouts, after-all. If anyone can spot something amiss, especially over such a large area, it would be you two."
Chat shrugged, "Fair point, and I know my classmates couldn't be in safer hands."
Blue sighed, "Yeah, I guess that's fair."
"Sorry, fan-boy," Foxy shrugged.
"...right," Blue said dully, recalling that his teammates thought he was just a fan, after he'd claimed as much to explain his concerns for the dare-devil reporter in the past. However, he then raised his head, looking Foxy straight in the eye, "Alright, I trust you, Foxy, just...know that...she's a lot more important to me than you know."
Foxy looked stunned.
"Alright, bro, ready to stake out the hotel?" Blue turned to Chat, smirking at his best friend.
Chat nodded, and the two headed out the balcony doors. Recovering from her previous surprise, Foxy whipped out her flute, and sent her signature camouflage mist over them.
"Thanks, Foxy!" Blue called back, already gone from view.
Something was niggling at the back of Foxy's mind, but she shook it off, handing Ladybug Marinette's phone. Ladybug accepted the phone with an almost sheepish smile, then headed out after the boys. Foxy played her flute for Ladybug, obscuring her from view.
"Be back soon!" the unseen girl in red called back, before the whizzing sound of her yo-yo indicated she'd flown away.
Cloaking herself last, Foxy flew out into the night to make sure her family was safe.
…
After a quick sweep of the perimeter, neither Peacock Blue nor Chat Noir could find anything amiss. Chloe's bedroom proved to be empty, and didn't appear to be tampered with. After that, Chat stealthily stalked the inner corridors and stairways, while Blue cautiously checked every window from the outside, all the while desperately hoping he wouldn't accidentally see something that should not be seen.
In the end, everything was normal (if you didn't count the snoring crocodile wearing a night cap), and the two boys met up on the tippy-top of the building as planned. Scanning out around the building again, neither could see anything worth worrying about.
"It doesn't look like they've tried anything over here," Chat mused, "Maybe we got lucky...or, well, maybe they figured that going after the Mayor's daughter was a poor choice..."
"...yeah...pretty much the only people dumb enough to go after Chloe have-er, had the "Akuma Rationality" thing going on. Those guys we saw earlier...I don't think they're quite that reckless," Blue commented, watching his friend in concern.
"And my father's probably removed himself as far away from the situation as humanly possible..." Chat clenched his fists, "...he'll just hire someone else to take care of his problems, as always..."
He started slightly when Blue lightly gripped his shoulder.
"Uh...sorry," Chat let out a sheepish sort-of-laugh.
"Dude, you have nothing to be sorry for," Blue promised, "Your old man's a jerk, I know. If he wasn't your dad, and walled up behind yards of insane security and ungodly amounts of money, I would have punched him a long time ago for some of the sh*t he's pulled, and that was before I found out he was Hawkmoth. What he did was absolutely sick, man, and you don't deserve any of this sh*t. You need to vent, dude, so cut the crap and stop trying to pretend you're not absolutely f*cked up inside after all this. I'm here for you, man. That's what best friends are for...which I am, by the way, unless you've been cheating on me with Ladybug, or Foxy...or Sarah...dude, I should not be competing with three girls for best bro status..."
Chat went from depressed, but deeply touched, to justifiably stunned, "Uh...wait, what?"
"Yeah, man, I was...actually going to tell you right off, even though Duusu was dead-set against it...then Sarah tackled me into a bush, and for the record I did not lose my hat, I just had no other way to explain why the heck I was legit crawling out of a for-real bush, because Sarah made this huge stink about no-one finding out I was talking with her...which, now that I think of it, was probably because it might have made you suspicious...dude, it's absolutely insane that neither of us figured it out somewhere along the way, because the excuses we were throwing at each other were legit ridiculous man...but, I guess it was kind of a good thing we didn't, because Sarah wasn't kidding when she said you got minionized a lot, and...yeah, but still, I wanted to tell you, I mean, I even told you I wanted to tell you, but I wasn't supposed to, just like you weren't supposed to tell me...and, yeah."
Chat's mouth opened and closed, eyes wide.
"Dude, acting like a fish is not helping with the merman theory," Nino smirked.
"I don't shower all the time!" Chat retorted out of habit.
Nino grinned widely, "You sure, man? 'Cause I see you in there way too often."
"That's-" Chat laughed, relief washing over him and leaving him with a wide grin of his own, "That's because I'm jumping out the window to save the day, Nino!"
Blue face-palmed, "Seriously? Dude! No wonder you still stink!"
"I don't stink!" Chat was affronted, then he reconsidered, "Er...well, if I did stink...it's not my fault! It's the Camembert!"
Blue's eyes lit up with understanding, "Right! You're always complaining about that...you know, you could have just told me you had weird cravings, dude."
"And with my luck, that would have been the thing to get me busted," Chat snorted, "Not the dashing good looks, not the crush on Ladybug, and not the weird absences or awkward excuses...it would have been cheese."
Blue snorted too, "Yeah, that would have sucked."
Chat nodded, "Yup, it definitely would have stunk."
Blue groaned, "Really, dude? D*mn, you're going to be ten times worse after this, aren't you?"
Chat grinned.
"Great," he sighed, "Well, whatever, man. You can be a huge dork all you want, you'll always be my best bro."
Chat's kitten-eyes made an appearance at those words, and if asked he would assuredly deny the fact that his lower lip quivered ever-so-slightly, just as he would deny sniffling when he and Blue hugged it out on that quiet rooftop.
…
When the two boys returned to Fu's apartment, the girls were already waiting for them. Ladybug and Foxy Rouge had found their families were safe and sound, and there was nothing to imply that that would change anytime soon. (They had also spent the last several minutes texting each other without realizing it, and due to risk of certain information conflict, "Marinette" told "Alya" that she was safe at home, resolving to ask her parents to keep her "outing with Sarah" a secret if she had to.)
Everyone could see that Chat Noir was feeling much better, and that something was different between him and Peacock Blue. Sure, they were teammates, and, after realizing the bird-themed hero was not in any way a rival for Ladybug's affection, they'd even become good friends. Now, however, it was as if they had a small world of their own. It was a comforting sight, if a bit bewildering.
"So, I take it everyone's okay then?" Chat asked, noting how relaxed everyone else was.
"Yup, nothing weird around Alya or her family's apartment, and Ladybug came up clean at Marinette's," Foxy affirmed.
"That's great," Chat sighed.
Before anyone could say anything else, they were all startled as a spark of lavender light suddenly appeared over Sarah, releasing the Butterfly Kwami from his Miraculous once more.
"Oh, hello again, everyone," Nooroo greeted, seeming a little confused.
"What the-...?" Blue blinked.
"Sarah! Are you awake?!" Ladybug leaned in close, excited.
Unfortunately, the girl showed absolutely no sign of being conscious.
"...Sarah, you better not be fake-sleeping again," Chloe growled in warning.
"No, look at her eyes, she's dreaming," Foxy, hovering almost as closely as Laybug, pointed at the rapid movement behind the girl's eyelids, "Weird."
Ladybug pouted, "Seriously?"
Just as suddenly as he'd appeared, Nooroo vanished back into his Miraculous.
"Uh...guess she's dreaming about something else now..." Blue thought aloud.
"Well, that was random," Foxy chuckled.
"Saaaaraaaah, pleeeeeease wake uuuuuuuup," Ladybug complained, childishly pouting.
Foxy giggled at her antics.
"She'll wake up eventually," Chloe rolled her eyes, then she frowned at the sleeping girl, "If we're done here, I might as well drag her over to the hotel so I can get some sleep."
Ladybug continued sulking, "...Sarah, I swear, if you don't hurry and wake up, I'm going to tell them without you..."
Despite the threat, the girl didn't even twitch.
"I mean it, I'm giving you five minutes, and then I'm dropping the mask," Ladybug swore, poking Sarah's cheek, then frowning when nothing changed. A light growl slipped out, "What do I have to do? Drop you on a cold rooftop again?"
"Again?" Foxy's eyebrows shot up.
Ladybug sat straight up, eyes wide, "Uh...did I say again? I meant, um..."
Chat snorted behind his hand, remembering a certain event from earlier that year. Noting his amusement, Ladybug narrowed her eyes at him, giving him a silent warning.
"Details, please~" Foxy flopped down on her stomach, chin propped up on the heels of her hands like a child waiting for a bedtime story.
Ladybug groaned, "It's hardly worth mentioning."
"It's the reason why we agreed breaking and entering is a bad idea," Chat smirked.
Foxy's jaw, as well as Blue's and Chloe's, dropped. Master Fu, silent in the background, merely blinked in surprise. Wayzz tilted his head, while Pollen was completely unfazed.
"Chat!" Ladybug hissed, "We also agreed not to speak of it again!"
"Well you mentioned it," he told her smugly.
Ladybug growled at him, which only seemed to amuse him further. Seeing that he wasn't the least bit repentant, she gave up with a huff, "...in my defense, I was really mad about the Super Strong incident, and she was avoiding me like the plague..."
Foxy whistled, recalling the event. Blue winced along with her. Chloe was just confused.
"I know, I had to talk her out of spending the night in a broom closet," Chat chuckled.
Ladybug blinked at him, "...seriously?"
Foxy face-planted into the mattress, shaking with laughter. Blue and Chloe both gave her a weird look.
"Yup, you and Marinette both had her mortally terrified," Chat nodded, "I tried to tell her that avoiding you was a bad idea...but, well, you know how she is."
Ladybug sighed, "...she was just fine with running around during Akuma attacks, but if it's me she runs for cover? Seriously?"
"Wait, so...did you break into her bedroom?" Foxy figured out, giving Ladybug an impressed look.
Ladybug cringed.
"While she was sleeping?" Foxy guessed again.
Ladybug buried her face in her hands.
"And you dragged her unconscious *ss out onto a rooftop, in the middle of winter?" Foxy pushed herself up, and crossed her arms in playful judgment.
"Whoa, spot on," Chat said in appreciation.
"I didn't want to wake up her parents, and she wouldn't wake up...and I regret it, I really regret it, okay?" Ladybug squeaked.
"Come on, Bugaboo, it's pretty funny in hindsight," Chat patted her back.
"You had to use the Kitten Eyes on her. She was almost a Sarah-sicle," Ladybug grumbled.
"It was a learning experience," Chat insisted.
"She caught a cold, Chat."
"Yeah, I know," he cringed, "But just a little one, and she wasn't mad about it...well, not about the kidnapping, anyway...she was more mad about the fact you two were fighting, when-..."
Chat's eyes glazed over, prompting concern from his friends.
"...Chat?" Ladybug asked quietly.
Blinking back into reality, he let out a weak laugh, "Sorry...I just...I just realized...she kept her promise..."
"What promise?" Foxy asked.
Ladybug's brow furrowed, then flew upward when she realized it.
"Sarah said...that if Hawkmoth ever Akumatized her, she was going after him," he smiled, but it was nowhere near as exuberant as it should have been, "I don't think either of us really expected it to happen though. I...I am relieved she did..."
Ladybug dropped her head on his shoulder, huddling close. He gratefully accepted the gesture, leaning into her in return.
"That all seems so long ago," she commented quietly.
He let out a soft laugh, "Oh yes, back when Dopplebugs still roamed the Earth. Ancient History, fur sure."
She gave an amused "hum" in reply.
"I wasn't even Foxy Rouge yet," Foxy commented.
"I barely even knew Sarah back then," Blue added, "She was just an oddly awesome friend of a friend to me."
"What the h*ll is a dopplebug?" Chloe broke the chain of quiet reminiscing.
Everyone looked at her. Four teens shared a look, and then laughed. Chloe growled at them, irritated that she was missing so much of the recent conversation.
"That was Sarah's nickname, Chloe," Chat finally told her, "Because she pretended to be Ladybug? She was a doppleganger?"
"It sounds dumb to me," she decided.
Chat pouted, Blue snickered.
"Chat...Adrien..." Ladybug fixed him with a look, "...did you give her that name?"
"It's a great name..." he grumbled.
Chloe blinked, then silently groaned at the ceiling, much to Foxy's apparent amusement.
"Sarah definitely liked it," Blue snorted.
"Sarah, please wake up, they aren't appreciating my artistic genius!" Chat complained.
"You're a bad influence on her, dude, she's constantly throwing bird puns at me," Blue complained, "She even said I had eyes like a Hawk in front of my girlfriend!"
Chat snickered behind his hand.
"Seriously, dude, how long have you been corrupting her?" Blue accused.
Chat let out a full laugh before trying to answer the question, "Well, er, right after she told me she knew...right after...um...she pretended to be Ladybug to cover for me?"
"She-what?" Ladybug sputtered.
"Yeah, um...that whole "multiple Ladybugs" stunt? That was actually...for my sake," Chat admitted, "We were sealed in the classroom...and she'd already figured out I was Chat Noir...so she created a diversion for me, so I could use Cataclysm and get out...that's why she did it..."
One could see when it clicked in each of their minds.
"Dude..." Blue breathed.
Ladybug face-palmed, muttering under her breath and groaning.
"Wait...so it wasn't a planned diversion..." Foxy went over the details in her head.
"Nope, she improvised, without telling me anything," Ladybug huffed, "...at least it wasn't a bomb..."
Foxy snorted in amusement.
"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you sooner, Milady," Chat continued, "I had to feign ignorance to keep my cover."
"No, I know, don't worry about it," she sighed, "...I'm...just as guilty of that..."
He nudged her shoulder, "We did what we had to, right?"
Ladybug gave him a small smile in response. She didn't want to lie to him anymore...and she was pretty sure those promised five minutes had slipped away a good several lines of dialogue ago. She'd deal with a pouty Sarah later, she was going to tell them.
Of course, first she had to lead up to it. She wasn't just going to drop her transformation out of the blue and leave poor Chat/Adrien startled witless, even if the look on Chloe's face would have been hilarious. No, she was going to do this dramatically, with style. She was an artist, she was going to do this right.
Or, so she told herself. Her wonderfully creative mind decided to go blank-canvas on her. Sh*t, how was she supposed to tell the love of her life who she was?!
Wait, no, she was not thinking of that right now. There was way too much going on for her to be worrying about romance of all things. Ugh.
"Ladybug, maybe you should stop poking her face," Foxy reached over to physically stop said action.
Realizing herself finally, Ladybug pulled back so she wouldn't be tempted further. Clearly Sarah was not going to wake up, and Ladybug needed to get her head on straight so she could drop this ridiculous charade.
"Can I go home now?" Chloe complained.
"What's the rush?" Blue asked.
"It's late, I'm tired, and I'm bored out of my mind," she retorted.
"It's not that late," Blue argued.
"If you have so much energy to spare, you can carry Sarah for me," Chloe inspected her nails.
Blue looked like he was going to argue, then he dropped it with a sigh, "...if I do, it's only because I have more finesse than you do..."
"Spoken like a true mother-bird," Chat smirked.
"Bro, noooo," Blue groaned.
"Evillustrator!" Ladybug suddenly declared, smiling brightly.
Everyone blinked at her.
"Er, sorry, uh..." she coughed, embarrassed, "I, um, want to say something..."
"About Nathaniel?" Chloe raised a brow.
"Wow, you actually remembered his Akuma name?" Foxy blinked at her.
"I have an amazing memory, thank you very much!" Chloe humphed, "He attacked me with a blow drier, destroyed over half my room, tried to squash me with a giant shoe, and almost took my head off with a saw blade!"
"Yes, yes, I know, I was there," Ladybug sighed, "But I'm not talking about Nathaniel, I'm talking about Marinette."
"Oh, yeah, didn't you say she helped you out that day?" Foxy recalled.
"She did?" Chloe wrinkled her nose, "Let me guess, she was the bait."
"She was what?!" Blue squeaked.
"She wasn't in any danger," Ladybug told him quickly, "Nathaniel just wanted to go on a date with her, that's all."
"I so knew it," Chloe rolled her eyes.
"She was awesome!" Chat grinned, "She yanked the pen right out of his hand, and...well, we almost had him..."
Chloe held up a hand, silently telling him to shut up, which he did with an irritated frown, as she looked at Ladybug, "Your point?"
Ladybug looked to her partner, who looked back curiously.
"...remember how I said I was on a secret mission?" she asked, a little sheepish now.
"Oh~, this is going to be good, I can tell~" Foxy bounced.
"You going to tell me what you were up to, Bugaboo?" he challenged playfully.
"Oh, you know..." she shrugged as if it didn't matter, smirking a little, "...just a little undercover action..."
"You've got my attention," he encouraged.
"Well, you see, it was one of those situations where I couldn't be in two places at once, and I had a very important role to play as my civilian self," she teased.
"You going to tell me what that very important role was, Bugaboo?" he returned.
She beckoned him closer, wanting his ear, which he willingly lent her, and quietly whispered into it, "Code Name: Princess."
The boy momentarily stopped breathing, and then whipped around to look at her, shock evident, "Y-...you're-...you're saying, you-..."
She ducked her head for a moment, then looked up with a shy smile, "How many heroes can a classroom hide, huh?"
He let out an amazed laugh, staring into her eyes as he pieced things together. Then his brow furrowed, "Wait, Sarah told me you went to another school..."
"She did?" Ladybug looked confused.
"Yeah, she-...was playing me, wasn't she?" he winced.
Ladybug giggled, "Well, she sort of had to, Kitty."
"Wait, you go to our school too?!" Blue gasped.
Ladybug smiled sheepishly, then blinked, "Wait...our school?"
"Uh...well, the thing is..." he chuckled sheepishly.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Foxy stressed, eyes wide, "...we're...talking about the same school that Adrien and Chloe go to? Both of you go there too?"
"Uh..." Ladybug looked between Foxy and Blue, "...apparently?"
"Uh-uh, no way..." Foxy gaped at them.
"So, uh, remember how I said Alya is really important to me...?" Blue hinted, rubbing the back of his neck.
A frog-like croaked escaped Foxy's throat.
"Er...are you okay?" Blue blinked.
"You...you..." her eyes were dangerously wide.
"Dude, did you see a ghost or something?" Blue's brow furrowed in concern.
"Nino?" Foxy finally gasped.
His eyes widened slightly, "Uh...yes?"
Foxy Rouge let out a blood curdling shriek, pointing at Peacock Blue as if he had a spider on his face. Blue screamed too, grabbing onto Chat, who was similarly frightened by Foxy's reaction and grabbed onto him as well.
"No, no, OH MY GOD!" Foxy pulled at her hair near her scalp, freaking out, "You-you-! YOU'RE MY BOYFRIEND?!"
Blue and Foxy stared at each other in shocked silence, while three other teens looked between them in utter astonishment. Fu discretely slipped out of the room.
"...Duusu-"
"Trixx!"
"Transform me."
As Alya and Nino were revealed, they continued staring at each other in shock. Duusu was wide-eyed with worry, while Trixx was leaning in as close as she dared, eyes practically sparkling with excitement.
"Alya..." Nino swallowed.
"N-Nino..." Alya sucked in a sharp breath.
"...well...uh...that explains a lot," Nino said simply, still wide-eyed.
"Oh God...we are the biggest idiots in the history of idiots..." Alya groaned into her hands.
"Eh...maybe not so much..." Ladybug laughed nervously, taking all of this in as best she could, and wondering how the h*ll she'd missed all this.
Alya gave her an unimpressed look, "As if you could top this."
Chat began inching slowly back behind Ladybug, fairly aware that all h*ll was about to break loose, and that being out of the line of fire, but still close enough to yank Ladybug back if things got too out of hand, was the wiser decision.
"...well..." Ladybug laughed again, nibbling at her bottom lip, hugging her knees and hiding her face a little, "...the thing is...apparently Mademoiselle Bustier's homeroom class has been harboring five super-heroes...?"
"Five..." Alya blinked.
Three unmasked teens paused to count, and blinked.
"Wait, but that would mean..." Nino stared at Ladybug in confusion.
"...you'd think I would have figured out why my three neighbors kept trying to run out the door at the same time as me..." Ladybug grinned sheepishly.
Three teens gaped at her.
"...Tikki, transform me," Ladybug finally said, cringing in preparation as the magic washed over her, leaving Marinette for all to see. Tikki looked around at the various reactions, somewhat worried but remaining calm.
More gaping, struggles to formulate words, and then outright screaming and some hair-pulling followed. Then the girls screamed some more, while Nino just appeared outright dazed. Marinette waited for the screaming to stop before hesitantly opening her eyes. Fu calmly returned, and took his seat again.
"...I-I'd say she topped us, Alya..." Nino stuttered.
"YOU THINK?!" Alya and Chloe both screeched.
Nino smiled sheepishly, hands raised in surrender.
Chat Noir hesitantly lifted his hands away from his ears, torn between staring at Marinette, who was apparently Ladybug, and keeping an eye on the two girls who had a slight tendency to act out when freaked out (Ladybug/Marinette might have been just as extreme, if not more so, but he wasn't exactly worried about her tackling someone at the moment). When it occurred to him that he was the only one still wearing a mask (and that it was hardly necessary at the moment), he quietly called off his transformation. Once free, Plagg immediately flopped down on Adrien's head, snickering at all the fuss.
Meanwhile, Marinette seemed to be utterly fascinated with her knees.
"You...all this time...YOU!" Alya managed.
"...surprise," Marinette did a somewhat pathetic jazz hands, smiling uneasily.
This was most certainly not how she'd expected her best friend to find out, and she was moderately terrified that Alya would bite her head off.
"How...how...how did I miss that?!" Alya screamed at the floor, waving her hands by her ears as if that would help the situation.
"Alya, seriously? I missed the fact that, one, Chat Noir sat in front of me. Two, that Sarah was obviously tricking me when she made me believe you couldn't be Foxy. Three, that Nino was freaking obvious and how the heck did I miss that?!" Marinette smacked her palm against her cheek, and slowly dragged it down, "And if Chloe hadn't exposed herself in class right in front of me I might have missed that too! God!"
"...there couldn't possibly be two superheroes hiding in the same classroom..." Alya groaned into her hands, "Why didn't I question that reasoning when Chloe blew it out of the water?"
Trixx struggled to stifle her laughter behind her paws, bowed over and rolling in the air.
"Why didn't you question it? Why didn't I question it?" Marinette pulled at her pig-tails, more and more freaked out the more she thought about it.
Tikki looked like she wanted to say something, but was afraid to trigger more upset.
"Fu, man..." Nino had no words, and just waved his hands helplessly. Duusu floated down to huddle against his neck, and Nino automatically patted her head reassuringly.
"You were not chosen because of who you went to class with. You were chosen because you were right for the Miraculous," Fu said simply, "And as you all have seen for yourselves, it is far too easy to miss what you do not understand, or to miss what others hide when you are also trying to hide a similar secret. It is also very easy to fail to notice the secrets that those closest to us hide."
Adrien flinched. Plagg said nothing, only burrowed himself more snuggly into the nest of blond hair.
"What about Sarah?" Nino changed the flow, eying Adrien in concern.
"We all see the world a little differently," Fu said, "Her perspective simply gave her the opportunity to notice, and fate placed her where she could see you."
"A lot of opportunity..." Alya shook her head, blowing out a breathy raspberry as she processed, "Fate literally threw us at her face..."
Nino snorted, "The weird animosity between her and Marinette before, her being all buddy-buddy with Adrien and Alya at the most random times, her swearing up and down that no one should ever see me hanging out with her because it would "look suspicious"...and the whole thing with Chloe...dude, she's been juggling us...like, some crazy circus performer...dude..."
"Her "meddling" was much appreciated," Fu's eyes sparked with amusement.
Snorts, and laughter followed that statement.
"...Sarah never told you..." Chloe said quietly, eyes wide, "...you all saw me do that...that's how...you all knew..."
Pollen landed on Chloe's shoulder, silent and statute.
"...a certain someone wanted to protect your secret..." Marinette glanced at Adrien, smiling a little, "And since he apparently knew Sarah could "contact me", he asked her not to."
Chloe looked surprised, then looked to Adrien, "You...it was you?"
Adrien nodded, smiling.
"Yup, Sarah almost died after he gave her the puppy-eyes," Alya added.
Adrien looked sheepish, laughing softly as he began to remember several things about that incident. (Fortunately for him, no one noticed when he turned bright red, as he suddenly recalled Sarah teasing him about his "future wife"...and suddenly a whole bunch of things were making sense...)
"And thanks to that," Marinette continued, coughing a little at the reminder, "Sarah convinced me to pretend word didn't reach me, from her or anyone else..."
"Wow..." Nino scratched his head.
"You know, at the time I thought she was trying to convince Marinette not to tell Ladybug...to think she was trying to convince Ladybug to pretend she didn't know..." Alya laughed.
"You could learn a thing or two from her illusion weaving, Alya," Trixx teased.
Alya wrinkled her nose at the Kwami, but then shook her head and laughed, "Maybe I'll have her train me instead of you, Trixx."
"I'm not saying she could outfox me, especially with that finger-crossing habit holding her back," Trixx pointed out, then frowned, "...she really needs to work on that..."
Alya rolled her eyes.
"...I'm glad," Marinette spoke up, looking at Chloe, "That Sarah convinced me to pretend not to know, Chloe...it helped me give you a chance to prove yourself...and...while some of the things you do honestly drive me crazy...it's like Sarah said, you've changed...the old Chloe wouldn't have run herself ragged for someone else's sake, or protect someone who wronged her, or worry about someone else not receiving credit for their hard work...you might still be petty and mean, but you're a hero...and I'm glad you're a part of this team. I'm sorry for the things I said before...it was unfair of me, and I was wrong. I might not always agree with the things you do, but you're an important part of this team, Chloe."
Chloe was stunned.
"Yeah, I knew you had it in you, Chloe," Adrien told her with a genuine smile.
Chloe squirmed a little, trying not to show just how much the sentiments touched her. There was a soft blush showing through the concealer on her cheeks.
"You're a royal pain," Alya huffed a little, but with no real animosity to it, "But you're our royal pain, okay?"
"Took the words right out of my mouth, babe," Nino grinned at Alya.
Chloe hmphed, but they could tell it made her happy, even if she was too proud to admit it.
"...how is she still asleep after all that screaming?" Duusu questioned suddenly.
Everyone looked at Sarah.
Trixx flew down, and pulled up one of Sarah's eyelids, finding no evidence of consciousness, "...either she's one of the greatest actresses I've ever seen, or she really is just that heavy of a sleeper."
"Leave her face alone," Alya shooed her away.
"...Marinette?" Tikki quietly called the attention of her chosen.
"Tikki?" Marinette blinked, "What is it?"
"...I'm sorry I lied to you, Marinette," Tikki said, barely daring to look her chosen in the eye, "About Chat Noir, and Sarah, and a few other things...I'm sorry I deceived you."
"I'm not," Trixx piped up, seeming quite pleased with herself.
"Of course you're not," Alya sassed, grabbing the Kwami in her hands before she could escape, and started roughing up the tiny fox's head-fur with her finger.
"NO NOOGIES!" the Kwami wailed, "THIS IS ABUSE!"
Plagg almost fell off Adrien's head, howling with laughter. Duusu clutched her own head reflexively, and ducked behind Nino, observing the "abuse" with a horrified expression.
Giggling softly at them, Marinette turned back to Tikki, and gently cupped her Kwami in her hands, "I trust you had your reasons, Tikki."
Tikki's eyes shone with happiness, and she shot forward to embrace Marinette's cheek, "I love you, Marinette!"
"I love you too, Tikki," Marinette cupped her tiny friend lovingly.
Adrien practically melted at the sight, finding it utterly adorable.
"You never give me face-cuddles," Plagg griped at Adrien, floating down to frown at his chosen.
"Come're," Adrien offered with a big smile.
"I never said I wanted to!" Plagg retorted, crossing his arms and looking away.
Adrien gaped at him for a moment, then with a glare he grabbed Plagg out of the air, "Oh yeah?! Take this then, you stinker!"
He began tickling Plagg, who yowled, "NOOOOO! THIS IS ABUSE! STOP IT!"
Trixx, recently having escaped her torture, pointed at him and laughed, "Ha ha! The tables have turned, foolish feline!"
"Go scream at a fish, you color-confused menace!" Plagg retorted, battling Adrien's fingers with all his might.
"Rude! And it's not my fault earlier cultures had such a limited color vocabulary!"
"...are they always like this?" Alya stage-whispered.
"Sometimes they're worse," Pollen answered.
Wayzz shrugged.
"Things are always lively with them around," Tikki giggled.
"They're so loud," Duusu whined, "How can Sarah sleep through this?"
"You're probably the lightest sleeper I know, Duusu," Nino informed her, "You still complain about the ceiling fan being too loud."
"That's because it is!" Duusu insisted.
…
Chapter End
Okay, so, NINJAS...okay, so they're not REAL ninjas, but they're pretty dang close! Anyway, you're probably wondering how they knew to show up right then...let's just say Gabriel was prepared for SOMETHING to happen when he had five super-heroes (including his own bloody son) trying to stop him...and MAYBE his wedding ring is actually a super-spy-type ring, and he sent out an SOS almost as soon as Nooroo was taken. (Or maybe it's his shoes, idk.)
...and yes, I'm crazy for pulling this trick out of my conspiracy-theorist hat, thank you for noticing. ;P
And I regret that I wrote this before I knew about the floor thing...but, oh well, it probably wasn't something the "ninjas" could have easily utilized for a sneak attack anyway. Dropping in from the windows and busting in doors is WAY more effective...but, unfortunately for them, Foxy has enhanced hearing, so, HA! YOU FAIL, FAIL NINJAS!
...
I know it's been disproved that Master Fu gave Madam Agreste the Peacock Miraculous, but that's the idea in this AU, just so we're clear. She WAS a hero, just a low-key one (ironically enough, considering the whole PRIDE aspect). Hopefully all questions will be answered in time. ^_^
...
Lol, I wonder if you can guess where Adrien was headed, or WHO he was headed towards when his teammates called him back...let's just say, in his attempt to find out where the fight was going down, he was less than five minutes away from accidentally causing a HUGE uproar with his target's parents when they all found her MISSING. Someone got Lucky there, huh? ;P
Aaaaaand it MAY have been a good thing that he ran away from the mansion when he did...not saying why exactly, but I'm sure you can guess...
...
If you're wondering why Fu's neighbors haven't called the police, Fu disappeared briefly to call his neighbors and tell them, "Please excuse the noise. A spider was discovered in my home, and most unfortunately ALL of my visiting grandchildren have arachnophobia..."
Screaming is absolutely justified if there are spiders, arachnophobia or not. You really can't go wrong with this excuse, lol.
...
Er...so...in my VERY OLD original draft I had Sarah knocked out when the "ninjas" attacked, and she just HAPPENED to stay unconscious for maybe an hour...but certain research brought to light that no one should be KO'd for more than five minutes without something being SERIOUSLY wrong...stupid action movies, stop confusing people...so I ended up changing it to her passing out from exhaustion once she subconsciously realized "oh, we're safe now, I can nap time now..." and then just sleeping like a log, because otherwise I would have had to rewrite quite a bit of story that I REALLY liked...so, yeah. I almost gave her a concussion too, but I decided to be a little nicer...so, instead, she's just going to feel REALLY cruddy for a while, lol.
...
And yes, I've decided that Trixx's food of choice is Sardines, a common saltwater fish high in Omega 3s that swims in huge schools. Main reason: brain food, for a clever mind. Secondary reason: the taste and smell pretty much covers up anything else, like an illusion~, lol. Second secondary reason: fish swimming in large schools create great visual effects. Third secondary reason: the ocean depths they come from are the birthplace of deep thought, and concealed secrets... Forth secondary reason: we have the silly mental image of Trixx shrieking at a fish. You're welcome.
...
And speaking of fox shrieking...lol, Nino! She REALLY LOVES YOU! XD (Yes, I am a dork, BUT YOU LOVED IT TOO!)
...
Finally...BALANCING INTERACTIONS BEWTEEN FIVE SECRET-KEEPING TEENAGERS IS EXHAUSTING!
And I hope you enjoyed how the reveals went down, because I worked FREAKING HARD to get it all right, lol!