As one, Adrien and Marinette turned and looked out the front entrance. Their classmates were scrambling in all directions, fleeing frantically from something that was apparently just outside, but couldn't be seen through the doorway.
Adrien dashed toward the door, but Marinette pulled him back. "No! What if it's a villain? Run! Hide!" She yelled.
"Don't you understand?" He yelled back. "It's probably Chloé! And if she's mad at anyone, it's you!"
There was a strange sound, like a surge of electrical power, then more screaming. Adrien saw two boys who were trying to run into the school get suddenly wrapped in glowing golden tendrils and lifted, kicking and flailing, into the air.
He had to make a quick decision. He could run to the locker room and hope to find a corner where no one would see him transform, or he could go outside and hope that he would be able to make it behind the wall between the stairs and the school. Maybe the few people remaining outside would be too distracted to notice him.
He looked toward the locker room and saw the crowd of students pouring into it seeking refuge, and that decided him.
He wrenched his hand free of Marinette and sprinted toward the door.
"Adrien! Come back! What are you doing?" She screamed.
But he was already through the door. He didn't waste any time looking around, but made a sharp left turn and leapt off the stairs.
The moment he was airborne, he heard that surge of electricity again and felt a strange sensation overtake him. He felt like he was falling, but the earth wasn't getting any closer. And at the same time, warm ropes of light wrapped around his body, pinning his arms to his sides.
The falling sensation eased a bit as the ropes started to take his weight, he struggled against them, trying to free his arms and feeling like a complete idiot for having been caught. His luminous binds moved, rotating him to face the opposite direction and he saw that he was tethered, like a dog on a leash, to the new akumatized villain.
It was Chloé of course. But she scarcely looked like Chloé Bourgeois anymore. Her golden hair cascading in gentle waves around her shoulders and back was scattered with baby pink flower petals and shining crystals. Her lips glistened soft pink which matched the long shimmering satin dress she wore. The front of her dress boasted lace-trimmed neckline that plunged down almost to her navel. Over her shoulders and trailing in her wake, a gossamer-fine train whispered over her skin and along the ground, sparkling with imbedded diamonds.
"Well, hello my darling Adrikins," She crooned. "I knew you would come to me. Don't worry, Obsession will take good care of you. You will be loved and appreciated forever. All of you will."
"Chloé let me go, please!" Adrien kicked his feet, desperately trying to work his arms free of the binds.
"I'm not Chloé anymore, sweetie. I'm Obsession. And I have just the place for you, my prized treasure."
Behind her, Adrien saw that she had probably thirty other boys bound just as he was, each one held on a glowing rope tether, and all the tethers held in her left hand. Many of them were struggling. Some seemed resigned to wait it out. One or two actually looked excited at the prospect of being Chloé's love slave.
She seemed to sort through them a bit, arranging the boys to her liking, then transferred Adrien's tether to her left hand and he floated over to her, in front of the other boys and closest to her side.
"Now, let's see who else we can find," she said lightly, as though suggesting a stroll in the park. She strode gracefully forward, her dress shimmering and sparkling in the sun as she walked.
They entered the courtyard, which was nearly deserted. The few students who were still there scrambled to hide behind the cement pillars around the perimeter.
"Aha!" Obsession flung her right hand toward them in a throwing motion, with the sound of crackling electricity more glowing cords whipped out of her hand and bound the boys before they could escape. She transferred their tethers to her left hand, adding them to her collection behind Adrien, who as still thrashing and kicking in his attempts to free himself. His struggles seemed to be making no difference whatsoever to his situation.
"Come out, my darlings. Obsession won't hurt you," she called in a sweet singsong voice, opening the door to the locker room. "You'll be safe and loved and appreciated at my side." She flung her right fist in a throwing motion again, and another fiery tendril whipped out. Shouts and yelling erupted from the locker room as she began snatching up all the boys before they could escape, binding them and dragging them along with her.
"Cut it out, Chloé. Let those boys, go!"
The voice calling from behind them filled Adrien with a mixture of relief and despair. She was here! But he couldn't get away to help her!
Obsession turned to see who had spoken to her. Ladybug was striding toward them, spinning her yo-yo. Her eyes narrowed and calculating.
"Let them go? But I'm the only one who can really appreciate them. They would be wasted without me!"
"Listen to me! You're not yourself! Let me help you!" Ladybug pleaded, eagerly.
"I don't need your help, Ladybug. But...I do need your earrings!" Obsession whipped one of her cords toward Ladybug. But the heroine had lightning fast reflexes and leapt up out of the way easily.
"Try to be reasonable, Chloé!" She called, now perched on the balustrade above them.
"I'm not Chloé, I'm Obsession. And every boy in Paris will be mine! Or... at least all the cute ones." She added, with a slight trace of her former self.
Ladybug rolled her eyes and then looked around, like she was looking for someone.
Of course, Adrien thought. She's looking for me. But Chat isn't going to show up until I can get out of this! He struggled some more, but it did no good and he started to feel hopeless.
Meanwhile, Ladybug jumped down to the courtyard, deflecting Obsessions attacks with her spinning yo-yo, and drew the villain outside into the open. For several minutes they battled in front of the school. Adrien could tell, just because he understood how Ladybug thought, that she was sizing up her enemy, learning how her power worked, and trying to figure out where the akuma was hidden.
Her eyes darted in his direction a few times, but all Adrien could do was gaze back up at her plaintively, silently begging her forgiveness for being an idiot.
Ladybug continued to dance around the villain staying just out of reach of the whipping glowing cords being flung at her. How long this went on, Adrien didn't know. But after a while Ladybug started to look like she was getting exasperated.
Eventually Obsession stopped attacking Ladybug directly and started trying to collect new victims for her collection. So Ladybug was forced to just follow her around like a parent with a child in a candy store, trying to reason with her, and blocking her from snatching up every man or teenage boy she came across.
Finally, Ladybug seemed to take decisive action. She dropped down about twenty feet away from Obsession, tossed her yo-yo into the air and shouted, "lucky charm!"
Adrien couldn't tell what the object was that her miraculous power had produced, but something small dropped into her hands. It sort of looked like...a book?
"Hey, Obsession," Ladybug called. "Do you play favorites?"
"I love all of my boys!" Obsession retorted defiantly.
"Sure, but I bet you love Adrien Agreste the most."
What? Adrien had a bad feeling about this.
Obsession balked and looked at Adrien, but said nothing.
"But he's dating someone else now, isn't he?" Ladybug continued. Obsessions fists clenched in anger. "A girl named Marinette, right? You want to know her secret? I have her diary right here." She held up the lucky charm, a well-worn, pink, heart-shaped notebook.
"What? Give it to me!" Obsession demanded.
"Well, okay, but only so I can have a break from following you around while you read it." And Ladybug tossed the book to her.
For a moment, while the notebook soared through the air, Obsession seemed to deliberate which hand she needed to use to catch it. She only had a second to decide. At the last moment she released the glowing cords in her left hand just in time to snatch the book out of the air.
As soon as she wasn't touching them anymore, the strands dissolved and Adrien, along with the rest of the men and boys, dropped to the ground, free. They scattered like ants, shouting and yelling in fear while Obsession turned on them, ready to capture them again.
But Ladybug was too fast for her. She swung her yo-yo around to intercept the glowing whip at every blow, giving them a chance to escape.
Adrien, weary from struggling with his binds, scrambled behind the nearest parked car and whispered urgently, "Plagg, claws out."
"It's about time!" The kwami griped as he swirled around. And then he vanished into the silver ring on Adrien's right hand.
Instantly Adrien's weariness vanished, the world took on strange new colors, the sounds around him intensified, and he felt the familiar leather armor encompass his body. Chat Noir leapt out from behind the parked car and perched on the hood, getting his bearings on the battle unfolding before him.
Obsession was furious, focusing her attacks on Ladybug now and ignoring the fleeing boys around her.
"Haven't we defeated her once before, already?" Chat asked. "You have cat to be kitten me right meow!" Okay, so maybe he'd laid that one on a little thick. He chuckled and leapt into action, distracting Obsession from Ladybug to give his partner a chance to breathe.
Ladybug smiled at him. "I hate to say it, but I'm really relieved to be hearing your terrible cat puns!"
Chat laughed. "They are terrible, aren't they, M'lady? Cat-astrophic even! Sorry I'm late again. I was a bit tied up." Did he really just say that? He must have an addiction to puns.
Together, they leapt up to a balcony overhanging the street, out of reach of Obsession for a moment.
"Um, so do we know where the akuma is?" Chat asked.
"Whatever it is has got to be in her right hand," Ladybug said. "And I've already used my lucky charm, so we need to act fast."
"What is it that she wants?" As if he didn't already know.
"She was collecting men and boys. But in particular she wants Adrien Agreste."
"Turned her down, did he?"
"Yes... but. But that's not all," she hesitated and looked up at Chat. She looked suddenly sad and apologetic. "Adrien recently started dating Marinette."
Chat wasn't supposed to know this already. But he couldn't pretend to be heartbroken over the news. That would be an outright lie. He just looked at her and smiled kindly. "Well, I think that Adrien Agreste has fantastic taste."
Obsession raged from the street below and started levitating herself toward them.
"Seriously? How is it that they all manage to be able to fly?" Ladybug griped. Her earrings started beeping a warning.
"Do you think you can get one more use out of that lucky charm?" Chat asked.
She looked down at the street where the notebook lay, and then back at Chat. "I've got an idea! Let her catch you, but jump into her left arm. Say you love her or something. I'll take care of the rest. Just make sure you are holding onto her left arm!"
Obsession was just coming level with them.
Chat nodded in agreement and Ladybug leapt out of the balcony toward the notebook.
He looked up at Obsession and gulped. She raised her right hand. The strange electrical noise started. And Chat leapt, catching her on her left side.
"Oh, Obsession, you're so beautiful!" he gushed. "I can't stand it. I have to be with you! You are everything I ever wanted. Please say I can stay with you forever!"
"Oh, there, there, kitty cat. Of course you belong with me," she crooned, lowering them down to the street.
"Wow, Obsession!" Ladybug called, looking at the open notebook in her hands. "Did you know that Marinette has been crushing over Adrien for years?"
"What?" The villain looked up from stroking Chat's hair and stared at her adversary.
"Yeah, apparently she collects pictures of him and puts them all over her bedroom, too. Kinda creepy, don't you think?"
Chat wondered where she was going with this. Both of those things were true. Though putting his pictures all over her room was hardly any more creepy than the way he had always stalked the Ladyblog, hoping to find new pictures of Ladybug.
"Does it say that in there?" Obsession demanded.
"And...what?" Ladybug stared at the page in mock scandalized astonishment. Then she closed her eyes and shook her head in disbelief. "I can't even... I just can't."
"What? What does it say?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you!" Ladybug tossed the book to her.
Obsession grabbed Chat tightly, as though determined to not let him go, and reached out with her right hand to catch the notebook. As she did so, a ball of crumpled black paper dropped out and landed on the ground.
In a flash, Ladybug's yo-yo shot out, the string wound around Obsession's feet, redirecting the sphere to hit the wad of paper from behind, knocking it toward Ladybug. She smashed it under her foot and the velvety black akuma fluttered out.
"Time to de-evilize!" she announced. She opened up her yoyo, swung it around, and caught the akuma, purified it, and released it with her customary, "bye, bye little butterfly."
The arm holding Chat released him, he looked over to see a very confused Chloé, dazed and shaking her head.
"What happened to me. Where am I?" She asked.
Chat put his arm around her shoulders reassuringly. "Don't worry, Miss. Bourgeois. Everything will be fine now."
"Chat Noir? Ladybug?"
"Mind if I take that?" Ladybug asked, indicating the notebook in Chloé's hand.
"Oh, my gosh! Ladybug! We need to get a picture together!" Chloé handed over the notebook and began digging in her bag for her phone. "I've got to prove to everyone that we're totally BFFs!"
Ladybug just tossed the notebook into the air and shouted, "Miraculous Ladybug!" And the glimmering, shining motes of light swarmed all around them.
Ladybug's earrings beeped again. "I need to get going. I'll see you later, Chat Noir." She cast her yo-yo and swung away.
"But wait, a picture!" Chloé called.
"Maybe next time," Chat chuckled, and he vaulted after Ladybug, catching up with her on the roof of the low building next to the school.
"Wait, Ladybug!" He called, and she turned back to him.
"Listen, Chat, I'm sorry you had to find out like that, I never meant to hurt you..."
"No, wait! Listen to me. It's...it's okay. Really. I don't want you to feel bad. Or feel like you owe me some explanation. You don't. If you would rather be with Adrien than with me... I can live with that."
Ladybug looked at him, her eyes shining with tears. Her mouth opened a little, like there was something she wanted to say, but she couldn't get it out.
Her miraculous beeped once more, then her transformation lifted. Shimmering pinkish light moved up her body and Tikki flew out of her earring. Marinette caught her exhausted kwami and lowered her gently into her purse.
"Come On. I'll help you get down," Chat said. He led her to the back of the building, extended his staff over the side, took Marinette into his arm, and lowered them both to the street below.
When their feet touched the ground, Marinette held onto him for a moment and kissed his cheek before releasing him.
"Chat, I think I must have always taken you for granted," she said quietly. Then she broke away and ran to the school, leaving Chat feeling a bit stunned.
When he got back to school, Adrien was greeted by a very angry Marinette. She was waiting for him by the classroom door with folded arms and a dark scowl. The only time he had ever seen her even remotely as furious with him was when they had first met, and she'd thought that he had been sabotaging her seat with chewing gum.
"What were you thinking, running out there like that?" She demanded.
"I, um..."
"Don't you know how dangerous these villains can be? Haven't you seen what they can do to people?"
"Yeah, I know... I just..."
"You just think that Ladybug and Chat Noir will set everything right, so you don't have to worry about it, is that it?"
Geez, she was sounding a lot like his father right now.
"You're right, Marinette. It was a stupid thing to do. I shouldn't have run out there."
The heat of her glare diminished slightly.
"I just... I saw all those people screaming and running. I wanted to help, and I got reckless," he confessed.
Her anger subsided. She looked thoughtful for a second, then rueful. "Well, you aren't the first one to ever make that mistake, I guess. But I was really worried about you."
Adrien had a difficult time paying attention in school. He wondered what Ladybug had meant when she'd said that she took him for granted. And he wondered what it meant that she had confessed to Chat that Marinette and Adrien were dating. Was she telling him that there was no chance for the two of them, because she was dating someone else? She had seemed to be sorry when she said it, was it only for Chat's supposed broken heart? Or did Marinette regret agreeing to go out with Adrien?
Adrien was also distracted by what had been interrupted by the akuma. He hadn't been planning on kissing Marinette. But he certainly would have done so if all hell hadn't broken loose behind them. And Marinette hadn't seemed opposed to the idea at all. She had been moving in for the kiss, too. And, of course, she had obviously been very worried when he went and got himself captured.
He was caught several times in his distraction by his teachers. Miss Bustier suggested that he might want to go home early after his ordeal that morning. He had, after all, been abducted by a boy-crazy evil villain. But he wanted to stay at school. Nothing sounded less appealing to him than sitting in that vast, vacant house all alone on his birthday.
When lunchtime arrived he did go home, though. A small, stubborn part of his mind still hoped that his father would make an appearance in the dining hall for lunch, at least to say happy birthday or to see if Adrien liked his third fountain pen. But only a covered dish of food greeted him when he arrived.
He ate in silence. The tapping and scraping of his utensils on the plate mixed with the ticking of the enormous grandfather clock which stood sentry against the wall behind him and echoed hollowly throughout the room.
Adrien's phone rang, making him jump a little in surprise. It was Nino.
"Hey, Nino. What is it?"
"Hey, dude! I just got a call from that Mrs. Blanc, you know, the real estate agent?"
"Yeah, what did she say?"
"Well, she said there's some other people looking at that apartment, and she thinks they are going to sign. So if we want the place, we need to hurry and sign the lease right away."
Adrien thought it was likely that this might me a tactic to force their hand, and get them to sign for the apartment before they could change their mind or find a batter place. But he also remembered how long it had taken him to find a suitable place at all within their price range, and how very much he had liked it during the tour.
"Nino, I don't have the money for it right now. I'll need to pay a visit to the bank and probably my family's attorney to make sure everything in the trust gets transferred to me. If you want to sign right now, you're going to have to foot the bill for the upfront cost until I can pay you back."
"That is totally fine with me, dude. I know you're good for it. Can you meet me at the apartment in ten minutes? We are totally doing this! I'm so psyched!"
"Sure, I'm on my way."
He grabbed his bag, chugged his water, and ran out the door. The Gorilla tried to stop him, to make him get back in the car. But Adrien didn't want his bodyguard to know where he was going. If his father found out what was going on, things might get wildly out of Adrien's control. So he hastily waved and shouted, "it's okay, I'll get there on my own!" And he made a break for it, knowing full well that this would be unacceptable to his father. He hoped The Gorilla wasn't going to be getting into trouble on his account.
The apartment they were planning on renting was several kilometers away from his father's estate, much too far away for Adrien to run there. So he ducked behind some bushes as soon as the coast was clear.
"Sorry, Plagg. I promise to give you extra cheese tonight, okay?"
"Kid, you need to get yourself a bicycle or something!"
"Claws out!"
A couple minutes later, Chat Noir dropped into the alleyway around the corner from the apartment, and Adrien walked casually out onto the sidewalk. Nino and Mrs. Blanc were already there, waiting outside the entrance to the apartment building.
"Cool, you made it! You got here fast, bro!" Nino said, noticing Adrien walking toward them.
"Yeah, let's do this!"
Mrs. Blanc took them back up into the apartment where they looked over everything again, to make sure it was all in good condition. When the boys were satisfied, she went over the terms of their agreement with them and asked if they had any questions.
"That's, um, kind of a lot to remember, though," Nino said, frowning.
"Don't worry, dear," Mrs. Blanc said, kindly. "As a tenant, you'll get this folder with all the information you need and phone numbers to call. And if you can't figure something out, you can always call me or the property manager and we can help."
"Well, okay then. Unless you have any questions, bro." Nino said to Adrien.
"You said 'yourself or the property manager', but who owns the building?" Adrien asked.
Mrs. Blanc shuffled through some of the papers and adjusted her glasses. "Ah, here it is. Yes, S. A. A. owns the building. That's a corporation, it could have shares owned by an individual or by a group of people. They won't be personally dealing with tenants, though. The management company takes care of all the business of running the building."
"That sounds fine to me, I guess. Okay, I'm ready."
Adrien and Nino signed the lease, and Nino filled out a check for the two months rent and security deposit. Mrs. Blanc handed them their keys and the folder with all the information they needed for their apartment, and then shook their hands.
They walked downstairs with her and bid her farewell.
"Dude," Nino said in awe as Mrs. Blanc drove away. "I think we actually just became roommates!"