Ladybug, Alya, and Nino found themselves resting in the basement of a random building near the Louvre. After Cat Noir had leaped at Azrael, the three ran, meeting up at the Louvre. Then, together, they hid in the basement of the first building they could find. Now, the three of them were laying on the floor, panting for breath, when suddenly all of their transformations ran out. The Kwamis were now laying on top of their respective miraculous holders, panting. They lay there for a few minutes, and then Alya looked over at Marinette, who was cradling Tikki lovingly.

"So, you've been Ladybug this entire time?" She asked her best friend, who merely nodded. "How long?" Marinette shrugged.

"Since the day we met?" She said uncertainly. "The day after? I don't really remember." She looked back to Alya, smiling. "I tried to give the miraculous to you when I first got it. You were so into superheroes, and you were so much more confident than I was. You seemed like a better candidate as Ladybug than me." She giggled. "I snuck the earrings into your bag, but then you ran off to videotape Stoneheart, and you didn't even take your bag with you. After that, I accepted my role as Ladybug." She fell silent for a moment, and then she looked way from Alya. "I'm sorry I lied to you."

"Are you kidding? This is amazing!" Alya said, sitting up. "My best friend and my hero are the same person! You've been protecting everybody all along. I looked up to you. I still do. Ladybug or Marinette, you're amazing either way."

"She's got a point." Said another voice. The girls looked at Nino, who was sprawled in a corner, Wayzz laying on his chest. When he saw the girls looking at him, he pointed to the stairs leading down to the basement. There stood Cat Noir, holding his left arm, grinning. He made his way down the steps, and collapsed onto the bottom step unceremoniously. He transformed back into Adrien, and Plagg shot out toward Marinette, who caught him with one hand. She stood up and rushed over to Adrien.

"Adrien, are you alright?" She asked the blonde boy sitting on the step. He nodded, grimacing when he moved his arms. That was when Marinette noticed the bloody gash running down his left arm. She gasped. "What happened to you?"

"I got in a lucky shot with my Cataclysm." He said. "I managed to get this." He reached into his pant pocket, and pulled out a yellow comb, with the top styled to look like a bee. Marinette stared at it for a moment, before looking at Adrien quizzically.

"What is that?" She asked. Suddenly, there was a groan, and the yellow Kwami that Marinette saw floating behind Hawk Moth before he became Azrael flew out of Adrien's pocket.

"Are you stupid or something?" The Kwami asked. Its voice was tiny and somewhat shrill, and Marinette actually found it kind of annoying. "What else could it be? Why would Azrael or whoever just have a random bee-shaped cone if it wasn't a miraculous?" Marinette huffed and gave Plagg back to Adrien.

"Well excuse me if I'm a little distracted." She said. "In case you haven't noticed, Paris is half destroyed, my parents and most of my friends are dead, and the friends I have remaining are injured, tired, and have no idea what they're doing."

"Actually, I have a pretty good idea what I'm doing." Adrien said. "I have been doing his for some time, after all."

"You don't count." Plagg said weakly. "You're a love interest."

"MY POINT," Marinette continued, "is that I'm a little preoccupied." The Kwami huffed and crossed its arms.

"Whatever." It said. "I'm Pollen."

"That means Azrael has three miraculouses left." Marinette said. "The Spider, Moth, and Peacock miraculouses."

"Yeah, and good luck getting those from him." Pollen said. "He's gone insane with anger. You won't get close enough to take the others."

"I don't need the others." Marinette said. "All I need to do is transform again. Then I can use the lucky charm and fix everything."

"But won't he just use that Rhabdophobia thing?" Nino asked. "When he used it last time, one of those balls exploded. He has seven more, so it stands to reason that he can do it seven more times."

"That's a good point." Marinette addmitted. "But if I can transform before he finds us then he won't be here to nullify it."

"Even so, you still need to transform." Adrien said. He stood up. "That means that I need to get Tikki some food. What does she like?" Marinette frowned.

"You aren't going anywhere." She said. She gestured to his bleeding arm. "Not like that." He looked at his arm, and he shrugged.

"It isn't as bad as it looks." He assured her. "I promise." Nino stood up. Wayzz flew up to his shoulder, and rested there.

"It's cool. Marinette and I can go get some food for these little duds. You and Alya should stay her and rest up." He said. Alya huffed and stood, Trixx flying up to her shoulder as well.

"Why should I stay here?" She asked. Nino pointed to a first aid kit next to where he had been laying.

"You know first aid." He said. "I don't. Besides, Marinette knows what to look for. I'll just be there to help her out." Alya sighed.

"Fine." She said. She walked over to Nino and gave him a quick kiss. "Just be careful, okay?" Nino just nodded, grinning.

"Get a room." Pollen said. Trixx growled.

"Shut up Pollen." She said. "Just because you can't land a mate doesn't mean these two can't." Pollen, face became a brighter shade of yellow.

"Excuse me?" She cried out. "I'll have you know-"

"It doesn't matter." Marinette intrrupted. "Come on Nino, we have work to do." And with that, she stepped beyond Adrien and walked up the steps, Nino following closely behind her.

LINE BREAK

After their two best friends left to get food for the Kwamis, Alya dragged Adrien over to the first-aid kit Nino had pointed out earlier, and began tending to his wound.

"So, how long have you been Cat Noir?" She asked. Adrien winced as she cleaned out his wound.

"About as long as Marinette has been Ladybug." He said. "We first met as superheroes when Stoneheart started his rampage."

"Do you like Marinette?" She suddenly asked. Adrien froze when she said than, unable to answer. He was about to say something (what it would be, he didn't know), when Pollen interrupted him.

"Who even cares?" The Kwami said. "All this talk of relationships has nothing to do with the situation."

"Pollen, I swear," Trixx growled out, "if you don't shut up, I'll drown you in a can of Raid." That threat seemed to shut the bee Kwami up, and Pollen flew over to another corner of the room. Adrien and Alya stared at the two Kwamis for a second, before Adrien asked his question.

"Do you and Pollen know each other?" He asked Trixx. The fox Kwami nodded.

"All Kwamis know each other." She explained. "I just have the bad luck to know Pollen better than most. Tikki gets to pair up with Plagg, but my partner is always Pollen."

"So, does that mean you know the spider Kwami?" Adrien asked.

"Phoo is... an interesting case." She answered after a brief pause. Alya, who had finished tending to Adrien's wound by now, turned to the Kwami and raised an eyebrow.

"How so?" She inquired, but Trixx shook her head.

"It doesn't matter now." She said. "You should return to your previous topic." She looked at Adrien. "I believe we were asking about your interest in Tikki's holder, right?" despite the situation, Adrien blushed.

"Marinette? Of course I like her. Who wouldn't?" He confessed. "She's nice, smart, funny. She's an amazing friend." Alya leaned forward.

"Yeah, but do you like her?" She asked, all serious now. "I want an answer. I know you know that she liked you, and I know you've known for awhile. I convinced Marinette that she liked Cameron. I regret that now. I just want to know if I was right to help her move on." Adrien looked down, clasping his bandaged left arm in his other arm. There was a silence, but Adrien broke it before long.

"I didn't know she liked me." He said. "Not until Cameron told me. I was oblivious, because I fell for Ladybug the first time we met. A relationship with Marinette never crossed my mind. But after I found out that she was Ladybug, I started noticing similarities that I never noticed before." He looked back up at Alya, and she could see the anguish in his eyes. "I love Marinette. I'm sure of that. But, I don't think I deserve to love her anymore." Then, unceremoniously, Alya slapped him. Adrien sat there, stunned, as the sound of the slap reverberated around the room.

"Never say that again." She said. "It's that stupid attitude that turned this entire thing into a problem in the first place. After all of this is over, you and Marinette will sit down and have a discussion. Understand?" Wordlessly, Adrien nodded. Trixx floated in front of Alya's face, staring at her in awe. Then, she smirked.

"You know something? I like your style." She told Alya, who smiled in return. Then she frowned.

"What will happen to you after all of this is over?" She asked. Trixx shrugged.

"I'll probably go back into hibernation in the necklace." She said, pointing to the necklace around Alya's neck. "And there I'll stay until a new hero is chosen." Alya felt a twinge of an emotion she had never felt before: sadness.

"What about the others?" She asked with a frown. Trixx shrugged again.

"Kwamis stay dormant in their miraculouses when they aren't partnered with a hero." Trixx explained. "Unless the Great Guardian decides to bestow the miraculouses on somebody, we'll just go dormant and wait."

"What's it like, being dormant?" Trixx floated over and sat on Alya's head.

"It's like sleeping." Trixx told her. "Dreamless sleeping. It's kind of hard to explain to a human." She stretched. "I really prefer being out here, even if it is super dangerous." The five of them then sat in silence, until Marinette, Nino, Tikki, and Wayzz walked back down the stairs, their arms full of food.

"Hey guys," Nino said, "we need to talk."

LINE BREAK

A couple minutes after Nino and Marinette, followed by their Kwamis, left the basement, they realized that the building they had hidden in was 1: a candy store, and 2: right next to a cheese shop. After acquiring the candy that they needed, the group made their way next door, and began searching for Camembert.

"Why are we looking for Camembert?" Nino said.

"That's what Plagg likes to eat." Tikki said.

"Haven't you noticed that Adrien always kind of smells like Camembert cheese?" Marinette said, browsing through a rack of cheeses.

"Now that you mention it, he does." Nino agreed, and started helping her look. After a minute of searching, Nino voiced something he had been curious about for some time. "Cameron knew that you were Ladybug, right?" At the mention of her evil boyfriend, Marinette froze.

"Yeah." She answered in a tight voice. "Why?"

"If he knew your civilian identity, why didn't he just take your miraculous when you were defenseless? Like when you were asleep or something?" Marinette's breath became shaky. She had contemplated that exact question for the previous week: why did Cameron bother to get close to her? Why not just take her earrings when she least expected it? The answers had eluded her for days. However, after confronting Azrael earlier, and watching him kill her friends, she realized why.

"He wanted to break my spirit." She said quietly. "He wanted to make sure that he had me wrapped around his little finger. A little salt in the wounds, a little fuel for the fire. He arranged it so that I gave him my miraculous, just to rub it in. He made me doubt myself, so that I would be helpless to stop this horribly stuff from happening." Tikki, who was busily munching on a bag of candy in Marinette's purse, put her treat aside for a moment, and flew up to hover in front of her holder's face.

"This isn't your fault Marinette." She consoled the blue-haired girl in front of her. "He tricked everybody, including me." She rested her tiny hand on Marinette's cheek. "You couldn't have known what would happen."

"She's right." Nino said. He patted Marinette soothingly on the back. "And besides, that's all in the past now. Regardless of how it happened, you have a chance to put things right." Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. "Why didn't he transform when he had the chance?" Marinette looked up at him, confused.

"What?" She asked, still blinking away dry tears. Nino frowned, certain that he was on the cusp of a world-shaking revelation.

"He had all the miraculouses for the better part of a week." He explained. "If all he needed was the miraculouses, why didn't he become Azrael when he had the chance? Why is he only concerned with doing it now?" Marinette frowned, realizing he was right.

"Actually, I can explain that." Wayzz said from Nino's shoulder. Everybody turned to him. "There is another requirement needed to transform into Azrael. You see, the power of Azrael was created as a last resort, in case somebody managed to use the absolute power of the ladybug and black cat miraculouses to damage the world irrevocably. Originally, The Angel of Death was only meant to be unleashed in the event that the world could no longer be saved from destruction."

"I was a way to redo things." Tikki continued. "A way to stop the end of the world. But, the creators didn't want the power of Azrael to be used for evil, so they put in a certain condition when they created the miraculouses."

"Somebody can only become Azrael when the world is on the brink of total chaos. That's why Cameron wasn't able to transform into the Angel of Death: the world wasn't close to being destroyed. However, once he gets ahold of all of the miraculouses, he will have enough power to create the conditions he needs to Reset."

"There is some good news though." Tikki said, seeing their stunned faces. "Nino was right about those balls. Those are the reason why he hasn't powered down yet. Once those balls are gone, then his five minutes will start. Plus, if he powers down, he can't ever become Azrael."

"Why not?" Marinette asked.

"Another failsafe, just in case." Wayzz answered. "If somebody has experienced the power of Azrael once, they can never transform into The Angel of Death ever again. Cameron made it to the penultimate form, which is close enough for the 'singles rule' to apply."

"That means that if we manage to get him to revert back to his civilian form, then he can never reset the world." Tikki finished. The two humans stared at their Kwamis.

"Why are you just telling us this stuff now?" Marinette said after a short pause, her tone accusatory. "Why didn't you tell us this earlier, when we actually had help?" Tikki looked to the ground, ashamed.

"Would you believe me if I told you that it slipped my mind?" She asked sheepishly.

"What?" Marinette hissed. "'It slipped your mind?' Do you have any idea how stupid that is? This is serious Tikki!" The Kwami huffed.

"I'm thousands of years old!" She exclaimed. "And in case you don't remember, I had been kidnapped by Cameron, forced to transform him into the penultimate form of The Angel of Death, and when I finally got free, we were all fixated on using the Miraculous Ladybug. Sorry if something from a couple hundred lifetimes ago slipped my mind." Marinette, ashamed, couldn't bear to look at her Kwami.

"I'm sorry Tikki." She said after a short time. "I wasn't thinking. I didn't mean to yell at you." Without thinking, the red Kwami hugged her.

"It's alright Marinette." She consoled her friend. "I understand how stressful this must be for you. You were right to be angry. I'm sorry for yelling back." Marinette smiled gently, and lightly hugged Tikki to her chest.

"I don't deserve a friend like you." She whispered. "I think I understand why Cameron was so determined to find Nooroo now." Tikki looked up at her holder's face.

"What do you mean?" She asked. Marinette chuckled weakly.

"Meeting you was one of the best things to happen to me." She responded. "You have helped me so much. You're like family to me. I love you. If Nooroo was anything to Cameron like you are for me, I can totally understand his obsession with getting him back."

"Thank you Marinette." Tikki replied. "That's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. I love you too." They stood there in silence, until Nino coughed.

"I'm, uh, sorry to interrupt, but we need to get going." He said, breaking the silence. Marinette nodded, and let Tikki go.

"Right, sorry." She said. "We need to focus. All we need is some Camembert." Without thinking, she placed her hand on a weird piece of cheese, the instant her fingers came in contact with the cheese, she recoiled and whirled on the offending dairy product.

"What the?" She mumbled, wiping her hand on her pants to rid it of the slimy feeling the cheese had given it.

"Looks like Camembert." Tikki said. "Let's take it and go, quickly." Marinette, disgusted, looked around until she found a plate, slid the Camembert onto it, and shuddered at the brief contact she had with the food.

"How can anyone stand this stuff?" She asked nobody in particular. "Adrien must have amazing fortitude." Nino couldn't help but notice the slight admiration in her voice. Despite their haste, he smiled.

"You really like Adrien, don't you?" He asked. Marinette sighed.

"I used to." She said. "But then Cameron came along, and I fell for him. I know those feelings were fake, but they're still there. I still like him." She clenched her fists. "I can't bring myself to hate him, regardless of what he's done. I can just hear him laughing at how well he managed to manipulate me. It pisses me off." Nino was shocked, because he had never heard Marinette even come close to swearing. He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, and began to lead her back to where their friends were.

"Once all of this is said and done, you and Adrien should sit down and talk things out." He told her. "I'd hate to see your friendship dissolve because of this." Marinette was quiet for a moment, and then she nodded.

"I guess you're right." She said. "But we have to get through this mess first." They made it to the staircase without incident, and they went down to meet their friends, their arms full of food.

"Hey guys," Nino said, once they could see their friends, "we need to talk."