Hey all! New chapter here!

Unrelated but I read Six of Crows (like a while ago actually but I was absent from here lol) and I've been rereading it and it's just. SO GOOD? WHO LET A BOOK BE THIS GOOD? Kaz and Inej have me soft. If you like YA books I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHHHLLLLYYY recommend SOC. It's premise is so different from the typical "special-girl-who-has-special-powers-saves-the-world-and-has-special-love-problems-on-the-side" narrative; there's like 6 main characters who have to go on a heist. I'd probably ruin it by explaining it. Aight i'm ranting now.

ANYWAYS, new chapter. I feel like it has been a while since we've seen Luka, and it will be a few chapters yet. When things pick up. :)

Marinette was practically vibrating in her seat. Tikki hadn't said anything so far, and she'd been leafing through Marinette's designs for at least ten minutes now—although it felt like hours. Every hum or eyebrow raise from her sent Marinette on edge. She had to restrain the urge to jump across the table and see what was making Tikki react the way she was. In front of Marinette, her unsipped coffee was growing cold. Tikki picked up her own sweet iced tea and took a leisurely sip before resuming her study, making Marinette want to bang her head on the table out of frustration. I wish I was a person with more patience!

Finally, at around the time Marinette felt like she was just about to explode, Tikki set the packet down and beamed at Marinette. "Those designs..." She began. Marinette sweated. What? 'Are the worst'? 'Are the ugliest things I've ever seen'? 'Make me want to never see your face again'?

"...are absolutely amazing." Marinette froze, then let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in a disbelieving, breathy laugh.

"You really think so?"

"I know a good design when I see one," Tikki said with certainty. "The range in characters, their color palettes, the variety in their shapes. Everything is top notch." Marinette couldn't believe her ears. "I know I said this already, but it'll be a pleasure working with you when you join us."

"Th...thanks," Marinette breathed. Tikki linked her hands under her chin and tilted her head, regarding Marinette keenly.

"I can tell you're nervous," she commented, causing Marinette to choke on her spit. Tikki waited for her to regain control over her breathing. Once Marinette's face was a little less like a tomato, Tikki continued, "I was like you once, too, you know. However unbelievable it may seem." Marinette stared at her with wide eyes. "All you need to focus on is creating, Marinette. Don't doubt yourself and you'll do great things."

"I—thank you," Marinette repeated. She felt like she was thanking the woman a whole lot, but didn't know what else to say in the face of such high praise from someone with such a big reputation.

"Once Adrien discharges you of your bodyguard position, you're free to come over to Character Design." At that moment their waiter came with their food. Marinette blinked upon seeing that Tikki's lunch was a slice of cake and chocolate chip cookies. Okay. To each their own. They started eating and Tikki tilted her head again, regarding Marinette in that same way. "You know, you don't look like the typical bodyguard."

Marinette laughed bashfully. "Yeah, I get that a lot. I'm on the small side."

"When I first saw you, I thought you must be trained in martial arts or something like that," Tikki said, keeping a casual tone. "But Plagg told me that you've got exceptional strength."

"H-he did?!" Marinette blanched. Did he go around telling everyone? Tikki caught her expression and quickly said, "Oh, he doesn't tell just anyone. Just me. I'm sort of... involved, you see."

Marinette tried not to gawk. What did that even mean? Involved? That simple statement sent hundreds of questions buzzing through her head at once. However, Tikki had fallen silent as she poked her fork through her cake repeatedly. Marinette fumbled with her own fork and tried to eat, but found that she was thinking too much.

What connection could the head of the department possibly have to Marinette's super-strength?

After a long silence, Tikki said, "Let's go for a walk." Marinette wasn't done with her food, but she doubted she'd have been able to stomach it anyways. Tikki had somehow finished her cake and pastry in the moments that Marinette wasn't staring at her. Marinette got the feeling that Tikki wanted to go for a walk because there were too many ears able to listen inside the cafe. But that was ridiculous—right?

She followed Tikki outside. They walked in silence for a while until they reached the same park Marinette, Sabine and Wei had sat in the night before, and they ended up sitting on the same bench, too. Marinette resisted the urge to bounce her knee as she waited for Tikki to speak. She looked conflicted about whatever she was deciding to tell Marinette... or not tell. Marinette hoped that she would speak soon, for her own sanity.

"Does the name Fu sound familiar?" Marinette froze at Tikki's sudden words. Fu. It did sound familiar. It was—

'There's a little signature down here... Fu?'

The Book of Curses. Marinette fought to keep her face neutral. For all she knew, this conversation was headed in a totally different direction. She wasn't going to go spouting off information about the Book until Tikki made it abundantly clear that she knew about it. Although, with the way things were going, Marinette wouldn't be surprised...

Tikki noted Marinette's expression. "I see you recognize it. You must know about the Book of Curses, then. Fu is the current Guardian of the Book."

Alright, so Tikki did know. Marinette decided she could freely ask away and, with a confused expression, said "Guardian?"

"Yes," Tikki nodded. "That's what the person who is supposed to take care of the book is called."

"Why does the book need to be taken care of?"

Tikki leaned back on the bench. "It's a lot more than just a collection of the first accounts of the curses. It contains important information about Undoing."

Marinette's eyes widened. "Undoing? What is that?"

Tikki pursed her lips. "It's...well. It's something that should never be done to a person, ever. The circumstances under which it can be done are extremely slim, but..." She shuddered. "It borders on torture—no, it is torture."

Marinette was more intrigued than ever, even if it sounded morbid. She leaned in. "What is it?"

"If two people both have a curse, one person's—let's call it curse energy—one person's curse energy can be transferred to the other. It leads to the transferee having an excess of curse energy, causing them to go insane at the very best and total self-destruction at the very worst. The transferor, who gets their curse energy taken out of them, dies." Marinette's face was pale from listening to the explanation. "I don't quite know the process of how undoing works. To extract that information from the book, you have to look at certain words from every chapter. It's a lot of work. What I do know is that its horrific."

There was silence again as Marinette processed that information. Insanity at best, death at worst. It sounded terrifying. It made her realize that the weight of her power went way beyond her own self. What if it was used as a medieval form of torture for the women who had curses in the past?

What if it could be used on her...?

She shuddered. Don't be stupid. There was nobody who could know how to do that, or would want to for that matter. She decided to divert the topic with a question that had been weighing on her mind.

"So how do you know all this?"

Tikki smiled for the first time in their conversation. It filled up her previously-stressed face with sunshine again. "Fu is the Guardian. I'm one of his trusted confidantes. So is Plagg."

Marinette choked and sputtered, "Plagg?!"

"Yes." Her smile turned mysterious. "He is good at keeping a secret, believe it or not."

Is it a small world, or what?

"So..." Marinette wrung her fingers. "I'm glad you told me all this, really, but... why? Is it just because I have a curse? What do I have to do with Fu?"

The smile dropped off Tikki's face. "I haven't told you the most important thing yet. Under Fu's guardianship, the Book was stolen. We've been trying to find it ever since." Tikki put a hand to her head. "This was nine years ago... so when you were fourteen."

Marinette stopped. She felt like ice was pooling in her stomach. Guardian. She hadn't even processed it, but if this man Fu was a Guardian for the Book—that meant that he had to be guarding it.

Which he could not do if Adrien currently got the book... from a safe in Gabriel's house...

"I'm surprised you remembered the Book at all," Tikki was saying, oblivious to Marinette's plight. "You must have been in your early teens when you saw it. To remember even Fu's name which is just in the introduction, that's really good memory..."

"No," Marinette hoarsely whispered, making Tikki pause. "I... I saw it for the first time a few days ago."

Tikki was blank for a few seconds, then she suddenly jerked up as if she'd thought about what Marinette had just said. Her hands found themselves on Marinette's shoulders as Tikki leaned in, staring at Marinette's horrified face with urgency. "What? Where?!"

"Adrien and I found it in his dad's house," Marinette said, her mouth slowly working around the words. It couldn't be... "Locked in a safe."

Tikki's hands fell off of Marinette's shoulders. Her mouth was slightly open. "What?"

Marinette felt like her head was going to explode. Gabriel was hiding a book in his safe. An "undoing" power could give one person's curse energy to the other. The book was stolen nine years ago.It felt like she was missing one puzzle piece. What was it? She couldn't think. It had to be connected... but she couldn't think how. Whatever it was—

"I need to tell Adrien."

…

"Wait!" Tikki's hands flew out and found themselves on Marinette's shoulders again, grounding the girl with surprising force. "Don't do that yet."

"What?" Marinette whipped her head back to face Tikki, incredulity plain as day on her face. "Why not?! He has every right to know!"

"I know he does," Tikki quickly assured her, "but just think about it. We don't have any facts down yet for sure. If we go to Adrien with all these speculations about his father, then it'll just be bound to stress him out unnecessarily."

That gave Marinette pause. Tikki was right, but... "How can we keep it from him? He's the one who has the Book of Curses right now. He wouldn't give it up to you unless he knows why he should."

"It's fine if he doesn't give it up. For now, we know that the Book is in good hands." Tikki released Marinette and crossed her arms in thought. "The first thing that needs to be done is meet up with Fu. We need to discuss this. I'm sure he'll be relieved at having the Book of Curses back again, but stealing it is no small affair." She glanced at Marinette out of the corner of her eye. "I don't suppose Adrien has any idea about why Gabriel locked it up?"

"He knows just as much as me," Marinette said. Her gut was churning uncomfortably at the thought of keeping such important information from Adrien. They were supposed to trust each other like partners. "I still think he deserves to know about this..."

"Trust me, Marinette," Tikki said reassuringly, "we definitely will let him know. Just once we get some more concrete facts down. Usually only people with curses are told about all of this, but he does have a direct connection to this whole mess. He will know." Her words only relieved the churning slightly. Marinette really didn't like keeping secrets, especially from people she cared about. However, she knew that Tikki was being perfectly reasonable, so there was no reason for her to raise a fuss. She agreed in a muted voice.

"Alright, now that that's settled." Tikki exhaled. "I wonder when we should meet up with Fu. I shouldn't spring something as big as this on him—who knows what it'll do to him in his old age—but I do want to let him know ASAP." She turned to Marinette. "What time works for you?"

Marinette blinked. "I'm going too?"

"Of course." Tikki tilted her head. "At first, the reason I was telling you all about this was because you have a curse. But now that you have such big leads on the Book, it's quite fitting that you come along too." At Marinette's constipated look, Tikki giggled. "Oh, don't worry. Fu is the least intimidating man you could imagine. How does tomorrow morning sound?" As an afterthought to herself, she tacked on, "I think he opens shop around midday..."

"Umm, yeah, that works." Marinette winced. "I'll just have to tell Adrien that... I've got an appointment."

Tikki offered her a sympathetic glance. "You know, it's really good that you're friends with your boss. Adrien is an amazing person. I'll be the one to tell him everything if you want, or even Plagg." She paused, then wrinkled her nose. "No, nevermind. Anyways, the point is, there's nothing to be worried about."

Marinette giggled a little at that. "Alright. Um... it was really great talking to you."

"You too." Tikki smiled. "It's uncanny how we're all connected to each other in one way or another."

"Yeah." Marinette couldn't help but agree. Every person she got to know in recent weeks ended up being a part of an intricate, interwoven web.

Funny how that happens.

...

"Alright, Nerezza. We're going to check your vitals now."

Lila looked over to where the nurse had just entered her hospital room and pasted a smile onto her face. She could do so now without reopening her split lip. Thanks to medical aid, stingy ointments and a whole lot of bandaids, Lila was slowly recovering.

As much as she hated her boss, he knew how to pull the right strings. She wasn't Lila Rossi—for her stay in the hospital, she was Nerezza Venturi, an Italian tourist visiting France who'd unfortunately gotten hit by a motorcycle in a busy street. It explained the point of impact where her ribs had broken, as well as the numerous scrapes and cuts along her body. Even her concussion could be explained away by the motorcycle accident from when she'd fallen and hit her head on the concrete.

Lila had fainted in her hideout shortly after receiving that kick, but when she woke up again the pain was unbearable. She'd called up her boss again and demanded a solution. A few hours later, there was a banging at the door of her hideout; when Lila dragged herself over to check, there was a fake ID waiting for her on the ground and a debit card. Infuriatingly enough, her boss provided no other assistance; Lila had to make up a cover story, and then limp over to an appropriate location in the middle of the night, all by herself, before calling the ambulance.

Well, whatever. She was here now. Lila knew hospitals could be exceptionally boring, but because of her concussion (the stupid concussion she didn't even know she had) she hadn't even been allowed to watch any TV from the screen in the top right corner. For entertainment all she had was her own mind. She also realized offhandedly that the lamb in her cell may have died by now without any food or water for a few days. Oh, bother. Now she had a corpse to deal with once she got back.

She was still busy wondering how exactly she'd be able to get the ladybug down for good. More importantly, she needed to find out why exactly the boss needed her. That super-strength was unnatural, and for the boss to want her alive—he must be thinking of making some sort of use of that strength. But Lila couldn't make sense of how he could make the Ladybug do anything he wanted. She would be able to crush him otherwise. But, if he was willing to put in all the time and effort (and money, since he had to provide for Lila) there must be some way.

There was a missing puzzle piece, she knew it. She just needed to find it somehow.

Unfortunately, when one's boss is Gabriel Agreste, there are few things they can do to get past the extreme security measures implemented around his house. Lila was no amateur at breaking into places, but Gabriel's place really was ridiculously guarded, with face-sensors and tall iron gates. It'd be near-impossible to get to any clues in there, if there were any in the first place.

She would have to sit on it. Luckily, she had all the time in the world...

"You seem like you're doing very well, Nerezza." The nurse, who'd finished checking up on Lila, smiled. "I think you can be out of here in a few days if you're lucky. We've treated all the outer problems and prescribed you pain meds for the broken rib. However, once you get discharged..." The nurse went on to explain how Lila must not strain herself or do any activities that could hinder the healing process. Lila nodded along dutifully while keeping her irritation inside. Just leave already, I get it. Or do you want to be the next lamb? The mental threat to the chattering nurse made Lila feel slightly better, even if she knew she wouldn't follow through with it. She couldn't waste time when the ladybug was so close. The first thing she'd be doing out of the hospital would be looking online for articles. Surely they would have some from the night of her failed attack...? If Lila could just get the ladybug's name, the rest would be easy pickings.

The time was coming closer and closer for Lila's full revenge.