Chapter 32: Unfortunate Odds

Chloe gazed down as Alya's still form as Fu did some strange magic stuff she didn't understand to find out what had happened to her.

After what seemed like an age, though it was only a few minutes, Fu leant back, seemingly done.

"Well, what's wrong with her?" Chloe asked in a demanding tone.

Chloe then rubbed her throat, wondering if she was coming down with something from the tightness that had appeared in it.

"I'll save the explanation for when Marinette and Nathaniel arrive." Fu said. "But for now, she appears to be in no danger and will wake on her own."

True to his word, Alya already seemed to be stirring.

Fu took the Peacock Miraculous, which he had already unpinned from Alya she they arrived, and began examining it next, leaving Chloe to watch over Alya as she woke up.

"What…?" Alya questioned as she slowly opened her eyes. "Why? Ohh…"

She tried to sit up, only to almost fall over from the sudden wave of dizziness.

"Lie back down, will you?" Chloe said. "You're going to make yourself worse like that."

Alya turned to Chloe. "What happened?" She asked.

"You passed out after you transformed back." Chloe explained. "Apparently, something to do with the Miraculous you were given."

"I did?" Alya put her hand to where her Miraculous had been pinned. "Why?"

She looked around for where her Miraculous had gone, relieved to see that Fu had it.

Chloe shrugged in response.

Alya then realised something. That Chloe was there in the first place.

"Uh, how do you know about my Miraculous?" Alya asked.

Chloe seized up, remembering that she wasn't Belle Aube anymore, and that Alya didn't know her involvement with the heroes.

"Well, you see…I'm a trusted confidant." Chloe made up. "So, I was told about the Miraculous, and about what happened to you, which is how I know-"

Alya nodded with a smirk.

She might have believed Chloe, if it wasn't clear that the girl was making up her explanation on the spot.

Then, Alya realised something.

"You're Belle Aube." She gasped.

"What? Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous." Chloe tried to deny. "How could you think that I would be someone so brave, fabulous and powerful as-okay I'm Belle Aube." Halfway through her speech, Chloe realised the lack of point to keeping her identity secret from Alya.

With Chloe's cover blown, Tikki came out from her hiding place.

"I knew it!" Alya celebrated, giving herself another dizzy spell. "I'm surrounded by heroes." She calmed down to stop the dizziness.

There was a series of loud bangs before Marinette and Nathaniel burst into the room, the redhead panting from the effort of running there while pushing Marinette's wheelchair so that she could get there faster.

"Alya, are you alright!?" Marinette immediately pushed herself over to her friend.

"I'm fine." Alya automatically answered. "I just feel sick." She then amended.

"Tikki!" Duusu had arrived with Marinette, spotting his fellow Kwami and tackling her into a hug.

"Duusu, it's good to see you again." Tikki hugged back.

Nooroo flew over to join in the hug, the three Kwami's happy to be reunited.

"What happened, Master Fu?" Marinette turned to the old man, who was still examining the Peacock Miraculous.

Fu sighed, putting the Miraculous down.

"I think it would be best if Duusu explained himself." Fu motioned to the Peacock Kwami.

Duusu noticed the attention on him and looked down in shame.

"My Miraculous is damaged." The kwami explained in the simplest of terms. "And use of a damaged Miraculous can lead to the damage being fed back to whoever uses me until it's fixed."

Duusu began crying, glitter falling from his eyes in streams.

"When did this damage occur?" Fu inquired.

"Back during the events that led to us being separated." Duusu sniffed.

"I see." Fu said. "You have been damaged for a long time."

Duusu nodded. "I didn't mean to forget." He said. "I would have said before Alya transformed, but I was so excited to finally be out, and I didn't get the time."

Fu sighed. "What done is done." He said regretfully.

"Will I be alright?" Alya asked worriedly.

"You'll be sick for a little while, dizzy spells and tiredness. But you should be able to make a full recovery." Fu explained, much to everyone's relief. "As long as you don't transform with the Peacock Miraculous again."

"But…I need to, to fight the bad guys." Alya said in disbelief.

"Further use of a damaged Miraculous will only worsen your condition, until you reach the point of no return." Fu informed gravely. "I cannot, in good conscience allow you to continue to transform now that we know the risks."

"Won't that leave us two against three against the bad guys?" Chloe pointed out.

"I'm afraid so." Fu nodded. "But we cannot risk anyone's health though using it, especially any of yours."

"Come on!" Alya exclaimed. "The heroes are going to be outnumbered without me."

"Alya, please don't risk your health." Marinette pleaded with her friend. "We'll just have to be more careful."

"Belle Aube and your Champion barely held it together today." Alya pointed out.

"That's only because those cowards stabbed me in the back." Chloe grumbled, rubbing the spot where Drone's Venom had got her.

"Yeah, we weren't prepared today." Marinette agreed. "We know what to expect now."

Alya still looked unsure.

"Mr Fu, is there anything you can do to fix the Miraculous?" Nathaniel asked. "In your books or something?"

"There may be something in the Grimoire." Fu brightened.

He went over to the tablet where he kept his scans of the Miraculous book given to him by Marinette, shifting through them in hopes of finding what they needed.

As they waited for Fu to find something, the teens talked.

"I'm sorry that this happened to you, Alya." Marinette apologised to her friend.

"Don't sweat it." Alya waved off. "You had no idea that this would happen."

Alya then had to stop talking to cough harshly.

From where he'd positioned himself at the back of the room, Nathaniel stared at Alya, gripping his arm harshly and biting his lip, before looking away.

"Ah ha!" The teens looked over to Fu as made the triumphant exclamation.

"What, did you find a fix?" Marinette asked.

"Yes." Fu said, looking over the page on his tablet. "This explains how to heal a broken Miraculous."

"Cool. So, how long until I can join the fight again?" Alya asked.

Fu hummed looking over the page. "There are a few ingredients that I'll have to work out, and the page doesn't say exactly how to use them. Oh, it must be on the next page."

Fu swiped the screen, only for the image to bounce.

"What?" Fu swiped the page and it bounced back again.

Fu then looked at his page count, finding to his horror that he was on the last page.

"No." He said.

"No?" Marinette asked. "What's wrong."

"You know that the book was not fully scanned." Fu sighed in defeat. "The scans stop in the middle of the instructions to repair a Miraculous."

"Oh no." Marinette put her hand to her mouth.

"But you have the ingredient list, right?" Chloe pointed out. "Can't you just work out how to put them together?"

Fu shook his head in response. "Have you ever tried to make a cake with only the ingredient list, no instructions on order and preparation, no temperature to set the oven?" He said.

"But a good baker could learn." Marinette took the analogy and turned it around. "My parents have taken traditional recipes with only ingredients and worked out how to make them. It's just a matter of trial and error."

Fu looked at the incomplete instructions and nodded.

"It will be a lot of trial and error though. Magical recipes and preparations can be very precise. It could take years for all we know."

"Well, we've got to try." Marinette said. "At least until we can recover the Miraculous Grimoire."

"Wait, are you talking about that book I had?" Alya asked.

Marinette and Fu nodded.

"Ah, I should have finished scanning it before giving it back to Adrien." Alya smacked her palm to her head. "And now that Adrien's gone AWOL, we can't ask for it back."

"Actually…" Marinette trailed off.

"He's here, isn't he?" Alya deadpanned.

Marinette bit her lip and nodded.

"Well, let go ask him where the book is then." Alya said, quickly moving back to the original subject.

Much to her confusion, Marinette and Fu shook their heads.

"Adrien will have given the grimoire to the one behind all this." Fu explained. "And the aftereffects of his corruption means that we cannot ask for their identity until he has fully recovered."

"Well, poo." Alya pouted.

"So, it's just going to be me and a Champion?" Chloe asked so that she fully understood the situation at hand.

"Unfortunately, it seems so." Fu said. "Who knows when we'll come across the correct method to heal the Peacock Miraculous?"

"Great, just great." Chloe huffed sarcastically and she crossed her arms.

"I'm sure you'll be able to find the right method soon." Alya said confidently. "Then I'll be back to kick ass and take names right alongside you." She said to Chloe.

"Until then. We'll have to be careful." Marinette said. "The odds are in the villains' favour, but we can pull through with planning and working together."

"How?" Chloe questioned.

"By knowing their powers." Nathaniel spoke up.

Marinette nodded.

"We already know Volpina." She said. "Drone and Serpentina are mysteries, other than knowing that Drone is under the same corruption Adrien was, and that Serpentina is highly skilled already."

"And their powers are to paralyse and a shield, right?" Alya recalled the abilities that were used.

"Basically." Nooroo agreed. "Pollen can paralyse with a sting, but wielders are limited to one sting from their trompo that lasts only a few minutes."

"But one sting is all that's needed to take your Miraculous, as almost happened today." Marinette added on.

"And Wayzz can create powerful shields that are almost unbreakable. Though, abilities like Plagg's Cataclysm, or if the wielder is weak, can cause the shield to break." Tikki added.

"I doubt that woman is weak." Chloe said, rubbing one of the areas she had been hit during the fight. "And isn't the Cat Miraculous still out of commission?"

"Unfortunately." Fu confirmed.

"Thankfully, it seems that they're still constricted to the same timer as the rest of us." Marinette said. "So, once they use their abilities, they'll either have to run or reveal their identities. Serpentina's shield will be easy enough to waste, just directing an attack at her that she'll have to summon her shield to defend against. It's Drone that'll be the issue here, especially paired with Volpina."

"The Mirage can be used to hide when Drone strikes." Nathaniel understood what Marinette meant.

"So, make sure to keep an eye on Drone and knock out Volpina's Mirage as soon as possible." Marinette advised Chloe.

"Right." Chloe agreed.

Chloe then looked at the clock that hung on the wall.

"I need to go, before I'm noticed missing." She said. "Come on, Tikki."

"Bye." Tikki said before diving into Chloe's jacket.

"See you tomorrow." Marinette said.

"Good luck." Alya said as Chloe left.

Noticing the time herself, Alya tried rising out of the bed.

"I should get going too." She said.

"Alya! You're still sick." Marinette tried to stop her.

"I'm fine, just tired. And I can be tired in my own bed." Alya dismissed.

"Still, it would be wise for you to travel home alone in your condition. Nathaniel, can you walk her home?" Fu said, turning to Nathaniel.

"Me? Uh, sure." Nathaniel said.

Nathaniel stood by Alya as she got to her feet, catching her when she stumbled.

"I'm okay. I'm okay." Alya insisted.

Nathaniel didn't look convinced as he left with Alya, keeping an eye on her in case she stumbled again.

With it just being her, Nooroo and Fu, Duusu having disappeared back into his broach at some point, Marinette let out a heavy sigh.

"This is a mess." Marinette said, pained as she hunched over in her wheelchair.

"We'll make it through." Nooroo comforted.

"The villains have three on their team while we only have two, we almost lost because of it, the Miraculous we thought would help us turns out to be broken, and I just made my friend sick by giving her a broken Miraculous." Marinette was teetering on the edge of crying.

"Marinette, you are not to blame. None of us were aware of the damage to the Peacock Miraculous." Fu told the teen.

"That doesn't change anything. It still happened." Marinette rubbed her eyes.

"Marinette. Everyone makes mistakes." Fu put a hand on Marinette's shoulder. "Believe me, I know. My mistake led to the loss of all I knew."

Fu took Nooroo gently from the air and placed the Kwami in Marinette's hands.

"But what matters is moving past those mistakes, not letting them weigh you down as you do good." He continued.

"Master Fu is right." Nooroo said. "Never lose sight of the true enemy. Pointing fingers at ourselves for mistakes only hurts us."

Marinette took a deep breath and let it out.

"Yeah, you're right." She agreed.

It would take a while for Marinette's guilt to truly go away, but she was going to move past it.

"Marinette?"

The occupants of the room startled as Adrien entered, looking slightly better than he had the previous day but still clearly unwell.

"Adrien." Marinette turned to face him, quackingly smushing Nooroo into her stomach to hide him from sight. "Should you be out of bed right now?"

"I needed to wander around for a bit." Adrien explained. "I heard Alya and others in here, but I guess that they're gone now."

"Yeah, just left." Marinette said.

Adrien just stared at Marinette for a moment.

"You don't have to hide it, I already know." He then said.

"Uh, know what?" Marinette asked, wide-eyed.

"About your Kwami." Adrien answered.

"Wha-what do you mean?" Marinette continued trying to hide.

"Marinette." Adrien stopped her. "I know that you're Lady Nymph."

"What?!" Marinette exclaimed.

In her shock, she released Nooroo from where she was hiding him.

"I see." Fu said. "And this knowledge does not hurt you?"

Adrien's brow furrowed in confusion as he shook his head.

"No. I'm fine with it." He answered, misunderstanding the meaning behind Fu's question. "I mean, it hurt a bit to find out that it's my girlfriend who's been fighting me this entire time, but I can't exactly fault you."

Looking Adrien over, Fu concluded that the lingering effects of the corruption weren't going to hurt Adrien with the knowledge of who Lady Nymph was.

Marinette sighed in relief that she wouldn't have to keep hiding from her boyfriend.

"Are you really okay with me being Lady Nymph?" She asked to be sure.

"Yeah." Adrien affirmed. "I mean it makes too much sense now that I know. You're kind, you're caring, you help others. Of course, it'd be you."

Marinette had to smile at Adrien's compliments.

"I'm just sorry that you had to find out that you were dating a villain." Adrien frowned.

Marinette sighed, preparing herself to argue with Adrien's guilt again.

"You're not a villain, Adrien." She said firmly.

"You keep saying it, but it doesn't feel true." Adrien busied himself with fiddling with things around the room.

Marinette looked to Fu for help.

"Adrien, I know the feeling of guilt all too well." Fu walked over to the boy. "No matter how much of a mistake it was, no matter how much you were manipulated, no matter how much you regret it, you still did it. You feel that you deserve to be punished, but fear that punishment at the same time. It can be suffocating."

Adrien nodded.

"But what is important is to move past it, make sure that you don't make those mistakes again. Prove to the world, and yourself, that you can be better." Fu continued.

"I…I don't know if I can." Adrien denied. "It's not like the world will let me, anyway. Everyone out there is looking to turn me into the police for what I've done."

Fu looked at Adrien with his own guilt.

If he hadn't let himself get beaten and the Miraculous' taken from him all those months ago, Adrien would never have been in this situation in the first place.

"Adrien, this is a fully optional offer, but I'd like for us to talk privately every day, to work through what's been happening." Fu offered.

They couldn't exactly get Adrien to the properly qualified therapist he needed, given the situation, but Fu hoped that he'd be enough, at least until Adrien's name was cleared and he could see a professional.

"Yeah, sure." Adrien shrugged.

Adrien looked down at his hands.

"I'm going to head back to bed, I'm feeling tired." He said.

"Bye, Adrien." Marinette called after her boyfriend as he left.

Trapesing back to the room Marinette had provided him, Adrien sat on the bed, looking up the object in his hands.

He hadn't meant to take it, but his hands had moved on their own.

Fingers tracing the small box. Adrien knew that the Black Cat Miraculous, his ring, was inside.

Yet, Adrien couldn't bring himself to open the lid, plagued by his memories if he even tried.

Eventually, Adrien slumped to the side and lay on his bed, box still in his hands as he did nothing but stare at it.

It didn't take long for the problems to start.

Volpina, Drone and Serpentina attacked in full force, creating chaos and damage to draw the heroes out.

When a pole Serpentina had cut down squashed many of Mr Ramier's pigeons, the dismay he felt at their loss and need for justice brought Lady Nymph's attention to him, and thus he became Mr Pigeon.

To say that Belle Aube was unimpressed to arrive to a ridiculously dressed man fighting the villains with a hoard of pigeons, would be an understatement.

"Seriously, a pigeon man?" Belle Aube said towards Mr Pigeon once she was close enough.

She wasn't actually addressing the Champion, knowing that Lady Nymph would be able to hear her through their connection.

"Do not doubt the power of my winged-fiends. Roo, roo." Mr Pigeon said.

Belle Aube pulled a face as she looked the man up and down.

"Okay, I'm implementing a ten feet rule." She said.

She then swung towards the villains before the Champion could say anything.

"Hm, someone seems to be missing from your little troupe" Volpina mocked as she clashed with Belle Aube.

"I'd have thought that you'd try and tough out the Peacock Miraculous for a little longer." Serpentina said as she used her shield to block the incoming pigeons. "But I guess you don't want to sacrifice too much in stopping us."

Mr Pigeon could feel his Lady's surprise through their connection but was too busy to enquire what it was about.

Drone didn't say anything, trying her best to dance in and out of the flock of attacking pigeons.

Things seemed to go well at first, all of the pigeon reinforcements doing a good job distracting the villains. They'd even managed to get Drone to waste her Venom on a random pigeon rather than either of them. And it was hard for Volpina to cast her Mirage with so many pigeons flying around that could break it.

But then Serpentina managed to sneak up on Mr Pigeon, using her Shelter ability to create a dome around them that his pigeons could not penetrate, leaving him basically powerless.

"Uh, I'm sure that we can talk about this like grown adults." Mr Pigeon realised the trouble he was in, backing away as Serpentina approached.

But just as the pigeons could not enter the magical dome, he could not leave it.

"Agh!" Mr Pigeon cried out in pain as his arm was grabbed and twisted behind him.

With her free hand, Serpentina grabbed Mr Pigeon's whistle and broke it, releasing the Tiānshǐ.

Serpentina's shield then fell, allowing the Tiānshǐ to fly away.

But the villain didn't need the magical shield anymore, as Mr Pigeon had returned to being just Mr Ramier, and his pigeons were back to being just mindless birds.

Now Belle Aube was completely on her own.

"Lucky Charm!"

A red and black spotted tube fell into her hands.

"And what does this do?" Belle Aube questioned herself.

She wasn't given time to work it out as all three villains were immediately on her, forcing her on the defensive.

After a brutal kick to her ribs from Serpentina, Belle Aube heard the tell-tale flute or Volpina summoning her Mirage but didn't get to see what the illusion would be.

When a truck came at Belle Aube, she instinctively dove out of the way, only realising as she landed that it was likely Volpina's Mirage.

But was already too late, Belle Aube had dove right into Drone and Volpina's arms, the two villains holding her tightly in place.

"Good work, girls." Serpentina clapped. "Looks like your teammate should have risked her health after all. Because now, you lose."

Serpentina then moved to take Belle Aube's earrings.

"As if I'd lose to the likes of you." Belle Aube hissed.

She then pulled something from the tube still in her hand, causing it to emit a large cloud of red smoke that obscured everything.

With the villains blinded, Belle Aube stomped on Drone's foot to get the villain to release her, then used her newly-free arm to drive her fist into Volpina's face, forcing the other villain to also release her.

Then, she ran.

When the smoke cleared, only the villains remained, Belle Aube nowhere to be seen.

"She got away." Drone said, upset.

"For now, she did." Serpentina said. "But we can see from today that it is only a matter of time until we win."

Volpina giggled, which soon turned to cackling.

"She's the one who ran this time." Volpina laughed. "She ran!"

…

"I ran! I ran!"

Marinette watched Chloe stomp around the room.

"You had to, Chloe." She said.

"But I never run!" Chloe exclaimed. "I save the day while it's the villains who run away like cowards! Ridiculous, utterly Ridiculous!"

Marinette was glad that they were having this conversation at Sanctuaire de la Dame, rather than her room. She didn't want her parents appearing to ask about why Chloe was shouting.

"It's to be expected." Fu said. "Their side has the bigger numbers. What matters is that you got away before they managed to steal your Miraculous."

"Agh!" Rather than respond, Chloe opted to just scream in frustration.

"Maybe I should keep using the Peacock after all." Alya suggested.

"Out of the question." Fu shot down.

"But Chloe almost lost today." Alya argued.

"Alya, it'll hurt you." Marinette pointed out.

"Who cares about my health if it means stopping the villains?" Alya continued to argue.

"I do!" Marinette exclaimed. "We all do. I'm not going to sit by while you kill yourself by using that Miraculous."

"And what other options do we have, to-" Alya broke off to cough, still recovering from her first use of the Peacock Miraculous.

"I'm working hard to find the right ritual." Nathaniel spoke up as he gripped his arm.

"We all are." Marinette added, calming her voice. "Please, Alya. If this is what happens to you after only one use, who knows what you'd be like after a second use?"

"We could beat them on the second use." Alya pouted, but the fight had gone out of her by now.

"With how much they run away, I doubt it." Chloe scoffed, her pride still hurt.

"Chloe's right." Marinette said. "They'll just keep running away, until you're too sick to do anything."

"Then we do something to make sure that they can't run away." Alya said. "Like you did for Catastrophe."

Marinette shook her head.

"They're not likely to fall for a trap like that again, and we also had the advantage that we knew Catastrophe's identity and that I was someone close to Adrien that he'd hesitate to attack. We don't know enough about Drone and Serpentina yet to craft a trap that we can be sure will work." She explained.

Alya groaned.

"Fine." She said, too tired to continue arguing.

Marinette sighed in relief.

"Something bothers me, though." Marinette then said. "Serpentina knew about the Peacock Miraculous being broken."

"What?" Fu said, surprised.

"Yeah, she kept bringing up. Rubbing it in." Chloe pouted.

"I am unsure as to how she would know this." Fu said. "Oiselle Bleu did not show any signs of her affliction until transforming back. Though, we have yet to understand how the Peacock Miraculous ended up in your library where Nathaniel found it, after it was lost so long ago. Perhaps she found the Peacock and learnt of its damage during the time it was lost. But she is after the Miraculous, so why would she let it be lost again for us to recover?"

Fu continued mumbling to himself, trying to work out an answer.

He felt like he was missing a large piece of the puzzle, something he knew but couldn't quite put his finger on.

The villains decided to stage their next attack at the Louvre, endangering many priceless artefacts.

Something which Jalil Kubdel was not happy about.

And thus, the Pharaoh was created to preserve his legacy and teach the villains about respecting history.

Despite being slightly less ridiculous, Belle Aube found it even harder to work with this Champion. For some reason the heroine didn't understand, she felt like having an aneurysm each time the Pharaoh called on one of the Egyptian gods for their power or started talking about his delusions over the real-life pharaoh and his wife from ancient times.

Maybe she could talk with Tikki about it later.

Still, the Pharaoh did prove to be a competent Champion.

With his help, Volpina and Serpentina were both forced to waste their powers and continue with the fight that drained their timers.

But, in the end, Drone managed to strike with her Venom after a couple of minutes waiting for an opening.

The Pharaoh was paralysed, and his item broken, turning him back into Jalil.

But that didn't mean that the heroes lost, this time.

Volpina and Serpentina were forced to bid a retreat thanks to their timers, Drone following soon after, grabbing and throwing Jalil off the Louvre to aid in her escape.

"Ha! That's right, run!" Belle Aube laughed after rescuing Jalil. "You're the ones who run! Ha, ha!"

Jalil slowly stepped away from Belle Aube as she laughed.

"If you grin any wider, your mouth's going to fall off." Chloe snarked to Alya.

Said girl was grinning wildly as she updated the Kaleidoscoop.

"You'd be grinning too if your dad helped utterly trounce the villains." Alya responded, editing in several different photos of all her father's animal forms.

Animan's shapeshifting abilities had proved rather effective against the villains, though the battle had been long and drawn out. The battle ending with both hero and Champion still standing, while the villains were forced to retreat with their tails between their legs yet again.

So, of course, Alya was extremely proud of her dad.

"We need to work on the reveal better, I don't feel like there's enough…pizazz in it." Zoe said as she and Chloe left the dance studio after their latest session.

"Yes, it needs more flourish." Chloe agreed. "And we still need to get the right music to go along with it. I don't like the track we're currently using."

They came to a stop.

"I'm already working on organising something." Zoe assured. "I want everything to be perfect for our first performance together."

Chloe found herself pulled into a brief, one-armed hug by Zoe.

Her girlfriend was very touchy-feely, not that Chloe minded at all.

A bus came to a stop in front of them and Zoe moved to get on, pulling Chloe along with her by the hand.

"Uh, what are you doing?" Chloe didn't move.

Zoe looked into the bus and then back to her girlfriend in confusion. "We're taking the bus to where that ice-cream guy has set up." She said.

"I do not take the bus." Chloe said in mild disgust.

Public transport was beneath her.

Zoe just rolled her eyes and pulled harder, successfully pulling Chloe into the bus.

Paying for the both of them, Zoe pulled Chloe to the back, despite it only being them and the driver on the bus.

"Zoe, no, ewe." Chloe complained. "I am not sitting down. Who knows what disgusting things are on those seats?"

Zoe chuckled and pulled the spare bandana she used for dance practice out of her bag, laying it down over the seat next to her so that Chloe wouldn't be sitting directly on the seat.

"Can I do anything else for her majesty?" Zoe said exaggeratingly.

Chloe huffed and sat down.

"It's adorable how petty you can be." Zoe snickered.

"I am not petty." Chloe pouted, crossing her arms.

"Oh, yes, you are." Zoe sang. "My petty princess."

She punctuated it with a kiss to Chloe's cheek.

Before Chloe could respond, there was a loud thump on the roof of the bus.

The driver then screamed as Volpina jumped onto the front of the bus, joined by Drone.

Chloe could see what they were doing from her position in the back, but whatever they did caused the bus to start going out of control.

And to make matters worse, the bus driver decided to bale, pulling the bus doors open and jumping out. And despite the lack of driver, the bus continued to speed up, only with no one behind the wheel.

"Hey!" Chloe shouted at the driver as they were abandoned.

Zoe quickly ran up to the front and leapt into the driver's seat, pulling the wheel so that the bus avoided crashing.

She then jammed her foot on the break, but it did nothing.

"Do you know how to drive?" Chloe questioned.

"I've done my theory." Zoe said, panicking.

Chloe frowned and looked towards the open bus doors.

"It's too fast for us to jump out now." She judged, looking at how fast the road whizzed past.

"So, I just have to keep this thing in control until the heroes rescue us, easy." Zoe said, jerking the wheel to the side to avoid hitting a car.

Chloe looked towards the roof of the bus, wondering if the villains were still up there, as Volpina and Drone had disappeared from the front. The villains were likely still keeping an eye on the bus either way, since it was how they were drawing out the heroes this time.

Meaning that Chloe couldn't transform without the villains learning who she was.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for Lady Nymph's chosen Champion to show up.

"Is that Jagged Stone?" Zoe questioned, squinting at the Rockstar-themed hero that appeared.

"I get to work with him?" Chloe said quietly to herself, grinning.

"What?" Zoe turned to her.

"What?" Chloe responded.

"Why would you get to work with him?" Zoe questioned, having heard what Chloe said perfectly.

"Ah…" Chloe scrambled for an excuse, looking around the bus as if it'd provide an answer. "Look out!" Her eyes landed on the Sein, which the bus was currently heading straight for.

Zoe quickly jerked the wheel, only to find it locked in place.

"Come on! Move!" Zoe cried, trying to turn the bus away from the Sein.

But the bus was locked on its destination.

And the Sein was just seconds away.

"Tikki, Spots On!"

"Huh?" Zoe turned to look at her girlfriend as there was a flash of light.

Only to be jerked out of the driver seat and pulled out of the bus all together by the person who grabbed her.

Zoe watched as the bus she was just on crashed into the water, before she came to a sudden stop and was placed on steady ground a small distance away from where the bus was now sinking.

Zoe quickly turned around to look at her saviour, finding Belle Aube staring back.

"Chloe?" Zoe immediately put two and two together.

"Oh, uh…" Belle Aube said.

There was the sound of crashing and loud music in the distance.

"Got to go save Paris." Belle Aube said, throwing out her yoyo and swinging away.

Zoe stared after her in shock.

"Chloe is Belle Aube." She said to try and understand.

Zoe then grinned.

"I'm dating Belle Aube." She squished her cheeks in happiness.

…

When Chloe detransformed, she was practically dancing.

This was her third victory in a row.

"I don't know why I was ever worried. Even with one more team member than us, I'm winning." Chloe said.

"Don't get so confident, Chloe. They could have something planned." Tikki warned.

"Or they could just be weak." Chloe responded.

Tikki sighed in annoyance. "Can you please remember that we have an issue with Zoe now." She said.

"Issue?" Chloe questioned.

"That I now know who you are." Zoe appeared from around the corner.

"Ah." Chloe said.

In the excitement of winning, she had completely forgotten that her girlfriend had been there when she transformed and worked out her identity.

"So, Belle Aube." Zoe said, walking over.

"Yeah." Chloe looked away. "You know the whole secret identity deal. I was told not to tell anyone."

Zoe turned to Tikki, who was floating unsurely.

"Hello, and who are you?" Zoe held out a finger to the Kwami.

"I'm Tikki." The Kwami introduced, shaking the finger. "Kwami of the Ladybug Miraculous."

"Is that so." Zoe said. "You're very cute."

Tikki smiled at the compliment. "Thank you." She twirled.

"And, Chloe, you're even more beautiful in that suit." Zoe turned her attention back to her girlfriend.

"Really?" Chloe asked, looking up.

"Yes, I love the way it hugs you. And it shows off your fine muscles that you keep hidden away under that jacket of yours." Zoe grabbed Chloe's upper arm.

"I do not have muscles." Chloe argued.

In her mind, muscles were large and bulky. Which she was not.

"Oh yes you do." Zoe smirked. "You could lift a real lady high. Actually, how about we add that to our dance?"

"Are you kidding?" Chloe said.

"You're right, that would throw our dance off. Maybe some other time." Zoe said.

Chloe groaned at her girlfriend's antics.

"So, you're alright with me being Belle Aube?" She then asked to be sure.

"I'm over the moon." Zoe answered. "It means that I've graduated to being the second-best looking girl in all of Paris, given that the previous second has now turned out to also be the first."

She then grinned mischievously.

"Plus, now I get to call you 'my buggie'." She said.

"No." Chloe immediately tried to shut down the embarrassing pet name.

"Yes." Zoe said. "My adorable buggie."

Chloe quickly turned red.

Tikki giggled at the scene.

"Traitor." Chloe called her as she was hugged by Zoe.

Soon, Chloe found that her happiness could not last forever.

The next target of the villains' attack was the TV centre, where Nadja was currently trying to get her TV show off the ground through interviewing Belle Aube.

And, or course, Belle Aube was all too happy to give an interview when offered.

But something that the heroine didn't take into account, the interview was broadcasting to the villains exactly where she was.

And the villains did not let the opportunity go to waste.

The doors to the studio opened and Oiselle Bleu entered.

"I heard that there was an interview going on. So, I thought I'd join." The Peacock hero said.

"Oh, please come right it." Nadja said.

She had not one, but two heroes to interview. And she would be the one to answer why the Peacock hero had only shown up once so far. Her TV spot was practically guaranteed at this point.

"What are you doing here?" Belle Aube hissed at Oiselle Bleu.

Why would Alya make herself sicker for an interview of all things?

"I just thought that the public would be owed some answers." Oiselle Bleu answered.

She sat down next to Belle Aube, arm over the back of the seat like the owned all of it.

"And you couldn't have just passed on a message?" Belle Aube did her best to phrase her question in a way that wouldn't reveal the damage of the Peacock Miraculous to the public.

"Relax, it's all fine." Oiselle Blue dismissed, lifting her hand up as if to place it on the spotted heroine's shoulder to assure her.

Thankfully, Belle Aube was able to catch on just in time, diving away just before Oiselle Bleu's fingers could close around one of her earrings.

"What's going on?" Nadja questioned.

"That's not my teammate." Belle Aube announced.

She then launched her yoyo at the imposter.

The yoyo was blocked by a flute as Oiselle Bleu was replaced by Volpina.

"Well, so much for the sneaky route." Volpina shrugged.

Serpentina and Drone quickly appeared from the shadows and began attacking.

Thankfully, Marinette had also seen the broadcast and anticipated the villain attack, so had already sent out a Tiānshǐ before the villains had even shown up.

So, as soon as Nadja had taken cover, Lady Nymph spoke to her, turning her into Prime Queen.

However, even in her element of the TV studio, the Champion did fair too well, the villains displaying far more skill than before.

"Come on, why can't I beat you." Belle Aube complained, still looking around for what her Lucky Charm was for.

"Simple. We let you win before." Serpentina answered.

"What?"

"I wanted to get a feel for how you fought. So, we didn't try very hard to beat you."

"You're just saying that to get in my head." Belle Aube refused to believe.

"Maybe. But I am beating you now." Serpentina responded.

Belle Aube tried to respond but was attacked by Volpina.

Prime Queen managed to trick Drone into following her through a screen that led to the other side of Paris, just leaving the villain there.

But when she returned to attempt the same trick, she was grabbed and thrown back into one of her screens by Serpentina.

"Annoying pest." The villain regarded.

Another screen opened and something large dropped though.

"Shelter!"

The heavy wardrobe broke on Serpentina's shield.

When Serpentina dropped her shield, a screen opened up behind her, a hand reaching for her bracelet.

"No, you don't." Serpentina spun around and grabbed the hand, yanking Prime Queen out of her screen.

Prime Queen was slammed to the ground.

Hearing a cry of pain, she found that Belle Aube was in a similar position to her, pressed up against the wall by Volpina, tangled up in her own Lucky Charm.

"It's over!" Serpentina said, breaking the Champion's object.

Thinking quickly, with the last seconds of her power, before her connection to Lady Nymph was fully broken, Prime Queen opened the screen Belle Aube was being pressed against, allowing her to fall through and get away from the villains.

"Oh, come on!" Volpina complained.

Serpentina did not look happy about Belle Aube's last-minute escape.

Picking Nadja up, Serpentina threw the woman across the room in anger, causing her to cry out in pain on landing.

"Let's go. You're about to time out." Serpentina said. "We'll pick up Drone on the way."

"What crawled up Chloe's butt and died?" Alix asked crudely as she watched a very angry and very unhappy Chloe drop into her seat.

"She's probably got a lot of stuff going on." Marinette said, like she didn't know exactly why Chloe was mad.

Chloe did not take being beaten again well.

And it didn't help that Belle Aube's second defeat had led to another argument with Alya about whether Oiselle Blue needed to return.

Things didn't seem to be going well for their exclusive group at all lately.

Adrien and Alya were still recovering from their respective damages.

Chloe didn't like being beaten.

Marinette didn't like her Champions being beaten.

And Fu, Nathaniel and Marinette were still no closer to finding out how to repair the Peacock Miraculous.

Marinette looked up the seats at Nathaniel, who was slumped over his desk, which hid the heavy bags under his eyes.

For some reason, Nathaniel was putting in a lot of work towards fixing the Peacock Miraculous. Marinette and Fu had sent him home several times already because he was so tired.

"Hey, Marinette." Kim came over.

"Yes." Marinette replied.

She knew the tone of voice Kim was using.

The tone of someone wanting something.

"Do you think that you could make me a costume of my Champion form. Heroes Day is coming up and I want to dress up for it." Kim asked. "I would pay for it." He then added on to assure Marinette that he wasn't expecting it for free.

"Sorry Kim, I'm all booked up for a while." Marinette denied. "You aren't the only person who wants to dress up as their Champion forms for Heroes Day.

"Aw." Kim hung his head, heading back to his seat.

"I told you that you should have asked weeks ago, to avoid this very issue." Max told him when his friend sat down.

Miss Bustier was mid-lecture about the necessity of being kind to others to make the world a better place when the next villain attack came.

Honestly, Lila initiated it just because she couldn't bare to listen to her teacher's saccharine view of the world anymore without laughing and throwing up at the same time.

Marinette, having a positive view of her teacher, decided that Miss Bustier would be Lady Nymph's next Champion.

That turned out to be a mistake.

"Will you just throw a punch?" Belle Aube demanded as she once again pulled Mother Goose out of the way.

"But Volpina and Drone are just minions of Serpentina, I can tell. I can get through to them." The Champion insisted.

Mother Goose could see how young Volpina and Drone were behind their masks, it was clear in how they acted and spoke, while Serpentina was much older. The older villain was just manipulating the teens, and Mother Goose was sure that she could get through to them if she kept trying.

"Mother Goose. Drone is corrupted and won't listen to you. And Volpina has never shown reluctance in being a villain. Words won't get you anywhere. You need to fight." Lady Nymph tried to convince her Champion.

"But I can't fight children who have been forced into this without trying." Mother Goose denied.

"You know what, you take care of Serpentina, I'll take care of the other two." Belle Aube said, pushing the Champion towards the elder villain.

Mother Goose faired better against Serpentina, in that she was actually willing to fight the villain, but that didn't stop her from talking.

"You need to stop this madness. You only end up hurting everyone with what you do." Mother Goose pleaded as they fought.

Serpentina laughed.

"You speak as if I care." The villainess said.

"There has to be some part of you that does." Mother Goose reasoned. "And I can help you find it."

Serpentina only laughed in the Champion's face.

"You really are serious, aren't you?" Serpentina continued to laugh.

"I am." Mother Goose affirmed.

"You know, no one's ever been serious about giving me a chance before." Serpentina dropped the laughter. "They just assume the worst. So, why not just be the worst and save the effort?"

Mother Goose's eyes glinted.

"You could still prove them wrong." She said. "I could help you. You could still be a good person."

"You really think so?" Serpentina asked.

"I do." Mother Goose said.

The Champion held out her hand.

"Let's end this now." She said.

Serpentina reached for her hand.

"Mother Goose! No!" Lady Nymph tried to warn.

Serpentina took Mother Goose's hand and squeezed in tight. The she used her other hand to grab the Champion's arm and throw her to the ground, using her shield to pin her in place.

Serpentina cackled.

"I cannot believe how stupid you are." She grinned behind her mask.

Mother Goose gasped for breath under the weight of the shield against her neck.

"A child has a better grasp of how the world works than you." Serpentina continued. "Why don't I give you a little advice from someone much wiser than you.

Serpentina removed her shield but used her foot to keep Mother Goose pinned.

"Your little view of the world, where 'everyone can change' if given a hand." Serpentina mocked Mother Goose's voice, shifting her foot to the Champion's hand. "Just. Gets. You. Stepped on."

Serpentina then applied her weight, crushing Mother Goose's hand, and her item, under her boot.

Mother Goose cried out in pain as she reverted back to Miss Bustier.

Serpentina lifted her foot and Miss Bustier immediately cradled her hand to her chest.

"Pathetic." Serpentina sneered.

The elder villainess looked over to Volpina and Drone.

Both girls were on their timers and in bad shape, but Belle Aube had disappeared despite the fact that she had obviously been beating them.

The heroine had run off as soon as Mother Goose had gone down, not wanting to take on a fully powered Serpentina and the two younger villainesses who still had some minutes on their timers.

"Let's go." Serpentina instructed.

Despite loosing Belle Aube yet again, she felt rather proud of herself and not angry at the loss.

"Okay, what's wrong."

Nathaniel lifted his head from the comic panel he was working on.

"What?" He asked tiredly.

"You're barely getting any work done and look ready to fall into a coma at any second." Marc said.

"I'm just working really hard on a project." Nathaniel explained.

"So hard that you're neglecting your health?"

"It's…got a close deadline." Nathaniel said. "I really need to get it done, for Alya."

"What do you need done for Alya?" Marc asked.

"Uh…" Nathaniel realised that he'd said the last part out loud unintentionally, thanks to his tiredness. "It's just fixing something for her. She got something, it's broken…and it hurt her a bit."

"Hurt?"

"It's, uh, hard to explain." Nathaniel said. "I can't really tell you."

"Okay, I understand." Marc said.

The two continued to work.

"Why are you guilty about it." Marc eventually asked, having noticed Nathaniel's attitude.

"I…well." Nathaniel tried to work out how to phrase it. "I was meant to have it first, so I should have been the one to get hurt. But I passed it up because I got scared, so Alya got hurt instead.

"Okay." Marc said.

They didn't really understand, since Nathaniel wasn't giving them the full picture, but they understood some of it.

"It sounds like it was just a simple mistake Nathaniel, not your fault. You shouldn't blame yourself." Marc said.

"Yeah, but that doesn't change that Alya got hurt because I was too afraid of it." Nathaniel moped.

Marc winced, they really weren't good at dealing with this sort of thing.

Nathaniel was then suddenly surprised by the back of his jacket being pulled on.

"Come with me, now!" Chloe demanded.

Nathaniel and Marc hadn't even realised she had come into the art room.

"Hey, what's you're problem?" Nathaniel complained as Chloe dragged him to an isolated corner.

"You're my problem." Chloe crossed her arms and scowled at him.

"What?" Nathaniel spluttered. "What did I do?"

"Your mopey attitude is getting on my nerves." Chloe said. "Are you really so self-absorbed that you're feeling guilt over Alya's condition?"

"Me, self-absorbed, with guilt? You're making no sense." Nathaniel bit back. "And you're one to talk."

"I'm calling you that because it's laughable that you think that you're to blame for Alya's condition." Chloe said. "As if you gave it to her knowing what would happen."

"But I still gave it to her." Nathaniel started to argue. "Marinette wanted me to have it, but I was too scared, so Alya got to be the sacrifice instead."

"And what would it have done if you did accept?" Chloe challenged. "We'd still not be able to use the Peacock Miraculous. The only difference is that you'd be sick instead of Alya, which means nothing to our current issues."

"But-" Nathaniel tried to process.

"Shut it!" Chloe ordered. "Alya's sick and you didn't take the Peacock Miraculous. You can't change what's happened. So, stop moping around like an emo tomato and get over yourself!"

With an angry huff, Chloe stormed away.

Nathaniel blinked as he watched her go.

"Sorry, Nathaniel, she's just stressed right now." Tikki appeared to apologise before flying after her wielder.

Marc came around the corner.

"What was Chloe yelling at you about?" They asked.

"Nothing. She just decided to use me to vent." Nathaniel dismissed. "You know, I'm feeling really tired. I think that I'm going to go home for a nap."

"Okay. See you later." Marc said as Nathaniel left.

…

As Marinette and Nathaniel poured over a ritual book together, Marinette took the time to look at her friend.

"You're looking better." She noted.

"Yeah, I'm feeling better too. I just needed some rest." Nathaniel responded. "Who knew that taking Chloe's advice could help?"

"What'd Chloe tell you?" Marinette inquired.

Nathaniel sighed.

"I've been feeling guilty over Alya. She wouldn't be sick if I had just accepted the Peacock when offered." He explained.

"But then you'd be sick instead of Alya." Marinette pointed out with a frown. "And we didn't know it would happen."

"I know. But I still felt guilty. Then Chloe decided to yell at me and that somehow made everything a little better." Nathaniel laughed.

"I've been told that Chloe's brand of 'helping' can sometimes be effective." Marinette said. "I'm sorry that I didn't notice that you felt that way."

"It's okay, I didn't exactly tell you." Nathaniel said. "Though, I still do have some regret over not taking the Peacock. Not making Alya sick, but that I missed my chance to be a hero."

"Well, maybe the next time we recover a Miraculous, you'll accept it." Marinette suggested.

Nathaniel hummed and shrugged.

"Maybe I won't need to because you guys will win before that." He said.

"We can hope." Marinette replied.

The two teens then went back to reading.

Silently, to herself, Marinette wondered how long the heroes could last against the odds, let alone win.

Lila smiled as she lounged on Xue Ying's sofa.

"You know, I really like winning." She said. "There's something so satisfying about watching Belle Aube run off with her coattails between her legs."

"So, I'm a good teammate?" Sabrina asked.

"A better teammate than Catastrophe, that's for sure." Lila grinned. "We always had to run away because I was partnered with him. But now I have actual teammates that don't suck."

"I'm glad that I can help." Sabrina said. "I'm sure that we'll beat the heroes in no time with our team."

"No doubt about it. It's only a matter of time now." Lila said.

Xue Ying ignored them, though felt the same sense of impending victory.

She was too busy still pouring over the Miraculous Grimoire.

And her frustration at being able to fully decipher the text was beginning to cut through her good mood.

There were several potions in the book that would provide her team with an edge against the heroes, especially Lady Nymph's various champions. And Xue Ying had managed to translate the text to tell her the ingredients and instructions.

However, whatever wise guy had written the book decided that he couldn't just be straight forward. Because none of the ingredients were actually labelled as what they were, instead given symbolic names that Xue Ying now had to work out.

It had taken a while, but Xue Ying had managed to work out the meaning behind most of the words. But one ingredient, the 'tear of joy' continued to elude her.

"Perhaps honeydew." Xue Ying pondered.

She grabbed some honeydew from her ingredients shelf and added it to the already bubbling pot, causing a small up rise of smoke.

"Wayzz! Come here and sample!" Xue Ying ordered.

"Master, please. All these potions are giving me a stomach-ache." Wayzz appeared from the teapot he now called his bed.

"Silence." Xue Ying said. "Unless you want to inform me of what the 'tear of joy' is, you will continue drinking until I find the correct ingredient."

"Kwamis are not allowed to know these potions. To protect the information from falling into the hands of the likes of you." Wayzz said.

Xue Ying frowned and shoved a spoon containing some of the potion into Wayzz's mouth.

Wayzz reluctantly gulped the mixture down.

The two of them waited for a few seconds.

"Anything?" Xue Ying inquired.

Wayzz shook his head.

"Damn!" Xue Ying scowled.

She grabbed the defective potion and poured it away.

"Perhaps there is something in the back of the book." Xue Ying grabbed the grimoire and leafed through it.

Xue Ying stopped at the back of the book, sighing when she found nothing.

Then, she took notice that the final page was heavier than all the other pages.

Closer inspection revealed that the final page was actually a couple of pages stuck together.

"Well, hello there." Xue Ying said. "What secrets are you trying to hide."

Carefully, Xue Ying pried apart the pages, taking care to not let them rip or tare in any way. Thankfully, the glue that held them together was rather weak.

Opening the new pages out, Xue Ying was met with the sight of an object drawn onto the page, presented in the same manner as the other Miraculous' in the book.

"I don't recognise this Miraculous." Xue Ying said, holding up the book.

Wayzz gasped when he saw the page.

"The Null." He said in shock before he could stop himself.

"The Null?" Xue Ying blinked, looking to her Kwami before looking back at the page. "So, it does exist after all. I thought it was just a rumour around the temple to keep us in line."

"It's just a rumour. Definitely just a rumour." Wayzz said desperately.

Xue Ying ignored him.

"The potions can wait." She said. "I need to study this."

Wayzz gulped in fear.

Author's note: Please Comment

Whoo, another long chapter.

I used to have an interest in Egyptian mythology when I was younger, watching a hoard of documentaries, so I'm pretty familiar with the Egyptian gods and the story of King Tut. Meaning that I was constantly hitting my head throughout the Pharaoh episode at how dumb Jalil was. So, I translated this into Tikki being angry at how stupid Jalil was being, considering she lived that history, and Belle Aube feeling it through the Miraculous.

And some of you might have picked up on it, but I really don't like Miss Bustier. Her attitude in Zombizou of "set and example" and "forgiveness", lecturing Marinette while doing nothing about Chloe's behaviour really made me hate her. So, I decided to let out my frustration in this chapter, where her attitude gets her taken advantage of.

And I love writing for Chloe and Zoe's relationship. I'm and Ace/Aro, so have no experience in romance and usually find the genre cringy with break-ups and misunderstanding, etc. So, the only way I know to write relationships is "these two people make each other constantly happy", with plenty of teasing, blushing and confirming their relationship. Happy relationships are the only relationships.