Author's Note:

I do not own any of these characters.

"I've long suspected that Ladybug and Cat Noir are students at Adrien's school because of certain akumas that trapped the students inside and the lack of an akuma alert or any other news about it... besides the Ladyblog, of course. Now that the Peacock Miraculous has been repaired, we can use your power and my power in tandem without worrying about you getting any sicker."

"Whatever it takes. I'm sure we'll crush Ladybug and Cat Noir now that we can use both miraculouses to their full potential."

"I need for you to create another perfect sentimonster. One that looks just like an average teenage girl, but with super-strength. She'll be enrolled at school with Adrien. We'll let them get to know her and the backstory you give her. When they're comfortable around her, we'll send another akuma to trap the school and you can remote monitor the sentimonster to help find out who those pesky heroes are."

"What will we tell Adrien?"

"We'll tell him that she's a second cousin of his that he's never met. We'll say she's from Emilie's side of the family that moved to the states... and thus aren't discussed much, if any. We'll say she wanted to study abroad for a year and asked to stay with us. I agreed, provided she didn't get in the way of my work. We'll need to it be completely believable. So, go and purchase a week worth of clothes, swimwear, and anything else she'll need to blend in. Base her clothes on some ads from a state-side magazine to make her look like she came from the states."

Nathalie nodded and then exited the room. She had trouble finding some outer wear for her that looked like she'd come from the states. However, once she left the normal designer shops in Paris and went to the mall, she was able to find what she needed surprisingly easy.

While out, Adrien requested via text to spend some time with his friends. She texted back that he could, and grinned. With him being out, they wouldn't need to stage her arrival at the front gate. Nathalie looked up after texting Adrien back and saw a store selling movies. She grinned again and went in to purchase some movies that might help the sentimonster play her part.

Once she returned to the mansion, she headed into the guest suite and locked the door behind her. After all, she needed to make a realistic teenage girl that could change clothes, hit the showers after gym, eat in the cafeteria, and other normal activities. Nathalie affixed the broach to her shirt. "Duusu! Spread my feathers!" Mayura pulled a feather from the fan and turned it into an amok. She sent the amok into her tablet and then formed an average teen girl from the states. The sentimonster formed in front of her and stood at attention even though she was still without apparel.

"Sophie Grace, I am Mayura. You have just arrived from the states and will be studying abroad here in France with you second cousin, Adrien Agreste. Your father was Adrien's mother's estranged cousin because of moving to the states. You will attend school with Adrien and become friends with his friends. However, you will act somewhat shy and deflect most questions about life in the states by saying it's quite a bit different than here and not elaborating. If someone pushes you for more details, you'll up your shyness and act awkward. Here are some clothes for you to wear. Get dressed and then come downstairs to meet Adrien."

"Yes, Mayura."

Adrien returned from his outing to find his father at the top of the stairs with Nathalie standing near the office door. "Sorry father. I asked Nathalie before going out. Please don't reprimand her."

"I won't, son. But we have a visitor that arrived while you were out. Your second cousin, on your mother's side, has come to stay with us from the states as she studies abroad. I'm certain you'll be the gentleman I raised you to be and show her around at school and help her learn the ropes. Her French is very good, actually. So, I don't think there will be much of a language barrier. She's waiting in the dining room."

Adrien walked into the dining room to see a girl enjoying a quiche. She quickly wiped the crumbs from the corner of her lips and off the front of her shirt. She hopped out of her chair and rushed over. "H-Hi. You must be... Adrien? Right?"

"That's right, I'm Adrien."

"Pleased to meet you. I'm your second cousin, Sophie Grace."

"Father was right, your French is excellent."

"Father taught me from when I was a little girl. He wanted me to be able to meet the rest of the family in France one day."

"I didn't know my mother had a cousin in the states."

"Yeah..." The sentimonster tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Papa said they stopped talking to him after he moved to the states. He said there was a chance no one even knew about me."

"That's unfortunate. We'll have to make sure to make lots of good memories while you're here." Sophie smiled shyly. "School starts Monday. So, we can just hang out tomorrow, since it's Sunday. Maybe we can go out and meet some of my friends."

"I-I'd like that. I-If you don't mind... I think I'm going to get some rest after I finish this wonderful quiche. I'm really feeling the jetlag right now."

"Oh! Sure! I'll see you tomorrow then." Adrien left the dining room and retired into his room for the evening.

Gabriel and Nathalie walked over from the office after Adrien was in his room. The sentimonster stood at attention again.

"That worked quite well. Adrien didn't seem to notice at all that Mayura could see and hear your conversation. I think this is going to work out as planned."

"Thank you. May I finish my quiche? I plan on watching the movies you purchased for me tonight."

"You may. Just don't be too tired for socializing with Adrien's friends tomorrow."

"I'm a sentimonster. I do not require sleep. However, I can mimic sleeping if the need arises."

"Perfect."

As Adrien and Sophie approached the Couffaine houseboat, Sophie started acting more and more nervous. Adrien put an arm around the sentimonster and smiled, "It'll be fine. I'm sure my friends will like you."

"S-Sorry... I'm just nervous meeting new people. Funny, huh? And I'm the one who wanted to study abroad."

"It's not funny. It's extremely brave of you." Sophie smiled shyly.

As they walked across the plank, Kagami noticed them immediately. Since Adrien had his arm around her, Kagami assumed the girl was the one he had told her about... the girl that he loved. She got up and walked over to them. She held up her hand for them to not say anything. This got the attention of everyone else as they looked on with curiosity.

"I'm glad you finally got the girl you love. I won't stand in your way. Just know, I'll always be your friend... but I need some time to process this. I'll see you at fencing tomorrow." Kagami left a stunned Adrien in her wake as she left the houseboat. Everyone else, except Marinette, approached Adrien and the new girl. Marinette continued to watch from afar.

"Who's your friend?" Alya interrogated with a smirk.

"Everyone, this is Sophie Grace. She's my second cousin from the states. She's here to study abroad." Everyone nodded and said a general greeting. "Sophie, this is Alya, Nino, Luka, Juleka, Rose, Ivan, and that's Marinette over there." Adrien pointed out each person as he named them off. "Kagami is the girl that just left. Don't worry, I'll straighten it out with her later. She just assumed you were someone else."

"Hello everyone. Please forgive me if I don't remember all your names immediately. I'm pretty bad with names."

"Wow, Agreste! Your cousin's French is really good." Alya jabbed him in the arm with her elbow before pulling Sophie away. Alya led it straight to Marinette who was still looking a bit puzzled. "Marinette. This is Sophie Grace. Adrien's cousin."

That last piece of information seemed to finally penetrate Marinette's thoughts and she snapped to. "S-Sophie was it? Pleased to meet you! I'm M-M-Marinette!"

"Yes, it's Sophie. Pleased to meet you too, Marinette."

"So! You're Adrien's cousin?"

"Yes. I live in then states. I'm actually his second cousin. His mom and my dad are cousins."

"Oh! Wow! I'm sure you'll enjoy it here. How long are you going to be around?" Marinette smiled nervously at the sentimonster.

"I'm here for the school year. I wanted to study abroad for a year. I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up in your class." She looked around at everyone.

"Except for me." Luka interjected. "I'm a bit older than everyone else." He looked around to confirm. "However, I do believe everyone is in the same class."

"That's right, dudette." Nino added. "At least we were last year. We'll find out tomorrow who all is in our class this year."

"I look forward to it. I'm sure it'll be very interesting." Sophie smiled widely at the thought of completing her mission.

After getting registered, the sentimonster was led to her class. Miss Bustier stopped writing on the board when the door opened. The entire class looked over and saw Sophie smiling shyly. Adrien hopped up and ran over to her. He led her into the room and turned them to face the class. "Everyone, this is my cousin, Sophie Grace. She's here from the states to study abroad with us this year."

"Thank you, Adrien," came the female voice from behind him. "Sophie, why don't you sit here on the front row. We have a vacancy this year."

Sophie walked over and sat down next to a red-haired girl in glasses. Adrien took his seat across the aisle from her. The girl next to her held out her hand. "Hi! I'm Sabrina!"

Sophie shook her hand and smiled. "Hi, Sabrina. I'm Sophie. Pleased to meet you."

At lunch, while Sophie was getting to know everyone else, Lila was sitting on a park bench. A car pulled up behind her and the rear window rolled down. "Thank you again, Mister Agreste. Helping you brings joy to my life. Adrien's cousin from the states was in class today. I tried to make friends with her, but Adrien pulled her away and whispered in her ear. I think it's going to be an inconvenience having her hanging around Adrien."

"On the contrary, Miss Rossi. She'll be your friend. I'll talk to her personally after school. However, her job is to infiltrate Adrien's circle of friends at school... something you are no longer able to do."

"I... understand."

"Don't worry... she won't replace your value. She's just working a different angle. You can still protect Adrien from afar. She'll protect him from within."

"Yes, sir. I'm sure she'll be valuable if you're trusting her with such a delicate mission."

"She's completely invaluable."

The window rolled up and the car pulled away.

Later that evening as Gabriel and Nathalie debriefed the sentimonster's first day at school, Gabriel made it a point to bring up Lila. "There's another girl in class named Lila Rossi."

"Yes. Adrien warned me to stay away from her as she's a compulsive liar."

"Yes, she is. However, she is also one of our allies. So, you will be friendly to her, while taking anything she says with a grain of salt. You are not to try to out her lies. In fact, you should work to ensure anyone in Adrien's circle of friends doesn't try to out Lila either. She will be key in a few weeks to our plan. She cannot be kicked out of the class before then."

"Yes, sir."

After three weeks, Gabriel, Nathalie, and Sophie were certain the class was comfortable around her. "Tomorrow you'll get Lila to join you before the second period starts. You'll hide out until after everyone is in class. I will send an akuma. Lila will know what to do with the akuma. Your job is to watch for any students that sneak out of class. Mayura will be watching."

"Yes, sir. I'm sure we'll find out their identities," the sentimonster replied with an evil smirk.

At school, Sophie cornered Lila and loudly announced, "I just love that shade of lipstick! What brand is it?" Once everyone went back to ignoring them, Sophie leaned over and whispered in Lila's ear. "We need to hide out until after class starts."

Lila nodded. "Oh! I'm wearing Lip Spark by Tom Ford. He sent me this sample before it was even in stores. He wanted to know my opinion on it before he released it. I have some in my locker if you'd like to try it."

"I'd love too!" The girls walked away to Lila's locker. The warning bell sounded a minute later, and the locker room was emptied, leaving just Lila and Sophie.

A purple butterfly flew down to them. Lila gasped. "I knew it! Come here little butterfly..." Lila caught the butterfly and placed it the lipstick tube. "Hawk Moth! I am Lila. Whatcha need?"

"This is an important mission. We're going to figure out Ladybug and Cat Noir's identity today. We need you to trap everyone inside the school. Pretend Sophie broke your lipstick and use that to encase the school in an impenetrable shell around the school, with yourself inside. You'll then be able to apply lipstick to everyone, making them your slaves. You'll be known as Glossier."

"Let's do this!" A purple cloud enveloped Lila and, when it cleared, she was sporting light purple skin and sparkly pink hair. She immediately ran into the courtyard and jumped up to the roof. Holding up the lipstick tube, a barrier was placed around the school immediately. Screams could be heard coming from the various classrooms as they noticed the pink shield outside the windows.

Glossier made her way into the principal's office and announced over the closed-circuit system, "I am Glossier! Sophie didn't like my lipstick and broke it. Now I'm going to put my lipstick on everyone!"

Adrien stood up in his classroom and announced. "I've got to go protect Sophie!"

As he ran out, Marinette followed him out, announcing, "Wait Adrien! I'll help!"

Miss Bustier finally made it to the door to block any other students. She simply said, "It's safer in here. Perhaps Ladybug and Cat Noir will be able to take care of her before she gets to our classroom."

The sentimonster had taken up position behind a bench, watching all the classes along the far wall on the second level. She saw Adrien exit his class followed by Marinette. Adrien turned around when Marinette yelled out to him. He said something to her, and they started running in different directions.

Adrien hopped into a utility closet. A flash of green could be seen from behind the door and Cat Noir exited.

The sentimonster then found Marinette at the bottom of the stairs. She ran into the locker room, a pink flash was seen under the door, and Ladybug came out.

Mayura was beside herself seeing what Sophie had seen.

The fight was over rather quickly. Not that Lila wasn't formidable when akumatized, but because Hawk Moth pulled the akuma after hearing the news from Mayura.

Mayura spoke to the sentimonster, "You did well Sophie. Go back to class as if you didn't see anything concerning the heroes or their identities. We might be able to continue using your services."

"Yes, Mayura."

As Sophie left her hiding spot, Adrien ran up to her. "I was so worried. I ran out of class to look for you."

"I was hiding. I saw the purple butterfly after Lila got so mad at me and I remembered you telling me to immediately run and hide. It was scary!"

"It's okay. Ladybug and Cat Noir took care of everything. Come on back to class." As they walked, Adrien added, "This is why I tried to warn you about Lila."

"I know. I just thought she was doing it because she didn't have any real friends. I just wanted to try."

"It was very nice of you to try." Adrien smiled as he held open the door for the sentimonster.

Sophie went up to Lila who had already taken her seat. "I-I'm sorry about the lipstick. I didn't realize it meant that much to you."

"Well it did!" Lila responded harshly. "I just hope you're satisfied."

Sophie nodded. "I... understand." She turned around and took her seat.

Miss Bustier clapped her hands together to get everyone's attention. "Okay class. Everyone's back. Let's pick up where we were when the akuma interrupted class."

As class resumed, Hawk Moth and Mayura had already detransformed and were resting in Gabriel's office. "I thought I had ruled Adrien out. He must've tricked me."

"It's okay, sir. I'm sure it's quite a shock. What do you think we should do?"

"I think I have a plan."

Ladybug joined Cat Noir that evening for patrol. He was sitting alone and singing to himself as usual. She decided to sit down next to him. "I'm concerned."

"About what, My Lady?"

"About why Hawk Moth pulled his akuma today."

"It's not like it's the first time he's done it."

"I know. But with Heart Hunter, it was because he had achieved his goal of getting Chloe to flip on us."

"What about the time Marinette was expelled and we almost had to fight Scarlet Moth again?"

Ladybug looked at him in shock. "H-How did you know about that?"

Cat Noir thought for a second, before trying to cover. "Wasn't it on the Ladyblog?"

"Oh... maybe it was."

"If you didn't read about it on the Ladyblog, then how did you know about it?"

Ladybug swallowed, before she leaned away and sarcastically replied with a smirk, "I have my sources."

"Fine... But... What do you think Hawk Moth was after today?"

"I don't know. The akuma was released almost as soon as we got to Glossier. So, whatever it was, Hawk Moth must have gotten it before we confronted her."

"The only thing important that would have happened right before that would have been..."

They looked at each other in horror and answered at the same time. "... We transformed!"

Ladybug jumped up. "Quick! We need to get the miracle egg and put it someplace safe! It's in my room. If Hawk Moth knows our identities, and he knows I'm the new guardian, then that's probably what he'll go after first!"

Ladybug zipped off and made a beeline for her room. Cat Noir was hot on her trail as they approached the school. She angled a bit and flew up to the top of the bakery. Cat Noir expected her to keep going, but instead she dropped down into Marinette's room.

He got to the balcony just as Ladybug was coming back out with the miracle egg. She sat on the lounge chair and opened the miracle egg to make sure all of the miraculouses were there. Cat Noir looked between her, the miracle egg, and the trap door. Finally, he uttered it so softly it could almost not even be considered a whisper, "Marinette?"

After confirming all the miraculouses were still there, Ladybug looked back up at Cat Noir's stunned expression. "Protect the miracle egg now, talk later." She hopped up and zipped off. After a few additional seconds, he started following her.

After a few blocks, Cat Noir noticed they were being followed. He called ahead, "My Lady!" She turned and then looked at where he was pointing. She nodded and tapped one of the black dots on the miracle egg. A compartment opened to a pair of glasses. She pulled them out, placing them on her head, and causing Kaalki to appear.

"Kaalki, Tikki, Unify!" In a flash she was transformed into Lady Horse. "Voyage!" A portal opened in front of her as she ran across the roof top. Cat Noir rammed Mayura full force, sending them tumbling over the side of the building before she could run through the portal also.

By time Mayura got back on top of the roof, the portal was closed. Cat Noir landed in front of her. "Hello, Adrien!"

"So, we were right! The akuma at the school today was just to figure out our identities."

"That's right. Now hand over your miraculous and I won't have to hurt Marinette."

"Marinette can take care of herself. If I was you... I'd be worried about protecting myself!" Cat Noir lunged at her and they began to fight.

After a couple of minutes of fighting, Cat Noir was slowly edging Mayura along the rooftop when he noticed a new portal created behind Mayura a few feet. He tackled her, sending both of them through the portal before it closed.

Mayura felt like she was falling further than she expected before hitting the floor. She saw the portal close above her and threw Cat Noir off of her and into the nearest wall. As soon as she was back on her feet, she felt Ladybug's yoyo encircle her.

Cat Noir walked over to her, picking pieces of dry wall off his suit. He looked behind her, at who she knew was Marinette. "Mayura confirmed they know our identities." Cat Noir walked right up to Mayura as she struggled a few more times. "I think it's only fair to learn their identities in return." He pulled her miraculous off and then gasped in horror. "N-Nathalie?"

He threw the Peacock Miraculous over to Ladybug and she placed in inside the miracle egg. Cat Noir rummaged through Nathalie's pockets and found her cell phone. He dropped it on the table and looked at Lady Horse. "We need to relocate. Fast, and far."

"Kaalki, Tikki, Divide." A tired Kaalki emerged as Lady Horse transformed back into Ladybug. "Quick, Kaalki. Recharge. Hawk Moth probably knows where we are." Kaalki downed an apple that was sitting nearby and then nodded. "Kaalki, Tikki, Unify." Lady Horse was once again standing behind Mayura. "Voyage!" For the third time in nearly as many minutes, a portal opened. The heroes led Nathalie through it.

It closed about two seconds before Hawk Moth came crashing into the room they had just left. He looked around frantically, finally spotting Nathalie's cell phone on the table. "No!"

As soon as the portal closed behind them, Nathalie knew there was no way to track her. As she looked around, she realized that screaming for help would be useless also. They appeared to be in the basement area of some building.

"Kaalki, Tikki, Divide." Ladybug was back in a flash and preemptively feeding Kaalki, just in case.

Kaalki looked extra tired and mumbled, "I'm completely exhausted from all this unifying and dividing." Ladybug just eyed the kwami in response.

Cat Noir paced back and forth nervously. He finally turned to Nathalie. "Why?"

As stoic as ever, she answered honestly. "For you mother."

"My mother! What happened to her? You know, don't you?"

"She used the Peacock Miraculous one too many times. It was damaged."

"Was?" Ladybug asked this time.

"Hawk Moth fixed it after we got the translated grimoire from the old guardian. We've been working on a long-term project to learn your identities. Honestly, we didn't expect it to be the two of you."

"I've had quite a few shocks myself over all the reveals today. And I don't think we're finished. I'm pretty sure Ladybug still doesn't know my identity. But I know she recognizes you. I assume my father is Hawk Moth."

"He's doing it for you. For your happiness."

"How is terrorizing all of Paris, my friends included, supposed to make me happy? Not to mention keeping me locked up in my room whenever I'm not doing one of the thousands of things on my schedule. Was that to make me happy too?"

Ladybug finally whispered, "A-Adrien?"

Cat Noir looked at her and said, "Defeat Hawk Moth now, talk later." Ladybug just nodded slowly.

Cat Noir went back to pacing. After a few more rounds of silent thinking, he turned to Nathalie. "Where is my mother?"

"In the basement under the mansion."

Cat Noir looked at Ladybug and then turned around to run out of the building. Ladybug called after him to stop, to no avail.

Ladybug hid the miracle egg and then merged with Kaalki again. She dropped Nathalie off at the police station, certain she had no idea where the miracle egg was hidden. She was close enough to the mansion, so she decided to just swing over using her yoyo while Kaalki ate and rested.

As Cat Noir burst into the front of the mansion, he heard Ladybug's yoyo attach to the top of the mansion. She slid in beside him. "Nathalie's with the police and the miracle egg is hidden."

"I don't know how to get down to the basement." Cat Noir looked at her with panic on his face. "I have to find her, but I'm afraid to use my power on the floor."

Ladybug looked at Kaalki and she huffed, but nodded. She merged with her again and created a portal. They came out along the walkway. Cat Noir could see his mother in the distance, encased in a glass coffin. He ran over as fast as he could. Looking all around it, he looked back up at Ladybug who had divided from Kaalki again. "Please... we have to help her. We have to!"

"You know we can't use the wish, right? There's a terrible price to be paid for using it."

"That's exactly what I plan on doing," came a male voice from behind them. They turned and found Hawk Moth walking towards them, he had Sophie tied up and gagged. "That is, unless you want me to hurt your cousin, Adrien." The sentimonster pretended to be scared for her life.

"Release her, father. She has nothing to do with this."

Hawk Moth held her over the water beside the walkway. "I wonder how long she can hold her breath?" He dropped her in.

Ladybug dove in to retrieve her while Cat Noir attacked Hawk Moth. "I want to bring mother back too. But this is not the way to do it."

"Fool! This is the only way to do it!" The sound of metal against metal started ringing out again.

Meanwhile, under the water, Ladybug was grabbing ahold of Sophie. As soon as Ladybug had her and started swimming back to the surface, Sophie snapped the rope binding her hands and grabbed Ladybug's earrings, instantly detransforming her. The sentimonster, now the stronger of the two, held onto a shocked Marinette and pushed against the bottom of the floor, propelling them up and out of the water.

Hawk Moth smirked as he fought with Cat Noir. "One down. One to go!"

Cat Noir looked behind him to see Marinette being restrained by Sophie. "No!" The fencing stopped and Cat Noir hung his head.

"If you don't want Miss Dupain-Cheng hurt, you'll hand over your miraculous."

Marinette yelled out. "Don't do it, Cat. Not even for me."

Sophie backhanded her across her chest and sent her flying. Cat Noir left out a weak, "Sophie?" Then looked back at Hawk Moth. "She's a sentimonster, isn't she? That's how you learned our identities. You had her spying on us!"

"That's right, son. And, as I'm sure you understand, with her strength, she could tear Marinette limb from limb... quite literally." While Cat Noir's attention had turned back to Marinette, Hawk Moth hit him across the chest with his cane as hard as he could. Cat Noir went flying, he left a crater in the ceiling before falling to the floor in front of Emilie.

Cat Noir looked at him like he was full of absolute fear. Hawk Moth strolled over to him and picked up his hand. Cat Noir closed his eyes like he couldn't believe the choice he was forced to make. As soon as he touched Cat Noir's ring to take it off, Cat Noir whispered, "Cataclysm." Hawk Moth turned into ash in front of Cat Noir, his miraculous falling to the floor. Cat Noir stood up and yelled at the statue of Hawk Moth. "You're not fit to be my father! You're not fit to be anyone's father! Mother would be ashamed of what you've done!"

The sentimonster stood at attention, gag still in place. Marinette grabbed the earrings from her and ran over to Cat Noir as she placed them in her ears.

She tackled him into a hug. "I was so worried. I'm so sorry you had to do that to your father. I'm so glad you're okay."

Cat Noir held her tightly and cried into her shoulder. His whole body convulsed with sobs. "Why? Why did he force me to do that to him? Didn't he know I'd defend you without hesitating?"

"Sh. It's okay. Everything will be okay. We'll figure out how to wake up your mother. I promise."

Cat Noir continued to cry into Marinette's shoulder as Sophie approached them. Cat Noir spotted her and quickly took a defensive stance to protect Marinette. "Stop."

Sophie stopped walking. Marinette put a hand on Cat Noir's arm. "It's okay. She's not a threat anymore. There's no one left to control her. Remember the other lifelike sentimonster Mayura created before?"

Cat Noir dropped his defensive stance. "Yeah... I do." He looked at Sophie. "Where is your amok?"

Sophie removed her gag to answer. "It's in Nathalie's tablet. I can feel it. I can tell you exactly where it is and everything on it."

Marinette hopped in front of Cat Noir. "Sophie, can you access the grimoire? Did she have a copy of it on her tablet also?"

"Yes, I can."

"Is there anything in it concerning the ability to heal someone that used a damaged miraculous?"

Sophie thought for a second. "No. Only the wish can be used to change the present or the Rabbit Miraculous can be used to change the past."

Cat Noir sniffled. "Neither of those are acceptable solutions, My Lady."

"There has to be a way. There just has to be."

Cat Noir turned her around and pulled her into another tight hug. "It's okay, Bugaboo. The wish is too risky and changing the past would mean we would never meet. Neither of which I want. It'll be okay. We'll just bury her and father." Cat Noir looked back over at the ashen statue of his father. "At least we don't have to pay to cremate him."

Marinette sniffled. "This is no time for jokes..." A flash of green interrupted her train of thought as his time ran out. She looked at him as if she was looking at him for the first time. "... Adrien."

Marinette picked up the Moth Miraculous as they all walked out of the basement. Adrien turned to Sophie and asked, "So, Sophie. Do you want to keep going to school with us?"

Sophie smiled. "I think I'd like that."

"Well, the first thing is to lock up that tablet in father's safe, so something doesn't accidentally happen to it."

"Thank you, Adrien. I'm glad you won. I'm sure your father or Nathalie would have pulled my amok once they felt I could no longer help them with their plan."

"Yeah... they certainly won't be winning any parent-of-the-year awards."

Adrien looked back at his mother one last time as the elevator ascended into the mansion.

Adrien was sitting in Marinette's room and looked at her sweetly, yet nervously. "The miracle egg is safe."

"Hawk Moth has been defeated."

"Time to talk?"

"I think so, Kitty."

Adrien nodded and smiled awkwardly. "So... you're Ladybug... I never would have guessed... at least not after Kwami Buster."

"Yeah... that was an illusion to throw you off my identity. I didn't have a choice at the time, as Master Fu would have taken away our miraculouses."

"And now?"

"Now. I'm the guardian now. It's my choice."

"I see."

"Besides, you did a pretty good job of protecting your identity too with that double you must've used when your bodyguard was akumatized."

"Ah, yes. The infamous movie outing. That was the day I met Wayhem. I was able to talk him into pretending to be me. He was... a little too enthusiastic... given a very, very, large gorilla was after me."

Marinette's face fell a little. "Are things going okay with you and Kagami?"

"Kagami? Oh, I talked to her after the incident with Sophie at the houseboat. But she said it just showed how insecure she was about our relationship and that she didn't like being so insecure. She decided to move on. She said it was for the best... for her."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's okay. Truth be told... I still wasn't sure even then if I was making any progress getting over my first crush." Adrien looked at Marinette longingly. "What about you and Luka... or whoever that mystery boy is that you said you loved?"

"Luka is... nice. Luka is chill personified... most of the time. But he's under contract with Jagged Stone starting this summer since Vivica decided to not renew her contract with Jagged Stone... of her own accord this time. So, he'll be touring, and I told him I couldn't go on tour with him. He said that his touring would only increase and that perhaps it's best if we just stay friends. That, and I never really was able to move on from that boy I love."

"I see. Love... not loved. So, he still holds My Lady's heart. I hope he's treating you like the queen you deserve to be treated as."

"He's getting there. I think he's finally starting to see me as more than a friend. I don't think it'll be very long before he asks me out."

Adrien nodded. "I'm happy for you."

"What? You're not going to try to figure out who my mystery crush is?"

"You're not worried I'll stalk him as Cat Noir?"

"Not really."

"Okay, then. Who is he?"

Marinette shook her head. "Nu-uh. Not that easy. I'll give you some clues."

"Clues?"

"Or better yet, how about 20 questions?"

"Okay, Question 1: Does he go to school with us?"

"Yes."

"Question 2: Is he in any classes we have in common?"

"Yes... all of them."

"Okay." Adrien started going through the list of male students that were in the same class as he and Marinette. As the parade of faces went through his head, he slowly marked off everyone since most of the class had extracurricular activities during different periods. His face twisted in confusion until he realized he hadn't included himself on the list. "Question 3: Is his hair blond?"

"Yes."

Adrien began leaning closer to Marinette with each new question. "Green eyes?"

"Yes."

"Completely blind to your crush?"

"Perhaps not anymore."

"Does he want to kiss you right this minute?"

"It appears so."

"Do you want to kiss him right this minute?"

"Absolutely."

And with that, they closed the remaining distance, letting their lips finally collide. The future was finally theirs to enjoy.