Alya's phone dinged, and she glanced at it. She'd just received a new email, from…
She did a double take. The "From" line on the email simply read CatNoir. That was definitely not a standard email address. The subject line read "URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT", which only made Alya more nervous.
With a suddenly-shaking finger, she opened the email to reveal a video file. Above it was written, "Hello Miss Cesaire. Please upload to the Ladyblog as soon as paw-sible."
"Guys," she said, "I think you're going to want to take a look at this." The rest of the students came crowding around her, and she pressed play.
The video opened to reveal Ladybug crouched on a rooftop, with Cat Noir nowhere to be seen.
"Citizens of Paris," Ladybug said, "I am afraid I have some bad news. Most of you will be aware by now that there was another akuma attack just minutes ago. During that attack, Hawkmoth attempted a new tactic. I'm afraid I don't have time to explain the details. While Hawkmoth was unable to take our Miraculouses, this new tactic was a sufficient surprise that the akuma in question was able to escape, and will multiply as Stoneheart's did. Please do not panic should akumas descend, we should be able to restore the victims of these secondary akumas shortly, and the trick Hawkmoth used will not work again now that we know to prepare for it."
Once again, Alya felt a curious sense of detachment. She seemed to have become somehow separated from her body, that phone and the impossible message floating as if at the end of a long dark tunnel.
"Mon dieu," Rose whispered. Alix hissed something more profane, and Mylene made an inarticulate squeaking noise.
Distantly, Alya saw her fingers moving, opening the Ladyblog and creating a new post. Long practice had let Alya get the steps to uploading a post down to a science, and within moments the video was uploaded. For a few moments longer, Alya sat there, staring down at the message of doom her blog would now convey.
There was a slight creak as the doors to the street opened, and Alya turned to see Marinette and Adrien standing in the doorway, hand in hand. With that, the detachment that had enveloped her vanished, and she sprang to her feet, relief flooding through her.
"Adrien! Marinette!" she exclaimed. "Good to see you!"
"Good to see you too, Alya," said Marinette with a smile. "So… sounds like things only got more exciting while we were out."
"No kidding!" Alix said. "So, Adrien, what's the actual deal with you and Ladybug?"
Adrien's face went model-still and Marinette blushed. Alya facepalmed. "Alix…" she groaned.
"Oh come on," Alix retorted. "We were all wondering it. I mean, if it got Old Man Agreste akumatized, there's got to be something hinky going on."
Adrien sighed. "Look, it wasn't anywhere near as dramatic as Father made it sound. Last night, Ladybug showed up at my window. I assumed there'd been another akuma, of course, but Ladybug said there wasn't one. Then she said she wanted to say goodbye to me, and before I could ask what she meant she grabbed me and… well, kissed me. And that's when Father walked in. Unfortunately, he kind of put the worst spin on things, and I don't think he really realized that Ladybug couldn't possibly know about my dating Marinette."
Alya glanced from Adrien's still professionally blank face to Marinette's still-pinkish features, then sighed.
Goddammit. I don't want to do this, my BFF's romance shouldn't be splashed across the front page like this, but after what Hawkmoth pulled I don't have any choice. Paris needs to trust Ladybug, for her sake and ours alike, and that means people need to know what actually happened.
She pulled out her phone, but before she could hit the button to start a livestream Adrien reached out and grabbed her hand.
"I don't think that's a good idea," he said. "One of the things my father and Natalie taught me about dealing with the media was that to address rumors of this sort directly only lends them more validity. I don't know exactly what Hawkmoth had you put up, but now neither does anyone else, and without the original video the tabloids will not have enough supporting evidence to keep any real stir going."
He released her hand again and gave one of his for-the-camera smiles, "I can live with a few days of rumors, until the next scandal comes along."
"Okay," Alya said, "but what about Ladybug? She's the one who really gets smeared by this, and people have got to trust her, especially now that Hawkmoth has figured out whatever he figured out that let him get one of his akumas away unpurified."
"True," Adrien said, "but the same thing applies to her as to me. Perhaps even more so. No matter what people say about her, she'll still be doing exactly what she's been doing this whole time: fighting Hawkmoth and saving Paris. Even the paparazzi will have to realize how stupid flinging mud at Ladybug while she's busy showing herself to be a hero all over again every other day will make them look."
Marinette blushed again, and Adrien pulled her into a hug. "Now come on," he said. "It's time we were back in class, and I doubt Mrs. Mendeliev will wait much longer."
As Fu carefully massaged his client's shoulders and back, long practice kept his face placid, his fingers smooth, and his chi straight and untangled as it coaxed hers into alignment. Beneath that calm surface, however, his mind was racing.
Ladybug and Cat Noir know each other's identities. And from the way they were talking, they've begun to date openly in their civilian identities. In any other circumstance, any other place and time, that would be a good thing. Those two are as well-matched as any Ladybug and Cat Noir I have heard of in the legends. They will make each other happy, and build each other up. But now? When Hawkmoth stands ready to turn their very courage and love into a weapon against them, to subvert them if they ever let down their guard? We dance on the edge of disaster.
And worse, Hawkmoth has the Peacock. If he discovers the existence of that abomination I created, if he awakens it… though I doubt he will. Without the talisman, he cannot control it any more than I could, and if it swallows the Earrings and the Ring they will be lost to Hawkmoth forever.
The bigger danger, in a way, is the curse. The fact that he hasn't used the Peacock thus far argues that he's aware of it, but in that case why use it now? Has he figured out a way to undo the damage I did while attempting to destroy my bastard creation? With the Peacock in hand and the correct knowledge, it might be possible. And if that is the case, then we may see sentimonsters backing up every strike from now on.
Too many variables, too many dangers. I have already risked more than I like, but I may need to risk further before this is done.
"Nooroo, dark wings rise!"
Natalie braced herself as the tiny lavender comet of Nooroo's power slammed into her. There was the same sense of whirling almost-vertigo she remembered from her first transformation earlier that morning, but it was accompanied by an inrush of sensation that drove her to her knees, hands coming up to clutch her masked head. Where before Nooroo's senses had shown her only a faint background shimmer of minds, dotted here and there with brilliant spikes of fear or despair or anger, now the entirety of Paris for miles around, as far as her mystical senses stretched, was ablaze with a creeping dread, the knowledge that at any moment the blow might fall on them and there was nothing they could do to ward it off. It lacked the sharp immediacy of those who were being threatened right this minute, or whose hearts had just been broken, but its sheer volume was still overwhelming. All Paris was holding its breath, waiting for the black butterflies to fall.
Better not disappoint them, Natalie thought. She reached out along the link to Gabriel's akuma, and ordered it to multiply. Instantly, she felt her perspective fragment, the link multiplying a hundredfold. She focused, directing the butterflies to fall on Paris. She tried her best to steer them clear of St. Francis-Dupont, though. Adrien and Marinette seemed to have returned to the school, and the last thing she wanted to do was catch either of them in the crossfire.
She felt the slow dread spike into terror all across Paris as the butterflies descended. The akumas honed in on that very terror, like regular moths would be drawn to flames. Natalie felt one of the connections shift, the akuma latching onto a host. Then more connections changed, link after link going dormant in a rapid rush. Soon, only a single link remained. Concentrating, she willed the original akuma back to her. She was suddenly aware of how exhausted she felt. After straining her spirit to conjure a sentimonster, even the normally manageable strain of channeling Nooroo's magic would be difficult and dangerous until her soul recovered.
The prime akuma came fluttering back through the window, and with a final surge of focus she willed it into the storage compartment at the top of the staff. With a flash of darkness it vanished inside the etched amethyst dome, folding its wings back and settling down.
Natalie carefully laid down on the blanket she'd set out earlier. "Dark wings fall," she whispered. She felt herself collapsing inwards, her perspective shrinking back into her own head, and a wave of exhaustion slammed into her. It wasn't as bad as the shock from releasing Duusuu's powers earlier, but it was still enough that she wasn't sure she'd have been able to keep her feet if she'd been standing up.
Good thing I put this blanket here, she thought through a mind that felt like it was stuffed with raw cotton. I'm just gonna…
Darkness took her, and she knew no more.