Meanwhile, during the Phantom Thieves' latest exploits…

"Hmm… wait, what the-?"

A young man yelped as a crack of lightning, followed immediately by booming thunder, illuminated the area. When had it started storming? Was this some freaky akuma he'd ended up in the middle of somehow? Was it Aurore akumatized as Stormy Weather again? But… Stormy Weather's specialty was usually snow and ice, not just rain.

It was the only thing he could think of, brushing his long, now-drenched hair out of his face.

Well, he thought, I should start by finding shelter, but I'm not really feeling keen on going inside that building.

Further looking around, the youth's thoughts and body froze up. Hold up… am I on an island?

After a while of walking through the dense jungle, he heard someone. "Hmm? Strange… the reports said those thieves had already left by some form of teleportation…" the deep, garbled voice spoke from around the corner.

"Someone else is here…?" the boy mumbled, too shocked by the sudden change in scenery to question what he was talking about, "Oh, thank God! Maybe they have directions…"

He turned the corner and was promptly struck by something hard, knocking him onto his back.

"Looks like one got left behind…" the voice said faintly as the world faded from his vision.


For Marinette and her fellow Phantom Thieves, the day started out as normally as it could have; wake up, morning routine, breakfast, walk to school, yadda yadda yadda. Allergy season had started in Paris, and it seemed two of their classmates had caught something, as they weren't in class today.

In the middle of art class with M. Buonarroti, however, there was a slightly frantic knock on the door. Marinette detected a sense of urgency that sent her flashing back to Lila's confession. Yet, they hadn't done any heart-changings lately, whether from a single person's Palace or Mementos, so Marinette disregarded the theory.

"Come in," the art teacher said. Whoever it was, they were most likely visiting the school. Everyone knew that the art room remained unlocked during school hours, after all.

But it was Aaron Kurtzberg who stepped through the door. He looked like he hadn't gotten a good sleep last night.

"Oh, M. Kurtzberg!" Marc exclaimed, leaping from his seat where he and Nathaniel would normally make their comic books. Aaron knew of his son's relationship and was thankfully pro-LGBTQ+, so they hadn't had any problems. The Anciels, on the other hand, were learning to change their mindsets after Marc had come out to them. It helped that Nathaniel treated Marc very well.

"Good afternoon, M. Buonarroti," he greeted, "Is Nathaniel here? I know he hangs out here before and after school."

The art teacher's face morphed into concerned surprise. "No… unfortunately, I haven't seen him all day today. Is everything all right?"

Marinette and Alix stopped what they were doing so they could listen in. Both had goosebumps as they listened in anticipation.

"He didn't come back home last night, you see. He didn't answer his phone. I already called the police, but they're waiting to see if he'll still show up before they file a report. He didn't stay at your house, did he, Marc? He usually tells me if he is, but perhaps he forgot…"

"Um… no, sir," Marc said, shaking his head, "I… I actually haven't seen him since yesterday, either." The writer paused and pulled his phone out, looking through it for something before saying, "He hasn't answered any of my text messages either."

"Oh, no… oh, no…" said Aaron, beginning to outwardly shake, "What if somebody took him? What if he's d-"

"Easy, M. Kurtzberg, easy now. I don't think there's anything to be done but wait for the police to begin their investigation," M. Buonarroti said calmly, attempting to appease Nathaniel's father before they attracted an akuma, "Do you know any other places he frequents?" he said, before turning his head to Alix, "Alix, Nathaniel drops by the Louvre every so often, doesn't he?"

"He does…" Alix nodded, before looking down, "...but I didn't see him there yesterday. I could call my dad and brother to keep an eye out for him if you want."

"Please do," M. Kurtzberg started to look a little green, beads of sweat sliding down his face.

"Perhaps you could ask his mom if she's seen him?" Alya asked innocently, walking in through another door, likely having eavesdropped on the conversation.

Marinette cringed. She remembered that day a few years ago when Nathaniel had told her about his absentee mom. Aaron had always spoken so highly of her, of her kindness and love for the world; it had broken his heart when she walked out on them. The bright side for the younger Kurtzberg, at least, was that he'd been about nine months old when it happened; thus, he remembered nothing of his mother other than from his old man's stories.

"...Nathaniel doesn't have a mom," Marc informed quietly.

It was Alya's turn to cringe. "Oh… Oops… sorry, M. Kurtzberg."

Marinette then felt a tap on her shoulder; looking over, she saw Nino. "You don't think this has something to do with…?"

"It's possible..." she muttered back, her heart suddenly beginning to pound in her chest. Chancing a glance at Alix, she saw that the skater was thinking the same thing.

Before they could dwell on it any further, the bell rang for lunch break.

Sighing, M. Buonarroti ushered the students and M. Kurtzberg out. It usually took a good while to clean up any extra messes in the art room, so the art teacher liked to get on that right away.

"I hope nothing bad has happened to Nath," Nino muttered. Catching Kim's eye from across the hall, he discreetly gestured the jock to follow them.

"What'd I miss?" Kim whispered to them as they began inconspicuously (so they hoped) tailing Aaron.

"Nath didn't come home last night," Alix whispered back, "We think something involving the Metaverse may have happened to him."

"You sure?" Kim asked, before pausing, "...Then again, it's not like Nath to miss school like this. I don't think he's ever called in sick before. He's got a good immune system, and he gets his shots…"

"Despite his fear of needles…" Nino mumbled.

"Should we check this out ourselves?" Alix asked, "I mean if it ends up being a false alarm and Nath is missing in this world..."

"Then I'll transform and go look for him," Marinette reasoned. "If anything, I'll say we happened to flag me down and tipped me off. We should ask the Tokies first, though."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Kim said.

Eventually, Aaron stopped in front of Ms. Bustier's room. He hesitated before taking a deep breath and knocking on the door.

Ms. Bustier must have answered, as he nervously opened the door and slipped into the empty classroom.

"...That's weird," Alix said, noticing M. Kurtzberg's nervous face.

"What do you mean?" Nino asked.

"I think he's hiding something," she answered, "maybe with Mme. Bustier's help or something. We should listen in."

Marinette drew an eyebrow. What secret was Nathaniel's dad keeping involving Mme. Bustier? Despite that, the four of them cautiously approached Mme. Bustier's room. They had to stay low to avoid detection, so they could only listen to what the two were saying and not see any indicating gestures.

"So, what is it?" Mme. Bustier greeted, her voice almost as coolly kept as her Shadow Self's.

"Nathaniel went missing last night, and I thought you should know," M. Kurtzberg replied.

"Oh? That explains his absence earlier today…?"

"That's… that's it? No worry from you?"

"Is there anything else? I'm sorry, but I have papers to grade - your son's included. I'm sure he'll be back…"

"You're not concerned at all?" Aaron near-snarled. "He's your-"

"He is the last thing I want on my mind right now…"

"I think we should go," Marinette mumbled, eyes wide. The four scrambled away from the door before M. Kurtzberg or Mme. Bustier could notice or catch them. They headed to the locker room where the fencing team should have been finishing practice, Marinette sending a quick message to Luka to meet them at the front of the school on the way.

Entering through the door, they nearly ran headfirst into Adrien, who was about to head home too.

"Oh… hey Nino, hey Marinette," he greeted with an awkward smile.

"Hey, bro…" Nino greeted back.

A few awkward seconds of silence passed before Adrien checked his watch again; paling slightly, he scrambled out in the direction of Nathalie and the Gorilla.

"...This is starting to get old," Nino groaned as Luka came up to them.

"What's up?" the guitarist asked.

Marinette filled him in. "Nathaniel didn't show up at school today. His dad said he's missing, and we think You-Know-What has something to do with it."

Luka looked taken aback. "But we made sure we weren't followed, didn't we?"

"Followed where?" Kagami asked, finally stepping out of the locker room, fencing gear over her shoulder.

"We think we may have dragged Nathaniel into the Metaverse the other day," Alix explained. Seeing the confusion on the fencer's face, she elaborated, "Long red hair, usually wears a hoodie, drawing all the time?"

"Ah, yes," Kagami recalled, "I share homeroom with Marc, so I hear plenty about him. I really should have picked up on that sooner…"

"No worries!" Kim smiled. "Though we should definitely talk to the Tokies about this…"


Viper: Got some important news for you guys. Oracle: Eh? What's up, Luka?

King: Nathaniel's missing!

Skull: Who now?

Ryuko: A classmate of ours. He had long, red hair if you can recall.

Oracle: Oh, this guy? image

Beat: Did you hack into our school's archives or something?!

Oracle: Just to keep watch on the teachers' behavior… I did it while I was looking into Bustier's victims.

Chance: Back on topic… his dad showed up, saying he hasn't seen him. We think we accidentally took him in with us two days ago in the Metaverse.

Joker: Morgana says this is possible. Ryuji, hon, doesn't this remind you of how Ann awakened in Kamoshitbag's castle?

Skull: Don't remind me…

Chance: ...Do we want to know? Panther: Let's say no. Anyways, any other information you can give us?

Jack: We caught Nath's old man talking with Ms. Bustier. She was awful… what's the word… flippant with the news.

Beat: But more importantly, he said something about Nathaniel being her… something. We left before we could hear what.

Joker: Any other information you can give us about his family?

Chance: If it helps, Nath's mom left them when he was really young…

Skull: WHAT?! How 'effing dare she!

Panther: Skull… King: Are we missing something?

Panther: We'll tell you some other day. For now… let's just focus on saving Nathaniel…

Chance: I'm not sure whether it'll be a good thing or a bad thing if it ends up being a false alarm…

Oracle: Hey, it's better to be safe than sorry.

Queen: Sorry, just got finished with some Class President duties. Give me a few seconds to read up, please.

Viper: Oh, this should be interesting…

Queen: My… that's a problem. We'll go after you're done with school if that's okay with everyone.

Chance: Let's do it! See you all then!


"Ugh…"

Nathaniel awoke to a cold surface. He shook his aching head before looking down. It seemed he'd been laying on some sort of prison bed.

"Huh?!" he gasped once his eyes had adjusted to the darkness. Standing up and getting off the bed, he jogged towards the prison bars. Looking around, he saw nobody there.

"What the hell?!" he whispered. To his left, he spotted what looked like the door's lock. He jiggled it, but as he should have expected, it didn't so much as budge.

"You should be lucky I spared you…" a semi-familiar voice sneered, "although, who could say if you'd be better off as a hostage, you are or simply dead."

Shuddering at the last bit, Nathaniel craned his head to look and see who had spoken. He didn't have to wait long; flanked by two masked guards was…

"Mme. Bustier?!"


"I hope nothing bad's happened to the kid," Skull muttered as the Phantom Thieves landed outside the prison once again.

"Considering how long he's been in here, without a Persona, he may very well be dead…" King said, cringing at the thought.

"Nope! He's alive!" Oracle called out from inside Necronomicon. "I sense an entirely new presence around that Failure Room!"

"Let's go, then!" Jack cried, worry evident in her tone. "King, you and Nath are like brothers to me; I don't want to even think of what could happen if he… if he…"

"Relax yourself, Jack," Fox assured her, "we will save Nathaniel."

"And if need be, I have Samarecarm!" Mona piped up. The feline had never needed the revival spell before, and Joker didn't know if it could revive the dead, but one thing the team knew as they crossed the tree-bridge was that they hoped they didn't have to find out.

They had just gotten to the Failure Room when they heard voices coming from the other end of the next area.

"Why did you lock me up here?"

"This is a prison, isn't it?"

"I didn't do anything wrong, though!"

"Perhaps not, but nevertheless, it's my job to take care of my students… I guess…"

"How is this taking care of me?"

"We'd better hurry," Panther said worriedly, "He might push things too far!"

Rushing up to the door, Joker jiggled the handle of the door, only to find it locked.

"Tikki!" Chance hissed urgently. Not missing a beat, the little Kwami disappeared into the lock and opened it.

Not wasting any time, Joker kicked the door right open.

"What?!" Shadow Bustier gasped; she and her Shadow guards whipping around in surprise.

"They unlocked the door?!" one of the guards exclaimed, "How?!"

"Trade secret!" Jack winked defiantly. "Now, where's Nathaniel?"

"W-who are you all?" Nathaniel gawked, eyes wide open.

"Ugh! I should have figured you would show up…" Shadow Bustier snarled, "Boys, deal with them!"

"Yes, Warden!" the guards acknowledged before morphing into a trio of new Shadows. Similar to the Undying Romantics the Phantom Thieves had faced previously, the Prophetic Feathered Females were birdlike creatures; this time, however, they had white feathers, women's faces, sharp teeth, and no equine traits.

"What the…" Nathaniel squawked from his cell, scrambling back a little.

"You think this is enough to stop us?" Skull challenged.

"Nope!" Shadow Bustier smiled wickedly, golden eyes manic. "Just to keep you busy!"

Another being popped up behind her in a black splash. It was no ordinary Shadow, however. It looked like-

"M. Buonarroti?!" Beat gasped, dodging a swing of one of the Prophetic Feathered Females' wings. The Tokies decided to ask later, choosing to glare at Shadow Bustier for now.

"You coward!" Panther shouted.

"W-what are you going to do with me? Reunite me with M-Mom or something?"

"Jingū Kōgō! Mazionga!"

The Electric attack crashed into the Prophetic Feathered Females, forcing them to dissolve and ultimately dissipate.

"Your mother, you say? HAHAHA! You say dead as if she's passed on..."

Having cleaned off the Shadows like meat off a bone, the Thieves charged at Shadow Bustier, only to stop at her words.

"...but the truth is that I've moved onto better things than your father!"

A shocked silence swept throughout the hall.

"WHAT?!" shouted King and Skull simultaneously, the rest of the team showing similar looks of shock.

"Y… you? You're… you're my… you're my mom?"

"Did the red hair not make it obvious?" Shadow Bustier scoffed.

"Hold up a mo! Did you know Nathaniel was your son the entire time?" Jack exclaimed incredulously.

"To be honest, I only learned it when Aaron came in for a parent-teacher conference," Shadow Bustier shrugged, "Boy, was that an unpleasant surprise…"

"It makes sense…" Nathaniel breathed, turning everyone's attention to him, "Up until now, you've seemed like exactly the type of person Dad described…"

He then looked Shadow Bustier in the eye. "But why would you leave? And why didn't you mention this to me at any point?"

Shadow Bustier sighed, her face taking on a bit of remorse. "Image… is everything," she said softly, "You were never supposed to exist, Nathaniel…"

"Never supposed to exist?" Skull asked. "Wait. Are you saying he was… that you guys never planned for him?"

"No!" Shadow Bustier shouted, her words punctuated by a clap of thunder from outside. "I love your father, Nathaniel, make no mistake about that, but I can't be with him!"

"Why not?" Skull snarled. "Could you not have had an abortion or shit?"

"Contraceptives weren't as good as they are now, Skull…" Queen said softly.

"That doesn't matter!" Skull scowled, tears beginning to stream down his enraged face. "You coulda sucked it up and been there for him! You coulda been there for the person who loved you! But no… you just up-and-freakin' ditched them! What kind of shitty person does that?"

"Skull…" Joker said softly. He & Panther knew precisely why his boyfriend was taking this so badly.

"What did you mean 'image means everything'?" Fox suddenly asked, posture tense, and eyes narrowed.

"I realized how badly the world would treat me if it became known I had an accident child…" Shadow Bustier murmured, "I then deduced that if my students became famous and successful-"

"...in as many fields as possible…" Viper murmured, eyes widening.

"-that if someone did learn and spread it that nobody would care!"

Turning to Nathaniel with a look of pure vitriol, she grabbed him by the front of the neck. With a flash of light, the bars disappeared, and she pulled him up to her face.

"But now…" she grinned, her tone that of someone on the cusp of insanity, "...now I can prevent that from happening. If I get rid of you…"

"Oh, hell no!" Jack snarled, dashing forward.

"Save it, Mom," Nathaniel said quietly, tears beginning to prick his eyes. Shadow Bustier dropped him in shock, the artist landing on his knees with a thud.

"Nathaniel!" Chance cried out.

"When you revealed yourself as my mom, I thought it would be cool if this side of you didn't exist. Now I realize… it's just like it's always been…"

Looking his mother's Shadow Self directly in her eyes, Nathaniel declared, "...I never knew my mother at all!"


Looks like you've got a lot going on here…

Nathaniel suddenly let out a cry of pain. Shadow Bustier recoiled.

"Oh, hell yeah…" Skull gasped.

You've been kicked around, time and time again… you found the current truth and were disappointed… aren't you getting tired of being looked down upon the way people tend to do?

"Y-yeah," Nathaniel snarled, slowly getting on his feet, "Yeah, I am!"

You desire to change this truth, don't you? Then let us make a pact; I am thou, thou art I…

On his face, Nathaniel felt a mask appear and grasped at it, pulling on it hard. It looked similar in design to Ladybug's mask - and was even mostly red - but instead of black spots, black spike-like markings were on the edges of the mask.

We shall thrive from here on - let us see what we can whip up!

"Let's show her more than an image…" Nathaniel declared, ripping out his mask. While Shadow Bustier teleported backward to a safe distance, the cognitive form of M. Buonarroti and the Phantom Thieves merely shielded their eyes from the ensuing burst of mighty blue flame.

When the flames died down, everyone got a look at what could only be Nathaniel's Persona. He looked somewhat like Zorro in build and design, but instead of a black musketeer's outfit, he had a deep, verdant green tuxedo suit. Held between one of his arms was a large, spiky painting frame, and in his other arm's hand was a pistol. Nathaniel's new outfit was like that of a musketeer - buttoned coat, feather-adorned hat, and all. He also held a bayoneted rifle in his hands.

"...Peruggia."


"Y-you'll rebel until the end, won't you?" Shadow Bustier shrieked. Turning to Cognitive Buonarroti, she commanded, "Take them out! Ensure that the redhead dies painfully!" and teleported away in another flash of pink light.

Cognitive Buonarroti nodded, before transforming into a giant, ice-blue humanoid monster with a cloudlike beard and wearing a toga.

"FOR THE HONOR OF OUR LADY WARDEN!" the Inquisitive Titan bellowed.

"Ready to go, Nath?" Jack asked, a smirk on her face.

"Yeah! Let's go, Alix!" he grinned, before blinking. "Wait, Alix?"

"It's Jack while we're here," she said quickly, "We'll explain everything later!"

"It somewhat reminds me of that monster from Frozen…" Fox remarked, hands-on his katana, "If we weren't in a life-threatening situation, I would have loved to sketch it."

"Focus, Fox!" Mona snapped, not noticing the Inquisitive Titan's meaty fist about to squish him.

"Bufudyne!" Nathaniel cried, reacting before the rest of them could. The pointy ice sculpture attack jutted into him, forcing the Inquisitive Titan to recoil and ultimately fall on its ass.

"Man, for someone who looks like a monster, you're pretty clumsy!" Nathaniel taunted.

"Let's go, Nath!" King cheered. With that, the Phantom Thieves went in with an All-Out Attack, Nathaniel only waiting a second to realize what they were doing before joining them in tearing the Inquisitive Titan asunder.


"Oh, Nathaniel…!" M. Kurtzberg sobbed, embracing his son in a near-inescapable hug, "God, I'm so sorry this happened to you!"

"It's okay, Dad…" Nathaniel was crying, too; even with all of his newfound resolve, the past 1.5 days had still been quite the scare for the young artist.

"We're not sure if we'll find the guy who did this," Yanbian said, "But we think we scared them straight. They shouldn't bother you again."

"Thank you, everyone," M. Kurtzberg said, looking up gratefully at the assortment of heroes, "Thank you so much!"

From the side, Shadow Barb whispered to Bunnix, "He's not gonna attract any akumas, is he?"

"These are pretty positive emotions going on," Alix whispered back, "and even if it did, Ladybug's right here."

Raising his voice to address the Kurtzberg family, Kobra said, "Well, we should be going. Ladybug and I will try to stick around every so often for a few days and make sure that guy doesn't try anything again."

Before the heroes could leap away, Nathaniel looked up at them, managing to catch Ladybug mouthing We'll talk later.

As they reconvened on a building, Dragonica mumbled, "Ladybug, I still cannot believe he figured you out…"

"I can…" Bunnix grinned, "Unlike you, Yanbian, Nath's pretty freakin' smart."

"Hey! Not cool!" Yanbian indignantly pushed Bunnix lightly, "Oh, and I bet you knew who Ladybug was the day she showed up!"

"It's a good thing he only realized it after Lila's confession, though," Shadow Barb mused.

"There's no point dwelling on that, though," Kobra shrugged.

Ladybug cleared her throat, catching her teammates' attention. "Well done, guys! I think this was a successful mission."

"It's just what we gotta do, 'Bug," Bunnix shrugged.

"I'm pleased to hear you say that," Ladybug smiled at them.

A few more moments of silence passed before Shadow Barb reluctantly said, "So… we should probably give these Miraculouses back, huh?"

"Hmm… Nah," Ladybug grinned, eliciting gasps from Kobra and the other heroes.

"Ladybug… you can't mean…" Yanbian began.

"Yanbian. Shadow Barb. Dragonica. Bunnix. I think it is time to give you your Miraculouses permanently. If you accept this responsibility, you will use it for and only for the greater good. You will also understand that this can be revoked at any time if need be… although, depending on the reason you would no longer be able to use these Miraculouses, I might give you a different one."

"You can count on us, Ladybug!" Shadow Barb exclaimed with a fist-pump.

"It would be a shame to deny my future me from coming to be, wouldn't it?" Bunnix smirked, "I'm in!"

"I promise you, Ladybug," Dragonica preened, "I won't let you down!"

"Same here!" Yanbian beamed. "I guess Chat has some new guys to hang with! This is going to be awesome!"

"I'll let him know on the next patrol," Ladybug said. Tears were beginning to form in her eyes.

Those tears wouldn't be attracting any akumas, though.


AN: So, new member of the Phantom Thieves. A lot of you probably saw this coming. Peruggia was a famous art thief, best known for his theft of the Mona Lisa, which is what really made the piece as famous as it is.

R&R and see you next time!