Written by: Rosehealer02

Betas: Agrestebug

Cover art credit: (me) Rosehealer02 on Deviantart.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by (c) Thomas Astruc; TS1 Bouygues, Disney Channel, Zagtoon, Toei Animation. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended

Adrien walked into the classroom, upbeat and in a good mood. There is a reason for that, the day before was his fifteenth birthday. Nino had managed to help him sneak out of the mansion and have a secret party to celebrate his birthday. The party took place on the Liberty, Luka and Kitty Section whipped up the music to liven up the party. He received several presents from his classmates who attended. For some reason, out of all his presents, his favorite was Marinette's handmade black blazer that had a small Ladybug and Chat Noir themed emblem on the blazer pocket surface.

He is wearing it today, showing off Marinette's talent with pride. He sat down next to his desk mate, exchanging a fist bump with Nino. "Good morning, bro."

"Good morning, bro. I see you're wearing your present already." Nino grinned with a bit of a smugness.

Adrien grinned, "How could I not wear it? I love it!"

Marinette as usual sat behind her crush, blushing when heard Adrien said that without hesitation. Alya elbowed her a little, whispering teasingly, "I wonder if he will wear it everyday."

Marinette blushed even redder, whispering back, "I don't know, but I am happy that he loves it. That's enough for me." She smiled, watching Adrien talk animatedly with Nino. She had come to term when she realized after the New York trip that she would never stop loving him. In fact, she doesn't mind because seeing him smile and be happy is all that matters to her, even if they could never be together.

As soon as class started, the Akuma Alert went off. Marinette sighed with annoyance, typical of Papillon, never respecting the fact that heroes are teenagers and still attend school. Alya escaped quicker than anyone could say 'LadyBlog', as usual it was a perfect excuse for Marinette to use. It was easy to claim that she had to go after Alya to keep her out of danger.

Adrien used the same excuse that his father wanted him home for security whenever there's Akuma attacks. He left the classroom and went to the men's washroom. Marinette went to the ladies' washroom. When the coast was clear, they transformed and headed to the battlefield.

They arrived at the scene, and Chat Noir greeted her. "M'Lady, good day for battle, isn't it?"

A small smile tugged at her lips, but she glanced at him with a deadpan expression. "Let's see what we are dealing with." She said as she took a look at Akuma that Papillon sent today.

Ever since they returned from the New York trip, Papillon had become bolder and bolder in his akuma attacks. Half of the time, those akuma are deadlier than usual. Was he getting more desperate? Or had he had a change of heart and turned heart colder? Either way, it was pain in arse for both heroes to deal with.

Chat Noir groaned, "It seems he also sent a Sentimonster today." He told his partner when he spotted one accompanying Akuma.

Ladybug studies both foes, and looks grim, "Look like it may be hard once again."

"Ladybug and Chat Noir! Come out! I have a surprise for you!" The Akuma shouted, searching for the heroes. The akuma looked a bit too colorful, like a poker card player wearing some sort of Robin Hood outfit. He was shooting out arrows with a playing card for an arrowhead. Whenever the arrow hit a target, it had a varying result for each one. One turned stone, one turned into a sheep, one was forced to walk backward, and etc.

Chat Noir winced when one target that got hit, turned into a toddler. "It seems his power is some sort of unpredictable."

Ladybug pursed her lips into a thin line, "I hate that kind of Akuma." She glanced at the sentimonster next to the Akuma. It appeared to be the body of a lion with a human-like face, leathery wings and scorpion tail. She asked her partner, "What do you think that supposed to be?"

Chat Noir narrowed his eyes, rubbing his chin with his black spandex glove, "Huh, if I don't know any better, I'd say it resembles the mythical creature known as a Manticore."

Ladybug shuddered, "I don't like the sound of that. Let's end this quickly." They leaped into the battlefield.

Chat Noir shouted to distract the Akuma, "Hey Robin Hood! The pants aren't tight enough for you?" He mocked.

"I am the Wild Card!" The Akuma glared at the black clad hero, taking out the arrows and began shooting at him. Chat Noir dodged and cartwheeled out of the way, making sure the akuma was focused on him.

Ladybug was able to stay out of Wild Card's sight, her eyes darted around the akumatized victim for any sign of the akuma item. She was able to spot an oddly dark purple shaded necklace shaped like a bow and an arrow.

The Manticore sentimonster spotted her, roared and attacked her immediately without warning.

Ladybug yelped startled, rolling away to dodge its attack. As soon as she stood, she quickly spun the yoyo into a shield as the Manticore's scorpion tail attacked her. She could barely repel it, the strength strong enough to nearly knock her off her feet. 'This sentimonster is strong!' Her heart pounded with panic.

Chat Noir noticed his lady struggling against the sentimonster. "M'lady!" He attempted to run to her.

At the cost of his distraction, Wild Card managed to shoot and hit him with an arrow. The ground binded his legs. "Got you!"

"Connard!" Chat Noir cussed. "Ladybug!" He had to help her!

Ladybug saw that Chat Noir got trapped, mentally cussed at herself. She needed to help him before the akuma could get his miraculous. However the Manticore had another idea, it increased its attacks on her. Ladybug wondered if it was Papillon's intention to keep both apart.

Wild Card grinned with pleasure when he saw that he succeeded in keeping Chat Noir trapped, "Now time for little buggie to taste my power!" He began shooting Ladybug with arrows.

Ladybug once again mentally cussed that now she got two foes targeting at her. She needed to think of a plan, which meant she would need her lucky charm. She backflipped away and yoyo swung away to a safe spot quickly to avoid Wild Card's arrows and give herself some distance from Manticore.

Wild Card was shooting wildly and looked annoyed that he keeps missing every time. He shouted, "Stay still, little buggie!"

Manticore roared and began flapping its wings, sending a powerful air wave all around and took off from the ground.

Ladybug knew she had no time to waste, threw up the spun yoyo into the sky to summon her power, "Lucky Charm!" The charm appeared and fell into her hands. It was a bottle of glue. "What am I— ack!" She didn't get a chance to finish her usual phrase, Manticore had caught up and attacked her.

She managed to dodge it, but only to have Manticore's next attack with a scorpion tail grazed her side. She winced at the painful stinginess. The scorpion tail barb is dipped in poisonous venom. She doesn't know what type of poison has infected her, but knows she needs to use the Miraculous Cure to heal herself. This must end quickly before the poison starts to take effect. She ran.

She quickly scans the area for a solution to solve the puzzle that goes with this charm bottle of glue. She spotted; Chat Noir's hand and the ground that bound him, his belt, the Akuma's bling necklace, and— her brainstorming moment was interrupted with fierce attacks from Manticore. 'This sentimonster is the real problem!' She did acrobatics to dodge the attacks.

Chat Noir couldn't bear watching her struggle against two foes at once. "M'Lady! Watch out!" He shouted with worry, wondering what her plan was, whether it's time for him to use cataclysm. He knew he could free himself with cataclysm, but he only got one shot at this. He trusts Ladybug, and hopes she has a plan.

Just in time of his warning, Ladybug saw an arrow coming her way and dodged with no time to spare. Wild Card began shooting more arrows at her. She continued dodging until she almost tripped, staggering on her feet. When she regained a sense of balance back, she heard Chat Noir scream her name, "MY LADY!" She barely turned around, and saw Manticore's large razor claws come down. She could not move quickly in time, a painful slash of claws from her forehead above her left eye all the way down to her belly. She screamed in pain.

Blood drained from Chat Noir's face, "MY LADY! CATACLYSM!" He used his destruction power to destroy the ground that binded him. Freed, he ran so fast to her as Ladybug staggering and dropped the lucky charm bottle of glue to the ground. He caught her before she could collapse. "My Lady!" He was horrified at the sight of her wounds.

Wild Card saw the opportunity, shot them with another arrow. It hit its mark right on Chat Noir's back as he held Ladybug. They vanished without a trace. The only thing that remained was the lucky charm bottle of glue laying on the ground abandoned.

'Where have you sent them?' the voice of Papillon spoke to Wild Card, a neon purple outline shape like butterfly appeared in front of Wild Card's face.

"No idea, ya know powers in arrows are random," Wild Card told him as he walked to the lucky charm and picked it up.

An angry growl can be heard from the other side, 'You should have secured their Miraculous before sending them to somewhere!'

"Again, the power was random, they could have turned into animals or trees for all we know. Instead they just vanished," Wild Card argued. "It is not like I could have predicted this!"

'Now how will we find them?!'

"No idea." Wild Card replied as he watched the Lucky Charm turned into sparkling pink dust before fading from his hand.

Another growl can be heard, 'Then you stay put, and wait for them to return! They always find a way.'

"What about my revenge? You promised I could get my revenge!" Wild Card clenched his fists, not liking the idea of waiting for heroes to come back.

'You failed to secure the Miraculous, therefore you must atone for it! Stay and wait!' Papillon ordered him. And then threatened him 'Unless you wish to have your power taken away.'

Wild Card saw the Manticore sentimonster vanish as Mayura withdrew the corrupted feather. He stayed silent, not wishing to lose his powers.

Papillon stood in the butterfly room and waited patiently. It has been an hour since the heroes vanished, they have not made a comeback since then. Doubt began to fester in his mind, after all those times he fought against them, they always found a solution to everything. He knows so because they prove it every single time. He wondered whether they would find a way to return this time or not.

Nathalie walked up to him, "Sir, I have dire news."

Papillon glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Nathalie knows he is listening, "Adrien is missing."

He whipped around to face her, "What!? How?!"

Nathalie tries to keep her composure. "He was last seen at school. He never returned to class after going to the washroom. The bodyguard is searching for him, but so far there is no sign of him."

Papillon narrowed his eyes, he had been watching through Wild Card's eyes. Saw every victim who got hit by arrows. None of them were Adrien for certain that he knew of. "Find him at all cost!" He ordered.

"Don't be bemused, it's just the news! This is footage of the battle held earlier today." Nadja Chamack said as the screen changed to footage showing the battle up to the point when heroes vanished before returning to her. "Have our beloved heroes truly been defeated? What does this mean for Paris? Has Papillon finally won? Or is he equally lost? He kept his Akuma on watch for six hours now. Please keep away from the area for your own safety."

Alya and Nino at Tom & Sabine's Bakery, in the living room watching the news together. Sabine sighed with worry, "Are you sure, she said she went with you?" She asked Alya.

Alya nodded, "She did say that when I rushed out to get the film for the Ladyblog."

Nino nodded, "I heard her say it too."

Alya crossed her arms, "But she never followed me out of school when I looked back. She just disappeared."

Nino nodded, "Not to mention, Adrien is missing too."

Tom embraced Sabine, they sighed with worry. Tom asked, "They couldn't have been at the battle and got hit by that akuma?"

Alya shook her head, "Not that I saw."

Suddenly there's a weird white flash light from Marinette's room. They turned to look at it with confusion, wondering if Marinette had returned magically or something. Tom, Sabine and Alya all rushed up there together, unfortunately all of them trying to squeeze through the trapdoor. They were completely stunned at what they saw.

Stood there in the middle of the room was Bunnyx, the Rabbit Miraculous hero. She was holding a Gramophone, and stared right back at them with surprise.

Alya gawked, she had heard about her from Alix who witnessed the Timetagger battle. "Bunnyx?! What are you doing here?"

Bunnyx looked little guilty and sad, yet also reassuring. "Ah, I apologize for intruding, but I must take this to somewhere safe, away from the prying eyes of Papillon. On Ladybug's order." She said as she held the gramophone securely.

Sabine blinked confused, asked her, "Why?"

Bunnyx looked at Sabine and Tom with sympathy, "No one should go through this, but it was necessary as things are meant to be. Someday you will understand. I cannot tell more."

Tom widened his eyes, "You know what happened to our Marinette?"

Bunnyx nodded somber, "Yes, and Adrien as well. However, I cannot reveal more without endangering the future."

Alya understood, having heard how important the role of Rabbit Miraculous holder was. "What can you tell us without revealing too much?" Wanting to know what happened to her friends, and even more, the heroes' fate.

Bunnyx sighed, knew how persistent Alya could be, and pondered for a moment before carefully answering, "I can only say this one thing. They will return in due time. Have faith in them. I must be going, the future waits for no one. Farewell." She conjured the portal and stepped through it. The portal vanished, leaving behind bewildered and mixed feelings in everyone left behind.

They returned to the living room where Nino waited. Alya recounted what happened upstairs to Nino.

Sabine sat with Tom on the couch, looking uncertain, not understanding what Bunnyx was telling them. "What does she mean, did you understand anything she said?"

Alya shook her head, "No idea, I don't know why that gramophone that Marinette got while ago is so important that Papillon must not find it." Internally, she was upset that Bunnyx did not reveal what happened to their beloved heroes.

Nino frowned, looking at Alya, "Do you think Adrien and Marinette have a connection to Miraculous?"

Alya shrugged, "Not that I know of anyhow. Bunnyx said something about how they will return in due time. Ugh, what's with all those riddles." She ruffled her hair with frustration.

Tom furrowed his brows, "Why did she say that?"

Alya realized that Tom and Sabine didn't know about Bunnyx's powers, "Oh right, you never heard of her before. She is the Rabbit Miraculous holder, and also the time keeper. She travels through the time. Although I heard she came from the future."

Sabine blinked, "It means she must've known what happened to Marinette and Adrien?"

Alya nodded, "Or so she said. I think she tried to tell us that both of them are safe."

Sabine and Tom sighed with relief. Nino looked relieved too, commenting,"I guess all we can do is wait for them."

Alya nodded, "but she didn't say when, only 'in due time.' It could be soon, or longer." She tries racking her brain, wondering why it is so big deal about Adrien and Marinette concerning Bunnyx. 'It seems there is more to Adrien and Marinette than we know.' She looked outside of the window. 'Please come back soon, Marinette and Adrien. Stay safe wherever you are.'

This is one of my favourite stories to write. It was fun to do all research on the history to add to the story. It took me a long time to draw the cover for this story. It was fun!

Big thanks to AgresteBug for beta again.