The heroes followed the pigeons to the Grand Palais. Looking inside the open doors, they see a big cage with the park keepers locked inside.

"So that's where Mr. Pigeon's keeping the abducted park keepers." Ladybug muttered, moving back out of sight of the door. At her side, Cat Noir tries to keep his sneezing at bay, Raven holding a finger under his nose.

"My pigeon radar's on high alert."

"Either your radar is on the brink, or Mr. Pigeon left the park keepers unattended."

"Then let's set the cat among the pigeons." Cat Noir smirked, stepping around Ladybug. A hand to his chest and a pull on his tail kept him from going too far.

"Hold up, Cat."

"It's too easy... I've got a plan." Ladybug motioned for the two to follow her up to the roof, none of the heroes seeing a pigeon fly off into the building.

"If we can destroy that birdcall, we'll be able to capture the akuma." Ladybug found a skylight in the roof, allowing the trio access to the catwalk.

"Okay, you open the window, Cat Noir. I'll grab him and yank him up onto the roof and Raven will grab the birdcall away from him."

"Let's go, early bird gets the worm!"

"That's my line!" Cat Noir smirked at Raven's complaint but quickly opened the skylight... right into a draft of feathers escaping with the shift in air pressure. Cat sneezed, startling Ladybug mid-throw, making her yo-yo miss Mr. Pigeon entirely.

"So much for the element of surprise." Ladybug laments, as her yo-yo returned to her. Despite the setback, the heroes jump inside and land on the catwalk by Mr. Pigeon. The villain jumps off the edge and lets his birds carry him away. The trio of teens chase after him before he sounds his birdcall again, and pigeons form two spheres around his hands like punching gloves.

"Deedly-dee-dee, come closer- I have a bone to pick with you."

"We'd be honored." Cat Noir growled, before Mr. Pigeon throws one of the pigeon balls forward, colliding with Cat and knocking him back against the cage of perk keepers.

"Cat Noir!" Raven calls, turning to see if he's okay, but the sphere collides with her next, sending her flying back into the metal bars. Not even a second after, Ladybug lands next to her.

"Mon merle, Ladybug- are you two okay?" Cat asked, pushing himself up to check on his partners. Raven groaned as she sat up, her civilian injuries irritated at the collision, but she nodded as Ladybug stood.

"Lucky Charm!" Out of the pink ladybugs falls a coin.

"A coin? What am I supposed to do with this?" Ladybug questioned for a moment, before turning her gaze to the room around her. Her lucky vision shows her a beam above them, a vending machine across the room, the coin... and Raven?

"Hey Raven- I think I'm gonna need your special power for this." The girl nodded, standing.

"You can't buy yourself out of here!"

"Raven's Flight!" At Raven's shout, Ladybug starts running towards Mr. Pigeon, slides, and uses her yo-yo to wrap around his left ankle. She jumps up to the beam and back down, making a pulley. She runs to the vending machine at the far end, uses the coin to get a bag of popcorn. Throwing the bag into the air, she shouts for her partners.

"Cat Noir! Raven!"

"Got it!" Cat Noir threw his baton at the bag, bursting the contents everywhere. The pigeons eye the food a moment before a birdcall sounds... but not from Mr. Pigeon. Raven flew around the space, a perfect mimicked sound of the birdcall the villain used coming from her beak, calling out to the pigeons for mealtime.

"Snack time, pigeons!" Ladybug reiterates, watching the pigeons go after the popcorn, landing on Mr. Pigeon himself.

"No!" Mr. Pigeon cries out as Ladybug pulls on her yo-yo and lifts him up by the ankle. His bird call falls to the ground.

"I got it!" Cat Noir ran forward, grabbing the little wood whistle, but stirred up the feathers around him in the process. The poor boy sneezed, accidentally throwing the birdcall into the air. In a panic, Ladybug drops her grip on Mr. Pigeon and the pair run for the birdcall. But it never hits the ground as Raven swooped in and grabbed it in her claws, dropping it right into Cat Noir's grip. Ladybug runs up to him and using her own hands around Cat Noir's, smashes the birdcall.

"Yes!"

"Ow!"

Ignoring her partners complaint, Ladybug made quick work of catching the akuma as Raven changed back into her human form beside Cat Noir in a flash of blue light. The pair watched their leader use her power to set everything right before holding out their fists.

"Pound it!"

"Wretched pigeons, wretched Ladybug! I'll destroy you yet! Today has given me insight to your little team, and I now know how to get my hands on the Raven miraculous! I have you to thank for that, Cat Noir..."

"That was a long day..!" Ella stretched, heading back into the school with Kiismet on her shoulder.

"You said it- you haven't been Raven for that length of time in forever!" The kwami pouted, crossing her little arms. Ella giggled at the little bird's actions, ascending the stairs to the library.

"Ella!"

She turned at the voice, a light pink dusting her cheeks as Adrien approached her up the stairs, much like on the day they first met.

"Sorry about earlier, I got caught up in all the pigeons."

"It's alright..." She smiled gently, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Adrien beamed at her, shifting his bag on his shoulder.

"Listen, I have to help judge the hat competition for my dad, and I was wondering if you wanted- ya know... to come with me? I mean, you don't have to say yes, I know you don't like crowds and I understand-"

Giggling cut the poor boy's rambling off, drawing his gaze up to the girl who has captured his heart. Ella was giggling, her hand covering her mouth to stifle the sounds. The dimples on her cheeks shined bright and the crinkles in the corners of her eyes flourished.

"Thanks for being so thoughtful, Adrien... I would love to join you, so I can support Marinette." Ella answered the boy's original question, descending to be even with him on the steps. Standing beside her, Adrien noticed she was shorter than him, but just enough where if they hugged, he could nuzzle into her neck with his nose...

The poor boy shook his head at his 'Cat Noir' thoughts, blushing scarlet. Ella looked at him curiously, before she giggled again.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked, trying to keep his composure. Ella nodded, shifting her bag. Adrien's smile dropped minutely as he watched her shift, her sleeve dropped past her wrist a little... and he saw what looked like bruises. Fist-sized bruises.

Inside his chest, his heart raced and his temper flared. How had Ella gotten hurt? What happened?

"Adrien? Are you alright?" Ella asked, her voice sounding shaky. Adrien moved his gaze back to her face and saw she had moved away from him back up a step, her arms moving as if to protect herself from him.

"Yeah I'm ready, let's head down." He smiled, probably too much to be believable, but that was all he could do to hide the anger filling him. He turned from Ella and headed down to the first level, taking that time to breath and control himself. Whatever he showed on his face a minute ago, scared Ella and he regretted it.

As he got down to the courtyard and placed his bag to the side, it didn't shock him but it hurt to see that Ella hadn't followed after all. He had scared her... his anger frightened her...

"Oh Ella..." Kiismet didn't know what to say. This turn of events wasn't what she was expecting when Adrien has approached Ella but now...

The kwami sighed as she fluttered around Ella's head, the poor girl coming down from another attack. Luckily this one was less panic, more sadness at Adrien's reaction to whatever Ella had done (or so she thought).

Kiismet didn't really know what to say for this. She had seen the whole interaction from Ella's curtain of hair- the kwami was lucky she blended in with the onyx hair- and had seen the anger in Adrien's face when he glimpsed the bruises on Ella's arm when her sleeve fell.

With a sigh, Kiismet rested a little paw on Ella's head, letting her eyes glow white. She just wanted to check on Ella's path, seeing this moment as a setback between the two teens. But just as before, the path her holder was currently on still had the pair romantically linked, their auras glowing pink with love. This one moment wasn't going to hold up fate's plan, Kiismet seeing the moment Adrien makes up for scaring Ella and seeing Ella forgive him.

Retracting her paw and letting the glow fade, Kiismet forbid herself from seeing much more. It was dangerous to see too much of a person's fate, especially events one wished they could change- past or future. Though she knew everything had to come to pass, Kiismet still hated seeing the instances of her holder and friend in pain.

"Kiis..?"

Ella's voice pulled the kwami from her thoughts, floating down to be eye-level with the girl.

"You okay now, Ella-bean?"

"Mhm... I think so." Ella nodded, before her gaze moved to her phone in her pocket. Pulling it out, she opened the new message.

'I'm sorry I scared you... I really didn't mean to. Can I make it up to you? We never got to go get lunch today.'

"Adrien..." Ella whispered, her heart racing at the thought of him.

Adrien sighed, locking his phone once the message was sent. The fashion judging was over, with Marinette winning. Her feathered hat disturbed his allergies for the nth time today, resulting in sneezing and itchy eyes.

"Adrien." His father's voice pulled him from his reverie, eyes moving to the tablet Nathalie held.

"Yes father?"

"You mentioned that girl was going to be joining you today. The one you let stay at the house."

"Father..."

"I told you I would like to meet and talk with her. Yet you disobey me."

"Father, Ella's very shy and I don't want to make her uncomfortable or upset."

Gabriel studied his son's face for a moment. He saw genuine care for this girl in those green eyes, so much like Emilie's...

"Father?"

"It's time to return home, Adrien. Nathalie."

"Yes sir. Come now, Adrien."

The teen sighed, but did as told, collecting his bag and moving to follow Nathalie and in a way, his father to the car.

"Adrien?" A soft voice called, the teen stopping instantly in recognition. Ella stood a few feet away, wringing her hands in her skirt.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for earlier. And um..."

"No it was my fault, Ella. I didn't mean to scare you. I just..."

"It's alright, I forgive you." The girl smiled, that single gesture made the butterflies erupt in his stomach and his heart leap.

"Can-can I still make it up to you? I mean- we never got to eat..."

Ella's smiled widened and she nodded. Adrien's own mirrored hers and he wanted nothing more than to hug her.

"Umm... there is one immediate thing you can do..?" Ella spoke, her voice going even softer as she fidgeted under his gaze.

"Anything."

"Can I umm... can we.. we hug?"

Thank the stars lady luck was on his side in that moment! Adrien could have jumped through the roof he was so happy.

"Of course!" He opened his arms, allowing Ella to move at her own pace. And it seemed like her pace was set on super speed cause the girl smiled so wide her face looked as if it would split, and she ran into his arms, wrapping her own around his neck.

Ella knew she was breaking every rule she had set for herself. No physical contact, no attachments, no nothing. Anyone else holding her like this would send her into a panic attack. Any affection like this would normally have her believe there was pain coming at the end of it. But the pure love in her heart for the boy holding her so close made her want to stay there for the rest of time, with no pain or fear... just love.