The next day, Ella sighed, wracking her brain.
Once again, she was sitting at the base of the Eiffel Tower; she had finished all her homework here except for music. For some reason, this assignment was giving her writer's block. The idea of writing a song completely opposite of what your childhood was? This just sounded impossible.
Letting out another sigh, the teen literally knocked on the side of her head, hoping to come up with something- anything, really- that sounded good.
Kiismet wasn't being any help- the kwami was at the moment asleep in a ray of sun in the grass beside her. The tree at Ella's back provided good support and an ideal place for the girl to sit so her friend could be out and enjoy the weather.
"Complete opposite of my childhood..." The teen muttered, tapping her pen against the paper. In all honesty, the thought annoyed her. Her childhood was awful, full of pain and darkness... how would she counter that?
"Trying to do that is like painting a perfect scene pure white in color... wait..!"
Instantly, words began to flow, as the teen remembered the days she used to dream about what her life could have been if her mother followed through and actually taken Ella away from her father and the pain.
Ella wrote well into the afternoon, barely moving her eyes from her journal. It was only when Kiismet physically bit the girl, that she reacted.
"The heck, Kiisy?!"
"There's a dragon flying above us!"
Glancing up, Ella's mouth dropped open as she took in the purple dragon. It flew and hovered around the top of the tower... and soon, Ladybug and Cat Noir showed up as well.
"Well the dragon's a new one..."
"Ella, focus! We gotta transform and follow it!"
"Right, right! Kiismet, touch the sky!"
Raven watched the dragon fly off from a couple buildings back, jumping closer when it got too far out of view.
"Hey Raven!" Ladybug's voice came up behind the girl, drawing her attention from the creature.
"Hey you two." She smiled, uncurling her wings to fly beside her leaping partners.
"Lovely as ever to see you, mon merle~" Cat purred.
"Pretty kitty."
"Focus you two!"
"On what exactly, bugaboo? I'm late to this party."
"Jagged Stone got akumatized and is after Mr. XY."
"Don't blame him. That electronic music gives me a headache."
"Anyhow, we gotta stop him."
Ladybug, Cat Noir and Raven hand in front of the studio, Alec leading XY outside.
"We have to get you to safety." She spoke, stepping forward.
"So what this Guitar Villain going to do? Blow me away with his evil guitar solo?"
"Yeah!" Two of the thee heroes chorused.
"Once we catch Guitar Villain, we'll get you to the Eiffel Tower just in time for your live performance." Cat Noir informed the artist, leaning his arm on Raven's shoulder.
"Pff. Who even cares? My roadie can just project my image on stage. Live concerts are so ten minutes ago-"
Suddenly, the dragon zipped past the trio and civilians, capturing XY in his mouth. Guitar Villain laughed evilly from atop its head as Fang carried both of them back to the Eiffel Tower.
"Well, I'm assuming that didn't go according to your plan?" Raven sighed as the three heroes landed on a rooftop, heading back towards the Eiffel Tower.
"Not quite."
"Back to square one."
"I get the feeling we're in for quite a concert, though. You two ready?"
"To rock n' riff, baby!"
"Let's get going!"
After a few minutes, the heroes make it to the Eiffel Tower, leaping/flying over the giant crowd at the bottom. The three begin climbing up the tower while Guitar Villain remained unaware at the top.
"ULTIMATE SOLO!" They heard Guitar Villain shout, looking up to see green sound-waves, causing everything around the area to shake.
Ladybug, Cat Noir and Raven immediately hold onto the tower to keep from falling.
"XY's going to fall!" Ladybug shouted, seeing the young artist on the edge of a plank.
"Talk about being between a rock and a hard place!"
"Come on!"
Raven held out her hands and gripped her partners tight as she flew them up from the inside. While she kept her eyes above her, Ladybug and Cat both noticed the dragon suddenly coming at them. The pair let go of their feathered partner, Cat catching himself with his staff extended and Ladybug tossed her yo-yo around the dragon's mouth, zipping up to land on its head.
"Hang on, Cat!" Raven called, flying back down to grab him.
"Thanks, angel."
"Of course, kitty. Now let's get this fight over with!"
Raven carried the pair into the air above the tower, landing beside Ladybug on top the dragon's head.
"Huh, wow! The bug mastered the dragon!"
"Nice job, bugaboo!"
Ladybug thanked her partners, making Fang flew toward Guitar Villain and XY.
"So how did you like the concert? You still think your music is the only killer music out there?"
"No! Please, don't!"
"Awesome Solo-"
"Not so fast!" Ladybug shouted, steering the dragon at the villain.
"My dragon!"
"Ladybug, Cat Noir, hurry!"
"Raven- use your wings and get XY out of here. We'll deal with Guitar Villain."
"Gotcha, boss!"
"You're too late! Nothing can stop Guitar Villain! Rockin' Riff, baby!" Guitar fired purple energy toward the duo still atop the dragon, while Raven flapped her wings diving for the suspended artist. She dodged purple sound waves directed at her, flying around the antenna, as she saw Ladybug crash the dragon just under the platform.
"Where did they go?"
"Probably should be focused on me, Guitar Villain!" Raven zoomed forward, throwing her grappling hook- aiming for XY. However, Guitar Villain leaps in front of XY on the plank, using his guitar to knock the hook away.
"Too bad, they're going to miss the final song! SOLO!" The green sound-waves shake the tower, making XY almost fall.
"Oh, are you scared? Or is it too awesome for you?"
"If by too awesome, you mean ear-splitting? Then yes!"
"Lucky Charm!" Raven heard Ladybug shout from below. 'Time to keep his attention on me!'
As she dived in, Guitar Villain shot an blast of orange energy the heroine had no time to dodge. The blast bent her wings back, sending her flying away in a tailspin. It took her a minute to reorient herself, but once she did, Raven accelerated back up to the top.
"Cataclysm!"
"Awesome Solo!" Cat managed to hold off the orange beam pretty well, but it became too much and he was blasted back into the tower metal. Raven changed direction to help her partner while Ladybug leapt down and sprayed her Lucky Charm at Guitar Villain, stiffening his hair in front of his face and preventing him from being able to see what notes he was playing. The villain dropped the guitar, trying to pry his stuck hair from his eyes.
"I can't see! Where are my fans?"
Ladybug moved to grab the guitar, but XY yelling distracted her.
"Hey, don't forget about me! Please, help!" XY shouted as the plank under him broke.
"Raven!"
"On it!"
Raven swooped in and caught the artist while Ladybug smashed the guitar, breaking it and freeing the akuma.
"Music's over, akuma! Time to de-evilize! Rock 'n' roll! Bye, bye, little butterfly. Miraculous Ladybug!" The magic ladybugs restored everything back to normal, turning Guitar Villain back to Jagged Stone.
"Pound it!" The trio smiled at each other.
"What's he doing here?" XY pointed at Jagged from behind Raven's wings, using the girl as a shield.
"He came to tell you that perhaps you...um...underestimate the power of his music!"
"This guy's crazy!" XY shrieked, pointing at Jagged.
"Thank you." Jagged smirked, before Cat approached him with an album and a marker.
"How about an autograph, Jagged?"
"Where were you hiding all that, kitty?" Raven teased, winking at the blushing Cat while Jagged autographed the album.
"Which reminds me, I still have work to do! Bug out!"
"I'm gonna head out too, still got some homework to finish."
"Bye, bye birdie!" Jagged waved while Cat grabbed Raven's hand and pulled her in to kiss her cheek.
"See ya later, my little bird."
School the next day was abuzz with the news of Marinette's newfound fame with Jagged's album design. Ella smiled hearing everyone praise her best friend, some money set aside in her bag to buy her own copy. She sat on a bench across the courtyard, journal in her lap, once again working on her music homework. She tuned out the world as she wrote, words coming and going. Ella had decided to call the song 'Hologram', which in her opinion, showed what this vision of her childhood was: a perfect hologram or dream.
As she wrote, that familiar presence washed over her, making her smile and look up.
"Hey Adrien!"
"Hey! So I got something for you!"
"Adrien, you didn't have to-" The girl stopped mid sentence, seeing what Adrien was holding out to her.
"I asked Marinette to sign a copy for you."
"Thank you, Adrien..! That's so sweet of you!" Ella took the CD, admiring the album cover and Marinette's little signature. Adrien smiled wider, taking the seat beside her.
"What are you working on?"
"That new music assignment- the one about opposite your childhood."
"Oh yeah. I'll admit I'm a little stalled on it."
"I was too. But I think I have something going."
"Can I see?"
"Maybe once it's done." Ella teased, moving her journal away from the blond's curious eyes.
"Awe that's not fair, Elle!"
"Elle?" The girl cocked her head.
"Oh! Uh... Nino calls you that sometimes, like a nickname. Is it okay?" Adrien glanced up through his eyelashes, his hand rubbing the back of his neck. Ella blushed scarlet, averting her own eyes.
"I-it's fine... I- I don't mind if only you call me that..." She stuttered, keeping her gaze on her journal.
"Of course! I'll um- I'll let Nino know!"
After a minute, the pair reduced their blushes enough to look at each other again, their smiles and eyes soft. The conversation picked back up and the pair tuned out the world, content with just being together.