Butterfly Effect Elsewhere

by StellarStylus

AU: Chloé Bourgeois is a good person and friends with Marinette and Adrien, but because it's really someone else in her body who got a second chance at life. Events veer off in a different direction: new villains and plot twists, among other things. Insert & Isekai story; based on the plot bunny "Roar Like a Bear, Sting Like a Bee". NEW CHAPTER: "Stoneheart, Part 4"

8. Stoneheart, Part 4

DISCLAIMER: Another flashback to #1 The Invasion as well as a mention of the monster from Megamorphs #1: The Andalite's Gift. And beyond Animorphs there's a quote lifted straight from Mass Effect 2 which I felt was appropriate here.
IMPORTANT NOTE: DARNIT! Of ALL the things I forgot to include in the previous chapter, it was Irina antagonizing Ivan! I went back and fixed and added a few other things in the previous chapter as well, just so you all know!
Also, I'm not wholly satisfied with how this chapter turned out, but I hope enough people like it.
And, for that matter… I'M SO SORRY for not updating this sooner! Real Life struck again. (It's not just because of the difficult year which was 2020 and its lingering aftereffects in 2021; my problems predate all that stuff.)
But on the plus side… I NOW HAVE A DISCORD SERVER! Remove the spaces: [slash]gNfMF7PdYK
Oh, and ART ALERT! You might want to go back to the previous chapter and see some fan art which I've had done for it! You'll be able to see it if you're reading this on AO3!

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Chapter 8: Stoneheart, Part 4

---

Luckily for Adrien, he'd already escaped from the classroom before things really got crazy with Stoneheart.

"Well, this is just great!" Adrien said sarcastically. "My first day of school, and I don't even make it past roll call!"

"A day off?" Plagg replied, sounding a little too eager. "Now that's what I'm talking about."

"Oh no, I don't think so," Adrien replied. "We've got work to do. We need to stop Stoneheart, rescue anybody who might be in danger… and we gotta stop Chloé before she gets hurt."

Here his face darkened, wondering just what his oldest friend was thinking. But then Plagg's next comment snapped Adrien's attention back to the kwami.

"Quite bold and fearless, isn't she? I get the feeling that things aren't dull with her around!" Plagg commented with a smirk.

"You have no idea," Adrien found himself saying, recalling some of Chloé's wilder stunts in the past. "Now, we've got work to do!"

And before Plagg could raise any more objections, Adrien said the magic words:

"Plagg, transform me!"

Once he was transformed into Cat Noir, he slipped outside the school building to follow Stoneheart.

From around the corner, he could see Stoneheart stomping away with Mylène in one hand and Alya in the other. "Why did he abduct Alya too…?" he muttered to himself. He didn't see how that happened because he'd ducked out of the classroom just in time so he could transform.

He was just about to swing into action and strike at Stoneheart when he remembered the previous day. Not only did he remember how hitting Stoneheart only made him grow larger, but he also remembered his best friend's criticism of Cat Noir.

Hearing Chloé use the word reckless in their telephone conversation from yesterday echoed in his mind… and so he stayed put, and instead tried to think of what to do instead.

"Should I wait for Ladybug?" he muttered to himself.

But then he heard Stoneheart shout something at someone in the street. "I'm not a monster, you are!" he spat at somebody hiding in a limousine. "In fact, why don't you go swim around in the sewer where you belong?"

And with that, Stoneheart kicked the limousine like a soccer ball into the air, where it went spinning through the air until it finally crashed into the Seine River nearby.

"Ha, that'll teach 'em!" Stoneheart exclaimed. "Take that, you little monsters!"

"IVAN!" Mylène wailed. "How could you do that!? Fine, so Irina and Dieter weren't very nice, but that was still so wrong!"

"They called me a monster and insulted the entire class!" Stoneheart retorted. "Those two rich kids think they're so great? Well, now they can sink or swim — literally!"

"I guess he's not called Stoneheart for nothing," Alya mused, still recording the whole thing on her smartphone and sounding more intrigued than scared.

"You watch what you say, girl," Ivan grumbled, and Alya shrank back just a little.

Cat Noir briefly wondered about how both Mylène and Alya ended up in Stoneheart's grasp, but only for an instant, and he pushed those thoughts aside as he focused on the sinking car instead.

After Stoneheart stomped off, Cat Noir dashed towards the sinking car. Looking closer, he could see a blonde girl trying frantically to get out through one of the windows. He hurried across the street to the river, calling out to them, "Hang on, I'll save you!"

And with that, he ran up to the riverbank and extended his baton into a long staff, just far enough for them to grab it.

Three people — a teenage girl and a teenage boy both his own age, and their driver — hastily grabbed on as the limousine sank beneath the surface of the tepid waters.

"Ewwww!" the blonde girl whined, almost shrieking it. "This is my favorite dress, too! Do something, SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!"

Cat Noir gritted his teeth; he'd had to deal with his share of spoiled rich people in the past, but something about this girl just set his teeth on edge right away.

"Don't worry, I'm sure that someone will let you dry off and get you a fresh change of clothes," he said, trying to placate her.

"Well, they'd better!" the blonde girl snapped. "Someone better do something to fix this, and I don't think your powers can fix a calamity like this!" Turning to the other two people beside her, a boy their own age and a man who must have been her driver, she started shrieking something in what sounded like Russian.

While the girl carried on and her two companions tried to placate her while trying to straighten themselves out as well, Cat Noir stood there awkwardly, trying to figure out what to do next…

But then Cat Noir noticed a familiar civilian clad in yellow and black running past, with blonde hair trailing behind.

A very familiar mane of blonde hair.

"Chloé!?" he gasped in shock. "What's she doing? …And then she says I'm reckless!?" he hissed to himself.

But as Cat Noir watched and waited for Ladybug, he noticed Chloé running down a street parallel to the street which the Stoneheart squad was stomping along.

"I don't know what she's doing, but I don't know if I can wait for Ladybug before I do anything about this!" he said to himself as he followed after her.

What are you doing, Chlo!? he thought to himself as he hurried after her.

---

Rachel ran outside the school, noticed which direction the Stoneheart squad was heading, and then ran after them… before turning down a side street.

She'd briefly noticed how Cat Noir was suddenly there, and trying to rescue some people from a limousine which had somehow ended up in the river — and judging by the obnoxious loud voices with their distinct foreign accents, she was guessing it was Irina and Dieter — and decided not to get herself involved. Perhaps under different circumstances, she would have found humor in seeing those two stuck in a car and getting wet in the Seine… but for now, she had other things to worry about.

Not caring who saw her, Rachel ran like the wind down a side street, hoping to cut them off. Lucky for her, Stoneheart and his duplicates were taking their leisurely time as they stomped down the street, which gave her more time to think of something. Block after block, she ran ahead of them and tried to think of something to do to fix this situation…

But with each passing moment, she found herself coming up with nothing practical.

What was she supposed to do? Commander a car or a bus and ram it into Stoneheart? Bust a fire hydrant and flood the street? Hope that maybe she'd come across someone with a weapon, like any police officer?

Leaving aside the fact that the police had already tried that yesterday with no success, she couldn't think of any way to stop Stoneheart, and definitely not without endangering Mylène or Alya.

She found herself wishing once again that she'd kept her morphing powers, but then she realized that even if that had been the case, it might have done her no good. Even her deadliest and most destructive morph, the African elephant, might not have been able to do much against Stoneheart. And, again, any physical hits against Stoneheart only made him grow larger.

As Rachel slowed down to catch her breath, she thought about it more and cursed her situation.

…And off in the distance, she could hear Alya's voice carrying over, shouting something about superheroes and pestering Stoneheart with questions.

For some reason, Rachel found herself thinking back to that conversation with Marinette and Alya between class periods yesterday (had it only been yesterday? it felt like a year ago), just before Stoneheart first appeared and all this began. At some point, they'd mentioned that Superman-centric television series, Smallville…

Rachel scoffed at it. The more she thought about it, it was like a bad irony. She was never the biggest superhero fan in either life, but of course she knew about the Superman mythos, with him having all these powers but no memory of the world he came from. But as for Rachel, it was like the inverse: She had all these memories, but no longer had her original powers and no real way of putting all that experience to good use. That bad irony was not lost on her.

And her feeling helpless and powerless was frustrating, if not unbearable.

As she hunched over to catch her breath — good thing she'd been wearing more casual clothes and shoes today! — she knew she had to think fast and act fast.

A small part of her said this was a mistake, and she should just give up, but she promptly quashed that thought. What was she supposed to do, walk back to the school and wait with the other students? Oh, sorry, everyone, I ran off without a plan, so I decided to just come back, she thought to herself sarcastically.

No — she would see this through to the end.

She just kept thinking back to when she and the other Animorphs fought the Yeerks, and how those slugs could take absolute or near-absolute control over their victims' bodies, like that one time Jake himself was infested…

Wait…

She recalled something Jake had told them once. It had been just after they got the power to morph and escaped from that construction site after witnessing Elfangor's murder. Jake was telling them about how Tom (who they quickly realized was a Controller himself) somehow managed to break free of the Yeerk's control, if only for one single moment, trying to warn Jake not to get involved with The Sharing.

Was it possible to break through whatever was controlling these people with those dark butterflies?

Could she somehow reach out to Ivan?

Could she make him stop acting like this, or at least delay any further chaos?

These dark butterflies might have reminded her too much of the Yeerks, but that didn't mean they operated the same exact way. Perhaps there was something here which would make it easier for the victims to break free from their control?

It was certainly worth a try…

And at this very moment, Rachel could hear Stoneheart catching up to them again, as well as Alya's constant questions…

"So, what do you plan to do?" Alya was asking loudly, her voice carrying over. "How much weight do you think you can lift, how far can you jump, how far can you throw something…?"

"I'm gonna throw you next if you don't stop asking me these stupid questions!" Stoneheart snarled.

Alya let out a sound that could have been a meek apology, but Rachel couldn't be sure.

And the stone giants were stomping ever closer.

It's now or never, Rachel thought to herself.

And then she burst out of the side alley into the street, right in front of Stoneheart as he carried Mylène and Alya.

"IVAN, STOP!"

To her surprise, Ivan — no, Stoneheart — actually stopped when he saw her standing in the street, right in front of him.

"Chloé!?" he exclaimed, looking down to peer at her. He looked and sounded like he was honestly surprised to see her there. Without malice, he asked, "What are you doing?"

Indeed, Rachel thought to herself, what was she doing? Only now was she asking herself that question, now that she was seen in the open street and innocent bystanders were huddling in stores and cafes, many of them holding up their smartphones and capturing everything.

For that matter, even Alya had stopped pestering Stoneheart with questions, and was now focusing her own smartphone on the blonde.

She couldn't use brute force, she didn't possess any kind of special powers to use… but she still wanted to do somethingto stop this insanity.

And so Rachel — the same berserker Animorph who was so violent and deadly that the Yeerks themselves became scared of her — would do something which she never thought she'd do.

"Can we talk?"

Stoneheart blinked and gave her a funny look. "...What?"

She would try talking to the bad guy.

"I just wanted to talk to you, Ivan," she said sincerely, trying to stay as calm as possible, "and see if there's any way we can remedy this situation."

Even as she said it, something about those words sounded so fake to her own ears.

Cassie would have been so much better at this than me, she thought to herself. Playing diplomat was always her speciality. She also knew how to manipulate people.

Rachel might not have had that superpowered brawn anymore, but she still had her fair share of brains and cleverness. And between having a politician for a father in this life and having had a lawyer for a mother in her previous life, she'd certainly picked up some negotiation skills and oratorical tricks along the way.

Stoneheart didn't respond right away, and instead scrutinized her. "What?"

In her own mind, Rachel could just hear her old teammate Marco, always the deadpan snarker, laughing at what she was trying to do. Oh, this ought to be good! She could hear Marco's voice saying. Xena, Warrior Princess trying to talk down a big rock monster? Good luck with that! He's gonna flatten you like one of those French pancakes!

Summoning all her bravery — as well as resisting that old urge to snap "Shut up, Marco" out loud — Rachel went ahead with her improvised plan.

"You know, it was less than an hour ago when I defended you from anybody calling you a monster," Rachel calmly pointed out to Stoneheart. "Are you trying to prove them right?"

That took Stoneheart by surprise, but he quickly recovered. "Well… no, but…"

"For that matter, Stoneheart, let me ask you this," she continued as she took another step closer towards him, "do you likebeing like this? A giant rock being?" (She purposely avoided the term "rock monster" because she knew better than to call him a "monster" of any kind.)

Stoneheart blinked at her. "Well, it does have its perks, like super-strength…"

"Yeah, well, I don't think this is a long-term solution," Rachel said matter-of-factly. "For one thing, I don't think you'll be able to go back home and fit in your bedroom without ditching the powers first. For another thing, well, I don't think any cafes in the city could accommodate your size… you know, if you wanted to go out on a date with Mylène."

Stoneheart blinked at her some more. If he keeps blinking with those glowing eyes of his, he just might give somebody epilepsy, Rachel mentally commented.

And when Stoneheart didn't respond right away, Rachel took that as a cue to keep pressing onward with her strategy.

"Come on, Ivan… or Stoneheart, or whatever you want to call yourself… haven't I been a good friend to you?" Rachel asked. "Have I ever done you wrong or given you bad advice?"

Stoneheart didn't answer, instead looking down at the ground. "Well, no, but…" he began to say, but then trailed off.

"Haven't I always helped you whenever I could?" Rachel asked, taking another step towards him. "Remember that one time I helped snag those tickets to that sold-out Bleeding Skulls concert?"

"Uh…"

"Or when I tracked down that extremely rare and out-of-print vinyl record for your birthday, the one by some old-school musician who you really like?"

"Erm…"

"Or when I helped you get to the music store in time to pick up your drum set, and we went in that limo from the hotel?" Smiling a little, Rachel allowed herself to reminisce a little. "Remember all the looks we were getting as we loaded all your drum stuff into the limo? That was funny."

"Ummm…"

By this point, Rachel was almost within arm's reach of Stoneheart.

"Please, Ivan, you're better than this," she told him. "You've made your point. And I agree, how Irina treated you just earlier was wrong, but she didn't get away with it. I saw how you dunked her in the Seine just minutes ago, and if you'd stuck around a little longer back in the school courtyard before that, then you would have seen me deal with her. So why don't you just give it up with all these crazy superpowers, let the superheroes fix everything, and we all just go back to school and pretend this didn't happen?"

Stoneheart didn't answer, but just kept staring at her. For a little too long. And everyone else just kept watching with bated breath…

"Um… please?" Rachel added.

By now, she could imagine all of the other Animorphs laughing at her harebrained scheme.

But to her immense surprise, Stoneheart didn't look all that enraged or menacing anymore. If anything, he looked rather thoughtful — or at least as thoughtful as a large chunk of living rock could look.

Rachel and everybody else around her seemed to be holding their breath as they waited for Stoneheart's response, and finally he looked up at her again and said…

"…Maybe you do have a point," he rumbled.

She jolted in surprise at that. It actually worked!?

Ha! Take that!

She didn't know what those savagely victorious thoughts were directed at, but she still savored her small triumph.

"So, why don't we just let Mylène and Alya go and we'll find a way to sort this out? Maybe you could squeeze an apology out of whoever owes you an apology when we get back to school," Rachel suggested.

"Eh, good enough."

…And then Rachel realized just who, or what, she was talking to. "And I mean that figuratively, not literally! No squeezing people when you're like this!"

"I know."

"Oh, good, just checking."

And so Ivan began to hunch over, getting down on one knee to let Mylène and Alya go at ground level (Mylène looked more and more relieved the closer she got to freedom, while Alya looked like she was relieved but also a little disappointed)…

I think it's working! Rachel thought to herself. Maybe this wasn't such a crazy idea after all!

…But then what happened next took everybody by surprise.

Just when Rachel thought she had it, Stoneheart's eyes bulged and glowed even more, and he put both fists to his head as he screamed what seemed like a headache. Were it not for both other girls in either hand, Stoneheart would have undoubtedly been clutching and gripping his head.

And when he looked back down at her, she could briefly see something over his face like some kind of holographic mask: A glowing purple butterfly-shaped sigil.

"What the heck…?" Rachel muttered to herself, narrowing her eyes. What was that thing?

But just like that, the mask-like purple butterfly shape was gone, fading out of existence. And now Stoneheart's face conveyed pure rage once again.

Stoneheart let out a wordless roar which almost made Rachel jump out of her skin, and she clamped her hands over her ears. "NO!" Stoneheart roared. "I won't be fooled by you! Hawk Moth is the one who will give me what I need, he's the one who'll set me free!"

And once again, Stoneheart and his clones were back in an aggressive posture.

Rachel found herself frozen in place; half of her wanted to run, but half of her also wanted to find another way to stop them because she refused to admit defeat—

"Chloé!" a young man's voice called from above, and she looked up just in time to see Cat Noir jumping into the fray with his weapon.

"What are you waiting for!?" he shouted at her as he struck Stoneheart's foot with his staff, causing the rock giant to glow and then grow in size. "GO!"

And before either of them could say or do anything else, another one of the Stoneheart clones moved in and snatched up Cat Noir, causing the hero to drop his own weapon.

Guided more by instinct and reckless luck than any actual strategic thinking, Rachel grabbed the cat hero's baton off the ground and ran off with it. She ducked and weaved through the swinging arms and column-like legs of the Stoneheart squad, running off ahead of them.

Seeing an open space out the corner of her eye, she ran into it—

And found herself on the threshold of a construction site.

"What is it with me and construction sites!?" she hissed to herself as heard the Stoneheart squad catching up to her and started running again.

Rachel ran into the construction site blind, and plowed on ahead through the metal framework of whatever they were building. She twisted and turned this way and that way, taking any route not blocked but trying to come out on the other side of it…

And before she knew it, some scaffolding and other construction supplies came crashing down on top of her.

Rachel instinctively threw her hands and arms up over her head, but then she was forced down to the ground when something heavy struck her leg.

She let out a god-awful scream of pain as she realized that a lot of scaffolding and other construction supplies must have fallen on her. She supposed she should have been grateful that she wasn't hit on the head, but instead she had to deal with all this pain, the likes of which she hadn't felt in years.

C'mon, you've dealt with worse, she told herself. Just power through this!

And then she nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard Stoneheart roaring. Had he — or one of clones — done this? Could one of them have somehow sent down a mess of stuff while she was so focused on only looking ahead to escape?

Drawing upon all her strength and letting her rage fuel her, she lifted her head and looked around over her shoulder to see Stoneheart looming over her, still holding Mylène in one giant fist and Alya in the other. And then she saw Stoneheart lift one of his feet, looking about ready to step on her—

Is this the end for me? she thought to herself. Yet again?

But then there was that glowing butterfly symbol hovering over his face again, and a moment later, he backed off. Instead, one of his clones strode over with a large wheelbarrow and put it on top of her upside-down, trapping her inside it and beneath it. She could even hear the sounds of more heavy things getting dropped on top of the wheelbarrow, undoubtedly meant to weigh it down and keep her in place.

She was effectively buried alive, with the wheelbarrow like a travesty of a coffin.

As she felt the tremors of Stoneheart and his duplicates all stomping away, Rachel tried to move all the junk trapping her, but sure enough, none of it would budge.

Her claustrophobia taking over, Rachel screamed and let out several vile curse words in multiple languages, not caring if anybody nearby could hear her.

"Damn it all!" she screamed, lapsing into English instead of French. "I hate this world, I hate these monsters, and I HATE BEING POWERLESS!"

And worst of all, she couldn't even express out loud how she really felt about this situation which was her life now.

Banging her first against the inside of the wheelbarrow, she settled for screaming in an incoherent rage…

---

In his lair, Hawk Moth was watching everything through his Champion, and he was not pleased with what he was seeing.

"What is the meaning of this?" Hawk Moth snarled, clutching his cane with one hand and balling the other hand into a fist. "What is that stupid girl doing? First the Mayor's daughter runs ahead just to head off my Champion — and now she's trying to talk him down!?"

He just watched, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"Is this girl insane?" he exclaimed. "He could squash her, just like that!"

…and then she tried talking to his akumatized minion.

"Perhaps the girl is more like her father than I realized," he muttered. "She certainly has a gift for words, but none of his usual bluster." Smirking, he then added, "Well, this should be interesting."

But to his incredible surprise, her strategy seemed to be working!

"What!? I can feel his anger and negative emotions fading!" he exclaimed in disbelief. "NO! This can't happen, I won't allow it!"

And with that, Hawk Moth flexed his power over Stoneheart to bend his stony minion to his will…

"Don't listen to her, Stoneheart!" Hawk Moth told his akumatized minion. "Where was she when that other, nastier girl insulted you? Or when your classmate insulted you before that? Remember who gave you this incredible power to overcome your problem: Me! NOT HER, BUT ME!"

And sure enough, Stoneheart's fading negative emotions were now reignited, and the stony supervillain was under Hawk Moth's control once again.

Then Hawk Moth watched as the Stoneheart Squad chased the girl into the nearby construction site, and how she tried to get away… but ultimately failed in that regard.

Stoneheart was this close to killing Chloé Bourgeois with an enormous fist before Hawk Moth stopped that from happening.

"Stoneheart, no!" he commanded. "The last thing we need is the mayor's daughter getting killed like this! Leave her be!"

And so Stoneheart settled for leaving her trapped under some construction equipment and debris.

"Good enough, Stoneheart," he told his minion. "Now, back to the original plan…"

But even as Stoneheart and his clones continued towards the Eiffel Tower, Hawk Moth found himself thinking back to that stupid girl…

"Even after all these years, the Bourgeois brat is still such a nuisance, running around and interfering with my work!" Hawk Moth exclaimed, recalling his past interactions with her in civilian life. "I guess it's true what they say: The more things change, the more they stay the same…"

Not that he would ever admit it, but deep down, Hawk Moth was relieved that Chloé Bourgeois was still alive. One of the last things he needed was for the mayor's daughter to get grievously injured or even killed.

And with that, Hawk Moth tried to push any and all thoughts of Chloé Bourgeois from his mind and focused on the task at hand again…

And then, out of nowhere, he felt it again.

"There it is again," he muttered. "That strange source of anger!"

It was now twice in a row that someone had felt such anger in response to his minions.

Once again, he was confronted with that dilemma: Should he abandon Stoneheart and seek out that strange source of negative emotions, or should he stay the course with Stoneheart?

And just like that, once again, it was gone before he could make a decision.

Growling in annoyance, Hawk Moth resolved to stick with Stoneheart and his small squad of clones.

Besides, things were going well so far. Hopefully, he wouldn't need to akumatize anyone else after this…

---

Marinette looked on in horror at the scene unfolding before her.

First there was Mylène being carried away by Stoneheart… then there was that new girl Alya also being carried away (although she didn't seem all that bothered by it as she continued recording everything)… and now her best friend Chloé was pinned down by construction supplies and possibly injured.

What on earth was Chloé thinking, running off like that!? Marinette thought to herself.

And then there were Chloé's incomprehensible screams which tore at Marinette's heart…

Marinette could only look on in horror… before she finally made a decision.

She quickly retrieved the small black box containing the Ladybug earrings. She was also about to open it again and put them back on, before she realized that she was standing in the middle of the open street and anyone could see her transform… or see Tikki manifest before she could transform.

So she quickly ducked into the nearest back alley and did it there.

Tikki appeared with a smile on her face, and Marinette wasted no time as she put the earrings back on.

"I think I need Ladybug!" Marinette urgently told the kwami.

"I knew you'd come around!" Tikki chirped.

"I… I don't know if I can do this, but my friends are in danger!"

Bracing herself, she said the words again, but this time she said the words with a newfound determination:

"Tikki, transform me!"

And instead of being afraid of the transformation like the first time she'd done it, this time Marinette embraced it.

A moment later, Ladybug stood in her place, confident and ready to go.

From there, she leapt into action. Ladybug ran back out of the alley and into the construction site to help Chloé. Using her newfound superhuman strength, Ladybug picked up and tossed aside the rubble which was holding down the upside-down wheelbarrow which was trapping the other girl.

"Chloé, hurry, while I can still hold this!" Ladybug shouted, pulling with all her strength.

Chloé didn't need to be told twice. She crawled out from where she'd been trapped with all of her strength. Once Ladybug could tell that Chloé was clear, she let go of all that junk, and it all crashed back into the ground.

And then Chloé looked up to see precisely who it was who had rescued her.

"It's you," Chloé gasped. "Ladybug…"

"It's alright, Chloé," Ladybug said, trying to reassure Chloé. But even as she said it, she caught herself and tried to be careful; after all, nobody was supposed to know that Ladybug was really Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and vice versa. Therefore, Ladybug couldn't say something which only Marinette would know.

But at this moment, it took all of her willpower not to flip out and start babbling like Marinette would in a situation like this. Marinette would have panicked over seeing Chloé with a broken leg, but Ladybug had to be professional.

"That was a really bold and reckless thing you did, Chloé," she said, acting professional but trying to avoid sounding cruel. "You're lucky to be alive."

"Yeah, yeah, I know… OW!" she exclaimed, taking Ladybug by surprise. As Chloé started hopping around on one foot, Ladybug could see what the problem was.

"I think I twisted my ankle or broke my leg or something," she grimaced. "I definitely felt something when all that junk fell on me."

"Let me get you to a doctor's office or something," Ladybug said, thinking fast. "If there's a hospital nearby I'll take you there, otherwise you'll have to make do."

"It's fine," Chloé hissed, working through the pain. "You do whatever you need to do. I'm a big girl, I can handle it."

Ladybug had to hide her shock at just how cavalier Chloé seemed to be about this whole thing. "Hang on," she told her best friend as she spun up her yo-yo, and a moment later, both of them were swinging out of the construction site.

Ladybug chanced a look at Chloé's face as they departed, and was momentarily taken aback by the intensity of the burning gaze in the blonde's blue eyes. The spotted heroine found a small part of herself thinking that it was a good thing that glare wasn't directed at her.

And yet, Chloé seemed to be powering through the pain.

Just what's going through your head, Chloé? Ladybug thought to herself. What makes you this way?

"Just another block," Ladybug said, and Chloé grunted in acknowledgment as they swung around yet another corner.

"Careful now," Ladybug said as they gingerly landed in front of a doctor's office, and Chloé made sure to land on her good foot, the one which wasn't injured.

"You seem to be handling this rather well," Ladybug noted.

"Heh… rage is one hell of an anesthetic," Chloé remarked.

Ladybug raised an eyebrow at that. "That's certainly an interesting bit of wisdom."

Chloé just shrugged a little as she held onto Ladybug for support. "I heard it in a video game once," she replied, "thought it sounded catchy."

Worrying about Chloé's safety and overall well-being, Ladybug continued to swing and run across the rooftops of Paris, until Chloé asked her something else:

"You didn't ask for this, did you?"

Ladybug was caught by surprise, and she had to be careful to make sure that she didn't suddenly swing into the side of a building with Chloé in tow. Still, Chloé's sudden and unexpected question-cum-observation caught her by surprise.

"What?" Ladybug couldn't help but blurt out in response.

"You're new to all this, and judging by how you hesitated yesterday before jumping into the fray, I'm guessing you didn't want this," Chloé ground out, grimacing as she tried to ignore the searing pain from her injury.

Ladybug chose that moment to touch down in front of a doctor's office and hope that whoever worked there could help Chloé, and maybe even call an ambulance for the other girl if necessary. But as they touched down in front of the office and caught the attention of the people inside, Chloé suddenly gripped Ladybug's hand, and as Ladybug marveled at Chloé's strong grip (she could even feel it through the suit), the blonde continued to talk, looking the superheroine straight in the eye.

"I don't know what your story is, but I'll say this: Now that you know what the situation is, now that you have these special powers, you need to use those powers to do something about it." Looking Ladybug straight in the eye, Chloé said, "I know you can do it."

Ladybug wasn't sure how to respond to that. But there was something about the way Chloé said that… Chloé didn't sound at all pretentious or condescending, and yet it still somehow sounded like the blonde knew what she was talking about, as she was trying to give encouragement to Ladybug.

The spotted heroine recalled yesterday's disastrous telephone conversation, and what Chloé had said about conversing with actual heroes like Victory and Majestia. Maybe that had something to do with it?

Ladybug felt heartened by Chloé's words of encouragement and faith in her, but even then, a small part of her kept thinking back to yesterday, when Chloé was being critical to her — Marinette — over the phone. She kept telling herself that Chloé wasn't being cruel or nasty, and she had no way of knowing that Marinette was really Ladybug… and now she couldn't help but wonder: Was Chloé only saying this to Ladybug because she didn't know who it really was behind the mask? Because Ladybug shouldn't have known about that disastrous telephone conversation between Marinette and Chloé?

She had to remind herself once again that, at least in theory, Ladybug shouldn't know something which only Marinette would know, and vice versa.

At that moment, a doctor and a nurse came out through the front door to see what was wrong, and so Chloé gracefully surrendered herself to the tender care of these medical professionals. "Good luck, Ladybug," she said as she handed Cat Noir's weapon back to her. "I know you can do it."

Ladybug nodded. "Take care of yourself, Chloé," she said as she took her partner's weapon and swung off.

Ladybug caught up enough to the Stoneheart squad quickly enough. With some fancy acrobatic moves which she would never have been able to achieve as her ordinary self, she was able to run along and jump off of buildings until she caught up with Cat Noir to rescue him.

"You turn my world upside-down!" he quipped.

"Oh, quite the jokester, aren't you?" she said, sounding just a little teasing. But then she noticed the Stoneheart squad catching up to them. "But your comedic timing needs work. We gotta get out of here!"

"Hey, aren't we going to take care of 'em?" Cat Noir asked as the two of them fled.

Checking something on her yo-yo, Ladybug led them to the Trocadero. "No. If we wanna save them all, then we go to the source. That one!"

And off in the distance they could see the Eiffel Tower, which was currently occupied by Stoneheart who was holding Mylène and Alya hostage…

---

With some help from a pair of nurses, Rachel limped inside the doctor's office. It was hardly busy, and they guided her to a room where they made her sit back while they inspected her leg and ankle. She made the right responses at the right times, but her eyes were glued to the TV screen and what was happening.

Right now, it showed the police setting up barricades around the Eiffel Tower, where Stoneheart was still holding Mylène and Alya captive and grabbing everybody else's attention as well.

But then her attention focused on where her father was standing just behind the barricades with a megaphone. Not only that, but Alya's parents were with him as well, both of them looking very worried and distraught.

"This is the mayor of Paris speaking!" he shouted through the megaphone. "I demand that you let your hostages go and surrender immediately!"

Stoneheart seemed to regard his demands for a moment before responding, "I'm not giving up my sweetheart… but you can have this other one instead!"

And with that, he threw Alya off the Eiffel Tower.

Rachel let out a strangled sound, something between a scream and a gasp, and watched with horror as Alya was thrown to the ground at that angle…

But in a flash of red, something intercepted Alya just before she could hit the ground.

It was Ladybug!

For an awkward moment, Ladybug and Alya looked at each other while the former held the latter in her arms bridal-style… and then Alya hugged Ladybug tight, happily exclaiming, "I knew you'd show up!"

"She's crazy, this one," Rachel muttered to herself, after she let out the breath she didn't realize she'd been holding.

"Go ahead and take her back!" Stoneheart hollered from atop the Eiffel Tower as Ladybug set Alya back down on her feet. "All she does is constantly ask questions! She makes for a horrible hostage!"

"HEY!" Alya shouted back to him at the top of her lungs, shaking her fist in anger. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A HORRIBLE HOSTAGE!? IT'S CALLED BEING A JOURNALIST, BUSTER!"

Ladybug calmly laid a hand on Alya's shoulder and muttered something to her, and that seemed to get Alya to calm down, who then nodded to Ladybug and ran off to join her parents behind the barricade.

The camera view shifted from Alya's parents fiercely embracing her to Sabrina's father getting ready to lead an attack.

"We're clear to attack!" Officer Raincomprix declared.

But Ladybug argued against that: "Wait! No, don't attack them! You know you'll only make it worse!"

"I have a new plan, unlike you!" Officer Raincomprix retorted, pointing at her with his other arm which wasn't in a sling. "Move aside and let their pros do their thing. You've already failed once!"

Ladybug looked gobsmacked and upset. Rachel wished that she could jump through the screen at that moment to criticize Sabrina's father for his lack of tact… but then flushed with shame as she recalled what she'd said about Ladybug to Marinette yesterday.

At least I didn't say it to Ladybug's face, she thought to herself, but she still felt bad about it. Even if Ladybug hadn't been there to know what she'd said, maybe Rachel still could have been nicer when discussing the new superhero. But she couldn't help it; she'd felt the weight of her experience coming out.

On the screen, Cat Noir pulled Ladybug aside to talk to her, and that seemed to help… but then everybody's attention was drawn back to Stoneheart when he started making hacking noises and coughed up an entire cloud of those dark butterflies.

"How many of those things are there!?" Rachel exclaimed.

She found herself flashing back to when she and the other Animorphs fought this one particular monster, not something which Visser Three had acquired as a morph but something he'd created himself, and then set loose on them. What he called a Veleek (from the Yeerk word for "pet"), this thing, practically an entire cloud of living dust, could track them when they were in morph and tried to kill them.

And in the middle of that was Rachel, who'd been wandering around after losing her memories in an accident…

An addled and still somewhat-amnesiac Rachel stumbled into a deserted house, but was spotted by some watchful police officers… they were demanding that she came out, and so she "obliged" them by bursting out through the front door but only halfway morphed into her large and deadly elephant morph… while the officers were gaping in shock, the creature ripped through the house just behind her, tearing the place apart… she was rushing down the street at an African elephant's top speed, approximately twenty-five miles per hour, tearing through gardens and parked vehicles… now she was cornered by the unearthly monster, and it was trying to pick her up but failing at that, and merely dropping her a foot off the ground was enough to crack the pavement beneath her… and then salvation came in the form of an unlikely ragtag group of heroes—

And then her attention was snapped back to the TV screen, where the cloud of dark butterflies had formed a giant head like a man's head. It was almost skull-like, what with those empty eye sockets.

What was it with villains and their grandiose debut appearances, anyway?

Something about it sent shivers down Rachel's spine… and then it spoke:

"Ladybug, Cat Noir: Relinquish your powers to me now," the giant floating head declared in a cold tone. "You've given these innocent people enough grief!"

Something about that left Rachel feeling rather confused. "Well, that was cryptic," she remarked out loud. What, no monologuing about what your grand plan is? she mentally added in her mind. Even Visser Three had been more chatty than this when he was looming over Elfangor and gloating about what he planned to do.

But before she could recall that memory of the evil alien warlord's boastful ambitions, a new noise drew her attention. It was somebody clapping their hands together.

"Nice try, Hawk Moth, but we know who the bad guy is," Ladybug said aloud, slow-clapping as she walked forward. "But let's not confuse hero and villain here. You're the one who started all this! Without you, none of these innocent victims would be transformed into villains by your "akuma" butterflies. Hawk Moth, no matter how long it takes, we willfind you, and you will relinquish your powers to us!"

And then Ladybug ran forward…

Somehow, the cord for her yo-yo stretched out impossibly long, and she used two adjacent lampposts to propel herself forward as if from a catapult of her own making. And as she flew through the air, she swung out her yo-yo, shouting, "I'm purifying these butterflies!"

Ladybug slashed at the giant floating head several times, and it roared in anger—

(Rachel scrunched her eyes shut and gripped the sides of her head as she tried not to flash back yet again to that night in the abandoned construction site with Visser Three letting loose that ground-shaking roar in his giant monster morph, or Elfangor letting out that godawful agonized death-cry…)

—but then she heard one of the nurses in the room speaking to her: "It's alright, Miss Bourgeois — look! Ladybug got rid of him!"

As Rachel let go of her own head and looked at the screen again, she saw Ladybug standing on one of the lower levels of the Eiffel Tower, and turning around to address the crowd below.

"Let me make this promise to you!" she proclaimed. "No matter who wants to harm you, Ladybug and Cat Noir will do everything in our power to keep you safe!"

And with that, she let loose all of the butterflies she'd captured moments before, except now they were all pure white. Not only that, but it all practically exploded out of her yo-yo; Rachel could even see the air itself ripple from that "explosion" of white butterflies.

Rachel was still trying to terms with all of this. How could those stupid dark butterflies possess people and turn them into monsters? How could Ladybug's yo-yo possibly contain all those butterflies, first capturing them and then releasing them purified?

To be sure, lots of things looked like magic to Rachel when she was an Animorph, even the morphing power itself. That one quote by a famous science-fiction writer came to mind, the one about sufficiently advanced science looking like magic to anybody who didn't understand it…

Perhaps she was just better off not trying to understand it for the time being.

Rachel was just wondering if the issue of storage space had anything to do like Zero-space (or "Z-space" for short) when the fight resumed.

"Help me!" Mylène screamed, as she was still stuck in his giant grasp.

"You'll never take Mylène from me!" Stoneheart shouted as he backed away from the approaching heroes. "Come to me, my stone beings!"

"Come on, already, what are you gonna do…?" Rachel muttered as she intently watched the TV monitor, except now Ladybug and Cat Noir were retreating further into the boundaries of the Eiffel Tower while the Stoneheart clones climbed up the side of the tower to reach them.

Rachel was just about to turn and look away when she suddenly saw Ladybug jump outside the lower observation deck and make her way farther up the tower, with Cat Noir following behind her.

Rachel couldn't help but watch in awe as those two fought together as a team. They must have found their groove this time.

And she couldn't help but cheer them on, either.

"Yeah, go get 'em!" she said, pumping her first in the air and almost jumping out of her seat. "YOW!" she exclaimed, wincing as she felt her leg hurt again from the pain from the fresh injury.

Oh, what I wouldn't give to just be able to morph this away, she thought to herself.

Less than a minute later, Ladybug had beaten Stoneheart to the very top of France's most famous landmark. Rachel could barely make out all the shouting, but it sounded like Mylène was shouting something in fear while Ladybug was trying to reassure her, and then Stoneheart roared loudly enough to make the helicopters back off.

Her eyes now glued to the screen, Rachel watched as Ladybug threw up her yo-yo and shouted: "LUCKY CHARM!"

Just like yesterday, something appeared in a flash of reddish and pinkish light… but this time, it was something different.

"What is that?" Rachel muttered, leaning forward as far as she could and peering at the screen. It looked like a small backpack…

Then her attention was captured by Cat Noir being thrown through the air but quickly recovering, shouting up to Ladybug something like, "You sure you know what you're doing?"

"We'll find out soon enough!" Ladybug shouted back to him as she put on the summoned item. After lashing out with her yo-yo and tying it around Stoneheart's arm, she shouted to Cat Noir, "His arm! Get ready!"

"What…" Rachel began to ask aloud, but then saw a view from one of the helicopters, where it looked like Mylène and Stoneheart were kissing.

Rachel tried to keep up as she watched Stoneheart drop another small dark object from his grip (Is that just like yesterday where the butterfly is hiding? Rachel thought to herself), and then Cat Noir dove through the air, hitting it back up towards Ladybug with his staff weapon before securing himself farther down the tower, and then Ladybug broke the darkened object to release the dark little butterfly within it…

Rachel vaguely heard Ladybug mutter something as she ran her finger along the yo-yo, causing it to glow bright white, and then she began to swing her yo-yo around like a lasso when something else got everybody's attention.

In a flash of roiling dark purple smoke, Stoneheart disappeared and was once again replaced with Ivan Bruel.

…Except now he couldn't hold both himself and Mylène.

And just like that, both Ivan and Mylène were falling off the top of the Eiffel Tower…!

Rachel let out a strangled scream that still escaped her throat and through her hands clapped over her mouth. She could only watch helplessly as both of her classmates fell through the air, their limbs flailing as they grasped at nothing solid but only caught empty air…

What are you waiting for!? Rachel thought as she watched Ladybug hesitate for a moment, looking between the dark butterfly and the two innocent civilians falling through the air. The only reason she didn't say it or shout it out loud was because her vocal chords had stopped working. DO SOMETHING ALREADY!

"Cat Noir!" Ladybug shouted to her partner as she herself leapt off the top of the tower. "You take care of Ivan!"

From where he was perched on the side of the Eiffel Tower, Cat Noir was ready for it. "CATACLYSM!" he shouted, and once again, his free hand held some kind of dark inky substance within it.

Rachel could barely keep up with what happened next. Cat Noir jumped up off his extended weapon and slammed his superpowered hand against the side of the Eiffel Tower, and a small beam (relatively small compared to the entirety of the Eiffel Tower, but still larger than any human being) popped out. From there, he easily caught Ivan as he was falling, and so Ivan was safe. And as for Ladybug, she caught Mylène while in freefall, and somehow Ladybug still managed to catch the rogue dark butterfly with a swing of her yo-yo and the impossibly long cord which connected it.

"Gotcha!" Ladybug shouted as she caught the dark butterfly and pulled a cord on her supposed backpack, revealing it to have been a parachute all along.

Rachel let out an enormous sigh of relief as Ladybug and Mylène gently drifted towards the ground. A moment later, Cat Noir showed up again, with Ivan safe and unharmed.

And once Cat Noir got Ivan safely to the ground, Ladybug threw her ladybug-pattern parachute and backpack up into the air—

"MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!" the spotted superheroine shouted.

And with that, Ladybug tossed her summoned item up into the air, and it exploded into countless smaller ladybugs. The bright streaks of red and black and pink flew around, even racing back and forth across Paris…

In the doctor's office, Rachel almost jumped out of her skin when what looked like a swarm of magical ladybugs entered her room and rushed at her. She instinctively put her hands and arms up to defend herself, but she noticed them circling around her broken leg for only a moment before they rushed back out.

She was so stunned by this sudden and unexpected event that she didn't even notice that something was different until a nurse pointed it out to her.

"Um, Miss Bourgeois?" a nurse said. "Your leg…"

She looked down to see her leg looking totally normal again. Not only that, but…

"It feels perfectly fine," she said, moving it around and wriggling her toes too. "Like I never got hurt at all."

Curious, she sat upright again and scooted to the edge of the bed and tried to get off of it. "Um, Miss, I wouldn't do that…"

"Please, just let me try something," she said, holding up a hand as if to stave off further protests.

She scooted over to the edge of her hospital bed, and gingerly set her foot down on the ground…

And felt no pain whatsoever.

Now jumping completely off the table, she stood up and walked around a little. It was as if she'd never been injured at all.

"Huh, whaddaya know," she said, standing on that one leg. "Feels just fine to me."

The doctors could only gape in shock.

She looked up at them and said, "Well, that's convenient… so, can I go back to school now?"

---

With the powers granted by the Butterfly Miraculous, the one calling himself Hawk Moth could feel the emotions of everyone in the entire city of Paris, and they were all so happy at the resolution to this battle.

However, there was one person in particular who was not happy about it: Hawk Moth himself.

"This is just the beginning, Ladybug," he spat, clenching his fists and tightening his grip on his cane. "You and Cat Noir may have won this battle, but I will win the war. I will get both your Miraculous. I will get that absolute power! And then my dream will come true!" he declared as the oculus of his secret lair closed, leaving him standing alone in the near-total darkness.

Now having fallen silent, Hawk Moth brooded.

He knew he shouldn't have been too angry — it was only his first akumatized minion, after all — but it still would have been nice if he had succeeded with Stoneheart. And not just the original Stoneheart, but that entire squad of Stoneheart duplicates to go along with him.

But he didn't have all the time in the world, because the love of his life depended on his success in finding and using the two most powerful Miraculous together to make his wish come true.

He needed the earrings of the Ladybug and the ring of the Black Cat, and the sooner the better.

Now all he could do was wait until the next opportunity arose…

But his mind kept coming back to one thing in particular:

That strange source of negative emotion.

He thought he sensed that same white-hot anger again, first exploding like a firework and then lowering back down to a simmering burn which he couldn't fully ignore.

But this time, it also felt mixed with fear. Not just fear of his grandiose display with that swarm of akuma at the Eiffel Tower, but fear of… something else.

It happened around the same time that he conjured up that giant head of akuma to communicate with the people of Paris.

Something about this individual just seemed so… different. It just felt so… alien. As if whoever it was didn't belong here in this city.

"But who could it be?" he pondered aloud.

Hawk Moth very much wanted to discover who this person was.

Maybe this person was the key to his success.

He could only imagine the possibilities, once he made this person one of his Champions.

He hoped to find this person again very soon.

Soon…

But now he had to transform back to his civilian self.

He had a prestigious brand to run, a public image to maintain… and a certain disobedient son who he needed to welcome home from a certain school which said son insisted upon attending…

---

Rachel still couldn't believe it. Just like that, she was healed.

Apparently, what could only be described as a swarm of magical Ladybugs flew around the city, fixing whatever damage had been caused by Stoneheart. Not just the damage from today's events, but from yesterday too.

And it also fixed whatever harm had come to Rachel herself.

She felt perfectly fine, but the doctors still insisted on checking her over before they were finally convinced that she was good to go.

And so, after a few more scans and X-rays, they decided to let her get dressed in her normal clothes (which had also been repaired by Ladybug's special powers) and let her return to school.

But in order to release her and let her leave, they had to call her father to get permission from him.

Rachel jolted when she suddenly realized that she would need to face her father the mayor after this. She so wasn't looking forward to that conversation.

However, she'd been able to get him on the phone for only a minute before he went back to doing clean-up and damage control after the supervillain attack. During that time, he'd spouted a bunch of jumbled sentiments, ranging from "I'm just glad you're alright!" and "That was a grossly irresponsible thing to do!" but he'd also told the doctor to let her go back to school if she was alright before abruptly hanging up.

Rachel knew she'd gotten a break at this moment, but she also had a gut feeling that her father would be having words later, like after she got home from school.

And so the blonde girl walked back to the school from this clinic, keeping her vision focused straight ahead, ignoring the looks which other people were giving her as she walked down each street and turned every corner until she was back at Francois Dupont.

As she mentally braced herself for the inevitable gossip, she looked around and noticed that the damage caused to the school (both Mr. Damocles' office yesterday and Ms. Bustier's classroom today) was all fixed, as if it had never happened. She even swung her head around to look off into the distance, and saw that the building which had been brought down by Stoneheart's first rampage was standing tall and proud as if nothing had happened to it either.

As Rachel walked up the front steps and into the courtyard, she could hear some whisperings and mutterings all around her…

"Did she really try to talk down that rock giant?"

"She's either very brave or very reckless."

"But it almost worked, though!"

"She still shouldn't have done that."

Why did Rachel run off and do this again? Oh, right, because she just couldn't stay away from where the action was.

Because she just had to be a hero.

Memories of her former teammates and friends complimenting or criticizing her behavior threatened to come back, and she just shook her head as she carried on.

As she walked back to her homeroom and did her best to tune out the whispers, she did her best to stop her mind from conjuring up some nightmare scenarios, like how it would look in the press. For all she knew, the paparazzi were already descending upon the hotel, for when she inevitably got back home from school…

Ah, but Daddy has always said he would do anything to help you, so why not pull some strings like in the good old days, and use that to silence all your critics? said a nasty little voice in her head.

She cringed just a little, as she imagined that voice sounding like the little brat who Chloé Bourgeois used to be.

Despite remembering everything as Rachel Berenson, and pretty much becoming her old self again (at least in terms of personality), there were still little traces of the spoiled little brat who she used to be in this world. Every now and then, she could imagine the ghost of five-year-old Chloé Bourgeois making herself known and then making a racket inside her mind, like an imprisoned malevolent spirit trying to break free and wrest control away from her.

Wielding her power like that again felt so tempting…

No.

She wouldn't go there.

She refused to ever go there.

More to get away from everybody's looks and mutterings (especially about her), Rachel made a beeline for the classroom and found it empty. Perhaps Ms. Bustier was in a meeting with the rest of the faculty? With nothing else to do, Rachel found her backpack and made sure that everything in it was where it should be. Satisfied, she slung it over her shoulder and went back outside.

As she gazed around the courtyard, trying to avoid making eye contact with any of the other students all talking about her, Rachel noticed one person who didn't seem to care about the gossip about her.

Her classmate Nathaniel was sitting on one of the benches, deep in his work as he drew something in his sketchbook.

Maybe it was precisely because he was the one person in the courtyard whose attention wasn't currently focused on her, but she decided to see what he was doing.

As Rachel walked up to him, she noticed her artistic classmate drawing something in his sketchbook. Not only that, but he drew it with the fervor of an artist who had to lay down whatever it was before the idea or the inspiration behind that idea were gone.

She wasn't trying to look over his shoulder, but she just happened to notice something which caught her attention.

Nathaniel was drawing her.

Right there in his sketchbook was an image of Chloé Bourgeois standing up to some unseen threat, presumably Stoneheart. But what really grabbed her attention was just how she was dressed.

She looked a lot like Supergirl, but with a domino mask over her face and some kind of circular symbol with three stripes on her chest (the French tricolor, if she had to guess). Not only that, but she looked so confident, with her hands on her hips and her cape fluttering behind her with some unseen breeze.

She had to admit that even for a mere sketch, Nathaniel made it look good.

Rachel quietly hummed in approval as she just as quietly set down her backpack, but even that was enough to distract Nathaniel. The redhead jolted in his seat, almost dropping his nice pencil as he turned to look up at her.

"Gah!" he exclaimed. "Uh, h-h-hi, Chloé," he stammered.

But she just calmly smiled at him, also letting her eyes flicker to his sketch. "That looks pretty good," she calmly remarked. "You definitely make me look like a hero."

"Um, yes, well," Nathaniel said nervously, before gulping. "Sorry, I just… well, I just had to get it down."

"Hm," she hummed, bending over to inspect it. "Yeah, I really like this. And this is just a sketch, too…"

But as she leaned in closer to him, she felt a little funny…

"I guess you inspired me," he blurted out, and then looked embarrassed. "Um, I mean… well, yeah, that was kinda bold running off like that (no offense!), but it looked like it might have actually worked! I guess, well… it was rather inspiring."

And now Rachel felt something funny in her chest, blossoming outward.

"Inspiring, you say?" she said softly to him. "I like the sound of that. Lots of people like to compliment me for my appearance or my kindness… I can't recall the last time anyone's called me 'inspiring.'"

Wait, what was she doing?

And now Nathaniel's face was filling up the majority of her field of vision. The way it was upturned, that fringe cut with his slightly-too-long hair fell off to the side and she could look him directly in the eyes.

"Well, it's true," he muttered. "You do inspire lots of people, so…"

"Yes? So?" Rachel replied, moving slightly closer.

Whatever Rachel was going to say next, it died on her tongue and vanished from her mind as she stared into Nathaniel's opaline eyes, and he looked up into her ocean blue eyes…

He really is kinda cute, she thought to herself.

Rachel felt the rest of the world become blurry and go out of focus as she kept on looking at him…

"NATHANIEL!" another girl's voice shouted at them. "Hey, Nath!"

Both of them jolted and turned to see Alix standing some distance away, with her hands on her hips and an amused, impish grin on her face. "What, are you two having a staring contest or something?" she said with a smirk.

"Why? Did you want to participate in one, Alix?" Rachel snarked, feeling peeved as she felt those good feelings evaporate. "Because I don't think you'd have the patience for that."

"Then again, you've never really been known for your patience either," Alix retorted smugly.

"I, uh, I think I should be going," Nathaniel stammered, grabbing his things and running off.

Alix raised an eyebrow at Rachel, as if to say, What was that all about? And Rachel just gave Alix a guarded look, as if to say, None of your business, you're not getting anything out of me.

Fortunately, both girls got along well and understood each other, and so Alix went off on her way too.

Rachel just stood there, watching him run off. And she knew exactly what the problem was.

Oh yeah, I've got it bad, Rachel thought to herself.

She had a crush on Nathaniel.

Sweet, shy, but very intelligent and talented Nathaniel.

Apparently, she had a type.

But even as she was coming to terms with these feelings of affection for Nathaniel, a dark thought suddenly entered her mind:

Tobias.

Her boyfriend. Back when she was Rachel the Animorph.

A small part of her mind, that same part of her personality which clung so tightly to her old life, screamed to her that all this was wrong, and that she was being unfaithful to Tobias by being interested in Nathaniel…

But then another voice in her head interjected: Ah, but you're not really Rachel anymore and Tobias isn't around, is he? Face it, that relationship is dead... especially because you effectively killed it and broke it off yourself when YOU MARCHED OFF TO YOUR OWN DEATH WITHOUT TELLING ANYBODY!

As Rachel stood there and tried to get a grip on her thoughts and emotions, a commotion from across the schoolyard got her attention.

Now what's going on? she thought to herself, and then made her way over to where a large crowd was gathering.

And as she got closer, she could see Adrien and… Irina?

She could only watch as Adrien looked uncomfortable with Irina near him, but before Rachel decided to get involved to break it up, it was another girl who did just that.

---

Adrien returned to the school after talking with his father in the car. He was so lucky that his father would allow him to keep attending François Dupont after everything that had happened.

With a hasty goodbye to his father, Nathalie and The Gorilla, he jumped out of the car and made for the front steps.

Slowly but surely, the rest of his classmates were returning to the school. First there was Alya, who didn't seem all that bothered by her near-death experience. On the contrary, she was gushing about how this would help her blog: "Ooh, I should get at least a million hits by the end of the week, no, two million, at the very least...!"

And not long after that, both Ivan and Mylène returned. The large boy had his arm around the short girl's shoulders, and both of them looked comfortable together. There were some strange looks and whispers as everyone focused on Ivan again, but with some quiet encouragement from Mylène, he ignored them and continued focusing on her instead.

But then a very familiar mane of long blonde hair caught Adrien's attention...

Chloé looked just as fine as any of them, but she seemed rather guarded and withdrawn. If Adrien had to guess, then he supposed that she was ashamed of her crazy scheme of trying to confront the supervillain like that, and someone had said something to her about it.

Adrien felt a brief flash of outrage at that, considering all the times she'd told him to be careful as she looked out for him, but put those thoughts aside. He would rather be happy to see her again than be mad at her about something.

Maybe it would help if he talked with her more later? He hoped she was alright.

As Adrien and the rest of them made their way across the courtyard to meet up with the rest of their classmates, they did their best to tune out some of the curious whispers about them. They whispered things about Ivan's transformation, Mylène's plight, Alya's rashness, and Chloé's boldness. Out of the corner of his eye, Adrien could see Chloé looking towards Nathaniel; the redhead hanging off to one side and sitting on one of the benches with his sketchbook in his lap.

Most of the rest of the class was gathering around Ivan and Mylène, asking them as well as Alya if they were all fine. The three of them were trying to reassure everybody else that they were fine.

But then one voice in particular cut through it all.

"YOU!" a girl's voice exclaimed, startling them all. "What are you doing here!?"

They all turned to see that girl who'd gotten dunked into the Seine, and Adrien felt his skin crawl. She looked fine now, all dried off and everything, but her face was a blotchy red color whose anger managed to show through all that make-up she wore.

"Oh, just get lost," Alix snapped. "Haven't you done enough already?"

"What…?" Adrien began to ask, but Nino nudged him.

"This girl was giving us grief earlier, before roll call," Nino whispered to him, "first calling Ivan a monster and then throwing shade at Chloé about her mom, the Style Queen."

Adrien winced at the mention of Chloé's mother. He'd interacted with Audrey Bourgeois in the past, and it almost never went well. Not to mention how much of a sore subject it was with Chloé herself...

"Oh, and then Chloé gave her the death glare for that," Nino added.

Adrien winced again at that. He'd never been on the receiving end of one of Chloé's near-legendary "death glares" himself, but he'd seen her use it on others before.

Meanwhile, this new girl was continuing to rant and rave: "...and then I was soaked, utterly soaked, in that filthy water from the Seine, and even if those magical ladybugs fixed everything and made us dry and clean again, I don't think I'll ever forget that horrifying experience!"

"Yeah, poor you," Alya muttered under her breath.

But then this platinum blonde girl noticed Adrien… and her nasty scowl split into a big, bright smile.

"Adrien?" she said aloud. "Adrien Agreste? Bozhe moi, am I one lucky girl! It's not every day I get to meet a famous model like you!"

"Um, nice to meet you too, Miss…?"

"Irina Afanasyeva, heiress to the Afanasyev energy empire!" she declared, striking a pose. Out of the corner of his eye, Adrien could see the rest of his classmates rolling their eyes as they quietly groaned.

"We've been over this already," Juleka muttered just loud enough for them all to hear.

"Ah, but dear Adrien here wasn't present for my initial debut!" Irina said theatrically. And then she flashed him what she thought was a winning smile. "Hm, perhaps my first impression of Collège François Dupont was a little wrong! There must be something good about this school to attract such notable people like you!"

"Um, thanks, I think?" Adrien said awkwardly, glancing at his classmates for help.

"In fact," Irina said, lowering her voice a bit and stepping towards him, "I think perhaps I will come to school, if I can expect to study in the company of brilliant young people such as yourself." Then closing the gap between the two of them, she suddenly took his hand in hers and peered up at him, saying, "I look forward to getting to know you better, solnyshkuh."

"Um, can you please let go of me…" he told her, trying to be polite. He really didn't like that look in her eyes as she smirked at him.

"What? I'm not hurting you!" she protested, even as she gripped his hand a little tighter.

"Please let go," he said, starting to feel really uncomfortable.

Irina was just about to say something else when another girl's voice made them all jump.

"Let go of him!" another girl's voice declared.

But it wasn't Chloé; it was Marinette.

"And who are you?" she sneered, turning around to see Marinette striding up to him, a fire blazing in her bright blue eyes.

"I'm one of his best friends!" Marinette said, pointing at them. "And if Adrien says you should let go of him, then you should let go of him!"

Adrien felt his heart skip a beat. He was so touched with how Marinette was fiercely defending him like this…

That, and she looked kinda cute like this.

"Whoa," he heard himself muttering under his breath.

"Ugh!" Irina exclaimed indignantly. "Don't you know who I am, you silly girl!?"

"I don't care if you're the Queen of England, you're still in the wrong!" Marinette replied, now standing with her hands on her hips. "Don't you realize that what you're doing counts as harassment!?"

"Excuse me!?" Irina squawked indignantly, now mirroring Marinette's pose by putting her own hands on her own hips (and Adrien was grateful for the opportunity to make this escape from Irina's grasp, which he did). "It's not harassment! Boys love it when girls do that sort of thing!"

"Well, he obviously didn't!" Marinette retorted! "He clearly didn't want that and even asked you to stop! Even I saw and heard that!"

"Yeah, we all saw and heard that too, we're all witnesses," Nino added, speaking up. And now the rest of his class — his friends — were now feeling emboldened to tell off this new girl.

"So what!?" Irina retorted, rapidly losing her patience as she lashed out at them. "Now get out of my way, you're between me and Adrien, who I was talking to until you so rudely interrupted us!"

Adrien heard himself making a noise of shock and disgust, and he was far from the only one. But Marinette had something else to say to Irina:

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil, is that good people do nothing!"

As Adrien tried to recall where he'd heard a quote like that before, Irina scoffed and said, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I'm not putting up with your crud, and neither is anyone else around here!" Marinette replied. "So you can take your attitude and get out of here!"

Irina spluttered some more, unable to believe that she was being so openly defied by a dozen or so other kids her own age. But Adrien found himself focusing less on the new girl and more on this other girl he'd known for much longer.

Wow, Marinette is really awesome, he thought to himself.

Finally, Irina let out a growl and turned away to stalk off, but then let out a startled shriek when she found herself facing Chloé Bourgeois.

"So, what did I miss?" Chloé said in a casual tone and an eyebrow raised, but everyone present could tell that she wasn't going to just let this go.

"Nothing!" Irina exclaimed, trying to sound normal. "Just leaving now… as if I'd really want to attend this dump of a school…"

Chloé let her pass without incident, and once she was gone, everyone fell into an uneasy silence.

"...I hope I never see her again," Adrien said at last, more to break the silence than anything else.

"That might be difficult," Chloé said, frowning. "Unfortunately, she's staying at the hotel, and who knows how long thatwill be for."

"Well, hopefully not for long!" Alya exclaimed, still upbeat. Then she turned to Marinette and exclaimed with a large grin, "And that was awesome, girl! The way you quoted Majestia like that! The look on her face! You were just awesome!"

That seemed to get Marinette's attention, and suddenly she was very self-conscious again. "Uh, y-y-yeah, go me!" she said nervously. "I don't know where that came from! What was I thinking!"

"I think you were heroic," Adrien said warmly, paying her a compliment.

And then Marinette spun around to focus on Adrien, her cheeks now very pink and rosy.

"Oh, uh, it's no problem, really!" Marinette told him, clasping her hands and twisting her body a certain way. "I'm always happy to stand up for fry mends — uh, I mean my friends! Yeah, my friends!"

Adrien was just wondering if Marinette was feeling alright when Chloé spoke up: "So, what did I miss?"

"It's nothing, Chloé," Adrien said, hoping to reassure his longtime friend. "Just that new girl being a brat."

"That's all?" Chloé asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, before that, we were just talking to Ivan," Adrien continued.

And then Chloé's attention snapped to Ivan, her expression softening.

"Hi Ivan, Mylène," she said, greeting them both. "Good to see you're both back and well again."

"Thanks," Ivan rumbled, while Mylène nodded meekly.

There was a brief but awkward silence as Chloé waited for Ivan to say something else, but when that didn't happen, she spoke up again.

"How are you feeling, Ivan?" Chloé asked gently.

He shrugged. "Fine, I guess." And then he looked up at her again. "Some other people told me the basics about what happened, and I don't even remember doing it, but… I'm sorry that happened to you, Chloé."

"Don't worry about it," she reassured him. "And for what it's worth… I'm sorry I zoned out like that earlier when Irina was bothering us the first time. I didn't even hear her give you a hard time because I was just so stunned by what she said."

Ivan shook his head, dismissing it. "Don't worry, I totally get it."

Chloé didn't respond right away, but then she took everybody else by surprise when she approached Ivan and threw her arms around him, hugging him tight.

Something about this seemed a little weird to Adrien. He could understand Chloé trying to comfort a classmate, but she usually wasn't one for sentimentality either, and here she was hugging him tight as if he were some long-lost brother or cousin. From where he was standing, Adrien could barely make out the look on her face; she looked rather sad, and she normally wasn't one to display emotions like this.

"Chloé?" Ivan rumbled, a little surprised.

"It's alright, big guy," she said softly, but loud enough for them all to hear. "I know it wasn't really you."

He stood stock-still for a moment… before gently hugging her back.

"Thanks, Chloé," he rumbled. "That means a lot to me."

"Anything for a friend."

After they separated a moment later, the blonde turned to Mylène. "How about you, how are you feeling?"

Mylène shrugged, sounding a little distressed. "I had a big panic attack, but I think I'll be alright." And then she stuck close to Ivan and hugged him close, which he reciprocated with a big arm around her. (Adrien was no psychologist, but he strongly suspected that both Ivan and Mylène would be having nightmares about falling off the Eiffel Tower for a long time to come.)

Chloé nodded. "Well, I'm glad you're both alright."

And then she turned to where Alya was taking out her smartphone to pull something up on it. "And what about you, Alya?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure, I'm fine," she said distractedly. "Sorry, just checking my blog, trying to see how many views I might get…"

"Oh yeah, you'll be fine," Chloé commented, blinking.

But before anybody else could say anything else, the principal's voice could be heard through the loudspeaker system: "Will all students return to their homerooms please, thank you."

Shrugging, they all returned to Ms. Bustier's classroom.

...Although, along the way, Adrien definitely noticed the tension between Chloé and Marinette...

Eventually, all the students made their way back to class, and everyone was back where they belonged. All the teachers and staff tried to finish the school day with a modicum of normalcy, but everyone's mind was too focused on that day's events to really concentrate.

"Everyone, please try to settle down," said Madame Bustier, who was showing an astonishing amount of calm and patience, given the day's events so far. It couldn't have been easy for her, watching not one, not two, but three of her own students getting thrown from or dropped off of the Eiffel Tower at various intervals, as well as a fourth student taking matters into her own hands and almost getting crushed by the bad guys along the way. Even from where they all sat, they could tell that she looked like she was one incident away from truly losing it.

"So, now we have a supervillain somewhere in the vicinity of Paris," she declared. "This won't be homework or anything like that, but I strongly recommend that all of you look up safety tips when you get home tonight. And yes, that includes not confronting any supervillains or running after them."

She didn't look directly at anybody or single anybody out, but naturally people looked towards the front, especially to where Chloé and Alya were sitting in their respective seats.

From where he sat, Adrien could see Chloé sitting perfectly still and not daring to look around, and he thought he saw Marinette fidget a little. As for Alya, she had the good grace to look a little ashamed of herself.

And then Ms. Bustier continued: "But at the same time, even as you exercise caution during a supervillain attack, I ask that you not lose faith in our new heroes, Ladybug and Cat Noir."

Ms. Bustier briefly lapsed into silence to let that sink in, and Adrien basked in what praise he could get.

He was a hero!

"Now, as for the other matter," Ms. Bustier continued. "Before this all started, I was going to address the issue of bullying here in this class."

Looking up at the back row, Ms. Bustier looked at Ivan and said, "Ivan, I certainly don't condone what Kim said and did, and I'm certainly not defending it, but yesterday when I looked up I saw you looking ready to punch him, so I had to address it. In fact, if it hadn't been for… well, what happened next, we would have had this resolved yesterday."

Now shifting her gaze, Ms. Bustier was looking at Kim. "And needless to say, Kim, you shouldn't have said or done that in the first place either."

"Yes, Ms. Bustier," Kim solemnly replied. Turning to Ivan, the other boy said, "I'm sorry, Ivan, I didn't think you'd get that angry, and I promise not to do it again."

Ivan looked at Kim a little suspiciously, and everyone could tell that Ivan was trying to silently deduce whether Kim was being sincere or not. After a moment, he relaxed a little and finally said, "Sure… I accept your apology, but don't do something like that to me again."

"Sure thing, man, whatever you say."

And both boys shook hands on it.

"Good," Ms. Bustier said, clapping her own hands together. "And now that that's all settled, let's get back to work…"

Adrien turned to look at Nino, asking him in hushed tones just what had happened in this class yesterday, but Nino made a subtle gesture to convey that he would explain later.

And now that things were "back to normal" (so to speak), Adrien finally, finally sat down and got ready for what would be his first day of school at College François Dupont.

But as he continued with the remainder of the school day and finally got ready to go back home, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on with his close friends, Chloé and Marinette…

He thought back to that picture which Alya took of the three of them, and how happy all the three of them looked. He would definitely be saving that picture and printing it out too.

---

On the front steps of François Dupont College, Marinette hung back in the alcove as she watched it rain. Why did she have to forget her umbrella? Now she wished she'd asked Chloé for a ride to drop her off at her house without getting wet…

"Hey there," a boy's voice said from behind her. Marinette turned around to see Adrien approaching her, his umbrella in his hand and a winning smile on his face.

"Oh hello, Adrien," she said, feeling a little funny. "So, um, what are you doing here?"

"Well, after all that excitement earlier today, I still had to sit down and straighten some things out with the principal," he said easily. "It was definitely an unforgettable first day at school for me, but I'm hoping that tomorrow will be better. Like no supervillain attacks."

"Yeah, here's hoping," Marinette said, trying to sound optimistic.

"Besides," he said, now smiling even more, "I also got to be with my best friends again."

Marinette noticed the way he was looking directly at her, and now she could feel her heart beating a little more wildly.

He doesn't consider me "just a friend," does he? Marinette thought to herself, and then wondered why she found that notion so distressing.

"Oh, and speaking of which," Adrien added, as if just remembering something, "I don't think I thanked you already for rescuing me from Irina. So… thank you."

And with that, he smiled warmly at her, and Marinette could feel herself heating up again.

"Oh, don't worry about it, Adrien!" she piped up. "Like I said, anything for my friends."

Both of them stood awkwardly for a moment, but of them looking for something else to say… and then a flash of lightning followed by the boom of thunder made them both jolt.

"Right," he chuckled, nervously scratching the back of his neck, "I kinda forgot about that." Marinette giggled in response.

"So," he said slowly, dragging the word out, "what are you still doing here?"

Marinette sighed and rolled her eyes. "I forgot my umbrella at home."

Adrien thought about it and then smiled. "Well, then, how about I walk you home? You're just up the street, right?"

"Mm-hmm," she hummed, nodding.

"Here, stay close," he said, every bit the gallant gentleman, "I'll protect you from all these raindrops."

Marinette chuckled softly, charmed by his chivalrous nature.

She gracefully reached out to hold the umbrella with him… but when their hands touched, it felt like there was some kind of electric current traveling between them.

What's wrong with me?

If Adrien thought it was weird too, then he didn't show it.

With what she hoped was a smooth movie, she withdrew her hand from his which was holding the umbrella, and instead linked her arm with his. "Alright, I'm good to go," she said with a shy smile.

"Okay, then we're off," Adrien said with a smile.

Suddenly feeling a little emboldened, Marinette commented, "You might want to stick close to me too; after all, you might get a little wet too, and we wouldn't want to mess up those good looks."

"Lots of people tell me how sweet I am, but I'm pretty sure I won't melt," he quipped.

Marinette giggled again, in spite of herself. "Very funny, you."

As they cleared the last of the steps and turned to walk up the street, Marinette leaned in close to him. She liked it all: the feel of his arm against hers, the warmth of his body heat, the smell of his skin…

Maybe it's that cologne he did the advertising shoots for this past summer? she told himself. (Technically, that cologne hadn't been released to the public yet and so nobody had seen the advertisements for it, but Marinette had heard rumors about it through the metaphorical grapevine.)

"So, how have you been doing?" Adrien asked her. "It's been months since the last time we met."

"Oh, well, you know, I finished up the previous year of school, enjoyed my summer, even visited Italy with my parents," she said, smiling and trying to do something about the fast beating of her heart. "I can show you pictures next time."

"Sounds like fun," he said, grinning. "I wish I could visit Italy, and I mean on an actual vacation where I can do nothing but relax and have fun, not a fashion show like the one in Milan."

"I'm sure you'll get your chance someday soon," she told him.

"Heh," he snickered, "wouldn't that be quite the reversal of roles between us? What if I get to go on a true vacation, while you get to work at a fashion show and proudly show your work to the world? From what I've seen of your work — and yes, I know it's not much, because you need to protect your work and keep your secrets — I could definitely see that happening in your future."

"Really?" she asked him. "You think so?" She wasn't fishing for compliments or anything like that, but given how Adrien worked in the industry and how he knew so much about it, she felt she could trust his opinion like that.

"Well, I'm sure that you'll get your chance someday soon too," he said with a wink, mirroring her own words from just the moment before.

She held her free hand to her face to hide her grin and stifle any laughter which might escape… as well as hide as much of her face as she could, now that she could feel it heating up.

"For what it's worth, Adrien," she said after she'd composed herself, "I hope you're doing well too." And then, after a beat, she hastily added, "Not to put too much emphasis on it, but… well, you know, given everything going on with you."

Adrien's face flashed with sorrow for a split second, and Marinette instantly regretted it, but he quickly composed himself and hid it well. "Don't worry, Marinette, it's fine," he said. "I know you mean well. You didn't say anything wrong."

Smiling again, he said, "You're one of the nicest, kindest, and most compassionate girls I've ever met. You're always thinking of others and doing whatever you can to help them. Believe me, I'm grateful for it."

Marinette definitely wasn't fishing for compliments, but she still basked in those compliments all the same. "Sure thing, Adrien."

And she found herself very much liking the feeling of holding hands with him, even like this...

And before they knew it, they were standing in front of her parents' bakery. Through the rain-obscured windows, she could see her mother at the register, hunched over what was probably a book of business records; her father was out of sight, probably in the back.

"Well, here we are," she said, feeling a little sad that their stroll in the rain was over already.

"Yup," he said as they gently detached themselves from each other. "So… I guess I'd better leave then. Gotta walk back to the school, be ready for Nathalie and the Gorilla to pick me up. If they ask where I was and why I wasn't ready to go on time, I'll just say I was walking a friend home in the rain."

"Sounds like a plan," she quipped. "Well, thanks again, Adrien!"

"Glad to be of assistance!" he replied in a gallant way, flashing one last smile. And with that, he spun on his heel and marched away, the umbrella still over his head.

As he walked away, he looked back over his shoulder and happily called out to her, "See you tomorrow, Marinette!"

Marinette stood there, and remembered to give out a strangled "See you tomorrow!" before Adrien was out of sight and disappeared back into the rain.

Marinette had known Adrien for a few years now, mostly through Chloé, and she was happy to be friends with him… but now she wanted something more than just friendship.

And then she realized just what the problem was:

She had a crush on Adrien Agreste.

To be honest, it scared her… but it also thrilled her.

And once she finally realized it, she couldn't stop smiling.

Nothing could ruin this wonderful no mood of hers.

"Welcome home, Marinette," her mother said. With a knowing smile, she then asked, "Did my eyes deceive me, or was that Adrien Agreste himself personally walking you home in the rain with his umbrella?"

Oh, sugar cookies, she thought to herself.

---

Off to one side near the school, on a street corner in the opposite direction from Marinette's family's bakery, an old man and the turtle sprite which was his diminutive companion watched from underneath their own umbrella a respectful distance as the two teenagers walked away together.

Smiling, Master Fu remarked to Wayzz, "Those two are made for each other."

The Kwami of Protection smiled and nodded in agreement, trusting the Guardian's judgment.

---

AUTHOR'S NOTES: And I FINALLY got this one done! (Well, ALMOST done; next chapter will be a true conclusion from Rachel's POV!)
And I ESPECIALLY want to thank Darthkvzn for helping me figure out some of the details in this chapter, like our blonde heroine getting hurt and put out of commission.
Just in case it wasn't originally clear: Irina and Dieter fled back to Irina's family limo when Stoneheart reappeared, which is why they got kicked into the water.
You might have noticed the not-so-shameless nod to my plot bunny "The One Where Alya Knows From The Start" — please give it a read, if you haven't already?
And yeah, I made Alya a little more reckless and shortsighted than she is in canon; you may have noticed how she not only quoted Majestia to Stoneheart (because she didn't have a chance to do it to Chloé like in the cartoon, or Irina here), and I wanted to include a bit of her recklessness and shortsightedness we saw when the Pharaoh abducted her in that episode.
The Russian word solnyshkuh (солнышко) means "sunshine" and is often used as an affectionate term.
I just had to keep Marinette standing up for herself against a bully, and THE UMBRELLA SCENE. And for that matter, I decided to switch things up here, since she and Adrien have now known each other for years.
As for the art, thanks again to Beebeebombam for another great illustration, thanks to MonachopsisCrumbles (DeviantArt, Instagram) for that powerful scene too, and thanks again to Yunyin for another great illustration!
Next chapter is the conclusion of this "Origins" redux from our blonde heroine's perspective; I just didn't want this chapter to get too long!

IMPORTANT NOTICE!

Alright, so, this is hopefully the only time I'll ever have to make an announcement like this… but I need your help.
As you may have noticed, sometimes in the Miraculous cartoon you can see parodies of Real World iconic images in certain places. For example, there's the iconic album cover to The Beatles' album Abbey Road (with the band members crossing the street in a line) on a wall in the Couffaine houseboat. Well, I'm looking for one in particular: A parody of the movie poster for Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo with the human figures over a white spiral against a red field, as designed by Saul Bass.
I know I've seen a parody of this iconic poster somewhere in the Miraculous, like on one of those street kiosks where people put up posters; I think it was a scene with Marinette running down the street. Can anybody help me recall which episode this was in? This is really important for the story, and I'll owe a huge favor to whoever helps me find it!(Maybe whoever helps me can appear in this story as an OC akumatized villain?)