Disclaimer: I don't own Miraculous Ladybug or any of the characters that show up.

Summary: Maron Dupain-Cheng was just your average kid who wanted to be a fashion designer despite his clumsy disposition and shy nature. Annette Agreste was a teen model who wanted to be an average kid hiding her true face from the public. Neither of them expected to be chosen to be superheroes when a villain called Hawk Moth began to cause chaos in the streets of Paris. Maron was against it while Annette was all for it. Now as Beetle and Chatte Noire the two must navigate both their new miraculous lives as Superhero Partners while balancing it with their normal lives, unaware of each other's identities and try to uncover who Hawk Moth is if they want to save Paris before it's too late.

Chapter 12: Pharaoh

Maron opened his eyes the morning after the events of dealing with Darkstar, a look of exhaustion on his face as he could barely sleep, having nightmares after everything that happened.

He wanted to curl up in his bed and sleep some more, but his phone alarm chose that moment to go off, showing that he needed to get up or he would be late to school.

Why couldn't it be the weekend right now?

His body ached and his history book was missing.

School was the last thing he wanted to experience right now.

But he knew that he couldn't put it off, so he began to push himself out of bed, hearing a small grunt while doing so.

Turning towards it, Maron saw Tikki struggling to carry his bag, dropping it at the chair where his desk was along with the clothes he usually wore.

"Tikki I can get that." Maron called out, forcing himself out of bed so the Kwami didn't hurt herself, grabbing his phone to check for any messages in the process.

In his hurry though, he didn't kick the cover off fully and tripped over it, falling down the steps to the lower part of his room, the phone flying out of his hand to hit the wall, giving a pained groan as Tikki flew over to look him over in concern.

In hindsight, perhaps his bed should be in the lower part of his room to avoid situations like this happening?

Pushing himself up, Maron went to grab his phone to see it now cracked and broken.

"Great can tod-." Maron cut himself off, not wanting to jynx himself, especially since he knew magic was real.

Instead he got ready for school, turning his computer screen on, for once ignoring the picture of Annette that was changed to the one where he was with her as an extra in the part, instead clicking on the internet to see what was on the news, expecting the worst.

And he wasn't disappointed.

So many headlines about the other day popped up.

'Hero turned killer?'

'Lives lost in villain attack.'

'How safe are we really?'

And that wasn't even the worst of it considering the online comments that he could see.

'This wasn't an Akuma, how many are there?!'

'We should keep watch.'

'What, like how Nazi's kept watch for Jews?'

'Jews didn't have the ability to turn people into husks!'

'Why didn't Beetle use his miracle cure?'

'Maybe he couldn't? We don't know anything about it.'

'Hell we don't know anything about them, what if the heroes are acting like this killer did?'

Having enough, Maron went to the Beetleblog to see what Alya was saying about this, but to his surprise there wasn't anything except for an apology on posting the interview with Michael along with said interview being taken down.

But the comments were dragging the blog down, calling it fake news for the mistake.

"Poor Alya." Maron muttered knowing how much this blog meant to her.

And now its reputation was in tatters because of what Darkstar did.

"She'll get through this." Tikki reassured him. "Alya's resourceful enough to find a way to fix this."

After a few seconds, Maron gave a nod, knowing that Tikki was right.

Besides, he needs to get to school.

Making it to school, Maron looked around for Alya, being surprised when he didn't see her.

Usually she was here long before he was.

Kind of sad considering he lived closer to the school, but that didn't matter right now.

"Hey, have you seen Alya?" Maron stopped to ask Rose and Juleka who were talking only to have them shake their heads. "Oh, okay thanks."

Eventually Maron saw Nino listening to music and tapped his shoulder. "Sup dude?" Nino asked, pausing his music with Maron hearing Jagged Stone before that happened.

"Any idea where Alya is?" Maron asked, getting to the point.

Nino winced as he sighed. "No idea, sorry, same with Annette."

Anne-oh right she was sick the other day.

With everything going on that completely slipped his mind.

"Hopefully the two of them are alright." Maron rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm worried about Alya because-well…"

How should he put this?

"Because of her blog?" Nino asked, already knowing considering what happened.

Maron gave a nod.

"Have you tried calling her?"

In response to that Maron held up his broken phone. "Honestly I doubt I'll be able to access my camera app let alone my phone." He said in a dry tone.

"What did you do?" Nino asked, seeing the damage before remembering how clumsy Maron could be. "Never mind."

Maron rolled his eyes before they saw Annette walking towards them, looking much better than the other day. "Hey guys." Annette greeted with a smile.

Nino grinned and held up his hand for a high-five that Annette returned. "Hey yourself dude, nice to see you're back to normal."

"Just needed some sleep." Annette lied, but grinning all the same.

Maron stammered a bit. "G-Great." He said, trying to be normal.

"So what are you guys talking about?" Annette was pretty curious given how she rarely saw these two by themselves.

"How Alya's doing because of the interview she did for Darkstar." Nino answered.

"I see." Annette frowned in concern. "That makes sense."

"What makes sense?" The three of them turned to see Alya herself walking towards them.

Surprisingly she had a grin on her face.

"Oh uh, well." Maron tried to think of a lie but Nino beat him to the punch.

"Maron was worried about you after that mess with Darkstar." Nino said with zero hesitation, earning him a look from the fashion designer. "What? You were."

Yes but he didn't want to bring it up if she wasn't thinking about it.

A brief moment of hesitation flashed on Alya's face before she brushed it off. "It's fine," She said, clearly lying. "I just need to do something that'll make people forget about it and I have just the thing."

With that she pulled out the history book.

Nino and Annette exchanged confused glances while Maron went rigid as a thought appeared in his mind.

No.

It couldn't be.

"Is there a pop quiz coming up or something?" Nino asked, not getting the significance.

"No, during the fight yesterday, Beetle dropped a bag with clippings of Darkstar's past and this book was inside of it." Alya answered, confirming Maron's worst fear while Annette's eyes widened. "This book belongs to Beetle."

'AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!' Maron mentally screamed while trying to keep his face calm despite his wide-eyed look.

No, this was fine, he can fix this-wait no his name is in that book.

Don't panic, don't panic, he can fix this-.

'AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!'

While Maron was having a mental breakdown, Nino whistled. "Wait, so Beetle goes to our school? He's our age?" He asked, not expecting that. "Dude, that's insane."

And he means it, it was pretty wild to picture one of the heroes as another school kid.

"Uh and how are you going to use that to make people forget about the interview with Darkstar?" Annette asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"Simple, an interview with Beetle once I find out who he is," Alya said, proving Maron's fears to be true. "It'll save the blog and also reassure people who think Beetle and Chatte Noire are like Darkstar."

She was angry at the fact that anyone would even consider that.

"No-," Maron exclaimed before he could stop himself, earning surprised looks before he barely managed to save face. "Way! That's incredible."

No it wasn't, this was bad. Very, very bad!

Annette seemed to be in the same boat, knowing how protective Beetle was of his identity.

And what's worse, if she went through with this, Hawk Moth could easily track Beetle down.

Hearing the bell ring, the four of them rushed to class.

"Maron calm down." Tikki said during Lunch as Maron was back on the roof finally able to let out the frustration that's been building up ever since Alya showed his history book. "We can fix this!"

"HOW?! Unless Bunnyx shows up all of a sudden there's no way to fix this! My name is in that book," Maron looked on the verge of having a panic attack as he pulled on his hair. "And you heard Alya, she's going to report this! My secret identity will be out the minute she opens that damn book."

And then the whole school-no the whole world will know.

How can he possibly begin to fix this?

Tikki tackled his head, making him rub it. "Thanks." He muttered, needing some sense knocked into him.

It kept his mind off his impending doom.

"Don't worry, it'll all work out, just take Alya to the Egyptian Exhibit today after school." Tikki told Maron who raised a brow. "And make sure she brings the book."

"An Egyptian Exhibit?" He asked, remembering seeing something about that on the news earlier that week and how Tikki looked rather excited at seeing it. "Why? How would that help?"

"Just tell Alya you found something about Beetle."

"At the museum?" Maron asked slowly, not understanding this. "What the heck would I find?"

Tikki just gave a knowing smile. "You'll see."

"Can you believe it?" Alya asked with a wide grin as they were approaching the Louvre hours later. "I just need to figure out who this History Book belongs to and BAM, I'll figure out his identity. I'm so on this one."

"That's great." Maron said, giving a nervous grin.

Alya didn't seem to notice in her excitement. "You know it, and once I get that interview, the blog will be saved."

After all, she needs it to keep bringing the good news to the world about the heroes, especially since they're facing quite a bit of scrutiny right now.

"Still, it's one textbook that hundreds of other kids have that's a tall order to try and figure it out." Maron said, trying to be casual.

"That's the thing, our school is the only one to use this particular textbook and that narrows it down a lot." Alya revealed before raising a brow, finally noticing how nervous he seemed. "What's with you today?"

Ever since she showed the book he's been acting strange.

Especially since he said that he found something about Beetle at the museum, which totally blew Alya's mind.

If it was true that is. There was always a chance that he made a mistake.

"I'm just not sure about revealing his identity, I mean wouldn't that help Hawk Moth out?" Maron asked, trying to get Alya to see some sense.

"Relax boy, I'm going to interview him without revealing his name." Alya promised him.

She wasn't stupid.

"Still I just need to find out which guy in our school doesn't have his textbook and there are fifty-five in our grade alone."

"Fifty-four." Maron said without thinking before grinning as Alya gave him a weird look. "I mean come on you can't possibly think I'm him."

What was he doing?! Abort! Abort!

Alya lightly elbowed his stomach in a playful manner. "Didn't someone not have his history book in class today?"

"Y-You know how I am, I forgot it at home." Maron protested, red in the face, fidgeting as he clasped his hands together.

For once he was glad that it's happened a few times in the past, it gave credibility to his claims.

"I know and the moment you bring it back after the weekend I'll cross you off the list." Alya promised Maron. "I can't make exceptions on this, even for my best friend."

Though to be honest, the moment she started thinking that, Alya seemed to be scrutinizing him a bit.

There were some similarities with the hair color and the eyes, but there were also some huge differences.

Beetle stood tall while Maron was usually hunched over.

Beetle was confident while Maron was meek.

Beetle had grace while Maron was extremely clumsy.

Besides, she remembered seeing both Maron and Beetle at the same time during the Timebreaker incident, so there's no way that he could be Beetle.

Yet something was nagging her about that particular moment but she pushed it down.

"So what was this amazing discovery you found on Beetle?" Alya asked as they made it to the Egyptian Exhibit.

Maron went to answer only to stop as they heard a rush of footsteps only for someone to bump into them as they tried to get by, papers scattering everywhere while a medallion skipped across the floor as the guy quickly tried to grab it.

The young man had chin length reddish-auburn hair and brown eyes with a pair of glasses over them, wearing a grayish green jacket, light yellowish gray jeans and an orange scarf around his neck.

"It's not broken." The man said in relief after inspecting the medallion.

"Excuse you, I'm fine too, thanks for asking." Alya responded with annoyance at being pushed aside while Maron began grabbing the scattered papers to help the guy.

Her voice made the guy wince as he recalled running into them in his hurry. "I'm sorry-oh thanks." He apologized only for Maron to hand him his papers. "Hey you're both in the same class as Alix right? I'm her older brother Jalil Kubdel, so you're into Tutankhamun too?"

Before they could even answer, he glanced up, seeing Alim walking into the room.

"Oh Dad!" Jalil ran off towards him with Alya tilting her head to the side.

"And I thought you were all over the place Maron."

Maron gave a nod before realizing what she just said. "Hey!"

Alya just raised a brow, watching as Maron tried to deny that before his shoulders slumped, seeing her point, making her snicker. "Relax, it's not a bad thing, you just need to take it slow sometimes." She told him.

Seriously if he just stopped to take a breath he would be fine.

"So back to what I was saying, what does this exhibit have to do with Beetle?" Alya asked, making Maron freeze up.

Luckily when she wasn't looking Tikki showed herself and pointed towards a nearby exhibit, something Maron quickly took to. "It's right over here." He lied straight through his teeth.

Why couldn't Tikki have explained this better?!

Unknown to them, Annette was around the corner taking a deep breath as she tried to make a plan.

"Are you seriously going to try and steal that book in the middle of a museum?" Plagg asked with a raised brow, sitting on her shoulder.

"We need to get that back to Beetle, now stay hidden." Annette whispered, not wanting anyone to see him.

"And how exactly would you get it back?" Plagg asked the million dollar question right there.

Annette didn't answer because she was trying to think of that herself.

She can't get it back as Chatte because the only people who knew that Alya had it were her, Nino and Maron, so that would risk her own identity.

But she can't just do nothing.

Still, to think he had the same textbook as her, Annette had no idea they went to the same school.

Did they ever pass by each other and not realize it?

"Hello~ Earth to Annette." Plagg poked her cheek. "You never answered the question."

"I'm working on it." Annette told him.

Plagg shrugged and flew into her bag, out of sight but a moment later Annette could smell camembert, showing that he opened the case.

"Plagg that's for emergencies!"

"Can't hear you, I'm eating." Plagg called back with a mouthful.

'I wonder if Beetle ever goes through this sort of stuff with his Kwami?' Annette thought, pinching the bridge of her nose to alleviate some frustration.

She then peeked around the corner to see Maron showing Alya some hieroglyphics. "I wonder why they're here though."

"Come on, tell me what it is already." Alya complained after a few minutes of awkward silence and watching Maron looking at the hieroglyphics.

It was like he didn't even know what he was looking for.

"I know I saw it." Maron said, trying to buy some time as Alya did a face palm, leaving him to whisper. "Tikki, help."

This was not going well.

Alya just rolled her eyes, looking pretty bored.

But she was also worried.

The only time she's seen Maron this nervous was when he was trying to work up the nerve to talk to Annette.

So why was he nervous this time?

"I'm telling you father, it's right here in the hieroglyphics." Jalil's voice caught their attention as he and his father were approaching the exhibit that they were at. "Excuse me."

"At least he said that this time." Alya muttered while Jalil pushed past them.

Maron however was very relieved by the distraction.

"There as you know, the one with the scepter is Tutankhamun, the first." Jalil continued while Alim gave a low sigh. "And there, opposite is Nefertiti, his princess. There are exactly one hundred mummies beside them. She died several years before him where the Sun God Ra took her as his Goddess."

'I didn't know that.' Maron found that rather interesting.

Despite not liking History, he always found mythology rather fun.

"Yes, I know all of that, I'm the Director of this exhibit, remember?" Alim asked, wondering where his son was getting at.

"Someone's rather testy." Alya whispered, leaving for Maron to cover his mouth to hide a snort, not wanting to be mean.

"Then you also know that Tutankhamun wanted to bring his Princess back to life by offering the Sun God a new wife. These hieroglyphics seem to highlight the ritual he described," Jalil's tone gained a rather excited edge to it. "Nobody has ever fully translated the hieroglyphics, until now that is. It's a magic chant that needs to be recited in order to complete the ritual, I'm sure of it."

"Pretty crazy." Alya commented while Maron shook his head.

"Dunno, he reminds me of your crazy theories."

Alya raised a brow. "Hey, since when are my theories crazy?"

"Jalil, these types of frescoes are only illustrated as a legend," Alim said to him, a rather annoyed tone in his voice showing that this wasn't the first time they had this sort of conversation. "They're called legends for a reason."

"That's what everyone thinks, but I can prove it." Jalil pleaded with him. "We just need to use the scepter-."

"Absolutely not," Alim was no longer humoring his son at this point. "Don't even think about touching it, that Scepter is a priceless ancient artifact, not a toy."

If someone even breathes on it, his job would be at risk.

"But Dad-."

"I said no, instead of filling your head with fantasies, focus on reality." Alim walked off as Jalil's shoulders dropped.

Hawk Moth chuckled, feeling negative energy once more.

He's been feeling plenty of them today, mostly fear and uncertainty, but they pale in comparison to the energy he was feeling right now.

"There's nothing wrong with living out a fantasy," Hawk Moth smirked, holding out his hand for a butterfly. "Especially when I can make it a reality."

Once he filled the butterfly with dark energy, Hawk Moth watched it fly off before thinking of the events of yesterday.

Of how there was a legitimate super villain attacking, something that interested him greatly.

The fear he inspired almost made him make an Akuma, however he held off.

There were several reasons for that.

The main one being however was that there was little to no information on who or what this Darkstar was or where he came from.

Plus he wanted to see for himself how Beetle and Chatte Noire would fare against him.

Either way the fight went he would've won.

If Darkstar won then Hawk Moth's enemies would be dead and he would be free to get to the Miraculous, especially with how strong the negative energy for his Akuma's would be after their demise.

With the Hero's winning however they were most likely weakened from that fight and would be easy to take down with this next Akuma. But he had to wait because the relief from their win made it almost impossible to Akumatize anyone for the moment.

Giving a dark chuckle, Hawk Moth twirled his staff to rest on his shoulder, waiting for the show to start.

Making it outside, Jalil kicked a small pebble that was on the ground, gritting his teeth in annoyance while his Dad's words went through his head.

'Instead of filling your head with fantasies, focus on reality.'

Why?

Why is it that when something is a 'legend' no one takes it seriously?

Even if he's wrong there's always a hint of truth in legends.

Just look at the Paris Heroes, they're powers are akin to magic showing that it was possible.

Yet whenever he tries to tell someone, they always tell him the same thing.

So caught up in his thoughts, Alim didn't see the Akuma right as it merged with his pendant.

'Pharaoh, I am Hawk Moth, there's nothing wrong with your drive to prove these legends for what they are,' Hawk Moth whispered, his hold tightening almost immediately. 'I've endowed you with the power of the ancient gods to help you ascertain the truth. Just remember to do me a favor in return.'

"Yes Hawk Moth." Jalil vanished as the Akuma took control and Pharaoh stood in his place.

Pharaoh had pitch black skin and glowing blue eyes, his face hidden by the golden funerary mask of Tutankhamun himself, wearing gold bands on his wrists, biceps and ankles and a gold kilt around his waist.

"Soon, Nefertiti, we will be reunited."

With that distraction over, Maron was back to panicking while Alya looked about done with waiting for him to show her what he found before reaching in her bag to grab the book.

That made Maron's eyes widen because if she opened it, he was done.

But before he could do anything else, someone surprised them. "Hey fancy seeing you two here."

Both of them turned to see Annette giving a wave as she walked over.

"Annette? What are you doing here?" Alya asked in surprise, no longer reaching for the book as she crossed her arms with a raised brow.

Maron would normally be relieved, but the sight of Annette was making him nearly scream in frustration.

Great, he needs to find a way to get his book without arousing suspicion and act normal around his crush.

Is it too much to ask for a break here?!

"Heard about the Egyptian Exhibit so I thought it would be interesting." Annette lied straight through her teeth, giving a grin. "What about you two?"

"Well I'm still trying to learn Beetle's identity while Maron here said that he found an exhibit that was about Beetle," Alya said, jabbing a thumb back at Maron who now looked like a deer in headlights.

Annette's eyes widened, not expecting that at all. "No way, really?"

"Uh, well you see." Maron felt tongue tied, not sure how to go from here.

"Except he still hasn't shown what it was." Alya pinched the bridge of her nose to alleviate some frustration. "I swear Maron, it feels like you're making this up as you go."

Maron almost denied that immediately despite how very true it was.

"It's just well, I know I saw it but it's hard to find." Maron lamely said, readjusting his bag.

Seeing that as her way into this so she could get the book, Annette smiled. "Maybe I can help." She said getting between them to look at the hieroglyphics.

Stepping to the side, Alya grinned as she noticed how Maron looked downright terrified right now.

This could actually work.

"You and Maron do that, I'm going to take a break." She said, giving Maron a wink showing what she was doing.

Maron's terrified look increased.

No, this was the last thing that needed to happen.

He can't afford to be distracted.

Not that Annette is distracting-no focus!

"Uh Alya I promise it's-." He stopped when he noticed someone new approaching another exhibit. "That can't be good."

Both girls turned in the direction he was looking in time to see a security guard approaching Pharaoh. "Thoth, give me time." Pharaoh declared blasting the security guard with a bubble that slowed him down, his face now resembling a jackal.

"Oh thank God, an Akuma." Maron whispered, earning a very confused look from Annette. "I mean oh no, an Akuma!"

"Score, this is a lot better than looking at the hieroglyphics." Alya turned her live feed on to the Ladyblog to catch the moment.

"Alya!" Maron called out as she was crouching behind an exhibit to catch this. "I swear she's going to get herself killed."

"Get her out, I'll look for help." Annette told Maron, needing to disappear to become Chatte Noire.

She didn't even give him a chance to say anything as she took off.

'Like she'll listen to me.' Maron thought in annoyance, looking for a way to transform that wouldn't be caught on camera.

But he did at least try, grabbing her shoulder. "Come on."

"Are you crazy? This is gold." Alya told him before speaking up as Pharaoh was approaching where the staff was. "This is Alya of the Ladyblog and I'm here at the Louvre where an Akuma has made an appearance, Beetle and Chatte Noire have yet to show up."

Her voice however made Pharaoh glance at them as they froze.

His gaze however remained on Alya as he approached. "You." He whispered, not believing what he was seeing.

"Alya, we need to run." Maron grabbed her wrist to pull her away and that seemed to set Pharaoh off as he grabbed Maron by the back of his jacket. "Whoa!"

That was all Maron could say before Pharaoh opened the nearby sarcophagus and threw him in there.

"Ow." Maron muttered in pain, not seeing anything in the dark.

"Maron, you have to transform." Tikki told him.

"I can't, the museum cameras no doubt saw me get thrown in here along with Alya's blog, if Beetle comes out then that's good-bye identity." Maron slammed a fist on the door, trying to open it. "Can you open it?"

"Give me a moment." Tikki phased into the door itself.

"Maron!" Alya exclaimed in concern before Pharaoh turned back towards her, studying her face. "Do you mind?!"

"It is you, fate has placed you in my path." Pharaoh said, grabbing Alya like she was nothing more than a sack and throwing her over his shoulder while she ended up dropping her bag.

While a bit surprised, Alya grinned as she now had a front row seat to whatever this Akuma had planned.

Especially since the Akuma didn't seem like he was trying to hurt her.

Though she gave the coffin a concerned glance, hoping Maron was alright.

"Sekhmet, give me your strength." Pharaoh's face changed into that of a cat as he approached the metal security bars that came down the moment he caused chaos, easily bending them with one hand only for a staff to slam into his face as Chatte Noire stood there.

"Thanks for getting the door for me, now put her down." Chatte Noire went to hit him again but Pharaoh ducked the swipe and grabbed her face, throwing her towards the sarcophagus right as Tikki got the door open, hiding back in Maron's jacket.

Maron was barely able to breathe the fresh air only to yelp when Chatte Noire slammed into him, the two of them being locked in the sarcophagus together.

All he could see were Chatte's green eyes that were wide open, clearly not expecting this herself, the two pressed up against each other, making this rather awkward for both of them.

"Uh… Fancy seeing you here Macaron."

Maron blinked at the nickname. "Wait, you remember me?" He asked not expecting that.

The only time he met Chatte as Maron was during the Timebreaker incident.

He didn't think she would remember him as a random civilian considering how many they saved during the Akuma crisis.

But he was rather nervous because Tikki wouldn't be able to open the door like that again without risking Chatte seeing her.

So they needed to find another way out of here and he had to make sure he didn't act like Beetle while stuck here.

Chatte gave a small chuckle. "Of course I do, I don't know anyone else smelling like a bakery." She said, trying to keep the conversation going, her eyes looking around for a way to open this. "Don't worry, I'll get us out of here."

She knew this had to be very awkward for her friend, just like how it was for her, so she wanted to get them both out of this as quickly as she could.

For a second, Chatte thought about using Cataclysm to get rid of the sarcophagus, but her mind flashed back to when she used it on Darkstar and she grimaced.

It was possible that she might end up hitting Maron with it if she wasn't careful. So she didn't want to risk it.

Shifting a bit to try and turn, she heard Maron gasp and looked to see that her claws accidentally left a scratch on his arm from when she tried to turn.

"Sorry." Chatte Noire felt some guilt at that happening.

"It's fine, it's just a scratch." Maron reassured her. "... Literally."

"Hopefully Beetle is out there, I don't want to even think of what the Akuma has planned for your friend." Chatte Noire muttered, now turned towards the door, missing how Maron winced given how he was trapped in here with Chatte.

"I'm sure he's on his way." Maron said, with Chatte turning her head to give him a smile despite how he wouldn't see it.

"No doubt about that."

Despite the awkwardness, it was nice to actually talk to Maron without him stuttering.

Too bad she had an Akuma to stop.

Turning back to focus on the door, Chatte's hair brushed against Maron's face who blinked as he swore he could smell a mixture of honey and coconut.

Must be a brand of shampoo she used.

Then he realized what he just did and went red.

Why did he do that?!

His face turned a deeper shade of red when Chatte moved a bit more to give herself more leverage on the door, her back pushing into him in the process.

"Hey Macaron, mind giving me a hand?" Chatte asked, pushing on the door.

Maron pushed his embarrassment down and gave a nod, shifting to where he placed his hands on the door next to hers. "No problem and my name is Maron."

Chatte grinned. "I'm still going to call you Macaron."

Rolling his eyes, Maron focused as they pushed.

Thankfully the door opened rather easily this time as they were both out of the sarcophagus.

"Finally, I don't know how mummies do it." Chatte joked as she made a show of stretching.

"Maybe because they're already dead?" Maron returned before he could stop himself, acting like how he would as Beetle.

Chatte gave him a surprised look before giving him an amused expression. "So true Macaron, alright get to safety while Beetle and I handle the Akuma."

With that said she took off while Maron breathed a sigh of relief, happy to be out of that awkward mess.

He didn't know what was more terrifying, being in a coffin or being stuck in there with his partner who had no idea who he was.

"Alright Tikki we better go… But first things first." Maron turned towards the bag that Alya dropped, now having his chance to get his book back.

Upon making it outside with many civilians either running or taking pictures, Pharaoh dropped Alya who winced in pain. "Anubis, bring me mummies!" He declared, his face now resembling a jackal before beams shot out of his eyes, turning the remaining civilians into mummies. "It won't be much longer Nefertiti, nothing will separate us again."

Seeing that brought back some memories of Stonehearts army to Alya who took a moment to recollect herself before tapping Pharaoh's shoulder seeing as how he didn't seem interested in hurting Alya for some reason.

"Excuse me Pharaoh? What's going on?" Alya asked, using this to her advantage to get the scoop for this Akuma.

Out of all of them, this was the closest she's gotten to one without being attacked.

Surprisingly he answered. "I'm going to carry out the spell to bring Nefertiti back."

"Ah you're talking about the spell on the Papyrus, right?" Alya asked, remembering it pretty well considering how long Maron had her staring at it.

"Correct, the hundred mummies and the offering is all that I need."

"Offering?" Alya focused on that one. "What offering?"

"In order to persuade the Sun God Ra to give me my sweet princess, I need to offer him something in return. A pure soul."

"Oh uh that's hard to come by." Alya said, sounding slightly nervous.

Mostly because she was realizing that this Akuma actually thought he was Tutankhamun himself for some reason.

"Ah but I already found her," Pharoah cupped Alya's chin. "You look so much like her."

The papyrus opened up to show the image of Nefertiti who indeed looked just like Alya, straight down to the beauty mark.

"Say what?!" Alya had wide eyes, not expecting that before another thought came to her.

He called her the pure soul.

The soul he was going to sacrifice.

Pharaoh was going to kill her.

"Uh well viewers it looks like I might be a sacrifice for this Akuma," Alya said, trying to keep calm. "Beetle. Chatte Noire. If you can hear me then, help!"

Chatte Noire was on top of a nearby roof, observing the situation.

Way too many mummies to take on, especially by herself along with the fact that they were civilians.

Then you had Pharaoh himself, the last thing she needs is to get hit by the mummy beam he had going on.

Her ears twitched when she heard someone land beside her. "What did I miss?" Beetle asked, making himself known.

"Not much, my prince." Chatte didn't take her eyes off of the situation. "Just your casual Egyptian sacrifice in modern day."

Beetle frowned and opened up his yo-yo to look into the live feed. "We need a plan." He muttered, hoping to get a bit more insight from the feed.

"Wait, who's that Goddess chick with the black spots on your papyrus?" Alya's voice asked, catching both heroes' attention while Pharaoh tensed up, angry beyond belief.

Beetle on the other hand stared, seeing the yo-yo weapon being spun on the papyrus that Alya zoomed in on.

Was this what Tikki was talking about?

"Ladybug, my sworn enemy, she might've stopped me from carrying out my ritual 5000 years ago, but she won't stop Neferititi from being brought back this time."

"Ladybug? 5000 years ago-wait SHE?!"

"Huh, you don't look five thousand years old." Chatte Noire joked, knowing for a fact that it was most likely a previous owner of the Miraculous. "And you definitely don't look like a girl."

Didn't make it any less surprising though.

"I guess everyone has a past they can learn from." Beetle muttered, shocked by this revelation.

Sure it's obvious in hindsight that there were previous wielders, but you would think it would be shown more in history if that were the case.

Unless they were all hidden for some reason.

He'll ask Tikki for more information once this is done.

"Oh, sacred Ra, God of the sun, I Pharaoh, offer to thee a pure soul! The sacrifice for the return of Nefertiti!" As Pharaoh spoke, a beam of light shot out of the staff, enveloping the Louvre before the beam of light shot into the sky, darkening it. "I bow to you, and present this gift with my mummies! In company, we pray to you for the safe return of princess Nefertiti! Awaken, Nefertiti! Awaken! Awaken, Nefertiti! Awaken!"

"Beetle! Chatte Noire! HELP!" Alya shouted, being carried to the Louvre.

"We need to move, now!" Beetle closed his yo-yo. "If we don't, Alya will be gone forever."

"What should we do?" Chatte asked, seeing if Beetle had a plan.

"You keep the mummies busy while I sneak around to get to Pharaoh and save Alya."

It wasn't a perfect plan, but it was all he has at the moment.

"Wait, why do I have to deal with the mummies while you slip in calmly around the back to go after Pharaoh alone?" Chatte Noire asked in a joking manner.

"Because I'm the one that can capture the Akuma," Beetle answered before surprising them both by giving a playful wink. "Besides you're obviously the bravest one so you'll have no trouble."

Chatte Noire was unsure of how to respond to how Beetle acted as he swung off before she shook her head. "I know you don't really believe that, but I'll pretend you do."

"Awaken, Nefertiti! Awaken!" The mummies were chanting as Alya kept struggling to try and free herself.

"Hey there, you bunch of bandages." Chatte Noire landed on a nearby street light catching everyone's attention. "What do you say we wrap this up?"

"Chatte Noire." Alye was immensely relieved to see the heroine while Pharoah tensed.

"Get her!" He roared, watching as the mummies chased Chatte who jumped from street light to street light. "Wait."

Something seemed off, she was purposely moving slow.

Eyes widening in realization, Pharaoh turned just in time to see Beetle swing in and grab Alya from the remaining mummies. "Ladybug. Horus, give me your wings!"

As his mask changed to a bird, Pharaoh took off after Beetle.

"You saw it first hand peeps, Beetle pulled off quite an insane feat." Alya said, relief flooding her features as Beetle placed her down. "Thanks for saving my butt."

"No problem. Get out of here. Chatte Noire and I-."

Alya cut him off. "Need to destroy the pendent holding the Akuma and turn everything back to normal," She said, earning an incredulous look. "What? I pay attention."

"The pendant? Good eye-."

He was cut off when Pharaoh flat out tackled him, holding him by his scarf. "Wait, you're not Ladybug." Pharaoh said, looking closely at Beetle.

"Gee, I wonder what gave it away." Beetle said in a sarcastic tone.

"It matters not, you're still an insect to be squashed." Pharaoh landed on the ground. "Sekhmet, give me your strength."

With his power changed he placed a hand on Beetle's head who paled as he realized what Pharaoh was going to do.

Chatte Noire saw his predicament and jumped off of the light pole, flinging her staff at Pharaoh, hitting the back of his head to where his grip on Beetle loosened, allowing for Beetle to free himself, wrapping his yo-yo around his leg, tripping the Akuma before grabbing Chatte's staff and jumping back, his partner meeting him half way.

"In hindsight, I probably should've grabbed the pendent right there." Beetle muttered, but he was a bit busy trying not to have his head crushed like a grape. "Thank's Chatte."

"No purr-oblem." Chatte punned, accepting her staff back while Pharaoh pushed himself back up.

Glaring at them, he focused. "Horus, give me our wings." He changed powers again and shot towards Alya who tried to run, only to be grabbed as he flew over to the Louvre while the mummies were surrounding the heroes.

"Grab on." Chatte told Beetle who listened as she slammed her staff on the ground, extending them both into the air.

Once airborne, Beetle threw his yo-yo, wrapping around Pharaoh's ankle, catching him by surprise before he could throw Alya into the beam of light.

He then reeled both him and Chatte in, allowing for them to tackle Pharaoh, forcing him to drop Alya.

Eyes widening, Chatte jumped off and grabbed her, leaving for Beetle to snag the necklace off of Pharaoh, jumping off, but Pharaoh reacted rather quickly, grabbing his ankle before flying to the ground, slamming him into it, knocking the pendent away.

"Why do they always grab the ankle?" Beetle muttered in annoyance.

"Anubis, bring me mummies." Pharaoh's eyes glowed as he fired a beam at Beetle who twisted his body to dodge.

He was about to fire again when Chatte jumped up, spinning her staff before slamming it in his back, forcing him to stumble and to give Beetle time to jump back.

"Where's the pendent?" Chatte asked, seeing Beetle grab it.

"I don't know, I dropped it when I hit the ground." Beetle looked around trying to find it only for Pharaoh to find it first as he landed next to it, firing more beams at the heroes as they dodged and weaved.

When they got close enough, Pharaoh once more changed powers. "Sekhmet, give me your strength."

With that he clapped his hands, making a shockwave that knocked both heroes back.

Chatte clasped her head as her ears were ringing due to sensory overload while Beetle landed on his feet winded.

They were definitely getting tired and the mummies were getting closer.

'Now or never.' Beetle thought as Pharaoh grabbed his pendent and turned towards Alya who began to run only for him to switch back to flying.

"Lucky Charm." Beetle activated his power only to have a Beetle costume be created.

"Is this really the time to accessorize?" Chatte Noire asked, getting up with confusion showing on her face.

Beetle said nothing, looking the costume over to see the earrings and his eyes widened.

"Of course." He said, grabbing them before throwing the costume over his shoulder. "Chatte, keep the mummies off of me."

He didn't give her time to say anything as he took off with Chatte giving a shrug, readying herself for a game of keep away as she jumped back on the street light, ensuring she had their attention, giving a taunting smirk at them.

"Let go of me." Alya struggled when Pharaoh grabbed her wrist.

"Hey Pharaoh." Beetle landed near them as the Akuma glanced at Beetle only to see the hero making a show as if removing his earrings. "Hawk Moth still wants my Miraculous right?"

Showing the toy in a quick fashion, Beetle reared his hand back and threw them.

"Think fast."

"Get them!" Hawk Moth ordered, his desperation making him forget one crucial detail to the Miraculous.

Pharaoh took off flying towards them, grabbing them out of the air only to see that they were nothing more than fakes.

"You tricked me." Pharaoh turned only to see Beetle launching himself at him, kicking him in the face forcing him to drop the pendant that the hero grabbed.

Pharaoh recovered quickly and went to grab Beetle but Chatte threw her staff once more, hitting Pharaoh, giving Beetle enough time to break the pendent, releasing the Akuma and purifying it.

"NOOOO!" Pharaoh screamed as he turned back to Jalil who blinked, looking around. "What happened? Why am I holding earrings?"

"Long story." Beetle said, approaching Jalil, making his eyes widened. "Um may I?"

Gesturing to the earrings, Jalil gave a nod, having a bad feeling as Beetle took them back and threw them into the air.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

Seeing the item break apart and fix so many things, Jalil came to his conclusion, remembering how Alix described it.

He was Akumatized.

"There's nothing wrong with being fascinated by legends." Beetle's words surprised Jalil who glanced at him, seeing the hero smiling. "Just remember some legends should stay like that."

"I'll uh keep that in mind." Jalil said, feeling embarrassed by everything before he gave a nod of thanks to Beetle and left.

Beetle enjoyed the quiet only for Alya to approach him, still recording. "Thanks for the save, Beetle, but I have to ask, how old are you really? Are you really a boy? How were you on the hieroglyphics like that?"

"No comment." Beetle said, not wanting to do an interview when the earrings beeped twice, showing he only had two dots left. "I need to go, stay safe."

"Wait." Alya tried to say only to be disappointed as Beetle swung off.

Chatte Noire watched him leave as she grabbed her staff, having plenty of time due to not using Cataclysm this time.

It was-everytime she got to thinking about it, her mind flashed back to when she did it on Darkstar.

She couldn't help but think about that with her power now.

As she went to leave, Chatte went rigid as she remembered something.

The book.

"There you are!" Alya said, finding Maron who was back in the coffin room. "Where were you?"

"Well I uh… I hid after getting out of the coffin." Maron said, rubbing the back of his head, watching Alya grab her bag.

"Yea, that sounds about right, at least you weren't one of those mummies that almost sacrificed me."

"I'm sorry did you say sacrifice?" Maron asked in disbelief.

Alya gave a nod. "It's no big deal, Beetle and Chatte Noire saved me." She explained, neither of them noticing Chatte Noire entering through the skylight, her eyes on Alya's bag, giving a silent curse when she saw that Alya already got it.

"That's pretty cool, wish I got to see it."

"Just look at the blog-wait." Alya reached into her bag only for her eyes to widen. "The book's gone."

"Seriously?" Maron put on a show of being surprised before Alya groaned.

"Great, so much for finding out who he was, but it's not a complete waste, thanks to you, I found out that Beetle is 5000 years old."

"Wait, what do you mean 5000 years old?" Maron asked, the two leaving while Chatte tilted her head to the side.

The book was gone?

Did Beetle get it?

Or did someone else get it?

"So many wielders of the Miraculous have shown up in the past?" Maron asked in surprise, his history book on his desk right now while Tikki gave a nod. "But I don't get it, how come no one noticed?"

With how they work, you would think that people would know all about the Miraculous.

"They do, it's just that they're hidden in plain sight. Plenty of famous people in history have wielded the Miraculous." Tikki explained to Maron. "Your predecessors in particular have made their marks when they were active."

"And they were Ladybugs?" Maron asked, remembering how Pharaoh mentioned that name. "All of the wielders of this Miraculous were female, I take it?"

"Almost, you're the second male to wield it." Tikki said, a far off look in her eyes as she thought of Micazoyolin, the first male to wield the Ladybug Earrings. "I've watched over every single wielder of the Earrings since the beginning."

"I suppose I should feel honored." Maron had a hard time wrapping his head around it before leaning back.

He'd wonder how he stacked up compared to them?

Probably not much if he was being honest.

"Any chance you can tell me about them?" Maron asked, smiling at how Tikki's eyes lit up in joy.

He'd wonder if someday those eyes would light up if he was ever mentioned to whoever succeeded him after his time as Beetle?

Alya hummed to herself as she was working on the blog, having the live feed of Pharaoh posted while she was writing the article, adding in everything she learned from the fight itself.

Though she was a bit annoyed because she ended up in a lot of trouble with her parents after that mess and had to endure a lecture of self preservation.

Seriously, she knows to take care of herself, she just has faith in the heroes.

Speaking of which, she saw quite a few comments that were pretty much troll comments, making Alya roll her eyes as she got to work in deleting them.

Then there was another that brought up the credibility of this video after her last interview that made Alya glare daggers.

She almost deleted that one but left it alone, wanting to prove this person wrong.

You make one mistake and people judge you for it.

'The only way to fix this is to interview the real heroes, but they don't stick around for that.' Alya brought up past videos, showing how they were. 'Though if I'm right it's probably for the best.'

She always heard some sort of beeping after each fight with them looking panicked.

Maybe it's a drawback of their powers?

This Miraculous that Hawk Moth seems to be after?

Shaking her head, Alya had the video showing their first appearance playing, watching as Beetle tied Chatte Noire's legs together to toss her at Stoneheart.

She was about to click out when she heard the sentence that caught her attention.

"ALYA, THE TAP!"

Alya stiffened up and paused the video, rewinding it to play again.

"ALYA, THE TAP!"

She completely forgot that Beetle knew her name in the beginning.

Probably due to the excitement of seeing real life superheroes and everything else following but looking back, how did he know?

She literally just moved to Paris, there was no way for anyone to know her name at that time.

In fact, the only person who knew her name at the time was-.

"Maron?" Alya whispered, looking closer at Beetle before shaking her head. "No it can't be."

Yet the thought persisted and she thought of a few things.

Of how Beetle suddenly had her bag when she left it in school right next to Maron.

How tired Maron was after that mess with Mr. Pigeon during the hat competition.

The fact that Beetle knew Manon's name and comforted her while she was trapped with the young girl.

There was the fact that Maron never seemed to be afraid of any former Akumas which was an oddity in itself considering how everyone including Alya was a bit wary.

The statue unveiling, Maron panicked when Alya brought it up, as if he had plans to be there when he wasn't.

And the book.

Ever since Alya showed it, he was acting like he usually did around Annette, only without the stuttering.

Maron was the only one besides Nino and Annette that knew about the book and he was there with plenty of time to snatch it while she was being held captive by Pharaoh.

Was Maron actually Beetle?

Alya didn't know what to think before remembering Timebreaker.

He was seen alongside Beetle, so that should prove he wasn't.

Except for the fact that there were two different Beetles there due to time travel and Alya tried to think of a time besides that where Maron and Beetle were seen at the same time, yet nothing came up.

"Oh my God, he is Beetle."

To Be Continued…

Alright, Pharaoh is done and let's be honest, who expected this bomb of a cliffhanger?

It sets up the next episode pretty well with how Alya is at getting the truth this early in the story and let's be real in canon Marinette hasn't done a good job hiding her identity in the beginning, same with Maron.

Only this time Alya finally saw the clues which helped her put it together.

So how will Maron get out of this one? Especially when the next Akuma hits.

And before anyone says anything I still have yet to see any of Season 4, I only have access to a few episodes and I'm waiting for it to fill out so I can binge watch it, so please no spoilers.

But so much happened, I tried my best to make the fight as different as I could with how Pharaoh could only use one power at the time, he's like the YJ Amazo in that regard.

My favorite scene to type was the sarcophagus scene, which made it a bit more awkward between the heroes and it was such a missed opportunity in Canon for something like that to happen.

So let's get the Reviews done and get this posted.

RonaldM40196867: Yes and it's possible that things will get weirder.

Guest31: Maybe, I'll consider the idea.

Mattihorn: Yea, though to be fair in canon they knew the Miraculous was magic so it wasn't that hard to think that Ladybug perhaps could change her look using magic to hide her identity so it wasn't impossible for her to think it was Chloe, however in this story it's next to impossible for her to think it was her, especially with how I ended this chapter. Again I'll consider the Peep identity, but more than likely it would be Lady Wifi. Yea Father being an eldritch abomination would make a ton of sense, they never really explained him or Grandfather in KND that much, heck I wouldn't have been surprised if Aku had something to do with him if they ever did a crossover with Samurai Jack. Haven't really watched Legend of Korra, so I have no idea who Vattu is.

Guest 32: I'm sorry for the wait, been having quite a bit of trouble typing that chapter, but I'm confident to say I'm near the halfway point of that particular chapter, I plan for it to be a long one to make up for the time, it's just that some of what I had planned didn't really translate well into writing so I had to drop the original plan and come up with a new one which didn't work and it's been a bit of a back and forth with that one. Compared to that, this story has been pretty easy to type which is surprising really.

Hyperion: Not going to lie I did think about that for a bit because I saw Invincible and fell in love with the show with the twists and how they did the superhero trope in a realistic manner, I had to stop and comprehend what the heck just happened after the twist ending of the first episode. But I don't think I'll be doing that, thank you for the suggestion though.

Dr. Spectrum: Fun fact, Mumm-Ra was a villain that I debated on being the second main antagonist before going with Father and I planned for him to be released in this chapter before I decided against it. As for the idea, it's pretty unique and I had to stop and think about it for a bit, but in the end I decided to go with the original plan, sorry.