(A/N0 Thanks to chuck-e-cheese ticket muncher for betaing!

Ladybug gets an evil doppelganger? Sure, why not. She'd been around for a few months, she was due for one. Chat Noir got his a while ago, with Copycat.

But Copycat was an akuma. Fakebug couldn't be an akuma, right? Not unless he'd akumatized someone prior to akumatizing… her…

Oh. Yeah. In all the commotion, she'd forgotten about what'd kicked off this whole thing: becoming Lady Wifi. That ruled out akumatization. Unless Hawkmoth was powered up into Scarlet Moth, he couldn't have multiple akumas running around at once, unless those akumas were connected somehow. And even then, they had to be akumatized at the same time. She was akumatized by herself.

If the impostor wasn't an akuma, what was it?

"Nooroo, who's the 'Ladybug'?" she asked, making air quotes as she ran to the bathroom.

"She has to be a sentimonster," the butterfly kwami replied. "It's the only thing that makes sense. But making such an advanced sentimonster with the Peacock Miraculous still broken…" he frowned.

"You mean, like that giant moth on Heroes Day? And the lollipop monster from that one baby? Or that huge mecha Reflekta? But that impostor's nothing like them! Those things were like animals at best. The Ladybug impostor… she moved and acted like a person."

"Sentimonsters are made from emotions, wishes, and desires. If their creator envisions them as human, even if the sentimonster doesn't need to have high intelligence in order to fulfill their function, it'll be thrown in."

A chill ran through her body as she thought about the implications. "Give me the run-down on the Peacock Miraculous." A crash sounded from her bedroom. She winced. "The abridged version. And a run-down on the Butterfly Miraculous. I don't think Chat Noir can do this alone."

Ladybug swung through Paris at a breakneck speed. Why couldn't she have remembered to take the magic macarons with her? With the flight macaron, she could've gotten there in half the time.

Oh. Right. She was going to try to give Adrien a passionfruit macaron again, and didn't want to get it mixed up with any others, after the debacle at the Ladybug & Chat Noir movie premiere. Or after the mix-up with the letters she was going to give to the pharmacist, Adrien, and Master Fu's lost love.

...On second thought, maybe she didn't regret leaving the macarons behind.

Why was Chat even at Alya's home, anyway? Checking up on her after her akumatization? Maybe, but that wouldn't explain his urgency.

Unless… unless something had happened to Alya. Something she hadn't anticipated, hadn't seen coming.

A lump formed in her throat. She'd been so worried about Mayura joining up with Hawkmoth and possible new threats at school, she hadn't considered that her friends may have threats and issues of their own.

Please be okay please be okay please be okay-

A chill went down her spine as a new presence hit her.

A butterfly mask formed around her face.

OH CRAP.

"Hello? Hello? Ladybug, can you hear me?"

...That wasn't Hawkmoth. Or Mayura, for that matter. And she didn't feel like her psyche was about to be twisted and consumed by her negative emotions until she became a sick parody of herself. The voice sounded weirdly familiar too…

"...Alya?"

"Yesssss!" Marinette could almost hear Alya fist-pumping. "Second try's the charm!"

"HOW DO YOU HAVE HAWKMOTH'S MIRACULOUS?!"

"Stole it as an akuma. Why else do you think Gabriel deigned to actually spend time with his only son?"

"Wait- Gabriel- WHAT-?!"

"No time. You need to get here NOW, before your kitty becomes cat food."

"I can't go any faster!" she complained.

"I can help with that. Do you trust me?"

"Yes, of course! More than you know," she muttered the last part to herself quietly.

There was a pause on the other end. "I'll unpack that last bit later," Alya said. "For now, just hold on. I've never done this before, so I'm winging it."

With a shiver, she felt a liquid engulf her body, spreading outwards from her earrings. It felt… nice? Like taking a dip in a cool pool on a hot day.

When she emerged from the fluid cocoon a moment later, not much had changed. Still the same size, same colors, same form-

New limbs buzzed from her back. "Thought these might help," Alya said cheerfully.

She smiled, working the new wings on her back. Then shot off at triple speed. "Can you fill me in? What's going on? Why did Chat have to cut our conversation short?"

"I told Adrien I had the Butterfly Miraculous and Hawkmoth's identity, he sent Chat over, Mayura created a sentimonster version of you to steal the Miraculous back, you called before she could succeed, and now Chat's fighting both of them. Don't worry, I have a plan."

Frowning, she listened to her best friend's idea. "Have you told Chat about this?"

"Did that before I sent the akuma to you. Nice thing about butterfly communication: other people can't eavesdrop."

"And you didn't empower him instead?" Don't get her wrong, the wings were nice and having multiple Lucky Charms without needing to detransform would probably come in handy, but Chat was the one fighting right now.

"Akumatized Miraculous wielders get stronger versions of their usual powers. Does infinite destruction sound like a good idea to you?"

...On second thought, Alya'd made a wise choice.

"Hold on Kitty, just a little longer," she muttered, Alya's apartment in sight.

Chat struggled to his feet, using his stick as a cane.

"Just give up," Mayura advised. "You can't hold out forever. Let us pass, and I promise, I'll try not to harm your friend, so long as she hands Hawkmoth's Miraculous over without fuss."

He laughed bitterly. "HAWKMOTH'S Miraculous? You mean, the one he uses to enslave people? The one he uses to enslave its empowerer?" he spat. "No thanks, lady."

His gut twisted. This was Nathalie, the woman who'd practically raised him, who he thought might be his new mom soon. Nathalie, who tried to persuade his father to let him spend time with his friends. Nathalie, the conduit between him and his friends, his father, between him and the outside world when he isn't allowed out.

Nathalie, who's punching him across the face, who's hurt him and his friends time and time again, all to help Paris's greatest villain. To help his father.

Keep it together just a little longer, Adrien. You can't afford to show weakness. Not yet.

Fakebug lunged at him with her sword lucky charm. He managed to block it just in time, but was forced back by the strength of her blow.

Unfortunately, he couldn't block Mayura at the same time. She kicked him into the wall.

With a groan, he extricated himself from the crater he'd formed.

"That… all… you got…?" he panted, giving her a bleary grin. "Ice cream man hit harder than you."

Mayura raised an eyebrow. "Sentibug, tie him up," she commanded. "Maybe we can salvage something from this debacle after all."

Before he could dodge, the sentimonster's yo-yo wrapped around him. He collapsed to the floor, unable to stay upright anymore.

Smirking, Mayura walked towards him, leaning down to take his Miraculous.

"Cataclysm!"

The cables disintegrated. He lunged forward, grabbing for the Miraculous.

Sentibug lunged, knocking her creator out of the way. Chat winced as his fist hit the Ladybug lookalike instead. Even knowing that she wasn't his partner, wasn't even human, that look of pain on her face was all too real.

Cursing, Mayura surged forwards, about to hit him again-

When she was promptly slammed into a wall by an irate Ladybug.

He blinked. "A little butterfly ran into you, I take it?"

She smirked. "Nice to be on the other side of akumatization's power boost, for once."

Mayura growled. "That power belongs to him."

"We... already... went over this... lady," Chat said, taking a breath every few words. "They're… not… his…"

He collapsed to the floor.

"Chat? CHAT NOIR!" His Lady called.

"I'll- I'll be fine- I- I have her… right where I want her…" he mumbled. His vision started going fuzzy.

Distantly he heard her call out. "Lucky Charm! Miraculous Ladybug!"

With a sigh of relief, he felt the exhaustion and bruises dissipate, a familiar swirl of magic flying around him.

He frowned. "The fight's not over, you can't use up your charm now!"

She smirked. "I didn't. Lucky Charm!"

Some polka-dotted Legos landed in her hands.

How…?

Oh. Right. Akumatization meant she could use her powers multiple times, duh.

She looked around the room, evaluating the situation. Sentibug and Mayura both stood a short way away, ready to strike.

Sentibug made the first move. She rushed forwards, crouching down - for a leg sweep, he guessed.

Ladybug threw the Legos at her feet.

With a cry she stumbled, the pain from stepping on the Legos compounded by losing her balance, hitting the wall, knocking a hole through it and rolling into the Cesaire's living room. Before she could get a chance to recover, His Lady wrapped her duplicate up in her yo-yo string, much as Sentibug had done to him earlier.

Mayura rushed through the opening, pulling at the strings, loosening them enough to free her creation.

He ran towards Sentibug and Mayura, lunging low. She realized he was there just in time, batting him away.

He tumbled backwards, hitting the wall with a clang.

"Chat!"

He waved his partner off. "I'm fine, I've been through worse."

Mayura narrowed her eyes as Chat's ring let out a beep. "You think you can beat us both before he-" she jerked her head towards him- "detransforms? Don't make me laugh."

He smiled.

A polka-dotted superbeing slammed into Mayura.

That polka-dotted superbeing wasn't Ladybug.

Mayura gasped. "What…?"

She looked at Chat, her expression morphing into one of shock and horror.

In his hand, he held an Eiffel Tower keychain - the one she'd been carrying around all fight.

Mayura cursed, reaching out a hand, her brows creasing in concentration.

Sentibug fell to her knees, a cry of pain escaping her, more visceral than any he'd heard from her before.

"No, don't-!"

She brought her fingers together.

A purple blur slammed into her from behind some furniture.

With a groan, she tumbled across the room, light rushing over her as she detransformed.

Butterfly!Alya (he'd have to ask her superhero name later. He was sure Alya'd have a blast coming up with one, if she hadn't already) strode to him and Ladybug, dropping the Peacock Miraculous in Ladybug's hands. "I trust you know what to do with this?"

His partner nodded. "Good stealth skills."

Alya grinned. "What can I say? I've been practicing. Who knows when I'd be called on to help take down a supervillain?" She winked at Ladybug.

...he was definitely missing something.

He shook his head. Time to unpack that later. WAY later. For now-

"Can you keep watch over her-" he gestured to Nathalie - "and- oh wait-" he tossed Alya Sentibug's amok. "Here. I don't want it to get broken when we go after him."

"Go after- oh." She grimaced. "Can't give him time to escape, huh?"

He nodded. That was true. But it wasn't the reason he needed to face Hawkmoth right away.

To face his father.

Even with the main danger passed, his heart hadn't stopped hammering. His chest felt like it was being clawed at from the inside.

How could he how could he HOW COULD HE-

If he didn't face his father now, he wasn't sure he ever could.

He rushed out the window, his partner close behind him, leaving the most active parental figure in his life behind without a second glance.