"Are you sure he only took the turtle and the fox?" Ladybug asked shifting through the pile of broken wood that used to be the gramophone, "There aren't any other miraculous in here either?"

"Those were the only two that I kept here." Master Fu had begun to sweep up the tea cups shards, "All the others are either scattered across the world, or already have chosens."

"Wait," Chat said, flipping the table back up again, "Don't you also have the bee miraculous here? I thought I saw it in the chest."

"I used to, but it has had a different owner for several years now."

"What?" Ladybug stared at Master Fu dumbfounded. "But we haven't met any bee miraculous user."

"The miraculous aren't necessarily weapons Ladybug, to have one doesn't mean that you are a hero, many miraculous users have been scholars and explorers as well as fighters."

Chat's tail curled and uncurled as he thought, "We should still warn whoever has the bee miraculous, they could be in danger."

"Just give us the name and we'll go find them." Ladybug said, giving up on the remains of the chest.

"I can't do that." Fu said wth a shake of his head.

"Why not?" Chat frowned, "We need to warn them."

"I can not reveal to anyone who I've chosen to hold a miraculous. Their identity must be kept secret just as yours must."

"But how are we supposed to warn them if we don't know who they are?" Ladybug asked.

Master Fu shrugged, "I don't know Ladybug, but I can't tell you anything about them. Perhaps they don't want to be known about."

Ladybug was about to argue back when she heard the telltale beep from both her and Chat's miraculous.

"We need to go my Lady." He turned to Fu, bowing his head slightly, "We promise we'll bring back both of the stolen miraculous. Don't worry Master."

"I have complete faith in both of you." Fu said nodding his head at Chat.

Both heroes took to the roofs. Chat dropped down into an alley way not too far from the massage parlor, remembering he had parked nearby.

"Ughhhh.." Plagg moaned falling into Adrien's hand dramatically as the transformation wore off. "You better get some food in me." He complained.

"Yeah, yeah, I think we have more pressing matter than your stomach Plag."

"More pressing matters!? You can't transform if I don't eat anything, what's more pressing then that?"

"Someone stole two miraculous and we can't warn the other miraculous holder." Adrien started to walk down the alley towards the street.

"Yeah, but there's no way anyone wants Fanna or Jala, whoever has them had probably got rid of them." Plagg floated along beside his chosen.

"Fanna and Jala?" Adrien lifted his hoodie open slightly so Plagg could hide inside.

"Fanna's the fox and Jala's the Bee." Plagg obliged, "You complain about me, but I'm a bucket of sunshine compared to them."

"Really?" Adrien was shocked, he hadn't really thought about what the other kwami's were like. He expected that they were a great deal wiser than Plagg.

Suddenly Plagg phased through his jacket and zoomed out above the sidewalk of the main street. He floated there in broad daylight looking around frantically.

"What are you- "Adrien sprinted to catch up with the tiny cat reaching out and grabbing him out of the air. Just as he grabbed hold of his kwami he felt another person hit him in the side and heard an "Ow" as they fell to the ground.

"I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" He gushed immediately, shoving Plagg into his pocket and reaching out to help the poor stranger up.

"I'm fine!" Marinette called rubbing the small of her back before looking up and meeting Adrien's gaze with wide eyes, "Adrien?"

"Marinette!" He helped her up, "I'm so sorry!"

"Really it's fine! No harm done, see?" She showed him standing up and brushing herself off slightly. "I guess I should have looked where I was going."

"It was sort of my fault, I took off running out of nowhere. Are you sure you're alright?"

She nodded, her hand going over her purse as if to cover it up. "Perfectly fine. I'm used to falls, I can be pretty clumsy."

Plagg started to fidget in his pocket, "I have to run, but it was good seeing you. I mean sorry for bumping into you! I've got to go! See you around Marinette." He hastily threw partings over his shoulder as he sprinted towards his car.

He had just managed to close the door when Plagg bit his finger.

"Ow! What the hell Plagg? You can't just take off like that!" Adrien pulled his hand out of his pocket and Plagg zipped out furiously.

"I sensed his magic!"

"Who's magic?"

"Rekko's!" Plagg was a ball of nervous energy, he sounded excited, maybe even happy.

"Who's Rekko?" Adrien tried to hold the cat creature still for two seconds, put Plagg eluded him.

"He's a kwami. I haven't seen him in 12 years!" Plagg seemed to buzz with energy, "Him, Tikki, Phil-" Plagg cut himself off. "He... He was a friend of mine..." He seemed to lose his excitement, his ears turning back and falling slightly. "We were good friends."

"Plagg... What happened-"

"Are you ever going to get my cheese?" Plagg snapped before diving back into Adrien's pocket. "Hurry up I'm starving. I'm going to die Adrien, that's how hungry I am."

Adrien let out an annoyed huff and drove back to the apartment. Hopefully Nino wasn't back from running errands yet and he could let Plagg eat in the kitchen, preferably over the sink.

Marinette opened her purse and Tikki buzzed out, excitedly fluttering in circles around her chosen.

"Tikki," Marinette whispered harshly, "What are you doing you're going to be seen."

Tikki zipped over and landed in Marinette's outstretched hand, "I felt Rekko's magic!"

"Rekko?" Marinette frowned, "Another Kwami? Is it the Bee miraculous?"

"No. Rekko the Bat. I haven't seen him in such a long time." Tikki flew up excitedly hovering in front of Marinette's face before falling back down in her hand. "I hope he's back to stay. He's such a good friend of mine."

"And you felt his magic? Right before we ran into Adrien?" Marinette asked, trying not to look directly at her hand while she talked. She made her way down the street, making her best attempt to appear normal.

"Yes!" Tikki almost jumped up again, but restrained herself. "I'm sorry I bolted off Marinette. I just got really excited."

Marinette gave her friend a smile, "It's alright Tikki, I'm glad you're friend's back. Do you know where he's been-"

Just then Marinette's phone rang. It was from Nino.

She put her finger over her lips to warn Tikki and answered the phone, "Hey Nino-"

"I'm taking Alya to the hospital." His voice was rushed and sent an immediate spike of panic through Marinette.

"What?"

"I found her lying in an alley way, she's unconscious and she won't wake up."

"Which hospital?" Marinette's heart started pounding in her chest.

"Cochin. Adrien's driving us there."

Marinette didn't waste any more time. She took off in a sprint plowing through people on the street. She ran and jumped on a bus, fingers trembling as she tried to pay her fare.

As she waited she pulled out her phone and called Alya's family. They told her they were already on their way and Nino had let them know.

She sat restlessly in her seat and as soon as her stop came up she jumped out of it and ran through the doors.

She didn't stop running until she got to the waiting room and the nurse gave her a dirty look. Nino found her, got her to calm down, told her Alya was going to be alright.

"You're sure?" She demanded, sounding a little more threatening than she meant to.

"Nette, there's nothing else we can do. This is Alya we're talking about, this is probably the end of some adventure gone south. She'll be fine."

Marinette sat next to him and they both waited.

...

Alya woke up in a white room. The lights were bright and she grimaced as she tried to open her eyes.

"She's waking up." Came the voice of one of Alya's sisters. Hadiya was at her bedside playing with one of the flowers that had been left for Alya.

Alya's mother and two other sisters were also in the room, her mother rushing over to grab her hand.

"Thank god." She leaned down and played a kiss on Alya's forehead, "Are you alright darling?"

Alya scrunched up her face, trying to wake herself up a little more, "I think so... Where am I?"

"The hospital." Sara, the youngest sister answered, moving closer to the bed as well, "You passed out in an alley somewhere."

"What were you doing there?" Alya's mother scolded pinching her daughter's cheek slightly.

"I wasn't doing anything nefarious Mom, I promise."

"The doctor said you passed out because of exhaustion." Hadiya gave a disapproving look to her older sister, "How did you manage that?"

Alya groaned, "I guess I haven't been sleeping well."

"Then don't go running through allies dummy." Sara rolled her eyes.

"Everyone give her space, she just woke up." Alya's last sister spoke up. She patted her mother's shoulder and gestured for the woman to sit down instead of hunching over Alya.

"Thanks Gen," Alya said and sat up slowly. Hadiya shoved a few pillows behind her back to help. "Guys, really I'm alright."

"You fainted in an alleyway. I don't think that's alright." Sara crossed her arms over her chest.

"Like I said I didn't sleep... at all really." Alya thought back to her nightmare filled night. Looking at her family's worried expressions she guessed it would be better not to tell them she had met Hawkmoth, or about the dreams.

"But what were you doing in that Alley?"

Alya looked down at her her hands, "I thought I saw Ladybug... I was trying to follow her to get-"

"You chased Ladybug until you fainted!?" Sara practically yelled.

"Don't yell." Gen reprimanded turning back to their sister, "Was it her?"

"Genevieve how can you even ask that! Alya got herself hurt because she was chasing after Ladybug!"

"Sara stop yelling-"

"Both of you stop." Alya's mother snapped, turning around and giving dark looks to her daughters, "Anymore fighting and you will wait in the car in silence."

They all shut up pretty quickly.

"Alya you need to be more careful... I understand that the blog is important to you... but running long enough to pass out..."

"I know Mom," Alya put a hand on top of her mother's, "But I promise you I'm fine."

The nurse came into the room and checked on Alya. "We're going to need to do a few more tests before you can go." He said scribbling something down on his clipboard. "Because you're exhaustion came on so quickly we want to make sure it wasn't caused by anything else."

Like a magic madman? Alya simply nodded.

The nurse took her blood and left again. Letting her know she had another visitor.

Marinette came into the room as the man left, and her mother led her sisters out after a few more hugs and reprimands.

Then it was just Alya and Marinette, and Alya had so many questions.

"You okay?" Marinette asked sitting on the edge of Alya's bed.

"I'm fine. They just gotta run some tests."

Marinette nodded.

"Mari," Alya narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "Why were you in that massage parlor when the sign said closed?"

Marinette had not been expecting that.

"I-" She blinked, mind going blank of all excuses, "The guy who owns the shop, he's my great uncle." She lied regaining her composure, "Were you watching me?"

Alya knew she was lying. Sabine would have mentioned it if they were related. "I was heading to your parent's bakery and I saw you go in. You looked worried." Alya didn't bother trying to hide how skeptical she was.

Marinette almost audibly gulped, "Well... He called me over to help I thought he had hurt himself or something." She shook her head and looked away, "Can we talk about something else please? It's kind of a sensitive topic."

"Sure." Alya was not giving up though, not in a million years.

"Why were you in that alley Alya?"

"Can I tell you the truth?" Alya asked glancing subtly around the room.

Marinette frowned, slightly worried, "Always."

"Hawkmoth isn't gone." Alya's playful smirk was gone. She met Marinette's gave with stone cold serious eyes and a nod, "I saw him."

"You saw him?" Marinette's voice had lowered and the panic began to rise in her, "Where? When?"

"It's why I went into the alley I was chasing him. He was standing above your uncle's shop and then he took off." Alya reached out for Marinette's hand, "You know what this means right? Hawkmoth is back."

Marinette went into panic mode.

She had known from the start that Hawkmoth hadn't gone anywhere and that he hadn't been defeated. But if what Alya was saying was true, it meant that he had already started his switch in tactics.

"H-He can't be..."

"I saw him Marinette, with my own eyes."

"But you don't even know what Hawkmoth looks like! How would you know it was him?"

"I just- I just felt it Mari," Alya frowned trying to pinpoint the feeling, "I know it's him, it feels the same as when... as when I was akumatized."

"That was 5 years ago Alya, you could be wrong!" Marinette was restraining the urge to pace.

"I'm telling the truth Marinette." Alya leaned forward slightly, trying to get her friend to meet her gaze, "You believe me right?"

Marinette didn't want to. Not when her and Chat were just starting to use their time wisely. This couldn't be happening yet. They weren't ready.

But part of her knew Alya was right. Hawkmoth was back, and they didn't know how many miraculous he had.

One thing was clear in her mind. Alya wouldn't stop until she found the truth, she would keep going out everyday to find Hawkmoth if she thought he was back. She couldn't let that happen. Alya wasn't part of her hero life, and Marinette had made that decision so her friend could stay safe. Alya needed to stay safe.

"You fainted because of exhaustion Alya. You were probably hallucinating." She let her gaze drop to the floor, feeling more than a little guilty about lying to her friend. "There's no way Hawkmoth's back."

"Mari-" Alya stared back incredulously, "I told you I saw him-"

"Alya he's not back! You need to let go of this whole Hawkmoth thing! Stop hoping for a akuma attacks and just be happy we finally have peace!"

The room went still and Mari stared at the ground not being able to meet her friend's gaze. Alya couldn't get involved with this. It was too dangerous. The more separate her friend was from her Ladybug life the better.

"I didn't mean to be harsh I just-"

"I get it." Alya said, looking away from Marinette, "I was probably just tired. Maybe I should get some rest now."

Marinette looked up at her friend. Did she really want her to leave? Already? "Sure... I'll leave you alone then... Is there anything you want me to bring you?"

"I should be out of the hospital soon. Don't bother." Alya brushed off Marinette's question grabbing her phone from her bedside table.

Marinette hesitated before getting up. Maybe she had been a little too harsh. She didn't want to make Alya upset. "Alya are you sure-"

"I'm fine Mari. I think I just need to get some sleep. I'll just wait for the stupid blood test to be done and then I'll be on my way."

Marinette finally stood, no longer able to make an excuse not to. She opened the door slowly trying to think of something to say, but she couldn't.

"One more thing," Alya said quirking an eyebrow, "Did you see Adrien in the massage parlor when it was closed?"

Marinette froze, her back to her friend and her shoulders going stiff.

"I-I didn't."

"He was there."

"Get some sleep Alya..." Marinette let the door close behind her. She walked down the hospital hallway trying to appear as relaxed as possible.

Adrien had been at Master Fu's.

Was Adrien the thief? Had he been the one to break into Master Fu's?

He couldn't have. He wasn't like that. He was a good person.

Then he could only be...

No. Adrien was not Chat Noir. She refused to believe it. She knew her partner better then that. She would know if she met her partner in real life. That should be something she would know. It couldn't be Adrien. She knew him better than that.

I'm not what you think I am Marinette! I'm not the perfect image my Father created! And if you knew who I really was you wouldn't love me!

She remembered his words clearly, the words that had broken her teenage heart.

She still didn't know what he meant by them.

Maybe he wasn't as good hearted as she thought...

Could Adrien really be the thief?

She made her way out of the building and continued down the sidewalk not really paying attention to where she was going. Suddenly her head hit something hard.

"Ow."

She had walked into a lamp post. Great. Just great.

She heard a laugh from beside her, "You alright? That lamp post really jumped out at you."

She looked up to see the young man who was currently occupying her thoughts.

"A-Adrien!" She blinked a couple times frozen in one spot as she rubbed her forehead tentatively, "Not funny!"

He bit back another laugh, "It's pretty funny Mari."

"Rude." She crossed her arms over her chest, "My pain should not be amusing Adrien Agreste."

"Then you should learn to look where you're going." He laughed out loud this time, and Marinette had to force herself not to smile.

"Says the guy who practically body checked me earlier today."

He sobered slightly and had the decency to look sheepish, "I did say sorry."

"It's fine." She looked from where she had just come from, "Are you going to visit Alya?"

"Yeah. Want to come with?"

She shook her head her smile falling slightly, "No. I just came from there. I think she's a little mad at me."

Adrien frowned putting a hand on her shoulder, "Are you alright?"

Marinette looked up at him surprised, "Yeah I'm..." She trailed off slightly, looking away, "Have you ever had to lie to someone, but it's for their own good, so that they don't get hurt?"

To Marinette's surprise Adrien nodded his head and offered a comforting smile, "Yes. It's not easy."

"It's not, I feel awful." Marinette sighed.

"Don't suppose you can tell me this secret?" He asked with a laugh, putting a hand on her shoulder, "Even if you can't just know I'm here for you okay?"

She gave him a weak smile, "It's not something I can really tell you... It's a family thing." She had told Alya that her great uncle ran the massage parlor. "But thank you Adrien."

"Anytime." He laughed again, removing his hand, "Look where you're going okay? We have to stop running into each other like this."

Adrien gave her one last sympathetic look and headed towards the hospital.

Marinette watched him walk away. He had a point, this was the second time today that they had run into each other, quite literally.

The other time was after she had chased the thief from Master Fu's, when Tikki had sensed another Kwami's magic.

No. Adrien couldn't be the thief. Tikki said that Rekko was a friend. Why would Rekko steal something from Master Fu?

But why else would Adrien be in the massage shop, and why would Tikki sense her friend's magic and then run into him?

Marinette's head hurt.

...

"What's up Goldy Locks?" Alya said looking up briefly from typing crazily on her phone.

Adrien laughed a little, "I think I like that one better then Boy Wonder."

"You're saying you'd rather be a little girl who breaks into people's houses and eats their food then be a superhero?"

"A side kick." Adrien corrected, "Robin's a sidekick. I don't get the Boy Wonder nickname anyway. At least Goldy Locks makes sense."

Alya shrugged, "You just seem like a Boy Wonder. Maybe it's all the fencing tournaments from high school."

He took the seat next to her bed, "What are you writing?"

"Wouldn't you want to know." She said turning back to her phone and typing again.

"Kind of why I asked." He tried to peer over her shoulder, but Alya was much too fast for him.

"Stop being noisy." She scolded, "Speaking of, what were you doing in Marinette's great uncle's shop?"

"What?" He laughed a little, "I don't really know what you're talking about."

"The massage parlor, I saw you go in." She got that reporter glint in her eye again and Adrien restrained a gulp.

"I wanted a massage. I didn't know it was Marinette's great uncle's shop."

"Uh huh. So you just managed to enter without noticing her, even though the shop was closed and she was already in there." She gave Adrien a wink, "Your secret's safe with me Rapunzel."

"What?" Adrien almost leapt out of his chair, "What secret?"

Alya gave him a withered look, "Your secret affair with Marinette. Obviously."

"I- What?! Marinette and I aren't like that Alya!"

"Then what were you two doing in that shop?"

"I don't know why she was there, but I was there to get a massage. Honest Alya, I promise."

She waved him off slightly, "Fine. If you say so." She finished what she was writing and put her phone down.

Adrien's phone went off and he frowned, checking his notifications. "You were posting something on the Ladyblog?"

"You subscribe to the blog?" Alya stared at him in astonishment.

Adrien blushed a little, "Well yeah... Ladybug and Chat Noir are really cool. I like seeing what they're up to." He looked back down at his phone and checked the post, "Not Gone?"

"Keep reading."

Not gone.

After 4 months of quiet Paris's villain is back. Hawkmoth was sighted running along the rooftops of Paris and dropping down into an alleyway. The cause for his absence and the reason for his return are still both unknown, but if you happen to see a tall masked man in a purple suit, take a picture and send it our way.

BE CAREFUL! Hawkmoth can not only turn people into akuma, but it seems his powers are either growing, or are more than meets the eye. The witness who saw him is now currently in hospital.

Be safe Paris.

"You saw him."

"I did."

Adrien read over the post again. "Where were you?"

"Not too far from the massage place." Alya answered sitting herself up fully on the bed.

"He was actually outside? In broad daylight?" Adrien asked leaning forward in his seat.

"Yeah. I'm just as shocked as you are."

"Something big's happening Alya... He's changing his strategy, he wouldn't have run around himself before, he would have just sent an akuma."

"I know that Goldy locks, that's why I'm warning people to be careful, everyone in Paris thought that he was gone. They're not being as cautious as before."

"You should take your own advice Alya."

"Well I didn't exactly get a lot of sleep, I wasn't thinking very clearly."

"Go to bed earlier then." Scolded Adrien, "You're busy you need to take care of yourself."

"Wow, thanks mom." She rolled her eyes but gave him a smile.

"When are they going to let you out?" Adrien asked giving Alya back her phone.

"They have to finish some tests. I should be out by the end of today."

Adrien nodded, reaching into his pocket and grabbing his car keys. He put them on the bedside table and stood up, "I'm going to head out Alya. Call me if you need anything."

"Ummm, aren't you forgetting something?" She laughed nodding towards his keys, still sitting on the table.

"For your next visitor. Incentive for him to finally stop procrastinating in the waiting room." Adrien gave her a grin and let the door close behind him.

Alya frowned as her friend left, before giving a slight shrug of her shoulders and grabbing her phone again.

#Notgone is now trending.

There was a knock at her door a few minutes later.

"Come in." She called, looking through all the posts that had sprung out of #Notgone. A lot of them were questioning whether Hawkmoth was really back, and many more were of shock and caution.

The Ladyblog was going crazy.

"Hey."

Alya's head whipped up at the familiar voice, "Nino?"

"Just wanted to check and make sure you were doing alright. Looks like your good so-"

"I'm sorry!" She blurted out before he could leave.

He opened his mouth to say something but closed it again.

"I'm sorry that I've been ignoring all your calls." She said, there was silence between them until she broke it awkwardly, "It was shitty of me."

"It's ok-"

"It wasn't. I'm sorry Nino." She insisted, braving a glance up at her friend.

He met her eyes for a moment before he smiled, "Ok. Apologize accepted."

She smiled back, "Good."

He frowned slightly, "Should we talk about it... or-"

"We should." She said decisively, "I don't really know how to start.."

Nino thought for a moment, "Do we have to stop being friends?"

"What? Of course not! Unless you want to-"

"No! No, I want us to still be friends." Nino laughed awkwardly, "There. We both agreed on that. Now no matter what we say we're still going to be friends."

Alya laughed a little too, "Ok." She thought for a moment, and looking away asked, "Do you regret it?"

"Not really. No." He said taking the seat next to her bed. "Do you?"

"I regret that I freaked out so much, but the actual thing... I don't."

"Thing?" Nino laughed.

"Sex. Sex Nino, would you prefer I had said sex?" She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Could you stop yelling it?" He asked still chuckling.

"SEX! NINO AND I DID THE DANCE WITH NO PANTS!" She yelled only slightly embarrassed, but it was worth it for the way his face turned bright red.

"Alya! Cut it out!"

"The horizontal tango! The whammy without Jamy's! The-"

Nino put a hand over her mouth, and restrained a laugh. Suddenly he wrenched his hand away, "Did you just lick me?!"

Alya didn't even have a response, she just collapsed in a fit of laughter.

Nino smiled automatically and after a moment joined in with her. He was sure that the nurses were equally confused and amused, but at the moment he couldn't care about anything. He and Alya were laughing again, just like before. Things were going to be just fine between them.

"Hey," Alya said sobering a little, "If we both don't regret it, what does that mean?"

It was the same question Nino had been dealing with all week. What did it mean that he couldn't bare the thought of losing his friendship with her? Or that just knowing that she wasn't upset made his day?

"I think," He said carefully, "I think it can mean whatever you want it to mean."

Alya frowned, "What?"

"If you want it to mean, we're just friends who happen to both be very attractive and great in bed," he paused to give her a wink and watch her laugh, "then I'm ok with that. If you want it to mean something more, well, I'm ok with that to."

Alya mulled over his words. "The truth is, it might lead to something more, but we've been down that road before and it didn't work."

"We were also 15."

"The point is," She said giving him an eye roll, "Should we try and do something that didn't work before."

"It worked for over 2 years." Nino added.

"You want it to mean something more." She said, "Don't you."

"I don't know." He gave her an apologetic smile, "I don't really know what I want, but I think we could try."

"Try. Ok, we can try it out." Then she added quickly, "Always friends though. Even if we try and fail at this."

"Always friends." He agreed.

The conversation turned to meaningless chatter about their past week, which ended up being Alya's impersonations of her snooty coworkers and reciting the coffee order.

"Ms. Cesaire?" A nurse opened the door, "I have your test results. Everything looks fine. You should rest for the next couple days, but apart from exhaustion you are perfectly healthy."

"Thank you." She said lifting up the bed sheet and sliding down to the ground.

The nurse gave a nod of his head and then let the door close.

"Nino, Adrien left his car keys." Alya said pointing to the bedside table as she grabbed her pants and put them on under her hospital gown.

"Dudes smoother then we give him credit for Alya." Nino said with a laugh and grabbed the keys. "Ready?"

"Yeah." She said throwing her coat overtop of the gown. "I'm just going to put pajamas on when I get home anyway."

They walked back towards the front desk and Nino left Alya in the waiting room, "Let me go get the car. I'll pull up front."

Alya smiled to herself watching him walk away.

"I'm glad he finally went up to visit you." The lady at the desk said.

Alya turned to her slightly confused, "What do you mean?"

"He comes rushing in here, carrying you, and won't leave, even when the doctor told him you were fine. Some guy you got there."

Alya looked out the door Nino had gone through. Nino was the one who had found her. What on earth did she do to get a friend like him?

"Yeah. He really is something." She said with a smile.

She saw Adrien's car pull up in front of the doors and bid farewell to the nurse.

"Let's get you home." Nino said as he drove out of the hospital parking lot.

...

Adrien was home before Nino, and never was he so glad. There sitting right outside their door was a package addressed to him the only thing written on it was "Adrien - A". He opened it up and inside was a familiar looking jewelry box.

He sent a cautious look to Plagg, who was currently stuffing his face with cheese.

"Should we open it?"

"You're not going to know what it is until you do." Plagg mumbled through the food.

Adrien wrinkled his nose at the Kwami before lifting up the lid of the box.

"Hello again Chat Noir." Wayzz popped out of the box looking relieved.

...

Alya said goodbye to Nino from her apartment door, he had insisted on making sure she got there safely.

"Alya is that you?" Called her roommate. The woman got off the couch and practically jumped onto Alya, "We were so worried, where have you been?"

"The hospital." Alya said with a nervous laugh. "I'm alright I'll tell you about it later."

Rain gave Alya a kiss on both cheeks, "You better be, or I'm going to have to beat whoever did this up."

"I'll see you later Al," Nino said from his spot just outside the apartment, "Make sure you rest ok? And if you need anything at all, literally anything-"

"I'll let you know." Alya finished for him. She wrapped her arms around him and brought him into a hug, "Thank you Nino. You're the best."

Nino flushed slightly and returned the embrace, "Anytime."

The two separated and said another set of goodbyes before Alya closed the door and caught the look on Rain's face.

"Someone talked things out."

"Shut up." Alya stuck out her tongue at her roommate.

"Just calling it like I see it."

Alya rolled her eyes, "Sure-" The end of the word was cut off by a yawn.

Rain gave her a smile, "Explanations can wait, you should go get some sleep. I'm going to call Will and let him know you're alright. I'm staying in tonight so if you need anything just yell."

"Thanks." Alya smiled, hanging up her jacket as Rain went into her own room.

Alya looked down at the table beside the door. There was a small package wrapped in brown paper.

On the package said, "Ms. Cesaire - A"

"Rain who delivered this package?" Alya called.

"I don't know, it was outside our door." Her roommate answered.

Alya grabbed the package and took it into her bedroom. Flicking on the lights she sat down on the bed and started to carefully unwrap the object, making sure not to tear the part with the writing on it.

Inside there was a little ornate box.

Frowning Alya removed the lid. There was a flash of light and as Alya recovered from being temporarily blinded she looked down at the orange necklace inside the box. It was an orange swirl that turned white at the end, almost like the tip of a cat tail. It was beautiful.

"It's pretty right?"

Alya jumped off her bed and looked around for whoever had spoken. There, floating above her bed, was a small fox. Complete with a tail and a pair of ears. The creature looked back at her with similar interest.

"Who are you?" It said looking her up and down thoughtfully.

"I should be asking you that." Alya retorted, barely managing to keep from screaming for her roommate.

"Why?"

"Because you suddenly appeared in my room." Alya whispered harshly.

"Well if you didn't want me in your room then you shouldn't have opened the box in here." The creature said matter-o-factly.

"Right. Of course." Alya took a step towards the creature, "I'll tell you my name if you tell me yours first."

"Fine. I'm Fanna." The creature seemed to smile, it's pointed canines showing, "But for a proper introduction you're going to have to put that on." She gestured to the necklace in the box.

"Why? What happens when I put that on?" Alya looked at the necklace skeptically.

"Magic."

Alya couldn't tell if the fox was joking or not. Still, she was already seeing a tiny, floating, talking fox in her room, listening to the creature wouldn't be the craziest thing to happen in the last 5 minutes.

Tentatively she reached out and touched the necklace, lifting it up from the box and fitting it over her head.

"There, now what do I call you?" Fanna asked.

"Alya, Alya Cesaire."

"Right-y-o." The fox said, "Just try to relax, maybe sit down, it's a little draining the first time."

"What is-"

Before Alya could finish her question, she felt as if she were running marathon. Before her eyes the small fox creature was covered with a bright orange light, and out of the light emerged a tall woman with long flowy, dark orange hair that slowly turned white at the tips. She wore a pair of loose orangish pants that gathered at the calfs and the hips. Her top was a simple brown tunic.

Her ears and tail were gone but her canines still remained and she ran her tongue over them before reaching her arms up over her head and stretching, "It feels so good to be out of that necklace!" She looked up at Alya and frowned, "You look like you're going to faint, stop holding on to your shape, you're going to get yourself hurt."

"What do you mean?" Alya felt herself start to panic, her consciousness was fading and she could barely stand up.

"Stop fighting to keep up your power, just let go. Picture yourself as a very small tiny version of yourself. Something that doesn't take a lot of energy."

Alya shut her eyes and pictured it. She pictured the tiny little fox creature from before, floating effortlessly.

"There you go. Feel better?"

Alya opened her eyes and saw Fanna smiling at her. She looked down expecting to see her own body and instead just saw air.

"Holy shit!" Alya yelled. She moved over to the mirror and saw that she had become a floating little version of herself much like Fanna had been.

"Alya are you ok?" Rain called from outside her door.

"Yeah! Just surprised by some stuff on the blog." She flew back to Fanna, "What the hell is this?"

Fanna laughed a little, "Calm down, you'll build up your power and we should be able to both be in a ground form without any trouble. I just wanted to practice the safe form with you. If you ever feel like you're out of energy or you're going to pass out, just go into this form and you won't need so much energy."

"Can I get out of this form now?" Alya asked nervously. It did feel rather refreshing to be so effortless, but she couldn't help but feel worried she would be stuck like this forever.

"Sure." The orange light enveloped Fanna again and she shrunk down, not into her original floating form, but into an actual fox. "I'm only using my energy, you should be fine to go back to normal."

Alya felt her strength come back and let out a sigh as she returned to normal size. "What are you? Some kind of magical fox?"

"Kind of." Fanna jumped up on Alya's bed, "I'm what's called a kwami. We come from a world that's parallel to yours and we make bonds with objects in your world. When someone touches that object we connect their energy with our own. That's why you were able to change shape."

"So when I wear this necklace we share energy?"

"Yeparoonie." The fox said, "You can also borrow all of my energy, or I can borrow all of yours. Try it out, just say "Tail out" and then to transform back just think about going back to your normal form."

The fox nodded at her encouragingly and Alya took a deep breath, "Tail out."

Alya felt the warm orange light surround her and watched as Fanna disappeared into the necklace. She felt the fabric of the hospital gown and her jeans get replaced by something skin tight, but oddly comfortable. When she looked down she recognised her outfit immediately.

"Volpina." She ran to her mirror, "I'm Volpina. Ok, I want the transformation off now. Fanna I need to talk to you."

She closed her eyes and pictured her normal self and she felt the magic fall away from her.

"And that's how we do that." Fanna popped out of the necklace back in her tiny floating fox form. "Before I forget, you have to feed me after you transform otherwise I can't get back my strength very quickly."

"I'm Volpina."

"No you're Alya."

"But I can transform into Volpina."

"Yeah. How'd you know about Volpina?" Fanna frowned.

"Uh, Ladybug and Chat Noir fought her!" Alya opened her phone and then brought up the Ladyblog, "See? Hawkmoth was using her."

"Hawkmoth? Who's Hawkmoth? And that can't be Volpina I don't remember any of that!"

"Maybe it was an akuma! That would make sense-"

"Akuma? Hawkmoth? What are you talking about?"

"Akuma's are things Hawkmoth creates to steal Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculous. Where have you been the last 5 years?"

"In that necklace." Fanna floated up beside her chosen, "You've heard about Ladybug then?"

"Yeah. Her and Chat Noir work together to protect Paris."

"Plagg and Tikki working together? No way!"

"Plagg and Tikki?"

"Chat Noir and Ladybug's Kwami. Sorry Kiddo, it's just that usually Ladybug is fighting against Chat Noir."

"Really?"

"Yep. This is great though! You already have a team!" Fanna looked excited.

"A team?"

"Yes! I'm just so glad to be out of that necklace!" Fanna spun around a couple times excitedly. She fell back onto Alya's bed as her stomach began to growl, "Right food. You need to get both of us some food."

"Ok. What do kwami's eat?"

"The souls of children." Fanna said voice lowering in pitch and a wicked smile flashing across her sharp pointed teeth.

Alya looked down at the creature terrified until it cackled, "Just kidding. I eat honey."

"That wasn't funny." Alya said getting up to grab them both food.

"You'll get my humour pretty soon." Fanna smiled.

Alya made her way to the kitchen grabbing an apple for herself and scanning the cupboards for honey. Luckily they had one jar of honey at the back of the cupboard, probably a leftover gift since neither her nor Rain took honey in any of their drinks. Grabbing what she came for she went back to her room. She unscrewed the cap and gave the whole jar to Fanna.

Taking a bite out of the apple she started to think. She was going to be a hero, she was going to be on a team with Ladybug. She was going to work with Ladybug.

"Hey Fanna?"

"Yes Alya?"

"I'm a hero."

"You're Alya." Fanna reminded her, Alya wasn't sure if the kwami was confused, trying to be helpful, or trying to be didn't let it bother her. Nothing could bother her right now.

"I'm a hero." Alya said again and promptly fell asleep on her bed with the lights. her jeans, and the hospital gown still on.