Author's note: We just wanted to thank everyone who has been reading and leaving us feedback for the story! You guys truly keep us inspired. Also, this week's chapter has an akuma created by the lovely Mistress Mysterious. We hope we did her character profile justice. Without further ado, here's chapter 7.

Summary: At Marinette's school showcase, a young ballerina is upstaged by a newcomer, sparking a rage in her to become the elegant but vengeful akuma Swan Princess.


The sun lit up a young boy's room in the early hours of the morning, giving it an orange glow. The room had a sleek design, giving it a modern yet futuristic look. Gérard stood in front of his full body mirror wearing his sky-themed pajamas. He looked at himself in the mirror with his dark brown eyes, taking note of his halo of tightly curled hair resting on his head.

"This one says sporty," he said of the outfit in his arms. "While this other one says preppy. Which one should I go with?"

Gérard faced his bed to check Kimba's reaction to each outfit. The lion kwami looked at the so-called sporty one which was a jersey and basketball shorts then at the preppy one which was a yellow t-shirt with a cartoonish sun symbol in the center, a pair of plaid pants and brown boat shoes.

"The sporty one, I guess?" offered Kimba. "It doesn't really matter since you're just going to change into your costume for the dance showcase later."

"I forgot about that," said Gérard. "Then I'll take this bright preppy one, because it reminds me of you."

"Aww," said Kimba. "That's so sweet!"

"Alright," said Gérard. "Now that we got that out of the way, I need to mentally prepare for our performance."

Gérard started trying some of the song's dance moves in front of the mirror, mimicking the same mystique and passion encapsulated by Blackpink's Rosé, his favorite idol singer.

"Why?" asked Kimba. "You'll do fine. I know you will."

"That's the problem," said Gérard, . "We can't do just fine. We have to be spectacular, epic, life-changing!"

"All this pressure can make you mess up when it comes time for you to get on stage," said Kimba. "Let's try a little mindfulness exercise."

Gérard agreed and sat on the bed with Kimba, paying close attention to the kwami's instructions.

"Close your eyes and repeat after me," commanded Kimba. "I am as fluid as water. I am as light as air. I am as passionate as fire. I am as powerful as a tree. Nothing can stop me!"

"This is kind of intense for something that's supposed to relax me," said Gérard.

"Just trust me," replied Kimba. "After that, do your breathing exercises."

Gérard did as he was told and immediately felt more confident to tackle what the day had in store for him.

"Thank you, Kimba," he said. "I feel super ready now! Let's hurry up. I don't want to tell people I'm late because I was meditating with a tiny lion creature."

At school, students were hanging out with their friends before first period. Posters advertising the dance showcase were plastered all over the halls. Alya and Marinette admired their names on one of the posters.

"It's official," said Alya. "This is what we've been practicing for. How does it feel?"

"It feels like a rollercoaster," said Marinette, looking a little green. "And I'm at the part where I get sick."

"Don't get sick just yet," said Alya. "'Cause here comes trouble."

Seline, Chloé, Adrien, Nino, Timothée and Gérard approached Alya and Marinette.

"Hey, guys," said Seline. "Are you sizing up the competition? There's no need because with me on the team, we've already won."

"This isn't a competition," said Marinette. "This is just an event for the school's talented students to show off their skills."

"That sounds like something second place would say," said Seline.

Adrien stood between Marinette and Seline, raising his hands to make them stop their argument.

"Don't say that, Seline," said Adrien as he took Marinette's hands into his. "I'm sure you're gonna be incredible."

Marinette blushed deeply, completely forgetting about everyone else in the hall except Adrien. She wanted to stay like this forever but she became aware of those around her, realizing it would get awkward if she didn't say anything.

"Thank you, Adrien," she finally said. "That's so thoughtful of you."

The bell interrupted the conversation, prompting the students to say their goodbyes and go to their classrooms. Throughout the day, Marinette couldn't stop thinking about the kind words Adrien told her.

Day turned into night and the dance showcase was in full swing at the school. All the contestants gathered behind the stage's curtain. The dance team wore costumes inspired by Tomb Raider, all variations on khaki shorts and a black top. Marinette parted the curtain at one end and longingly stared at Adrien who was sitting in between Nino and Timothée in the audience.

"It's so nice of Adrien to come here just to support me," said Marinette.

"He's here to support us, too, girl" chuckled Alya, snapping Marinette out of her stupor. "Or did you forget?"

Marinette stammered as she felt the judgemental looks coming from her team members.

"O-Of course I meant all of us," she said to hide her embarrassment. "It would be weird if he showed up only to see me. I mean, it's not like we're boyfriend and girlfriend or anything. Not that I'm against the idea—"

"We know what you meant," said Seline. "I swear, you always ramble when you're nervous."

"I do not," she protested half-heartedly.

"Come on, everyone," said Gérard trying to change the subject. "Let's warm up with some stretching."

Marinette was grateful for the distraction, joining the dance team as they stretched in preparation for their performance. She noticed a girl in a light pink dress and a laurel with a beautiful white rose pinned in her chestnut brown hair. She was pacing back and forth, muttering to herself anxiously.

"I can't let her beat me," said the swan girl. "If I lose to her yet again, I don't know what I'll do."

"I don't believe I've seen you before," said Marinette, walking up to her. "What's your name?"

"I'm Gabriela," said the swan girl, trying her best to smile through the stress. "I'm going to perform a rendition of Swan Lake."

"Cool," said Marinette. "I'm sure you'll do great, but you seem worried. What's the problem?"

"There's this girl in my ballet class," explained Gabriela. "She just took up ballet five months ago, but she's already doing better than I am even though I've been doing this for eight years. There's a talent scout in the audience searching for a ballet dancer, and if he picks her over me, then all my work will have been for nothing."

"That sounds stressful," said Marinette. "But you need to remind yourself that this isn't the end of the world."

"If that's what you think," started Gabriela. "Then you don't understand what it's like to be constantly compared to someone."

"I know exactly how that feels," said Marinette. "But I don't let it control me. Your dancing should showcase who you are and people will gravitate to it."

Gabriela looked at her own palms, finding herself grounded and humbled by Marinette's words.

"Thank you, Marinette," she said. "I still really want to win, but I'm sure I'm gonna do well."

Marinette smiled warmly in response. Seline was taken aback by Marinette's behavior. Marinette acted like such a maternal figure that it reminded her of conversations she had with her aunt Jeanne, the woman Seline felt was the one true Ladybug.

"Snap out of it," mumbled Seline to herself. "Stay focused."

Just the thought of saying Marinette was like her aunt Jeanne made her uneasy, but she couldn't deny the similarities. A voice brought Seline's attention back to the showcase. Mademoiselle Bustier was the hostess for the night and introduced the upcoming talent.

"Please give a warm welcome to Sabrina Raincomprix," announced Mademoiselle Bustier as Sabrina climbed the stairs to the stage.

The dance team visibly squirmed as they heard Sabrina's name, reminded of her terrible audition.

"The poor girl is going to make a fool of herself," lamented Gérard. "Seline, record everything."

"Already on it," said Seline with her camera phone at the ready to capture every second.

Sabrina took to the stage in the same red jumpsuit she wore during her audition. As the spotlight hit her, she became an entirely different person—confident, self-assured. As the track for "Oops!...I Did It Again" by Britney Spears played over the speakers, she hit every move with perfect precision and riled the audience up with her incredible stage presence.

Sabrina struck a charismatic pose at the explosive ending. The audience got up on their feet, giving Sabrina an uproarious standing ovation. This left the dance team with their jaws dropped in utter awe of the once-in-a-lifetime performance they had just witnessed.

"Don't be so shocked," said Chloé. "I don't surround myself with untalented losers... or at least I didn't before I joined this team."

"Shh," interjected Alya. "The next contestant is going up."

The dance team looked to center stage. A soft light illuminated a petite dancer wearing a drab, gray cloth.

"Up next is Julia Makarova as Cinderella!" said Mademoiselle Bustier.

"That's her," gasped Gabriela. "I'm afraid to see what I'm up against."

Julia danced as though she were exhausted by years of menial labor, her limbs swinging with sadness. She lifted her head up towards the spotlight as it found a spot of hope in her heart. This made her spin with delight and her drab, gray outfit sparkled and changed into a magnificent, blue ball gown.

Her movements became brighter and livelier. She was happy to be free of her lowly beginnings. Julia finished her dance with a deep bow and received rapturous applause from the audience. Julia stepped down from the stage and was approached by an old man in a suit who gave her a business card.

"I can't believe it," said Gabriela, choking back tears. "The talent scout picked her already. I've lost before I've even had the chance to compete. How dare she!?"

Gabriela ripped the tiara off her head and stared at it, wondering why she should even continue ballet. Marinette noticed this and felt terrible for her.

At that moment, Papillon's lair lit up with natural moonlight coming in from the window. He sent a purple-black butterfly out the window towards the school. Marinette saw the butterfly enter the school and panicked.

"Gabriela, stop!" warned Marinette. "Remember what I told you! Don't let this competition eat you up!"

But she was too late. The butterfly already attached itself to Gabriela's tiara. She heard the voice of Papillon in her head:

"Swan Princess," said Papillon. "I am Papillon. Don't allow this unworthy commoner to upstage you. Show her who is the best dancer in all of Paris."

"At your service, Papillon," said Swan Princess.

As Julia headed backstage, Swan Princess parted the curtain and took her place in the spotlight.

"Gabriela," gasped Julia. "What are you doing?"

"Silence, you swine," hissed Swan Princess. "I'm showing the world what true talent looks like."

The entire audience became entranced by her routine. They couldn't take their eyes off of her, her pirouette gaining velocity until she was dangerously fast. Starting from her feet and trailing to her crown, her light pink ballet dress whitened and her tan skin turned sickly pale. Julia became frightened and ran away into the hall.

"We need to get out of here," said Adrien.

"Good idea," said Timothée. "Let's go, Nino... Nino?"

Nino's eyes were glued to the stage, following every movement Swan Princess made. Timothée and Adrien got out of their seats and ran towards the exit, Adrien pulling a distracted Nino behind them.

Marinette saw Adrien running and became worried. Swan Princess brought her foot back down, coming to a dead stop. Just as she stopped, Adrien felt Nino's hand become feathery.

"Nino," he said. "What is this?"

Adrien turned to look at Nino and was met with a swan. The entire audience, save for Adrien and Timothée, had been turned into swans. Marinette gasped as she watched from behind the curtain.

"This is dangerous, guys" said Marinette. "We need to get out of—"

Marinette turned to face her friends but all she saw were swans: Alya, Gérard, Seline and Chloé had been turned. Marinette opened her bag and Tikki flew out to see her.

"Tikki," said Marinette desperately. "I tried to stop Gabriela from being akumatized but she wouldn't listen!"

"It takes a lot of effort to resist akumatization," said Tikki. "At least you tried to help. Now, let's go save everyone!"

"You're right, Tikki," said Marinette. "Transforme-moi!"

Outside, the beautiful sidewalks of Paris were littered with swans. Swan Princess delicately leaped on the tops of lamp posts like a bunny. She jumped down to the center of an intersection and landed en pointe.

Ladybug watched from a rooftop as two cars started coming at her from opposite directions. Swan Princess danced around the intersection, creating beautiful shapes with her body. She finished her dance with an arabesque, her arm pointing at the car in front of her and her leg pointing at the one behind. This caused the drivers of both cars to turn into swans.

"Swan Princess!" shouted Ladybug. "This isn't like you. You're better than this!"

Swan Princess ignored Ladybug and danced away to find her next victims. The cars began swerving wildly as the swans flapped around behind the driver's seat. Just before they crashed into each other, Ladybug wrapped her yo-yo around the bumper of one car and shifted its course to crash into soft bushes in a park.

She then chased after the other car and hopped onto the roof. She opened the car door and slid inside, stomping on the gas to make the car come to a complete stop. As Ladybug sighed she heard someone clapping and cheering.

"That was incredible," said the fan. "I'm starting to think you could do this all by yourself."

Ladybug turned towards the voice and saw that it was Léopard sitting on a park bench holding popcorn.

"I used to do this all by myself," said Ladybug. "Well, not exactly. I had Chat Noir help me."

"That's nice to hear," said Chat Noir, jumping down from a rooftop. "I almost thought you had forgotten about me."

"If you were here this whole time, why didn't you help me?" accused Ladybug.

"You looked like you had a good hold of the situation," said Chat Noir. "I didn't want to get in your way."

"That's never stopped you before," sassed Ladybug. "Anyway, we have to get Swan Princess. She turns people into swans if they watch her dance."

"So, it's a Medusa type of situation," said Léopard. "And if we get turned into swans… "

"Then Paris loses it's heroes," said Chat Noir. "But that won't happen if we're careful. So, where is our villain, bug-a-boo?"

"She went over there," said Ladybug as she pointed at a fountain.

Swan Princess was tiptoeing on the water in a fountain. She jumped up each level until she landed on the spout and spun slowly while water rushed around her, looking like a life-size version of a ballerina music box. Ladybug, Chat Noir and Léopard ran towards her. Swan Princess jumped down from her perch. Our heroes each took turns attacking her:

Ladybug kicked at her but Swan Princess grabbed her ankle and flung her away in one smooth motion. Léopard swiped at her with his nunchuck but she curved her back so that the nunchuck would hit him in the face, launching him backwards into the fountain. Chat Noir pounced on her but she used him as an involuntary dancing partner, spinning him around until he made himself dizzy and she pushed him into the fountain on top of Léopard. Swan Princess danced away, nearing the end of her dance.

"Shield your eyes!" warned Ladybug.

Swan Princess struck her final pose, on her toes and with her arms arched high into the air. Our three heroes averted their eyes when she did this and avoided turning into swans.

"This girl is no joke," said Léopard as he got himself out of the fountain.

"Fighting her will do us no good," said Chat Noir. "We've got to find another way."

"There's only one thing left for me to do," said Ladybug as she hurled her yo-yo up into the air. "Lucky Charm!"

The yo-yo transformed into a red boombox with black polka-dots, falling down to Ladybug as she caught it in her arms.

"A boombox?" said Ladybug. "How am I supposed to fight her with this?"

"How hard do you think you can throw it?" asked Chat Noir.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" teased Ladybug.

Ladybug's eyes traveled across her surroundings to find a use for this lucky charm. She spotted Swan Princess' ballet shoes, a poster advertising the dance showcase and lastly, she saw Chat Noir and Léopard.

"The only way to beat her is with a dance-off," concluded Ladybug. "And I have a secret weapon at my disposal—I need you guys to start dancing against her while I go look for someone."

"Cool," said Chat Noir. "It's too bad you won't be here to see my moves."

"I've already seen your tired, old moves," said Ladybug with a smirk.

Léopard walked past Ladybug and Chat Noir, standing his ground against the elegant akuma.

"Swan Princess!" he called. "We challenge you to a dance-off. Four of us against four of you. If we win, we get your tiara. If we lose, you… uh…"

"If you lose, I get your Miraculouses," declared Swan Princess. "Every single one of them!"

"It's a deal," said Chat Noir. "Each one of us takes turns dancing against the other."

Swan Princess conjured three swans and transformed them into swan-themed dancers just like herself. The first one stepped up to Léopard with rhythmic Turkish music playing from the boombox. Ladybug took the opportunity to escape as Léopard started belly dancing, isolating his hips with snakelike skill.

Back at the school was a frantic Ladybug, searching through the swan-filled halls.

"Julia!" yelled Ladybug. "Where are you?"

"Over here," said Julia as she stepped out from behind a janitor's closet door. "I'm so confused. What happened?"

"There's no time to explain," replied Ladybug. "I need you to come with me. It's for Gabriela. I'll fill you in on the way."

At the fountain, Chat Noir was breakdancing against his competitor. Ladybug came just in time to see Chat Noir win. It was now her turn to dance.

A disco song played and she did her best funky dance moves. However, her competitor was too good and she lost. Ladybug fell to her knees in defeat.

"I've won!" declared Swan Princess.

"Not just yet," said Ladybug. "We still have one dancer left. It's your turn, Julia!"

Swan Princess' eyes widened as she saw Julia step forward, finally being face-to-face with the rival who made her resolve stronger.

"You think you are so perfect," taunted Swan Princess. "But this time, I'm not the one who's going home a failure!"

Swan Princess' movements were violent, threatening to kick Julia. However, Julia was unmoved and remained steadfast in the face of adversity. Their dancing became more and more synchronized until eventually they were dancing with each other as opposed to against one another. When Swan Princess was too enveloped in the dance to notice, Julia tore the tiara off her head and tossed it to Ladybug.

"I'm freeing you from evil," said Ladybug, breaking the tiara in half as she captured the tainted butterfly with her yo-yo. "Je t'ai eu!"

The now white butterfly escaped Ladybug's yo-yo and flew off into the starry night sky.

"Bye-bye, petit papillon," she said. "Miraculous Ladybug!"

A wave of healing Ladybug essence repaired all the damage, turning the swans back into people and reverting Swan Princess back into Gabriela. Julia walked over to her.

"What happened?" said a dizzy Gabriela. "Where am I?"

"You're at the park because you got turned into a supervillain," explained Ladybug. "You were so upset that Julia was noticed by the talent scout that you became akumatized. Your dance turned people into swans and you tried to transform everyone in Paris."

"Really?" said Gabriela, feeling equal parts shame and anger. "That's so embarrassing."

"It wasn't embarrassing," said Julia. "It was perfect. You became the best dancer in all of Paris. I had never seen anything like it."

"So the only way I could impress a beginner was by becoming evil," sighed Gabriela.

"I'm not a beginner," said Julia. "My mom was a professional ballerina and she taught me how to dance from when I was a baby. I was no longer interested when I got older, but I lost her in a horrible accident one day. I took up ballet again as a way of reconnecting with my mother, so I could make up for lost time."

"Wow," said Gabriela, moved by Julia's story. "And here I was engaging in a childish rivalry because I was jealous. I feel really stupid. I guess that girl from school was right. If I'm not in ballet for the right reasons then I shouldn't be in it at all."

"I wouldn't say that," said Julia. "Ballet is a competitive world. It's natural to be that way, but not everyone has to be your rival. After all, I have connections. I could share them with you and we can succeed together."

"It looks like our job here is done," said Ladybug. "It also looks like I'm going to de-transform any second now. Goodbye, everyone!"

Before anyone could notice, Marinette returned to the dance showcase to see everyone had turned back to their former selves. Her dance team was where she left them.

"And where were you?" snapped Seline.

"When I turned into a swan," started Marinette, trying to come up with a story. "I started wandering and I found myself pecking at the decorative flowers."

Adrien and Timothée surreptitiously slid back into their seats at separate times. Mademoiselle Bustier directed the confused audience's attention towards the stage.

"I'm not exactly sure what happened," said Mademoiselle Bustier. "But it seems that Ladybug and Chat Noir took care of everything so we should be fine. Since everyone is still here, we can continue with the showcase. Up next is our school's very own dance team!"

"Well, it's do or die time," said Gérard. "Let's do this thing!"

The dance team took to the stage, performing "DDU-DU DDU-DU." They were bombastic, hitting each explosive move in time with the beat and ending in an intense dance break. They wowed the crowd with their charm but nowhere near as successfully as Sabrina. Adrien cheered the loudest for them and made eye contact with Marinette, making her heart flutter. When they came back, they were confronted by Chloé.

"Remember how you said I can choose our next song?" said Chloé. "Well, I've made my decision. No, wait. I've changed my mind."

"You didn't tell us what the first one was," pointed out Marinette.

"I said, listen," snarked Chloé. "This next song is going to be even better! It's 'When I Grow Up' by the Pussycat Dolls."

"Well, we did promise." said Alya. "We'll do it, Chloé."

Seline and Chloé jumped and shouted in celebration while Marinette and Gérard just smiled at one another.

"A deal's a deal," said Gérard, giving a playful shrug. "I just hope Chloé can keep up."

"I most certainly can keep up!" said Chloé, making the dance team laugh together.

Later that night, far off somewhere unbeknownst to the citizens of Paris, the kwamis were once again congregating in the Miraculous box.

"We can't wait any longer," said Tikki.

"But who shall we bestow with the mission of retrieving our fellow kwami, Nooroo?" pondered Pollen.

"The one and only Ladybug, of course," said Tikki. "I trust her with all my heart to save Nooroo."

"Except she can't handle sneaking around," said Taag, Seline's white tiger kwami. "Think about it. Nooroo is kept hidden somewhere deep in Papillon's hideout. Only someone experienced in stealth and deception should be trusted with this task."

"Oh, yeah?" said Plagg. "Then who would that someone be?"

"Not just someone," said Taag. "Somethree. I nominate Team Panthera to take on this mission."

"It's a little convenient that you nominate your own Miraculous holder," said Trixx. "But I must admit, I can't think of anyone better."

"I only accept the best of the best," bragged Monsieur Pussycat, Timothée's leopard kwami. "Even if he is a little scoundrel."

"So it's settled," said Tikki. "You will inform Seline, Timothée and Gérard about their roles tomorrow. This is really happening. Good night, everyone."

The assigned kwamis flew back to their sleeping owners, apprehensive about the news they had to share in the future.