"Wait."
Plagg caught himself just before opening the book, the cover only just lifted off the pages, unsure why Tikki'd stopped him.
Tikki hunched her shoulders guiltily, "We forgot about Duusu. She deserves to see this as much as we do."
Plagg smacked his face with a groan and dropped the book cover. It was looking like the damn thing was never going to be opened. "Of course we forgot about her already. Ugh, I'll go get her, hold on."
He shuffled out of the gap and flew down to Adrien while Tikki took a deep breath and tried not to hyperventilate. After a quick conversation with Adrien, Plagg flew back up holding Duusu's broach, struggling to stay aloft. "Tikki!" He wheezed, "Can we just... oof... free her down here?"
Tikki flew over quickly, fussing for a moment before grabbing the other side of the badge and clicking her tongue. "Plagg, you should have just said it was too heavy, why didn't you leave it and fly up here? Then you wouldn't have strained yourself!"
Plagg just scowled. Together, they lowered the badge to a quiet corner of Adrien's room and perched it against the wall gently, careful not to drop it.
Flopping onto the floor so he could catch his breath, Plagg muttered, "Maybe we should get your Ladybug to take us to Fu now. It'll be easier to release birdbutt with that crusty old fart here." Plagg tapped the gem embedded in the metal, scrunching up his face when there was no response from within, not even a sparkle. The miraculous might as well be a normal broach. He looked at Tikki with concern. "If the feather brain is even in there."
"Plagg, just use their names, it's only Adrien and I here."
"Fine. If Wayzz was here, we could eject Duusu out of her stupid trinket quicker."
Tikki allowed herself a little smile, "There we go! But, no, we're not getting Mar— Ladybug to take us to Fu. I don't want your Chat Noir getting any clues towards who she really is, not yet at least, and taking him directly to where she lives might be too big of a clue." She glanced at her sister's unresponsive miraculous. "We have to do this ourselves, Plagg."
Plagg swore under his breath, though he didn't disagree. It wasn't like they hadn't done this before. He doubted Adrien could take a full on identity reveal so suddenly anyway. The boy would probably explode and, and funny as that would be to watch, Plagg still needed him... as a sidekick obviously. It was a tragedy really that the confines of his morals wouldn't allow him any real medieval fun. Watching destruction was one of his favourite past times after all.
He quietly waited until Tikki had gone and replenished her energy with another lightly burnt cookie from the desk before he grabbed some Camembert from his other secret stash under Adrien's bed, and flew back. He watched her draw a complicated magic circle using her glow, making faint red singe marks on the floor. Quietly, they placed their sister's miraculous in the centre. Without the aid of a confinement box, it would extremely difficult to release their sister, but Tikki and Plagg not only had a lot of experience freeing their siblings from sealed miraculous, they were also the most powerful of their brood.
How lucky.
They placed their paws in the circle, lighting up the outlines. While Tikki's side of the circle stayed red, Plagg's trademark black began to leak into the drawing until it was half and half, like ying and yang. They waited until they had cleared their minds and took deep breaths.
Simultaneously, they began the incantation in their native tongue, starting quietly and gradually increasing in volume, though to human ears it sounded more like a song than a chant. The language of the Kwami was mostly lost to time, but the few Kwami that remained still spoke it, especially amongst themselves. It was a beautiful, inimitable way to speak and the Kwami treasured it as one of the few fragile links to their past.
To Adrien, who was sitting at his desk below them, it felt like he was invading on a personal moment as the words, or notes rather, seemed melancholic, like they were telling a sad story or recounting a loss. It made him want to cry for things he hadn't lost, and for pain he could never understand. Not for the first time, he felt sorry for his Kwami in a lonely way he couldn't quite comprehend.
The Peacock miraculous began to rattle as it bounced around the inner circle. The sapphire gemstone embedded in the centre began to glow blue, the light growing brighter and more solid as the song continued.
There was something wrong, however.
The light, which was slowly being drawn out of the sapphire, looked as if it was fighting to stay inside, clawing desperately as the chant pulled its body away from the stone. Tikki looked up from her paws to give Plagg a concerned look, one that was mirrored on his face. The glow of the circle suddenly turned harsh as the blue light turned fully solid and Duusu was finally ripped from her broach, screeching like she'd had all her feathers plucked. The miraculous fell to the ground with a clatter.
The song was finished and their sister was free. The room felt cold.
As the magic circle quietly faded away, it left behind a faint dust outline that Plagg swished away with his tail as he walked over to his sister, Tikki trailing nervously behind him.
Duusu was not moving. Her eyes were closed and her arms lay still at her sides, even her tail feathers were frozen in place a few millimetres off the ground, but otherwise, she looked fine, uninjured, just eerily still.
"Uhh, Spots?" Plagg walked tentatively around Duusu as if inspecting her, "Isn't she usually squawking about something by now?"
Tikki's brow furrowed in confusion. Plagg was right, Duusu was nothing if not overdramatic. Anything even the tiniest bit emotional would set her off, and this situation would be no exception... but there were no tears, no excitement, not even a twitch. She was still and silent. It was unnerving to see someone usually so animated, so morose. Tikki moved to put a hand on her sister's forehead, murmuring under her breath, "She looks a little off colour, maybe she's sick?"
Before Tikki could touch her, Duusu suddenly shot backwards, fixed in the same pose, but moving all the same. Only her tail feathers shifted, fluttering as she zoomed away sharply. Plagg and Tikki jumped back in surprise. Duusu stopped a little way away, immediately becoming motionless again.
"Yeah, okay, there's definitely something wrong with her, but what do we do?" Tikki said, trying not to fidget, "I've never seen anything like this before... wha-what if we can't fix it?"
Plagg frowned, "Well, we can't do anything about it now. It's late, you've used up too much energy today— you have, don't give me that look— and I want to sleep, because unlike some Kwami I still need it."
Tikki pouted, but she knew he was right. "So what do we do about Duusu's... um... condition?" She said, gesturing towards their frozen sibling, "We can't just leave her here, just sitting on the landing."
"Eh, she'll be fine. Probably."
"Plagg! She could be seen!"
Plagg thought about it for a minute. After a while his eyes lit up and his signature manic grin spread across his face. "Well... we do have a perfectly good quantum lock up there..."
—
"Now!"
Tikki tentatively waved her paw in front of Duusu's face. Instantly, the Peacock Kwami shot backwards, slowing to a stop just as Adrien slammed the shoebox over her. Carefully, Adrien slid the lid under the box, making sure Duusu didn't escape, and flipped it over. He quickly slotted the Peacock miraculous in there too, holding it between his fingers with a tissue, just as Tikki and Plagg had instructed. Tikki then flew over to slide the little Kwami-sized book under the lid as well.
As Adrien gently placed the box onto the bed, Plagg flew down and slammed the lock on the lid. He hummed an entrapment curse and black, smoky chains shot from the oval charm to bind the box. It was the most ominous Adidas shoebox Adrien had ever seen, but it did the job. Plagg shuddered as he removed his paw from the lock.
"Right, so I put a little destructive curse on it. It's not that powerful, so worse it'll cause is balding or something, but I suggest only Adrien and I touch it until we can figure out what to do with the bird brain."
Adrien blinked, "It won't hurt me?"
"You wield destruction energy all the time, don't you?"
He couldn't argue with that, so Adrien picked up the box and slid it under his bed, but he still looked worried. "Plagg?" He asked.
"What?"
"What if someone comes in here to clean?"
"Adrien, you know full well you don't spend enough meaningful time in here to make a mess."
"...Fair enough."
Tiki clapped her paws, drawing the boys' attention, "Well, on that note it's now time for some meaningful sleepy time! Where is okay for me to...?"
Adrien blinked. He hadn't even considered where Tikki would be sleeping, though not because he was being inconsiderate, but because there had been so much going on that day the thought had completely evaded him. Guilt washed over him, the irritation that he hadn't thought of her comfort pulling at his conscience. If Nathalie knew he'd treated a guest like that, she'd have skinned him where he stood.
"It's fine, she can sleep in the socks with me." Plagg yawned as he settled into a particularly cheesy smelling ankle sock, "There's enough room and I've never been seen, so it should be fine."
"Plagg, you blend in. Most of those socks are black. You're completely camouflaged!" Tikki huffed as she tried to cross her arms irritably, though she came across as more pouty than anything.
Plagg snorted. "Guess you'll need some luck or something to keep you hidden, won't you?"
Tikki shot her brother a look but she wriggled into a matching sock next to him without further complaint. "Haha, very funny. Now go to sleep so I don't have to hear your annoying voice anymore, cat."
"Whatever, Spots. You sound like you've been inhaling helium non-stop for the past century. If anyone's annoying, it's you."
"W-Well, your voice is so scratchy, it's like you ate a cheese grater instead of the cheese! You're definitely stupid enough to do something like that! Ha!"
"Oh really? Well you—"
"Could you both be quiet? As glad as I am that you're reunited, I would really like to sleep."
"Oh! Sorry, Adrien! We'll be quiet."
"Oops."
"Goodnight, Tikki, Plagg."
"Goodnight Adrien! Sweet dreams!"
"Night, kid. Happy nightmares."
—
Marinette woke from a dreamless sleep with a start.
Tikki! Tikki. Tikki... wasn't here.
It felt wrong. It was as if her whole room has lost its light, everything looked dim and miserable without a glowing red blob darting around and giggling, and Marinette's mood immediately dropped at the realisation she had no real leads to finding her. For all she knew, her little ladybug friend was at the bottom of a river spitting bubbles. Maybe she could convince her Mum that there was a good reason to go scuba diving in La Seine? School project maybe? A sudden interest in suburban water pollution?
With a sigh, Marinette got herself up to get ready for the day. It was a Sunday, so technically her Dad didn't need to open up shop, but as per usual, his boundless compassion had led him to keep his boulangerie-patisserie open for the morning so that the occasional weary tourist or desperate local could still get their hands on his top quality homemade bread.
However, this did mean that Marinette was forced to work the cashier at six thirty in the morning, which was less lovely.
Usually, she could barely keep her eyes open, but today the stress of losing her favourite bug was keeping her awake. She hadn't slept well last night either. How could she sleep when she didn't know if Tikki was safe? After hours of tossing and turning, she'd gotten up to stress-sew herself some mittens and a matching scarf out of old scraps before she'd eventually passed out around half three... or had it been four?
Either way, it didn't really matter to her when Tikki was still gone and she wasn't doing anything to fix it. She couldn't just leave the shop either, as Ladybug she had learned that taking responsibility was incredibly important, but she was just itching to check everywhere she'd gone the day before again, just in case: the stretch of La Seine where she'd last seen Tikki, all the local confectionary shops (including the hiding places in her family's own bakery), the school, the park, her bedroom and around the Eiffel Tower. She and Tikki went there all the time, so there was a slim chance that she could have been there. Unfortunately, there had been too many tourists to go up it the day before, but maybe today she could convince Cat Noir to take her up there for a look?
With a jolt, Marinette suddenly realised she didn't have a way to contact him either. Without her yoyo, she didn't have his number and because of the stupid identity secrecy thing she had no idea where he would or could be either. Inwardly, a voice reminded her that of the two of them, she had always been the more determined of the Parisian duo in keeping their identities under lock and key. She told that voice to shut up and let her be irrational.
Maybe she could catch Chat on his patrol? But then how would she convince him to take her up the tower without revealing her identity? She could say she'd left something up there, but knowing the chivalrous cat, he'd go up to look for it himself without her. He'd definitely call her his 'Princess' again too. Sometimes, she really didn't understand that Chaton's ridiculous nicknames; Marinette certainly didn't feel like a princess, stood in her flour covered apron and full of frustrated sadness. Most princesses had people to fix their problems. Marinette just had herself and her sewing kit left at her disposal, which wasn't really that much help.
She sighed as she methodically unlocked the till and moved to flip the CLOSED sign on the door to OPEN. Who knew that one little ladybug could be so much trouble? Though, if Marinette was honest, she didn't mind the trouble. She just wanted her friend back. She missed her more than anything.
It should have scared her, how quickly Tikki had become such an irreplaceable part of her life, but really it was a nice, warm feeling to know that her and Tikki were alike enough to become so close, so fast. It was all the more reason for Marinette to find her as soon as she could.
The door chimed as the first customer walked in, a stressed looking man with a briefcase. From behind the till, Marinette called, already switching into retail mode, "Hello! Welcome! Can I help you with anything?"
She only had to last until eleven thirty. Five hours, that was all.
She could do it.
She could do anything for Tikki.
—
Alya was annoyed. More so than she had probably ever been before. Not only had her younger sisters ruined her brand new bullet journal with a juice spillage before she'd had a chance to even start it, now Marinette was lying to her.
She'd gone to the bakery to be nice and return her friend's gross, sopping wet bag the day before, which technically she didn't have to do right away, but she had, because she was a good friend, and now Mari was lying about some hamster she'd apparently gone and bought?
It just wasn't believable.
Sabine wouldn't allow any kind of rodents near the bakery, no matter how cute or domestic they were or how much her crazy daughter loved them, and Marinette wasn't disobedient enough to just go out and buy one on her own. Besides, that girl spent all her pocket money on fabric anyway, she didn't have the funds for a hamster, or anything else that went with it.
How was Marinette expecting to hide a whole hamster set-up in her room? She couldn't sneak something that big past her parents. Not only that, Marinette wouldn't have left her best friend and partner-in-crime Alya out of that kind of stressful, heist-like situation! Nope, no, it was too ridiculous, even for Mari, which obviously meant she was lying, but why?
Alya couldn't help but feel hurt that her best friend was lying to her, but then everyone had their secrets. It was perfectly plausible that Marinette had had designs in her purse that she didn't want Alya to see. There were many pages in her sketch book that Mari hadn't let Alya look at yet and, in a moment of panic, Marinette could have told the hamster lie as a cover up for losing her designs.
Alya respected that. As a reporter, she wouldn't give away the first chance at presenting a story to the masses, and she knew Marinette was a little jumpy still after Chloe and Sabrina stole her hat design, so to lose her sketches would be traumatic.
However, Marinette's exact words had been 'she's not here', emphasis on the 'she'. 'She' suggested a person, an animal, something endeared enough to Marinette for her to treat it like it was a person and worry about it obsessively. Marinette, despite the way she was, wasn't that crazy about her sketch book.
So what was going on? Mari might have made another Akuma doll, but then why wouldn't she show Alya? Sure, she'd said the Lady Wifi one was creepy that one time, but she hadn't meant it! She'd actually thought it was kinda cool, y'know, if it was kept a hundred feet away from her at all times and never, ever shown to her ever again.
Maybe it was just an old hamster toy or something from her childhood and she was just embarrassed about it? It wouldn't be the first time Marinette had freaked out over something so silly. It didn't make it less annoying though. Plus, Alya considered their friendship close enough for her to already know about all of Marinette's childhood toys. Though saying that, they weren't hard to miss: the giant pink cat Marinette had on her bed was an obvious one, and her friend wasn't exactly the tidiest person either.
Frustrated, Alya sat down hard at her desk, immediately picking up a pencil to chew on. Didn't Mari trust her? She had to know that Alya accepted all her quirks no matter what, right? Fake hamster or not, she always had her friend's back.
Surely, she knew that.
She definitely knew that.
Alya paused her chewing. It wouldn't hurt to check though.
She reached for her phone to absolutely not call Marinette, when she heard a scream from outside her window. Without hesitation, she jumped out of her chair and rushed to look.
Outside, people were screaming in terror as an Akuma the size of a building floated past, zapping people as it went. Alya's mouth dropped open at the sight of the massive villain.
It truly was huge, everything about it said 'I'm big and I'm important'. Different fake awards decorated its sash, stuff like 'Best Parent There Ever Was Ever', 'Father Of The Best Daughter', 'Coolest Politician' and 'Nicest Sash'. It's suit was clearly bespoke, well fit and dark navy blue, though in the right light it looked blacker than night, and it's shoes that were hovering slightly off the ground were well made and flattering, suggesting this Akuma cared about appearances. A bright dazzling smile seemed to be permanently stuck on its porcelain-esque face, though as it turned Alya could see the grin was floating separate from the Akuma's face. Somehow, that wasn't comforting, it was much more unnerving, like a clown in any given scenario. At closer inspection, the Akuma could be seen to have a huge bright, shiny badge pinned to the highest corner of the sash that said 'I Am The Perfect Candidate' in big, professional letters.
In conclusion, this Akuma clearly wanted to make a solid impression, though whether that was one meant to scare children or encourage the people to vote, Alya couldn't tell.
Her eyes were draw to one of the Akuma's massive hands. In the middle of each palm, there were target patterned badges imbedded deep in the skin. One said 'You Should Vote For PC!', the other said 'Because You Have No Choice!'.
'How cheerful." Alya thought to herself with more than a hint of bitterness, 'Good to know political dictatorships are still alive and well in the twenty first century, I guess.'
Slowly, the Akuma raised its left hand, pointing the badge at a young lady cowering behind a car. Alya went to shout a warning, but it was too late as a beam shot from the circle design and hit the lady point blank in the chest. She screamed and in a flash of light she reappeared...
...as Chloe Bourgeois. Alya barely restrained a gasp, so it came out as more of a choking noise.
The Chloe clone blew a kiss to the Akuma and smiled. Alya couldn't make out what she said, the girl was too far away, but from what Alya could glean from her lip reading skills, the poor girl said something like 'I know you can win, Daddy! You're the best father ever!'.
Alya paled, biting back bile, but she fumbled behind her for her phone anyway. A good reporter always got the scoop, no matter how scary (or, in fact, truly horrifying) things got. Clearly the Akuma was the Mayor, and it was up to her to warn the masses that hadn't yet noticed. She sent a quick message or two to Marinette as well, just in case the Akuma came her way.
Hopefully, she could warn Ladybug and Chat Noir of the impending Bourgeois apocalypse before it was too late.
—
"Plagg!" Tikki hissed at the lumpy sock she could only assume was her brother, "Get up!"
There was no reply from the sock.
"Plagg!"
There was still no reply.
"Plagg! Wake up!"
"Hmmm?" said the lumpy sock as it wiggled itself into a more comfy position, "No, it's too early."
"There's an Akuma!"
Plagg's eyes shot open. Poking his head out of his sock sleeping bag, his focus darted around the room for a moment as he registered where he was, eventually resting on a very concerned looking Tikki.
Plagg gave her a look, "How do you know?"
"I saw it, out the window." Tikki babbled quickly, wringing her paws, "It had a badge calling itself Perfect Candidate, so I think it might be the mayor or a member of his opposition? It's destroying buildings and attacking people and I'm worried my chosen might get hurt, we need to hurry!"
Plagg nodded in understanding, reaching out gently to stop his sister from pulling her skin off. "Right, okay. I'll go get Adrien, you go eat the last of those cookies, get your energy up."
He dived suddenly under the socks and returned with an armful of Camembert that he'd hidden before the day before, just in case he'd had a midnight craving. "She'll be fine Tikki. She's strong, your girl."
Tikki looked down, suddenly morose, "So were—"
Plagg stopped her before she could continue, grasping her shoulder with his free paw, "Yes, they were, and not all of them had bad endings. She won't either. It's not the time to think about that now, Spots."
Though she still looked like she wanted to cry her eyes out, Tikki bit her lip and nodded. Quickly, she floated over to the desk to munch on the final few chocolate chip cookies. At the same time, Plagg downed the cheese in one go, zipped across the room and shot into the bathroom, phasing his way through the door. He gave Adrien the fright of his life ('Get over yourself Agreste, I've been alive for centuries, you really think I haven't seen a naked human before?'), but he sobered up when he heard about the Akuma.
"What do we do about Ladybug? She can't purify the butterfly without Tikki."
Of course his first thought was of his bug. Plagg was almost proud. He considered his options. The obvious idea was to bring Tikki with them to fight the Akuma. If she tried hard enough she could purify one butterfly on her own, but it would take a lot out of her and there was the always the possibility that Hawk Moth or his Akuma might see her, putting them all in even greater danger. If Hawk Moth figured out that Ladybug was just a lady without her bug, it could become a big problem, for both Ladybug and Paris. Plagg wasn't sure if he was willing to take the risk, more for Tikki's sake than anything else.
"We might have to let Tikki find her chosen herself while we fight." Plagg murmured, "It's dangerous for Tikki to fight alone and we can't risk you and her Ladyship seeing each other's faces before you're ready. We might have to fight without her, think you can do it by yourself?"
Adrien frowned. Plagg could already tell what his chosen was thinking before he said it out loud. "I'll do whatever I can for my Lady when she needs me. I can pick up the slack, not a problem."
Plagg suppressed a smirk. He'd heard that one before.
Adrien pulled on a shirt, his voice muffled through the fabric. "Besides, whether Tikki's in the fight directly or not, it's still dangerous, Plagg. What if Tikki gets lost again? Then none of us will know where to find her."
"Hmm." The kid was right. There weren't many other options, seeing as they couldn't leave her here in the mansion. Tikki may have been one of the fastest Kwami he knew, but somehow he figured that wouldn't be enough if she remained in the house. Still, he'd have to come up with something on the fly so Lady Luck didn't have her identity revealed by an overexcited teenage model. "Fine, we'll just have to keep her safe until Ladybug turns up and collects her."
Plagg didn't miss the way Adrien's eyes lit up, and inside he groaned. Adrien Agreste had to be one of his worst kittens when it came to catching the love bug, mentally he made a note to address that later, but for now, they had bigger fish to fry than Adrien's spotted sweetheart. He nodded at Adrien, almost impatiently. "Can we go?"
"Plagg, transform me!"
Cat Noir burst out of the bathroom, startling Tikki, who he scooped up into his hand as he turned, jumped and climbed out of the window, baton already extended as he soared over the Parisian buildings outside.
"Ahh! Chat? Please don't just grab me like that, you nearly caught my tails!" Tikki patted her butt frantically, checking for injury. She sighed in relief; still three tails total, no appendages lost.
Cat Noir looked down her with immediate worry, "Oh god, I'm so sorry, are you alright? I was just trying to leave quick—"
She waved off his concern, "No, no! It's alright! I was mostly just surprised." She looked him up and down, humming to herself, "Um, do you mind if I try to hide in your hair? There wasn't much room in your pocket before, and if you're going to be moving about a lot, I'd like to not be squished? I don't think there's anywhere else to hide in your suit either. I really don't think I fit in the bell."
"Oh, sure!" He stopped for a second on a flat roof to lift his hand up to his messy mop of blond hair. Tikki floated above his head for a second before tucking herself in next to one of his leather-like ears, covering herself with blond waves in an attempt to hide her vivid colouring.
"Comfy?"
"Close enough!"
"Okay, I'm going to start moving now, hold on! Keep a look out for Ladybug, alright?"
Tikki nodded, before she realised he couldn't see her, "Oh, right, yes I will!"
Chat Noir, to his credit, tried to keep his head as still as possible as he bounded across the roofs of Paris, but Tikki still felt like she was holding on for dear life. She clutched desperately to the fake ear, silently begging Plagg to keep the magic there intact.
It was not a comfortable ride. Still, she'd been subject to worse.
As Chat ran towards the very obvious bulking figure of the Akuma, Tikki followed Chat's recommendation and kept her eye out for Marinette. The whole journey there she looked, eyes flitting around frantically, but she couldn't see her holder anywhere, though she did spot Alya leaning out a window with her phone in her hand, apparently trying to film Chloe Bourgeois for whatever reason. Though it had confused more than frightened her, the scene had left a bad taste in her mouth.
Something was definitely very, very wrong.
Tikki peeked out over Adrien's golden hair and caught another glimpse of the massive Akuma storming through Paris. She felt her blood run cold as the Akuma's unnatural detached grin shone over the terrified masses. Not for the first time, Tikki worried for her charge's safety.
She had to find Marinette as soon as possible, or there was no telling what could come next.
