Next time a magical being came out of a piece of jewellery and asked her to become a superhero, Marinette was going to buck up and actually leave it in Alya's bag. Marinette huffed with frustration. That wasn't true. She loved being Ladybug. But between her frequent time spent with Chat Noir; Alya's insistence on more sleepovers, now that the exam term was over; and the increased patrols Tikki had suggested when they realised Hawk Moth hadn't been active in weeks, she was struggling. Just one thing off of her plate would have been nice. Especially as now, her Maman wanted her to help them in the bakery this weekend, and Marinette wanted to too, but she also wanted to start one of her new commissions, finish up designing Jagged's new album cover, spend some time with Chat Noir, talk to Alya about plan Talk-To-Adrien (which had been getting nowhere), and maybe even take a small break. Somehow, Marinette thought that it was unlikely all of that happened.

She took a small breath.

She was Ladybug.

She could do this.

Her plans would sort themselves out, like they always did. Besides, some things were lower priority, so she could leave them for later – like plan Talk-To-Adrien. Somehow, it didn't feel quite as important that she start dating him immediately, especially when she was still 'dating' Chat Noir. Now that was a conversation she wasn't looking forward to. What was she meant to say? Sorry that Ladybug hasn't fallen in love with you, but that's never going to happen and it looks like my blind prince has fallen for me, so we can just part ways now. See you never. Her kitty deserved better than to… to be dumped on the street like garbage as soon as someone else came along. That was a problem for future-Marinette, however, and present Marinette had things to do: like relax and put off all her problems till the future.

Tucking a rebellious strand of hair behind her ear, Marinette was just filling up the watering can to water her plants – already envisaging a relaxing evening gardening before what promised to be the havoc of the weekend, maybe a call to Chat as he waltzed past on patrol – when Tikki, the bearer of bad news, struck.

"Marinette!" she squeaked, her deep blue eyes filling with worry, "There's been an akuma sighted!"

Just perfect. Exactly what Marinette needed on a Friday evening. An akuma that Hawk Moth had spent weeks preparing for. She had never been going to get that relaxing evening, had she? She sighed. Well, at least she'd get to see her kitty tonight. Although she wouldn't exactly be having the dreaded conversation with him. She almost smiled at the thought - there was a silver lining to every dark cloud.

"Tikki, spots on," she called, and felt the magic work its way through her, shifting away her weariness.

Within minutes, she was crouched on a rooftop near the Eiffel tower, her and Chat's standard meeting spot when there was an akuma looking to take over Paris' most famous monument.

"Ladybug," called Chat Noir from behind her. It took a second for her to realise it actually was Chat Noir. He never called her Ladybug.

Ah, Marinette realised, he was stopping with the flirty nicknames. She mentally awarded him a brownie point for managing it. Maybe this fake-dating could work after all.

"Chat," she responded. She waved her yoyo screen at him as he came to crouch beside her, "What powers do you think?"

"The akuma alert only said that she was reported by her boss' secretary, of all things, so I'm guessing that her boss is tied up somewhere in the Eiffel tower. Apart from that and the hideous outfit, I don't think we have many clues."

Marinette considered the akuma for a moment.

"The outfit isn't hideous."

In fact, for an akuma, it was rather tasteful. She supposed that Hawk Moth had had to use those few weeks of planning for something, and if that was better outfit design, well, she wasn't complaining. The akuma was dressed in a simple white renaissance robe with a hood, according to the pictures on the Ladyblog (curse Alya for going too near a dangerous akuma again). In fact, the only things that marked her as an akuma, were the scythe that stood as tall as her head; the long hair that seemed (the picture was fuzzy) to be made of gold that was glinting in the Parisian sun; and, Marinette supposed, the void that existed under the hood where a head should have been, although there was a good chance that that was just the photograph.

"I don't like the hair – you can see it from here, Ladybug, and we're on the other side of the square."

Marinette, again hesitated. It felt so wrong to hear him call her Ladybug and she couldn't quite figure out why. She compartmentalised it. There was an akuma at hand.

"We really do need to get a closer observation point," Marinette mused.

"Did you see anything that might suggest what her powers are?"

"No, and as far as I've been here, she hasn't given any grand speeches either. Something about her unnerves me, Chat."

"Why don't we just launch a first attack? There's probably a civilian somewhere there that we need to rescue."

"You're talking about her boss, aren't you?"

"Yep. Wait," Chat looked up from where he'd been scrolling through the Ladyblog on his baton, "Alya talked to the secretary, and posted the interview. Turns out the akuma wasn't actually seen by the secretary, but she said that there was an employee working under them who had been very stressed all day, that hadn't turned back up after her lunch break – which she mentioned was massively out of character."

"Wow. I'm always surprised by your ability to absorb information like a sponge. That looks like a four page interview," Marinette smiled wanly at her partner.

"Huh, well, yeah. Um anyway, Alya's current theory is teleportation, as the boss was there one moment, talking to the secretary, and the next, just vanished. Really, it could be anything, though."

"True," Marinette hesitated, "She hasn't been attacking any other civilians yet, so I think the safest course of action is to just get closer – take our time, you know, see if we can spot the akumatised item before we proceed."

"Your wish is my command," Chat smirked, before his head twitched minutely – a movement so small Marinette doubted she would have caught it if it weren't for the suit. His smirk faded, and in its place was a harmless smile.

Well that was odd.

Something cold wrapped around the base of her spine. This felt like something was wrong. She needed her kitty. Why was the conversation so… so off?

Marinette would talk to her kitty later, but for now, she had a mission to complete.

"Be sneaky," she reminded gently. "We don't know what we're up against."

"Always."

They made it to a closer building without incident, crouched on someone's balcony. Marinette took little comfort from the fact that apparently hers weren't the only potted plants Chat crashed into. They continued to watch, but it was clear nothing was happening, until a purple butterfly grew on the akuma's face.

"Now, while she's distracted," Marinette hissed, gesturing for Chat Noir to go ahead while she sneaked up on the akuma from behind. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, and then closed it again. What was going on with him?

The akuma abruptly pulled her back to reality.

"I am trying Hawk Moth," the akuma growled, lilting tone at odds with the resentment in the words. "And I don't appreciate being bossed around. You know how easy it is for me to get out of your control, and this isn't my…"

The akuma started to scream.

Marinette watched in horror as Chat vaulted onto the scene – he'd made the jump before the screaming, and now he couldn't stop his descent.

She gestured to him to come back to her, in case the akuma hadn't seen him yet, but he wasn't looking at her and didn't see her hand gestures. She tapped her foot impatiently. Why wasn't he looking at her?

Marinette jumped down behind the akuma – the plan would have to go ahead. Maybe this would be the easiest akuma in a long time. However, a little, uncomfortable nagging feeling from the bottom of her spine prevented her from getting too cocky. Something was going on that she didn't know about, and going into a battle blind…

The akuma had yet to notice Chat, too caught up in the pain as a purple butterfly edged its way out of the rope around her waist.

Wait.

That wasn't a rope. It was a watch and chain. Marinette glanced at the akuma's hair – also watch chains and pocket watches, all woven together to form a mass of gold.

Ah.

They were dealing with a time-themed akuma. That wasn't very good.

Understatement of the year.

Marinette still remembered their last time-themed akuma. Still remembered watching her partner fade away and…she shook herself into action. Anything to distract herself from those thoughts. Those nightmares.

She leapt forward to catch the butterfly, but as she did so, the butterfly was sucked back into the akuma's outfit and the akuma leapt forward for Chat Noir. Marinette felt a well of protectiveness surge, but tamped it down. He kitty could look after himself, as she very well knew.

Marinette's vision seemed to stutter as she watched the woman. Was the woman there? No, she was over there. Wait – Marinette watched as the akuma advanced on Chat Noir, but something was off. The akuma was still whimpering in pain. Was this the way the akuma's powers were meant to work? Marinette threw caution to the wind. This wasn't the time. If the akuma was still injured, now was the time to strike.

Maybe it wasn't her most strategic plan, but - maybe she wanted to be distracted. Distracted from the whirlwind of uncomfortable thoughts in her brain. She blamed that for what happened. She blamed her recklessness and the thoughts in her head that would not go away.

She lashed out with her yoyo, wrapping the akuma's arms to her sides, so that she couldn't go for the nasty-looking scythe. Success. Triumph.

Next thing Marinette knew, she was on the ground in pain. The akuma was long free of the yoyo and was tugging at Marinette's earrings. As soon as Marinette made to move, the akuma cursed and lashed out mindlessly with the scythe – but the damage was done – Marinette could move again – time was running freely.

"I am Mother Time! And I will not be defeated!" the akuma – Mother Time apparently – cried desperately.

Mother Time screwed her face up in concentration, but all she managed was to move slightly quicker than the average human being – to stutter through time as it were. She gave Marinette vertigo to look at. She didn't manage to stop time again.

Marinette yoyo-ed away like her life depended on it.

And maybe it did, she thought, as she looked down at the blood seeping its way out of her suit at her shin.

She could barely see it, next to the red suit.

Then the pain kicked in. Marinette could feel herself breathing in short, shallow gasps. Was she getting enough air? She didn't think she was getting enough air. The nausea at seeing her own blood cover her leg ripped through her. Where? Where was her kitty? She needed his support now more than ever. Where was he? The gash…she gagged just thinking about it…the gash wasn't bad. Was it? She needed Chat. Where was Chat? Tikki whispered in her mind, but she couldn't hear her. What did she need to do? Where was Chat? He would know. He would know.

"M'Lady?"

Chat was here.

Her Chat was here.

Not that pretender with the cool face and the lack of nicknames.

Marinette smiled. Well, she thought she did, but Chat recoiled, so she mustn't have. Or maybe she did and he was recoiling at the blood. Or… she lost her train of thought.

"Bug, I'm going to need to use my tail to wrap around the cut and stop the bleeding okay?"

He lifted her leg up and bandaged it with his tail.

His eyes were shiny and his cheeks were pink and Marinette wondered if maybe she wasn't the only one struggling to find enough oxygen in the air.

"Plagg says that Tikki should be able to take away the pain soon, says that she can clear your mind for a lucky charm and a plan, but if she does, she won't have enough energy to miraculous ladybug away your injury. He says this has happened before."

Chat's eyes were full of worry.

"Don't worry kitty. Akuma's first. Always," she breathed heavily, "I'll deal with the injury. I'm a clutz in civilian life, it shouldn't be too hard to explain."

Magic washed over Marinette in a wave. The blood was still there, but the pain was gone, as was the fog over her thoughts and the trouble breathing. They needed a lucky charm, so that's what she would get – and she'd make it very clear that the problem that they needed to solve was not her injury. They could do this.

"Lucky Charm!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, relishing that she could do that now.

A watch and chain fell into her hands, an exact replica of the akumatised item. What could she use? If this akuma was based on stopping time, and she had her powers fully back by now, then they needed to take her item without her knowing, and destroy it quickly, and for that…

Marinette saw the fancy-dress store across the street and smiled.

…they'd need disguises.

"Right. Go into the shop and find yourself a suitable disguise." Marinette wanted to come too, but without knowing the state of her leg, and the fact that she couldn't feel any pain, well – she would have to sit this one out. "You'll disguise yourself and try and replace the akuma with my lucky charm and get back to me before Mother Time can realise you aren't a civilian, or that her akumatised object is gone. There's a store across the street. Find yourself some clothes that aren't obvious…" she warned, knowing Chat had a flair for the dramatic, "…and a wig or hat to cover the ears. Get some sunglasses too, but make sure you look like an ordinary civilian, got it?" she paused, "in fact, bring the outfit up here so I can check you look ok."

She half expected Chat to strike a provocative pose and make a comment about how he always looked more than ok. He didn't. Simply dropping down to pavement level and entering the store.

He came back dressed in unassuming clothes, a determined look in his eyes that she'd never seen before. Maybe she'd imagined it, though, as that harmless smile replaced it again.

"Want me to walk the chatwalk, Bug?" he said, and there was her kitty – always joking in the face of trouble.

"Yeah yeah," she rolled her eyes, but for the first time this battle, her face split open in a grin. She was blaming that one on the wound in her leg. It was a delirious grin, she'd protest in her defence.

"In. Out. Back to me. I can't do this, Chat. You're our only hope, so no self-sacrificing."

"Obi-wan Kenobi, you're our only hope," he mimicked. "Always thought I'd make an excellent saviour."

She laughed. "Save the star wars quotes."

"Hmmpf." And with that, Chat vaulted away over the rooftops.

Slight tremors were racking Marinette's injured leg by the time Chat Noir was back. Not only that, but her earring had just done its second beep.

"Cataclysm!" her kitty yelled and slammed his fist into the watch chain. A flood of anger emanated from him, before dissipating, and that same harmless smile Marinette had noted earlier took over his face. Except, now that she thought about it, it seemed more like Adrien's model smile, or Alya's gritted teeth and grin that didn't reach her eyes.

There were more pressing matters, though. Without being able to stand up (it seemed like a foolish idea), Marinette had to catch the akuma before it flew far away. With a final cry of "bye bye, little butterfly," Marinette called "Miraculous Ladybug!".

This had been another win, but a look at the ominous thing swirling in Chat's eyes told her that this had been a loss too. As if the blood-covered black spots of her uniform weren't enough to tell her that.

"Go, Chat, before I lose my transformation," Marinette begged, as he didn't move to leave, a stubborn set to his jaw.

"How are you going to get home?"

"Go, Chat! Now!"

"You'll need someone to take you home – to get you off of this rooftop."

"Now is so not the time to reveal identities Chaton."

Chat remained stubbornly by her side.

A/N:

;)