Dear Diary,

I look around the room before I click on the video to the Ladyblog. The room is dark save for the nightlight shining in the corner. Ever since Monarch stole my Miraculous I've been sleeping with it on.

Alya is talking about how Monarch has almost all the Miraculous, and I rapid-fire hitting the button for Alya is downstairs getting some food. I jump in my chair as the trapdoor bangs open, and I close the computer window quickly.

"Hey, your new video launched!" I say, my voice high-pitched something it does when I'm nervous. "Of course it did," Alya tells me. "Do you want some fruit with your tea?" I nod, that's another thing that calms me down at night is tea. The steaming fragrant liquid soothes me right to sleep. "Think about something else," she says, hinting that I'm thinking to much about the Miraculous, and I should be relaxed. But, I can't, Dear Diary. I still feel a gnawing guilt eating at my stomach, and I turn back to the screen. Alya tells me and Cat Noir to be careful, and I close my eyes.

"Think about something else," I whisper as I put down my phone but my mind will not stop racing. I repeat my sentence once again and my hands start to sweat, my heart racing. "Calm down, Marinette," Tikki says. I still have Tikki, I remind myself. But even that doesn't help. "How can I think about something else?" I say.

A noise from down below startles me and I know it isn't Alya. I sit up in bed, peeking over the railing. "Alya?" I ask, and my heart freezes as the man I dread stands in front of me. A look of terror is on my face, and Monarch is standing in my room.

He says my name, and I say his. "Monarch?" He's asking about a "gift" I realize and the Kwamis explain. "Do you have a gift for me?" he asks. "Yes, the gift Ladybug gave me!" I play along, my heart racing, but I will not show it.

I freeze momentarily as Monarch tells me not to make any sudden moves and holds out the venom. My foot hits my computer desk chair and I fall backwards. "Sorry, sorry!" I say. Now is not the moment to have a moment of clumsiness Ladybug! I tell myself sternly.

"I'll get you the gift now," I open the drawer to my papers digging and take out a key. Holding it to my chest for a moment, I walk towards Monarch, holding it out. "Here." I say simply.

"I didn't ask you for a key chain!" Monarch turns to Kwamis. "I asked you to take me to the Guardian!" The Kwamis try to explain, and I do as well.

"You know where to find Ladybug?" "No, when Ladybug gave me the Miraculous of the Mouse to give to the Kwamis. "Mullo! If she couldn't pick it up or got lost or I was late. There was a chance of that happening. So, I get why she didn't trust me that much…..Anyway, here you go. I don't know where Ladybug lives or anything."

Alya comes through the trapdoor and says something about croissants before she realizes who I'm talking to. The tray falls to the ground. "You!" Monarch points his staff at Alya. "You know where Ladybug is!" "No, I don't," Alya says, whipping out her phone. "But now she'll know where you are!"

Alya clicks on the record button telling her viewers her location and pans the camera over to Monarch. "Monarch, now that you have all the Miraculous, what do you think Ladybug is planning?"

Monarch leaves and the Kwamis stare back at me, sad little looks on their faces. I wish I could follow them, but I stay rooted to the spot, my hand outstretched. "So, what did I miss?" Alya asks.

Meanwhile, at the Wax Museum…..

Monarch walks around the statues of Ladybug and Cat Noir, stopping when he sees a piece of paper in Cat's gold bell, and he reads, "42 half-wit…." Cat surprises him telling that's his address. Meanwhile, I'm hidden behind some statues waiting for the right moment. Now! I think to myself as Cat grabs Monarch's arm. My yo-yo wraps around Monarch's wrist just as Cat calls for his Cataclysm.

"Lucky Charm!" as soon as it drops it my hands (its a rope) I fling out in front of him, lassoing Monarch to the ground. "So, Monarch, I heard your looking for me?" He's trapped in my lucky Charm and Cat's cataclysm swirls around him.

Monarch tries to escape with using the Horse Miraculous. "One word, Monarch, and I'll Cataclysm you!" Cat says. "Checkmate, Monarch!" I walk up behind Cat.

Then the Kwamis come over to me, and I feel a rush of happiness swirl through my body. "Ah, I missed you so much!" I tell them. "We're sorry. He forced us," Ziggy says. "I know. You had no choice to obey him. But its over now." "Are we going home?" Ziggy asks, with a hopeful look. "Is that what your looking for Monarch?" I ask, holding a small piece of paper. "My real address was written on this piece of paper, but I replaced it just before you came." "How?" he asks and Cat shushes him, for I have more to say. "How did I know you were looking for me? I get a notification every time the ice rink manager posts a picture," I say, hitting a button on my yo-yo and the picture appears. "And if I showed up at the ice rink it would mean you want to find me! So Cat Noir and I rushed here to replace the paper." "And the statue," Cat says, a bit smugly. "And set up the trap that you fell into." "It finally seems like the insect that got caught was a moth, ha ha!" "You aren't going anywhere, Monarch. I'm still the Guardian, and I'm going to get back all the Miraculous you stole from me! And if you try anything else but de-transforming Cat Noir will Cataclysm you."

"Noorooo, Kalki, "No, don't do it. Don't make me," Cat says, "I don't know what it would do to do you. And none of us wants to find out!" "What we want is to find out who you really are!" I start to reach for the Butterfly Miraculous. Then Monarch grabs Cat's hand, and Cat Cataclysm's Monarch arm causing him to cry out in pain as Cat gasps in shock. "Why did you do that? Are you crazy?" "Checkmate, Ladybug," Monarch says, turning my own words against me.

I drop to my knees as that defeated feeling fills my body. "We had him. We almost had him," I tell Cat. "The Kwamis were almost saved!" "I catayslmed him!" Cat's voice rings in my ear. "I don't believe this, I cataclysm someone! Sure, it was Monarch, but he's still a person behind the mask. And I must of hurt him so bad! My Lady, you have to fix this!"

"Cat Noir, Monarch ran away with my Lucky Charm. Without it, I can't fix anything. I can't activate my power and undo the effect of your Cataclysm! There's nothing I can do!"

Back in my room, I tell Alya what happened at the Museum, and she lays a hand on my shoulder. My voice sounds flat, even to me. "After what happened, there was nothing left to do anyway. So we split up." Alya pulls me into a hug, then starts talking. "Okay, so we have a Catayslmed Monarch, but I just need to know, How did you get Monarch to leave your room, when Ladybug was right under his nose? And what about the ice rink key chain with the key?"

I laugh. "Ever since I became Guardian, I was always afraid Monarch would capture the Kwamis and force them to talk. It was so risky to give the Miraculous to other holders. What they got lost? What if Monarch captured them? I had to find a idea to cover my tracks in case Monarch forced a Kwamis to lead them to me. Step One: I had to be warned if Monarch came looking for me. And what better person to warn me but Monarch himself?" "But I nearly had a heart attack," Alya says. "I'm sorry, Alya. I had no idea he'd show up at our sleepover." We pause for a moment then start giggling, realizing how ridiculous the whole thing is. "But you made my plan much more credible, and your reaction was perfect!" "But I had to get him out of the room asap! And that's where I came up with the idea of a game!

"When I visited the rink I told Philippe to take pictures of all the visitors, and that's when I planted the picture of Cat in the locker." "But how did you contact Cat Noir?" Alya asks. "I didn't need to."

Diary, I was seeing Cat for a smoothie when he saw the picture. "Nice! Let me know the next time you try it and I'll try it with you. The moment the signal appears I'll be there with my skates!"

"No need for a signal. Just follow the rink's profile and you'll get access to all the pictures!"

Back in my room, imaginative Kwamis float around me. "And I knew if they were captured by Monarch, they'd be forced to tell him how to come back." "But I knew there was nothing keeping them from adding an extra something."

"Step One: repeat after me: That's it, you have to ask for the gift. And in case we get lost Ladybug gave us a way to find out where she lives. They improvised they own little way, but they were perfect."

Even if I didn't get the Miraculous or the Kwamis back today, Dear Diary, I will never give up, and I've got plans from A to Z. Also, I'm lucky to have Cat Noir on my side.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng

-Ladybug