Marinette rose sputtering up to the surface of the waves that threatened to push her back against the cliffs of Easter Island. "Everything is moving and shifting! The water is too rough," she called out to Adrien, who had burst from the water a little ahead of her.

"Dive deeper for quieter waters," Adrien called back to her. "Swim hard, and we can make it. Stay close to me!"

Marinette nodded, and took in a deep gulp of air before diving down further, and kicking her legs as hard as she could. The clear water surrounding her revealed beautiful coral and fish of all shapes and colors. Gradually blowing out a stream of bubbles, and pushing herself as hard as she could she noticed that she was making some headway. Each time she resurfaced she saw that they were getting closer and closer to the island with the manutara egg that they needed to retrieve.

"You're doing great!" Adrien cheered her on. She noticed he was barely out of breath, and was clearly holding himself back to keep pace with her.

"Thanks," Marinette breathed, coughing out some seawater. "Let's try to make it there as quickly as possible!"

Adrien nodded, and they dove back in, resurfacing in a rhythm like a pair of dolphins chasing a barco.

Trembling and with chattering teeth Marinette finally pulled herself up onto the rugged edge of the island. Adrien came up beside her shivering, and breathing hard.

"I haven't swam that hard since my father insisted that I compete in the annual Paris aqua challenge and all those diving lessons," Adrien pulled himself out of the water. He reached down to give Marinette a hand up, but then froze gaping at her rising out the the water with her dark hair scattered over her slim shoulders, and her t-shirt, now transparent, clinging to her pink bra underneath. He blinked and consciously closed his mouth, pulling her up beside him.

Marinette was oblivious to Adrien's distraction, and instead went right to work locating the eggs they would need to complete the mission. "Things always have to be difficult," she muttered, shaking as a gust of wind breezed over the water. Over one of the ledges she discovered the nest. "Look!" she announced triumphantly holding up two black stone eggs that bore the miraculous symbol edged on them. She held one out for Adrien, and he carefully took it in his hands.

Another burst of wind hit against them, and Adrien instinctively tried to shield her with his own body to block her from the cold. Suddenly against his bare chest, Marinette looked up with wide eyes. Adrien himself, was suddenly aware of how close they were and his whole body quivered. Thinking that he was shivering, Marinette wrapped her arms around him, and tried to rub his arms to warm him up.

"Marinette, I..." Adrien's voice cracked.

"We've got to get back," Marinette looked at him with concern. "Too much longer, and we might not make it back at all!"

Adrien just nodded, pushing aside fantasies of being marooned on an island with Marinette.

Marinette dove in first, holding the stone egg in one hand tight against herself. It was awkward to swim with it, and strangely as soon as she touched the water the waves seemed to pull back, as if trying to prevent her from returning.

Adrien came after her, but easily caught up to her with long strides. He too though felt the change of the tide.

They fought the water, and kicked against it as to persistently dragged them. The eggs too seemed to increase in weight the longer they spent in the water. With the dark stone eggs pulling them down, and their bodies becoming fatigued from the fight against the relentless ocean, they made slow progress back to the cliffs of the mainland.

"I can see Ember!" Adrien called out to Marinette, who was now paddling just behind him, barely keeping her nose above the water. "It can't be much longer now!"

"Adrien!" Marinette breathed, and then suddenly sunk beneath a wave. She broke through the surface with a gasp, and called out, "Adri..." and went back under again. This time she didn't come back up.

"Mari!" Adrien shouted and dove down to save her. He swam to her, and grabbed her under her arms, pushing her up out of the water to take a breath. She gasped as her lungs regained oxygen, but then her exhausted body dragged both of them under again.

Adrien struggled to keep his hold on her, and despite the strength of his legs kicking furiously to propel them back up, their burden's they carried with them negated all of his efforts. The forbidden island's treasure would not be retrieved so forgivingly. Marinette choked and gasped under water, and Adrien's lungs burned with the increasing weight of the ocean. Adrien's mind was a torrent of desperation with only one though; he had to save Marinette.

The black egg he let fall from his grasp, letting it be taken back by the ocean. Instantly he felt lighter and with renewed strength he grabbed hold of Marinette and kicked with all his might to propel her to the surface. As soon as they saw the sky above them, they heaved salty water out of their mouths, and desperately breathed in life. Now without the egg Adrien did not sense the surf holding him back, and he swam on his back with Marinette held tightly to his chest. When they arrived on the dry land Adrien heaved Marinette's body up to the rocks. She lay there so still, fear clenched his heart, terrified that he hadn't got her back in time. Then she turned on her side, and her body was wracked with coughing. She turned back weakly, and held out her right hand toward Adrien.

He curled up beside her, huddled together, but too utterly tired to speak.

The first voice they heard was Plagg's.

"They are over here!" Plagg called out urgently. "Hurry up will you! Blast it! How can a kwami with wings be so slow!" Plagg's panicked green eyes hovered in front of Adrien's face. "Playing the hero again, and risking it all in that cursed water! Why doesn't anyone listen to me, I told you not to go," Plagg spoke like a frightened mother hen, floating around the two of them.

"They're going to be alright aren't they!" Tikki's voice piped up, directed at Ember.

They could feel Ember's heat radiating from him before they could see him. Ember did not respond to the two worried kwami, but stationed himself in front of the two weilders, and raised his fiery wings over his head. Closing his eyes he channeled his fire, and created a shield around the two humans. They felt their joints loosen, and their muscles no longer were numb. Marinette blinked at the bright brilliance of the phoenix fire that renewed their strength. Adrien eyes didn't leave Marinette, still holding on to her, as if she might be pulled away from him.

"Transform," Tikki instructed the two. "Once you transform we can help you recover."

Adrien and Marinette nodded, and called on their transformation. As soon as Marinette absorbed Tikki's strength, and Adrien took on Plagg's, they were able to sit up against each other's shoulders.

Ember lowered, his wings, but they could still feel the heated air making the skin on their cheek tingle with warmth.

"You succeeded in your mission," Ember observed solemnly. "I am relieved to have you both back."

"I wouldn't have still been alive if it wasn't for you!" Ladybug buried her face in Chat Noir's shoulder. "I couldn't move! I didn't even think straight!" Tears started streaming down her face.

"You're safe," Chat Noir soothed her, kissing the top of her head. "Now you can complete the mission. You can find out what Chaos is hiding."

"I couldn't even think about that. I didn't even care. I thought I'd be separated from you forever! I never want to leave you side again," Ladybug clung to Chat Noir.

"That sounds purrfect to me," a warm rumble reverberated deep in Chat Noir's throat, and Ladybug nestled in closer to him with a smile. A true purr from Chat Noir made her heart swell within her.

Renewing themselves after such an ordeal was a gradual process, but slowly they picked themselves up, and stood up. Neither one looked back at the island. Like a sleeper who tries to push away the memories of a nightmare, both of them were set on making there way as far from that cursed place as they could. Scaling the cliff was effortless this time with Ladybug's yoyo. Although Chat Noir could have used his baton, Ladybug insisted (with no arguments from her Kitty) that he could hold on to her, while she retracted her yoyo, drawing them back up to the upper ridge.

As they walked inland Ember finally spoke again. "Shall we make preparations to send Ladybug to the caves right away, or do the two of you both require more time to recuperate.

"Wait...send me to the caves...but both of us will be going together," Ladybug stopped walking and looked from Ember to Chat Noir.

Chat Noir's face looked pained, and he looked at Ember.

"Why just me?" Ladybug demanded.

"The egg," Ember reminded her quietly.

Ladybug looked down at her hand that still held the hateful dark egg, and then she looked over at Chat Noir's empty paws. "But if it hadn't been for Chat Noir, neither one of us would have made it. He could have made it himself with the egg, but he let it go to safe me!" Ladybug protested.

"She shouldn't have to go down to the caves herself," Chat Noir shook his head. "We retrieved the egg together, so we should be allowed to enter the caves together."

"It is not my decision to make," Ember shook his head.

"At least let me go in her place," Chat Noir started to feel that same frantic panic grip him that he had been haunted by in the water. "Who knows what could be down there if the mosquito kwami is behind it!"

"I won't let you face it without me," Ladybug's voice rose. "You just saved me, and I can't risk loosing you!"

"And I can't loose you!" Chat Noir's voice turned ragged.

"Adrien," Ember jolted Chat Noir out of his anxiety by actually using his given name. "You made a decision back in the water to save the woman you love. I imagine you don't regret such a decision."

"Of course not," Chat Noir said, falling back on his heels.

"It was a wise choice. Only one of you was ever going to enter the caves. One of you was always going to be the strength to get the other there. This choice will not separate you forever, but there will come times in life that your paths will not always travel side-by-side," the phoenix kwami said sagely. "Each of you have your own part in this."

Chat Noir pulled Ladybug in to his side, and they stood together quietly. Ember silently flew down the path before them, and they followed. If they were to be parted on this mission, at least they could lend each other a bit of strength until they reached the caves.

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Ladybug channeled Kaalki's power, and transported them to the other side of Easter Island to the site of an ancient quarry at Rano Raraku. As soon as they arrived they had an eerie feeling...like they had just stumbled across a ghost town. Huge statues of human faces had been scattered around the site. The carved heads of the Moai looked up at them from the volcanic crator where they had been hewn from the dark rock. Hundreds of Moai statues in various stages of completion had been suddenly abandoned.

Prompted by their questioning looks, Ember said that at the end of the 18th century Chaos' mission had come to pass. The people had been enslaved to him, and he had become obsessed with capturing as many faces and identities as possible. With death and violence and destruction overwhelming the island, many people of the tribes retreated, leaving many of the statues forever unfinished.

The Moai were huge at nearly 82 tons, and up to 30 feet tall. They walked past the proud faces (some standing at attention, some with their bodies buried underground, and some laying on their side), but the strangest part was the contrast at the center of the crater. In the middle of the dip in such desolate land, where rainwater had gradually collected, there stood a wetland with water and reeds brightened up with vivid green. Chat Noir and Ladybug turned, hearing the sound of whinnies. Wild horses ran around the slopes among the Moai, grazing on the precious grass and thriving off the rare fresh-water.

Kaalki perked his head up out of Ladybug's pocket, and hovered there looking off toward the wild horses. The horses in turn perked up their ears, and paused to look over toward them. One of the stallions reared up and whinnied toward Kaalki, and nodded Kaalki towards them. "We're almost there,"Kaalki said to Ladybug, Chat Noir, and Ember.

They followed Kaalki and he led them to a massive Moai stature that grimaced down at them. "This is the the chief doorway. Even I am prevented from entering and can't tread the dark cave paths. Only once a year is the first human to retrieve the dark egg given passage. Just press the egg into the Moai's chest," Kalaki instructed.

"I guess this is it," Ladybug turned to Chat Noir.

"I'll be right here waiting for you," Chat Noir hugged her close, and held her just a little tighter.

"Once I see if there are any answers, I'll be right back," Ladybug assured him.

Chat Noir nodded, and stepped back between Ember and Kaalki.

Ladybug stepped before the imposing Moai and with both hands pressed the stone egg into it's chest. The egg started to glow with a purple haze, the light moved up Ladybug's hand, up her arm, and rapidly engulfed the rest of her body. In a blink of an eye she had vanished, and Chat Noir jumped with a shout. He pressed his hands to the chest of the statue where Ladybug had vanished, but the doorway would only allow one to pass.

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Quote: "When everything is moving and shifting, the only way to counteract chaos is stillness. When the surface is wavy, dive deeper for quieter waters."

- Kristin Armstrong

Facts: Moai taken from Easter Island can be found in museums all over the world, including the Louvre in Paris and the British Museum in London.