ATUHOR'S NOSE: *looks at the AO3 chapter count* ... oopsie, we had to split the climax into two chapters! What an unexpected occurrence, for a fanfic based on a show that has done this literally every season.

Just so you understand exactly the kind of nerd I am, the working title for this chapter was "Michelle is now sealed in a symmetrical bowling ball"... a joke that made a lot more sense the way we initially plotted things than the way it came out, but hey. (And is gonna make even less sense to the FFN readers who get no context link.)

Oh, and if anyone had difficulty figuring it out (every flower language site seems to have all kinds of extra made up stuff no other site shares), Achille's bouquet for Cat Noir last chapter was intended to mean approximately "I know your heart belongs to another and that's okay but I wanted you to know I have feelings for you, and you can do whatever you want with that information". And the geranium for Ladybug was basically "I have no interest in smooching you but I wanted to acknowledge that you're my friend too and I care you, please don't feel left out".

Achille is a big mushy dork and definitely one of our favorite OCs lately.


Céleste looked tearfully upon the magical charms she'd been given, one by Jade and one by Ladybug.

"Why... why didn't you talk to me before vanishing...? I don't know what was wrong, but I could've at least tried to do something... were we even really friends, or were you just pitying me —"

and as she shouted that last sentiment, she hurled the magical charms out her window. And then she hurled herself onto her bed to sob into her pillow.


It was nearly two in the morning, but Mathieu couldn't go to sleep, not until he figured out how to make this budget balance. He'd cut costs everywhere he could, but donations weren't coming in as reliably as they once were and it still left the shelter way too deep in the red. At this rate, they'd be shutting down in less than a month.

In his frustration he gripped his pencil too hard and snapped it in half.

"Aw, come on... we don't even have the budget to replace a pencil..."

He slumped over his desk, feeling completely defeated... and failing to notice the purple butterfly sneaking in through the office window and diving into his broken pencil.

He sat up straight with a jerk.

"Mathieu Besson."

"... Shadow Moth? You sound... completely different than I expected."

"No, Shadow Moth's out of commission, didn't you hear?"

"Er... I don't recall..."

"Well, it doesn't matter. Here's what matters: you want to help the homeless, but you can't find the resources to keep the shelter running. What if you could just... summon resources ex nihilo?"

"You're... giving me superpowers?"

"That's what the Butterfly is for, yes."

"And what do you want in exchange?"

"Nothing — we literally just want this shelter to keep running, so just summon as much as you can manage before we lose the connection. Do you accept?"

"... Okay."

Five minutes and several palettes of high-value supplies later, the purple smoke once again enveloped Mathieu and he reverted to normal. The butterfly, magic now expended, flew out of his broken pencil and fluttered around, looking for an exit.

He quickly rushed over to open the window and let it out. "... Thanks, whoever you are. This should keep us going for a few months at least."


A few hours earlier, just after the sun had set, Jade was sitting in the branches of a tree in a random park. Not many people were out at this time of day, and the leaves were thick enough to hide them from casual sight.

You haven't much time, you know.

"I know."

Slowly, with trepidation, they put on the purple brooch.

As they did, a glowing light emerged from it, eventually turning into another kwami, much like Koppi except purple and mothy instead of monochrome and octopus-esque.

"Er, where are we, mast... er...?" the kwami said, looking around until he saw Jade wearing his Miraculous. "... Am I dreaming?"

"No, Nooroo, this is real," Jade said reassuringly.

"W- how do you already know my name? Who even are you?!"

"I'm Jade, and Koppi told us a lot about you. Who you are, what you can do — how much he figured you must hate working for a villain like Shadow Moth."

"I did hate it! It was the worst!" He opened his mouth to say more, but gagged suddenly and spewed forth a lavender bubble. "I... still can't tell you who Shadow Moth is. He was my master, and he never formally renounced me..."

"Ah, dang, that's inconvenient," Jade said. "If we could just ask you who he is, that would make a lot of things easier."

"I know — I know exactly who he is and I just can't say — but never mind that, I'm free! I'm so glad to be out of his evil hands!"

"We're glad for you too, little buddy," Jade said with a smile, and gently patted Nooroo on the head.

Nooroo swooced around gleefully for a bit, then halted and turned to Jade. "Oh! Do you need to transform?"

"Eventually, yeah," Jade said. "Not urgently, but at some point we're gonna want to try to contact Ladybug and Cat Noir so we can finish finding Shadow Moth and take him down for good. ... He's got Koppi, and we're not gonna be able to rest easily until we can free him."

"Shadow Moth has Koppi? Oh, that's not good news... Koppi can be a very powerful kwami in the right hands — even more powerful than me!"

"Powerful enough for Shadow Moth to just take whatever he's after, without needing a wish?"

Nooroo thought about this for several seconds. "I don't think so... but it's not sure. And he'll want to test thoroughly. That should give us some time."

Jade nodded. "I see... what does Shadow Moth want, anyway?"

Nooroo looked genuinely saddened at this. "His wife fell into a deep sleep, about a year and a half ago. Medical science can't do anything to help her except artificially keeping her alive. Shadow Moth wants to use the wish to revive her."

"Huh..." Jade frowned. "He couldn't just make a superpowered healing hero and have them do it?"

Nooroo shook his head sadly. "That was the first thing he tried. He akumatized his assistant. She was able to heal any other injury or illness he brought before her... but not his wife. I believe she's simply beyond any chance of healing at this point. All he can do to save her now is rewrite reality itself."

"... Damn, that's heavy," Jade said. "... Really nothing that can be done? Now I kinda feel bad for him, somehow..."

"His situation is a sad one," Nooroo said. "But he needs to accept that his wife is gone. If he ever did make the wish, he would need to lose something equally valuable... and I worry that if he did that, he'd just try to do it all over again."

Jade closed their eyes for a moment, then nodded with fierce determination. "Well then. Between that, Koppi, and him knowing where I live, it looks like we have no choice but to stop him as quickly as possible. I'm gonna need to get used to being a Butterfly hero posthaste. Tonight I'll find a few random people with problems I can help, and tomorrow, we're jumping into action."

"That's the spirit! All you need to do is say 'dark wings, rise'!" Nooroo said.

"All right, Nooroo — dark wings, rise!"


For the fourth time that night, the connection broke and Jade detransformed. They leaned back against the wall, breathing heavily. "Whew... this is starting to take a toll."

"Yeah, that happens," Nooroo said, flying into Jade's backpack and grabbing some more candied violets. "It's very draining to transform so frequently... Do you think you should call it a night?"

"Yes. Yes I do," Jade said, digging their water bottle out of their backpack and draining the last of it. (Every time they transformed, the water bottle got put back into the backpack, seemingly regardless of where either of those two items had been before. Despite Nooroo's willingness to explain nearly anything to them, Jade still couldn't work this one out.)

'Twould behoove us to find a proper place to sleep, knowing that our home is unfortunately out of the question.

"Yes, Isabeau, I haven't forgotten, you know."

Truly? I'd been unsure, since you insisted on 'one more go' after helping Monsieur Besson.

"Er, who are you talking to there, Jade?"

Jade's eyes widened with surprise. "You don't know?"

He has not been in our inner world.

"He hasn't!? Is that a Koppi-only thing?!"

Doubtful. Entering this place is hardly a power of 'imitation'. More likely M. Nooroo simply lacks experience in this matter.

"I can't hear whoever you're talking to," Nooroo said, "so I really can't follow the conversation like this."

"Oh, sorry — um, the person I'm speaking to is Isabeau, as you probably heard, and..." Would you?

I would not. I am ill-suited to the outer world and would remain in here.

"... aaaaand she says she's staying inside instead of helping me finish this explanation," Jade grumped. "Um... Isabeau, sort of.. lives in here too," Jade said, tapping their head. "... And, uh, for the record, she uses any pronouns, not just she/her."

"Okay, I understood that last part, with the pronouns," Nooroo said, "but the rest of it you're kinda jumping around."

Mind if I step in? Leo thought.

Please do. A demonstration will probably get the point across real fast, too.

Switching on purpose always felt a little weird, like their mind was rotating 17 degrees in no direction. "Hey, Nooroo. Name's Leo. Jade's kinda bad at this so I tagged in. Short version is, instead of one person in here, there's a bunch. Jade, me, and Isabeau are who you know about already — for admittedly an extremely generous definition of 'know' — but there's also Achille and Celine, who are currently out cold due to exhaustion from their shenanigans as Ikarus lately."

"I... see?" Nooroo said, not at all sure whether he did in fact see. "Wait — shenanigans? Are you talking about the thing with the mimic akuma?"

"Yeah, that was Celine's idea," Leo said, looking sheepish. "I was busy in headspace with Koppi and Isabeau, so I couldn't tell her to don't do something so reckless on a whim like that..."

"Yeah, that was weird, don't do that again!" Nooroo said.

"Oh, of course not," Leo said reassuringly. "Celine's the only one of us who's that reckless, and she already got everything it's plausible to get from that scheme."

"Hmm. That feels less reassuring than I was hoping for."

"Well - " Leo yawned. "Oh, right, we were trying to find sleep, weren't we? Let's go do that now."


The sun was just barely rising in Hawk Moth's lair... or whatever he calls himself in his current form, transformed with the Octopus Miraculous. He's standing in the center of the room, eyes closed, as if he's listening for something...

"... Still nothing," he mutters, eyes opening once more. "I can create the akuma easily, but it truly seems that no matter how hard I try, I can't sense emotions from afar with only the Octopus.

"Inconvenient. But the Peacock will serve that purpose adequately. Duusu, unify."

For several seconds, the villain simply stood in his lair, feeling the emotions of Paris wash over him once again. After getting acclimated to the sensation once more, he started sifting through, looking for vulnerable spikes of negativity.

"... Hm? There's a familiar one. I thought you'd been made off-limits... Now I'm curious just what's changed. Go forth, my inky akuma, and evilize her once more!"


Jade and Nooroo's eyes snapped open at the same time.

Cursing under their breath, Jade grabbed their backpack and quickly made their way out the shelter's back door. From there, they found their way to a secluded back alley and opened up the backpack to speak to Nooroo. "You felt that too, didn't you?"

"I did. Shadow Moth is using Koppi to imitate my power. He's going back to akumatizing people, and I can feel him seeking out someone suffering great distress."

"Guess there's only one thing for us to do — I know we didn't get much rest, but it's gonna have to suffice for..." Jade sighed. "...one more go. Nooroo, dark wings rise!"

Nooroo swooced into the Butterfly brooch, powering it up. A silvery cuirass-like piece formed over Jade's torso, and tendrils of purple magic fabric formed leggings, a domino mask over their face, and little antenna-esque extensions from their hair, and finally, with their outfit formed, their cane materialized in their hand.

Le, Isabeau, you two awake?

At this hour, Lea barely stirs even at her name, but I will ensure she is ready for whatever task you assign us.

It's real simple — figure out how Koppi got in our headspace, then get Nooroo in there the same way.

Ah. Simple. Of course.

Jade closed their eyes and opened up their senses. "Now, who's that akuma targeting... wh — Céleste?! What's she so upset about...?

Me suddenly going incommunicado? Lea ventured.

"... that would do it, huh. We've got some explaining to do, I guess. Actually, so does she, now that I think about it... but either way, we have to save her first." And with Miraculous-powered strength, Jade leapt away, towards the tug of the imitation akuma on their magic.

They didn't take long before finding it fluttering down the city streets. Jade popped open the top of their cane and swiped the akuma out of the air. "No."


"What?! I've lost the connection — what just happened!?"


Jade released the purified sparks of magical energy. "And that's that prevented."

For now. Céleste is still in a bad way. What's to stop Shadow Moth just trying again?

They frowned very loudly. "That's a good question..." They closed their eyes again and reached out on the magical empathic connection. "I still can't read what exactly is upsetting her..." As they tried harder to read the connection, a wild butterfly fluttered up and landed on their hand.

Jade opened their eyes and stared at the butterfly for a few moments. "... an option presents itself?"

You better be careful, Jade. She's actually been akumatized by Shadow Moth, and she's in a state to expect it again.

Jade briefly considered protesting that it was common knowledge that Shadow Moth had lost the Butterfly, before quickly realizing that argument wouldn't go anywhere useful. "Right. I'll be gentle."

Jade placed their hand over the butterfly and imbued it with their magical energy. "Okay, little butterfly — fly away, and help us get back in touch with our friend."


Céleste was still on her bed, clutching her pillow, sobbing slightly less than a few minutes ago when she'd tossed away the magical charms.

She eventually managed to cry herself out enough that she could turn her attention back to the outside world... where her grief was immediately replaced with terror, as she saw the little black butterfly hovering just inside her window.

"Go away, Shadow Moth!" she shouted, throwing her pillow at the akuma — which obviously just entered the pillow.

"Oops." "Oops."

"Wait — who are you? You're not Shadow Moth."

"No, he's out of commission. Does nobody watch the news for recaps on akuma attacks?!"

"Well, gee, forgive me for being too distracted over my friend disappearing to keep up on current events. Shouldn't you already know about that? Isn't that why you sent your butterfly?"

"Er, yes and no and yes again. Shadow Moth sent the first butterfly, which we intercepted. We can only read your emotions, not your thoughts, so we could tell you were super upset but had to make a guess as to why. As for — "

"Wait, who's 'we'?"

"...

"...

"... oh my gods Le, you didn't tell her?!

"I was gonna!

"Yes, that's why I'm shocked that you didn't!

"Stuff came up! The Mayhem stuff, for example! And homework!

Well, this has to be Paris's weirdest supervillain encounter by far, Céleste thought to herself. Didn't think it'd be possible to out-weird the giant baby, but here we are.

"You can't just drop this kinda thing on someone all at once without a plan, you know!

"Oh yeah? Watch me. Hi Céleste, I'm Jade. We're plural, and all that time you thought you were talking to me you were actually talking to my headmates Leo and Celine. They have to pretend to be me to people who don't know about us — especially in the past few months when I was completely out of commission — but because you're our friend, we wanted you to know the real us."

Céleste took a few seconds to boggle at the amount of info that had just been dropped on her all at once. "... Jade?!"

"In the flesh. Except not, because we're actually talking to you through a magical butterfly. But it could be in the flesh, if you wanted. We could give you the power to teleport here. Wait, better idea — let's give you the power to teleport to your friends' side, any friend you pick. That way you know you're coming to us, and not some weird impostor. Only downside is, the power will only hold for a few minutes before we detransform, so you can't dawdle..."

Céleste stared blankly for a moment before her brain caught up to what Jade was saying. "Y- yes, by all means, do it!"

"Great!" Jade said as the purple smoke overtook Céleste and she transformed. "While we chatted, I've been making my way out of the middle of the street and to a better meeting place..."


Marinette was having a fairly normal Saturday morning working in her family's bakery, right up until the random portal appeared and Céleste walked out. Judging by the big technological bulb-thing on her left arm, she'd been akumatized —

"Hiya, Marinette, I'd like to buy a dozen... anything sweet, really, surprise me," Céleste said, dropping a twenty-euro note on the counter.

— but she seemed oddly lucid and non-deranged, for someone under Shadow Moth's thrall.

"Um — sure," Marinette said, quickly assembling a box of assorted pastries. "You okay?"

"Not... entirely certain, honestly," Céleste said, sounding strained more than anything. "I'll get back to you on that after this?"

Marinette couldn't help but glance meaningfully at the thing on Céleste's arm.

"Yeah, long story," Céleste said, "I'll catch you up on all this when I call you later." She picked up the box, pointed the bulb-thing, and opened another portal. "See ya," she said with a wave, leaving through the portal, which closed behind her.

Marinette looked around. Nobody else was around to see that. She opened up her purse. "That was really weird, right Tikki?! She was akumatized, but perfectly normal!"

"That hasn't happened in a long while, but... akumatized people are supposed to still be normal, when they're not having their will bent by a supervillain. One way or another, she's working with whoever akumatized her."

"And one way or another, Ladybug will have to investigate! I saw the Eiffel Tower through that second portal, so I know that's where she went... I just need an excuse to get away from work..."


The Butterfly brooch chirped urgently as Céleste gazed over Paris from her seat on the Eiffel Tower.

"Yeah, like I said, I can't hold your transformation very long," Jade said. "It's a special Miraculous power, just like Ladybug and Cat Noir's, and it follows the same rule — only a fully grown adult can hold their transformation after using it." They sighed. "Whatever Celine might think, nearly adult isn't adult... dark wings, fall." Nooroo popped out of the brooch as Jade's transformation faded, and then dove into their backpack to grab some candied violets.

Céleste nodded, her own transformation fading shortly after. "I see...So that's how it is now. ... I can still properly remember everything that just happened. When I was Domain, everything was fuzzy after the heroes saved me."

Nooroo made the muffled noise of a kwami speaking with a mouth full of delicious, before catching himself, swallowing his snack, and trying again. "That's because we didn't overpower your will. We worked together, unlike with Shadow Moth. This is how my power is supposed to be used, but Shadow Moth twisted it to his selfish desires."

"You keep calling him 'Shadow Moth'," Céleste pointed out, "can't you just say his name?"

Nooroo shook his head. "No, like I told Jade, I still can't tell you Shadow Moth's true identity is —" He gagged and coughed up a lavender bubble. "... well, who he is."

"Dang. Don't suppose you've found any loopholes in that restriction?"

"Not yet," Nooroo said with a knowing grin. "I'm thinking very hard about them, though."

"Well, then, carry on," Céleste said, grinning back. "Let me know if you have any questions, hypothetical or 'hypothetical'." And at Nooroo's nod, she turned back to Jade. "So, um... about that... plural thing... You said I didn't actually befriend... Jade?"

"Mm-hmm," Jade said. "You're talking to Jade now, and I do know who you are, cause we share memories — but the person you talked to all that time at school, that was mostly Leo. Er, or Lea — he's genderfluid, so he's Lea when he's a girl, but right now he's a guy, so Leo." They paused, thinking. "You want me to put him on the line, so to speak? He's awake enough for that."

"Uh... yeah, sure," Céleste said. "How's that work, anyway?"

"Weirdly," Jade said, thus explaining everything forever. "... I never worked out how to do it myself, so instead I need to sort of... drop the controls and let Leo..."

17 degrees back in the opposite non-direction, and Leo was back in the metaphorical driver's seat. "Heya, Céleste," he said.

"... Wow, you really are different from Jade," Céleste said. "Even your voice is different. How do you do that?"

Leo shrugged. "I dunno, I just kinda... modulate my voice different than Jade, without really thinking about it."

"Man... it's so weird that I could never tell, though," Céleste said.

"Not that weird," Leo said. "You mostly only talked to me, so there wasn't much to compare against — and even when you did speak to Celine, we were actively trying to sound the same, so people couldn't tell."

"I guess that makes sense," Céleste said. "... but, uh, while I'm asking questions, another thing I'm curious about is..."


The group continued to hang out on top of the Eiffel Tower for a while longer, just catching up and snacking on pastries, until something in the distance caught Leo's attention.

"... They're headed straight for us. This could be trouble. Dark wings, rise." He stood up and held a hand out for a wild butterfly to land on, which he charged with magic and handed to Céleste. "I give you the power to defend yourself from evil."

"So, you're the one akumatizing people now," Ladybug said as she landed in front of them.

"Planning to get your feelers out all over Paris?" Cat Noir added as he dropped in beside her.

Leo sighed in relief. "Sheesh, it's just you two... you nearly gave us a panic attack. Dark wings fall."

"You&?!" Ladybug exclaimed.

"... how did you do that with your mouth?" Leo said.

"I won't let you two hurt my friends," Céleste growled.

"Chill, Céleste," Leo said, "it's Ladybug and Cat Noir, they're on our side."

"Er, are we?" Cat Noir asked, sounding confused. "I did come here expecting to fight a villain."

Ladybug frowned in thought. "I think we can trust... that they mean well."

"Oh, oof, that hurts," Leo said. "We totally deserve it, but still, oof."

"Er... am I missing something here?" Céleste said.

"You, uh, remember how I said we used to be Ikarus?" Leo said. "I didn't mention why we're not anymore... which is also why we're homeless now..."

"Wait, you said that was because Shadow Moth figured out your identity," Céleste said. "... Which is a perfectly logical reason for Ladybug to take back the Miraculous you were using, right?"

"It certainly would be, if that was what had happened..." Leo said, looking increasingly sheepish. "Technically this was all Celine's idea — I normally stop her from doing risky things impulsively, Achille isn't really equipped for that kind of voice-of-reason stuff — "

"Leo." Céleste interrupted. "Get to the point, please?"

Leo stared awkwardly at Céleste for several seconds, and Céleste glared back sternly.

Eventually Leo realized he was being silly and broke off the stare to continue speaking. "So, what happened is that we, uh, tried turning Shadow Moth's akuma power against him," Leo said. "And that provoked him into... the huge battle from the other day. Cause we almost exposed his identity — actually, hang on a sec, how did we not find him, we had it narrowed down to a supremely searchable area?"

"Polymouse searched all the possible buildings in the area," Ladybug said, "and the only one we found that made sense was that apartment the red sickly villain was hiding in. Shadow Moth probably lived there originally, but fled and left her behind as a trap."

"Hm," Leo hm'd. "That's definitely possible, but something feels weird about it. We're probably going to — "

"Think real hard about how you wanna finish that sentence," Ladybug interrupted with a death glare.

Leo withered some more. "... er, run our ideas by Ladybug and not just barrel off half-cocked, is what we're gonna do."

"...That'll do for now," she said, relenting. "So, what did you have in mind?"

Leo sighed in relief. "Right, um, so, what we were thinking was that we'd... look into the property records and see what name that apartment was registered under. And then, uh, sort of improvise from there? While staying in touch with you, of course."

Ladybug shrugged. "It's not a bad idea, but I've already asked a friend to look into this stuff, and it's a dead end. The name is a fake and the records don't show who owned the apartment before."

"The whole situation feels fake," Leo muttered. "... Say, did the records say when the apartment changed hands?"

"That's a good question," Ladybug said, pulling out her bugphone and sending a text. "What are you thinking?"

"We're wondering whether this was Shadow Moth's only lair."


It took several minutes (during which Céleste's akuma transformation expired) for everyone to get their info together. Ladybug's unspecified friend had reported that the apartment was purchased the very day of the mayhem attack, so now the four(ish) of them were out giving the area another look.

"If he had enough time — and money — to just buy an apartment as a reaction to us almost figuring him out, he might've done anything else to throw us off," Leo said, transformed once again. "We just need to work out what."

"It makes sense, but everything around here looks fairly normal," Ladybug said, scanning the area. "I know I don't exactly have the cityscape memorized, but nothing here is obviously out of place."

"Except that billboard," Cat Noir said. "Man, that's gotta be ruining a lot of views." He stopped suddenly. "Um. Hm. I, uh... notice that the view it seems to be blocking worst would be from... Agreste mansion."

Ladybug frowned very loudly. "We cleared M. Agreste, but... now that we know Shadow Moth has an accomplice, the reasoning for that doesn't work anymore. He could've had Mayura akumatize him."

Leo recoiled in horror. "Nooroo says Shadow Moth did do that. He still can't directly say who Shadow Moth is, but — the way he responded when you brought up M. Agreste is unmistakable."

"Wait, you can still talk to Nooroo while you're transformed?" Ladybug said.

"Yeah, it took some doing, Koppi got connected way easier, but in both cases it's basically the same way we talk to each other," Leo said. "... like how Achille finally woke up and he's immediately fangirling in my metaphorical ear again."

I'm not fangirling, Leo, I meant look at Cat Noir's reaction to all this! He's freaking out!

"Wh-?" Leo actually looked this time, and Cat Noir was indeed not taking this well — backing away from the group, mouth covered in horror, and muttering something that sounded like 'no no no no'. "Uh, are you okay?" Leo asked him —

whereupon he immediately pulled out his stick and vaulted away.

"Hey, where are you going!?" Céleste called out. "Agreste mansion is that way!"

"Wh — what's gotten into Cat Noir?" Ladybug said.

"That is way too obvious to be worrying about right now, Ladybug, right now you gotta go after him!" Achille exclaimed. (Ow! What are you tossing me out so roughly for, Achille?) (Sorry, Leo, this is important!) "Seriously, you got five seconds til I go after him myself! Five, four —"

And before he could get to "three", Ladybug zipped off after her partner.

Céleste stared at the empty space where Cat Noir had been a moment ago. "What... what was that?"

Achille frowned. "I don't think I should talk much about that. If I'm right, it's..." Identity stuff. "...something I shouldn't talk about. And I might be wrong. But I really think I'm right about this." He wrung his hands. "Oh, now I'm all wound up. My first idea had been to just chase him and make Ladybug follow me, but... Leo's right, we can't just leave you behind."

"I see... I'm talking to Achille right now, right?" (Achille nodded.) "But it was mostly Leo, before."

Another nod. And a brief awkward pause before Achille spoke up. "I could tell you things about Leo if you wanna.

"Achille I am literally right here," Leo interjected. "Gossiping about me with my friend when I'm not listening requires me to not be listening. You can't just do it whenever.

"Sure I can, if I try real hard and believe in myself," Achille said with a grin.

Céleste snrk'd. "You two sound just like a pair of squabbling siblings."

"We kinda are," Leo said. "We think of each other as siblings, everyone in this system. Though Achille definitely shows it off most. He's like the annoying little brother everyone loves.

"Hey, be nice, Leo!" Achille interrupted with a comically exaggerated pout.

"I am being nice," Leo said, smirking. "I said everyone loves you, didn't I?

"Yeah, and you also said I'm annoying and little!" Achille retorted. "I am not little, I'm literally the same age as you!"

Céleste laughed again. "You two are silly... Say, while we wait for them to get back, maybe we should get started on inspecting that billboard?"

"That's probably a good idea, yeah," Leo said. "Don't know how long it'll be, and Shadow Moth has already made it clear that he's planning on releasing more akumas..."


Leo and Céleste had spent several minutes inspecting the billboard for any sign of what company might've put it up and somehow come up blank.

"This is eerie," Céleste said. "Billboards don't just show up ex nihilo."

"Not normally, no," Leo said, looking over the Butterfly cane. "But if, perhaps, Shadow Moth made up a sentimonster to build it... there we go," he said, sliding the top open to reveal the phone. "If he did that, it would seem to have shown up ex nihilo. In particular, there would be no records of construction. If we can call the right person at city hall... if we can figure out who that person is, we might be able to confirm that..."

"There you are!" Ladybug called as she dropped down next to the group, Cat Noir following closely behind. "We got back and you'd vanished..."

"Yeah, to inspect the billboard and confirm that it's weird?" Céleste said. "We were in the middle of that, why would we go anywhere else..."

"Well forgive me for being a bit jumpy," Ladybug muttered, "today's been an overwhelming day..."

"Mm, could we put a pin in this conversation?" Leo said, holding the canephone to his ear. "I'm trying to investigate our mysterious billboard."

Ladybug frowned very loudly, but backed off. "I don't like this," she muttered to Cat Noir. "The whole situation is... screwy."

"You're not kitten me," Cat Noir whispered back, sounding exhausted. "I'll be glad when this day's behind me..."

"... Right, of course," Leo said to whoever was on the other side of the phone. "That makes perfect sense, actually. ... No, that's actually all I wanted to know." Click. "So, turns out there've been complaints about this billboard. Showing up outta nowhere like that and blocking the views of some fairly rich people, I got one sentence out before the receptionist said they'd gotten a dozen calls already and explaining that they couldn't find any records. They're actually planning on taking the thing down today, since no records includes no permits."

"So you can call city hall fine," Ladybug said, "but you couldn't call me to mention you'd picked up Shadow Moth's Miraculous."

Leo blinked, nonplussed. "Actually, Jade tried that, but you've got the Butterfly Miraculous blocked, and we don't have any method of finding you other than that. They tried calling every Miraculous they could recall seeing, and they've all blocked it."

... Ladybug groaned, facepalming. "Blocked. Of course it's blocked, up til last week it was Shadow Moth's, and obviously Master Fu didn't want his calls finding us, and we didn't think to unblock it when things changed... Now I feel silly."

"Eh, don't worry about it," Leo said with a shrug. "It's kinda non-obvious." He frowned suddenly as a thought occurred to him. "... bet the Peacock still doesn't have it blocked, though."

"Uh-uh, no way, you are not contacting Shadow Moth again," Ladybug exclaimed.

"Oh, gods no," Leo said. "That was an utter disaster, and predictably so. No, we don't actually have any ideas for that information yet. Just wanted it out there in case it becomes useful later." He tilted his head in thought. "Then again, if calling Shadow Moth somehow became useful, you probably could've just used your own Miraculous to do it anyway. This is probably less interesting than we think it is."

"Right, okay, sure," Ladybug said. "Back to what we were doing before... why did we need to know the billboard is a spooky ghost?"

"Well, it confirms that Shadow Moth put it up," Leo said. "And since the placement blatantly excludes Agreste mansion from our search area... either Shadow Moth lives in Agreste mansion, or his idea of a red herring is to point us there. And after Nooroo's reaction — actually, you should hear this from him directly. Dark wings, fall."

Nooroo started talking the moment he popped out of the brooch. "That theory you had earlier, that Shadow Moth had Mayura akumatize him — he didn't do exactly that, he found a way to akumatize himself, he just had to temporarily renounce me, so he became The Collector! ... Also, I finally found that loophole!"

"You can't say your former master's name, but The Collector was technically never your master!" Ladybug said, eyes widening with the realization. "Just to be absolutely sure, can you confirm that nobody who isn't Gabriel Agreste ever became The Collector?"

"Yes, yes, I can confirm that!" Nooroo said. "Oh! And Nathalie Sancoeur! She was never my master either, so I can tell you that she was Mayura!"

"Nathalie too..." Cat Noir said, looking devastated. "We kinda figured that out already, but hearing it said out loud..."

"Wait, you already know?" Leo said. "Since when?

"Since probably just now when they met up after he ran off," Achille said. "You remember who Nathalie Sancoeur is, right?

"Obviously, since you're thinking of it right now," Leo said, rolling his eyes. "I guess Gabriel's assistant is the obvious choice for Mayura, if... he's Shadow Moth..." He trailed off suddenly. "Oh. Oh, no. Oh, shit."

"Whoa, that's unusual language from you," Ladybug said. "What's wrong?"

"Nooroo... told us why Shadow Moth is Shadow Moth," Leo said. Achille, how sure are you that Cat Noir is Adrien Agreste?

After that reaction to learning that Shadow Moth is Gabriel Agreste? He could just be a really dedicated fanboy, but... like 85 percent, at least.

"Well, that's potentially useful information," Ladybug said. "Why is he doing this?"

"We're... not entirely sure we should say," Leo said. "Under the circumstances."

"Circumstances?!" Cat Noir hissed, approaching Leo. "Tell me!" He grabbed Leo by the shoulder. "Tell me what you know! Why is — why is Shadow Moth doing this!? Tell me, Thunderbolt!"

Make that 95 percent.

"C- Cat Noir, you're hurting us," Leo said. "Breathe, center yourself. We'll tell you, just calm down before an akuma shows up."

Cat Noir hastily let go of them and backed up a few steps. "R- right, that would be a bad thing... he's got the Octopus, so he can still do that even now that you have the Butterfly..."

"Mm-hmm. We want to avoid that," Leo said, rubbing his shoulder. That's gonna leave a mark.

Is it weird that I find that a little hot? Achille thought.

Only if you say so out loud, Leo responded, trying not to roll his eyes.

"S- so... What did Nooroo say about... Gabriel's reason for being Shadow Moth?" Cat Noir asked.

"You want to tell him, Nooroo?" Leo asked. "We can tell him if you'd rather, but you're a more direct source..."

"It's okay," Nooroo said. "I can tell him. I still can't say Shadow Moth's real name, but about a year and a half ago, his wife, Emilie..."

...

"So... she didn't go missing after all," Cat Noir said, clenching his fist. "All this time, she's been just lying there in his basement. He just... kept her there this whole time and let everyone believe she'd vanished mysteriously. What even did this to her, anyway!?"

"Y'know, we didn't think to ask," Leo said, tilting his head thoughtfully. He gave Nooroo an expectant glance. "Do you know, Nooroo?"

Nooroo frowned. "I do know, but maybe we should hold off for a bit, since -" He suddenly cut his sentence short and his eyes widened.

"Shadow Moth," Leo said, looking equally freaked out. "He's using Koppi to mimic Nooroo's power again. Dark wings, rise!" He transformed and held his cane at the ready, scanning the sky.

"Cat Noir, you mustn't let yourself be akumatized!" Ladybug exclaimed, panic rising.

"He's not going for Cat Noir," Leo said.

"What?!"

"He's going for you," Leo said. "Cat Noir's angry, but he's angry at Gabriel, and apparently he's decided that might backfire. You, on the other hand... We don't know why, but right now you're terrified, and apparently Shadow Moth thinks that's a better bet."

Ladybug's jaw dropped. "Seriously?! Of all the insulting -"

"Oh, terror's gone now," Leo said observationally. "And the akuma stopped, too... Apparently, being pissed at Shadow Moth is a reliable way to get out of akumatization."


"... I think I'm done messing around with this. Experimentation is fun, but it's long past time to get some results."

He held out his hand and gathered an orb of mimic ink.

"This will be the beginning of the end for these heroes."


Leo closed his eyes and tilted his head. "Can't sense the akuma anymore. Would've expected it to go for a secondary target but apparently not. Not entirely sure who it'd have gone for, but Paris is a big city, there's lots of emotions around probably."

"I'm actually more worried knowing he's abandoned the akuma," Ladybug said. "He's got essentially every Miraculous in one. If he's not getting anywhere with akumas, what does he think will work...?"

"A sentimonster?" Leo ventured. "But Shadow Moth already had access to those. Surely he'd be trying something new... it's hard to narrow it down from 'literally everything', but we're just glad Koppi can't use Sass or Fluff's powers."

"He can't?" "Who's Fluff?" "Who's Sass?!"

Leo glanced between Ladybug and the other two. "Er, you're the Guardian, do you want to explain Sass and Fluff or should we?"

"Back up a bit, how do you& know about Fluff?" Ladybug said.

"Koppi told me. Me and Isabeau. In our headspace while we were transformed," Leo said. "Which is also how we know which powers he can't use.

"Wait, is that where you were the other day when we were Ikarus?!" Achille exclaimed.

"That's where I was most times when we were Ikarus," Leo retorted. "Not my fault you only notice my absence when you're arguing with Celine~"

"So, this is very amusing," Ladybug said, not sounding amused, "but seriously, how much did Koppi tell you&?"

"So, I assumed none of this was meant to be secret if he just told us freely while hanging out," Leo said, and trailed off. "We're... suddenly not sure whether that's accurate, with the tone you've been giving us..." He glanced at the others.

"I was already gonna tell Cat Noir," Ladybug said, "and I suspect you're not planning on keeping this from Céleste. Actually, I'm the Guardian, so y'know what? New rule: every hero gets one confidant they can tell everything to, they just have to swear them to secrecy. Yours can be her, I've already been telling a normal-life friend everything — remember Scarabella, Cat? That's her. ... Sorry again about blindsiding you with that."

"Water under the bridge," Cat Noir said, waving it off.

"Er, hold up," Leo said. "We're immediately seeing some potential pitfalls with this new rule."

"Obviously there are some details that need hammering out," Ladybug said, "which I will do before telling the rest of the heroes, provided this whole secret-heroes thing continues to exist long enough for that meeting to actually happen. Which might depend on the details of Koppi's restrictions against copying time powers, so if you would please continue?"

"R- right, of course," Leo said. "So, technically he's totally able to copy Fluff's power, but there's only one Burrow for it to take him to, the same one Fluff's future holder uses... um, most of Koppi's explanation kinda flew over my head, and apparently most of Fluff's explanation flew over his head too, but... because of time reasons, it's already set in stone that Koppi did-slash-will never go to the Burrow while you're the Ladybug holder. Thinking about it, Shadow Moth would probably want to avoid going there anyway, since Fluff's future holder could be retroactively prepared for it if he ever did that."

Ladybug frowned very loudly as she turned this over in her head. "I... think I followed that... ugh, I hate time travel. I'm gonna trust that Bunnyx has this angle covered. What about Sass?"

"Oh, Sass is a way simpler case," Leo said. "Having two loops running at the same time can cause major damage to the fabric of time, so the guy seven Guardians ago — Koppi couldn't tell us how many years, apparently he lost track — locked him off from being able to use that power anymore. Presumably, as the current Guardian, you could unlock it if you wanted to —"

"Which is not happening," Ladybug interrupted.

"Well, yes, obviously," Leo said. "Even if Koppi wasn't in evil hands right now, you have access to the original Sass if you need a time loop. Which is literally what we were about to say before you interrupted." He frowned very loudly. "You seriously don't trust us right now, huh."

"Wh- what? Where do you get that idea —" Ladybug cut her protests short upon remembering that she was talking to the current holder of the Butterfly Miraculous. "... Right. Fine. You're right, okay? You've been reckless, and your recklessness provoked Shadow Moth into redoing his Heroes' Day plan but worse, and who knows how much further he plans to escalate because of you&?"

"... Y'know what, we can't even blame you after what Celine pulled. Dark wings, fall," he said, and detransformed. "The Butterfly Miraculous will be a vital asset in the fight against Shadow Moth, but it seems we're not the best choice to wield it."

"Thunderbolt, are you sure about this?" Nooroo asked.

Leo nodded. "Positive." He took a breath. "Nooroo, we renounce you."

With the magical bond severed, the kwami returned to the Miraculous, reverting it to its inactive form, and Leo removed the brooch from his shirt.

"... that took real strength, Leo," Ladybug said. "Perhaps I misjudged you&."

"Eh, maybe," Leo said with a shrug. "But it doesn't matter. If you don't trust us, we can't work together, end of. Whether you're right or wrong about it doesn't really come into play." ... also we might be about to prove her right again for hopefully the very last time —

He turned to Céleste and, to startled noises all around, held out the hand containing the inactive brooch. "Céleste Verany-Brunelle, this is the Miraculous of the Butterfly, which houses Nooroo, kwami of Transmission. With his help, you can aid Ladybug and Cat Noir in their fight against Shadow Moth. When you are finished, you will return the Miraculous to Ladybug. Do you accept this?"

The other three just stared for a few moments, until Céleste managed to recover. "Are you sure about this, Leo...?"

"Someone's gotta wield it," he said, "it ain't gonna be us, and you're already in on all the relevant secrets. From where we're standing, you're the obvious choice. Just try telling us we're wrong, Ladybug."

Ladybug glared loudly. "Fine, you're right, but I'm so taking back what I said before. I was completely right about you& being a loose cannon. Céleste will be a much safer bearer of the Butterfly Miraculous."

"That is the idea," Leo said with a grin as Céleste took the brooch and put it on, causing Nooroo to reappear.

If any of them were going to say something, though, it was forgotten as the very earth shook.

A big-ass mecha-looking thing was stomping around the middle of Paris, firing off glowing orbs in every direction.

"What the fuck is that?!" Céleste exclaimed.

"A sentimonster, most likely," Ladybug said. "And it already looks far more destructive than any we've faced so far."

"Those orbs in particular look ominous as hell," Leo said.

"Look out!" Cat Noir cried, as one of those very orbs was fired in their direction.

"Dark wings rise -" Céleste transformed and moved for cover. Unfortunately, there wasn't much in the way of cover in this part of the Eiffel Tower, and the group just kinda ducked as the orb impacted with a hollow thunk!

It looked a lot smaller up close, maybe about the size of a large orange. Its color was a threatening crimson, and it didn't seem to have many features beyond that.

"It's, uh... not doing anything," Leo said. "... Still looks super ominous, though."

Cat Noir approached the orb cautiously.

"That seems like a bad idea," Céleste said.

"Oh, c'mon, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Lots of things?!"

The orb's surface suddenly dissolved away, briefly revealing a crimson feather before it was covered up by orbs of scarlet energy pulled from Cat Noir.

In a panic, Ladybug yoinked him away with her yoyo, and at the same time Céleste grabbed Leo, and both girls leapt away.

Ladybug stopped running just one building over, as she noticed the feather was no longer pulling energy from her partner. "Cat Noir, are you all right?" she said, carefully setting him down.

"I'm feline just fine, milady," he said, checking himself over. "I don't know what that orb was trying to draw from me, but apparently it wasn't too important..." He looked back to check.

Céleste and Thunderbolt were nowhere in sight, but the feather's coalesced energy was now reshaping itself... into a crimson humanoid figure... with feline ears...

"Another copycat?" Cat Noir scoffed. "I'll handle this. Cata-"

"Cat Noir, wait!" Ladybug exclaimed. "It formed from a feather. It might be a sentimonster!"

"Wait, you mean that mecha thing is a sentimonster that can make more sentimonsters?!" Cat Noir exclaimed. "That's gotta be cheating!"

"This isn't the first time Shadow Moth has pulled a trick like this," Ladybug said. "Though why he isn't doing it the same way as the last two times, I'm not sure. But a more pressing question would be what to do about that copycat sentimonster..."

As if reacting to Ladybug's words, the sentimonster suddenly turned its head, fixing her with a predatory grin. "Why hel-lo there, milady~ I was just thinking, it would be absolutely lovely if you were to give me your Miraculous!"

Ladybug dodged the sentimonster's leap and counterattacked with her yoyo, which it blocked with its staff. Then it made its own swing, only to find itself intercepted by the real deal.

"No way, you phony feline! There's only one Cat Noir!"

The two heroes fought the imposter sentimonster adeptly, but quickly realized there was a problem.

"Er, wait a minute, where did its amok go? Did you see, milady?"

"I'm almost certain the amok is inside the sentimonster," Ladybug admitted.

"Then how the heck do we get it out?!"

"Step one will be to hold it still for us."

Ladybug looked over at another unfamiliar voice to see a familiar face — Céleste, once again transformed, standing alongside an akumatized individual holding some sort of forked baton, who Ladybug presumed was probably Thunderbolt. Which would technically make 'individual' inaccurate — wait, don't get distracted by semantics!

"Good, you're back," she said.

"Yeah, we ran a bit longer than you did, it seems like," the baton-holder said, shrugging. "We're guessing you can work out what our akuma power is just at a glance."

Given that the baton appeared to be emanating some sort of magical energy, a few obvious guesses sprung to Ladybug's mind.

"Aww, but I don't know what it is!" the copycat declared. "That's no fair, y'know — you should explain for your friend Cat Noir. Tell you what, I'll show you mine if you show me yours — Cataclysm!"

"Whoa!" They brought up their baton and batted at the orb of crimson energy, causing it to fizzle and dissipate. "Bad kitty! We're gonna need to teach you a lesson. Ladybug?"

"On it. Cat Noir and — uh, third hero, cover me!" And the four of them all charged the copycat.

Dodging three sticks and a yoyo soon proved to be too much for it, and it was swiftly tied up. "Got it! Now, Thunderbolt!"

With their target immobilized, a swift thrust brought the baton's forked tip in contact with the sentimonster's neck, and it dissolved away, leaving nothing but a floating crimson feather.

"No more evildoing for you, little amok," Ladybug said, catching it in her yoyo.

Thunderbolt dropped to their knees as their akuma transformation suddenly faded and a white butterfly fluttered out of their backpack. "Oof — already?" they muttered, sounding fatigued. "Hasn't even been five minutes..."

"Sorry, Leo," Céleste said, rushing to his side. "Dispelling an entire sentimonster burned through a lot more of your magic than I expected."

"Well, we'll have to handle it," Leo said, leaning on his friend. "Recharge, transform again and... go for the head of the snake next time."

"Mm. That's one plan." Céleste just stayed there supporting Leo and turned to look at Ladybug. "'Third hero'?"

"I couldn't very well use your real name," Ladybug said. "Secret identities have to be preserved, even now."

"Right, those exist," Céleste muttered. "How about... call me Philemon. Like the guy from the video game."

"Not like the guy from psychology?" Cat Noir asked.

"Pretty sure the guy from the video game is named after the guy from psychology," Leo said.

"This is a very fascinating discussion about things I've never heard of," Ladybug said, "but we need to figure out how to handle the broader situation."

"Well for starters, after using all that magic, Leo needs a minute to recharge," Philemon said. "... For that matter, the same could be said of Nooroo, though I'm given to understand that recharging is a rather simpler process for kwamis."

The group gazed over Paris, seeing the myriad sentimonsters rampaging throughout.

"I really want to bring in the rest of the temporary heroes," Ladybug said, "but with all these eyes around, I'm not sure it'll be possible without compromising their identities."

"Well, why don't we check?" Cat Noir said. "I'll go with you in case you need a distraction."

Ladybug nodded. "All right. You two... ish... stay safe while you recover," she said to Philemon and Leo. "Oh, and Cat Noir, unblock the Butterfly Miraculous in your catphone," she said, pulling out her bugphone to do the same herself.

"Ooh, yes, that will be important," Cat Noir said, quickly doing so before he left with Ladybug, leaving Philemon and Leo alone. Ish.

"... the brooch isn't beeping," Leo observed. "We thought only adults could hold their transformation after using their power."

Philemon blinked. "Uh, technically I am an adult. My 18th was a few days ago. ... A few days after you vanished."

Leo valiantly refrained from complaining that 18 being the age of majority was an arbitrary Schelling fence and magic shouldn't care about one's age so acutely — an effort aided by Isabeau suggesting that perhaps that number had been chosen to mark adulthood because it was a relevant milestone in magical development. "Oh. Congrats. And sorry we missed it. Ours isn't for a few more months..."

"Hopefully by then, Shadow Moth will be taken down for good," Philemon said. "Hopefully he'll be taken down for good today. ... I do need to detransform and recharge Nooroo, though. I only have enough magic to hold onto my own transformation, not to charge an akuma."

"Go ahead, go ahead," Leo said. "We've caught our breath enough to sit up on our own."

Philemon nodded. "Dark wings, fall."

Nooroo popped out of the brooch and immediately swooced into Thunderbolt's backpack. He popped out shortly after, carrying two energy bars in addition to his candied violets, dropping one bar in the lap of each human. "You eat too. The second half of this day is going to be even more exhausting than the first half."


ATUHOR'S NOSE again:

Man, there is so much we could be saying about this chapter. Could ramble for several minutes, probably.

For example, ever since we came up with the idea for this fic, Philemon was intended to be Thunderbolt's Butterfly hero identity, but halfway through writing this chapter we realized it would make so much sense for Leo to hand the Miraculous to Céleste instead.

And that age-up we said probably wouldn't have any significance on account of we did it for no actual reason, that ended up totally having a significance — which we came up with just. this. chapter.

Even when you outline, pantsing is a dang trip, we'll tell you what.

... Oh, and here's a good bit we wanted to put in the main chapter but could never fit in:


"... okay seriously Ladybug, how are you pronouncing a silent ampersand with your mouth?" Leo asked.

"Magic," she said with a shrug.

"'Magic' doesn't explain anything!"

"Well, I don't know either, but I do know I can't do it when I'm not transformed, so clearly Miraculous magic is assisting me somehow."