AN: Yes, we are at Befana! Please, somebody try to guess why I'm so hyped about this chapter in particular before they read it. I promise it makes sense - well, as much sense as a magical terrorist/emotional predator turning people into supervillains when they have a bad day via an enslaved tiny god that gets sucked into a brooch can make, anyway.
Bloom glances around the park, grateful that its faced away from the Dupain-Chengs' bakery and the balcony above Marinette's room - the surprise party is in full view, but by some miracle the whip-smart girl hasn't noticed them. They got Andre the Ice-Cream man, famous for melting people's hearts with his 'magic' ice cream that's supposed to show a person's true love, to agree to be there, and the party-prep's well under way.
It helps when the better part of two classes is pitching in - between being class rep and one of the nicest people in school, Marinette's got a lot of friends in both classes who were more than willing to help set up a surprise party for her. Or maybe they just wanted a slice of a cake from the best bakery in Paris - either way, the result is the same.
Adrien glances around, then asks "You think she'll like it, Bloom?"
Bloom smirks - Marinette will definitely love it, she's certain. She's fairly certain Marinette suspects the party itself is happening, but Bloom made sure to keep Adrien's involvement a secret from her. Plus, he even made her a 'lucky charm' of his own. There's no possible way Marinette won't be jumping for joy. "I think she'll be ecstatic, Adrien." Not only is it a present from Adrien - and, that alone will make it spectacular to Marinette - but it's something that means a lot to the both of them. Actually, forget ecstatic - Marinette will be over the moon. "Now, go hide! You're gonna surprise her, Adrien!"
Adrien nods, reaching into his pocket for the Lucky Charm he made and boxed up, and Nino and Alya lead him to a large oak tree he's going to hide in - good thing he's secretly Cat Noir and has plenty of experience climbing trees these days.
Once he's safely hidden in the tree branches, Bloom calls Marinette and says "Hey, Mari, where are you? I've got something to show you. Alright, I'll pick you up there. Yeah, she can come! See you in five!"
Marinette quietly spits out the Befana hard candy she popped when her Grandma was watching, and glances at her phone - it's four, but nobody's called. Maybe…maybe she was wrong about the surpr-
Her phone suddenly rings, showing Bloom's caller ID on the screen. "Hey, Mari, where are you? I've got something to show you."
Marinette beams, but tries to play it casual saying "On the Ponte Des Artes Bridge, with all the locks on the railing."
"Alright, I'll pick you up there."
Thinking fast, Marinette asks "Hey, can my Nonna come? She's visiting, and we don't get to see each other often." All these things are something they'd do when Marinette was much younger, but she wants to make some new memories with her Grandma. And, incidentally, let her know she's lost her taste for the Befana candies.
Bloom's voice immediately says "Yeah, she can come! See you in five!"
Marinette hangs up, only to turn around and see her Grandma giving her the most heartbroken expression she's seen on the woman's face…ever. She tells Marinette to go on and meet her friend, she'll be at the apartment - all before Marinette can get a word in edgewise to explain that it's a surprise party she's pretending not to know about, and that she'd love it if Gina went with.
Nino picks up his phone instantly once it rings, and sees it's Bloom calling - good, that's the signal for everyone to get into place. He accepts the call, and hears "Just keep walking forward until I tell you to stop, Mari. Actually, just to keep you from peeking…"
"Hey, your getting really got at that! But do I really need to be blindfolded?"
"Just head forward, Mari!"
Unbeknownst to everyone else, Bloom put her hands over Mari's eyes and created a blindfold from magic.
Nino ends the call, and motions for everyone to get into their hiding places. A blindfolded Marinette comes into the park, arms out to keep from hitting anything by accident, with Bloom right behind her. "Alright, stop!"
Bloom undoes the blindfold with one hand, doing a silent count for everyone else with the other, and just as the blindfold comes down everyone leaps out and yells "SURPRISE! Happy birthday, Marinette!"
Marinette jumps a mile in the air, a huge grin on her face as she sees almost all her class plus at least half the other class in their year.
About a minute later, she and Bloom are standing by the bowl of punch on the snack table, a plastic cup in each hand, and Bloom says "So, I couldn't get you anything you wouldn't already know about…so I got you someone instead. Happy Birthday, Mari."
Marinette raises an eyebrow, asking "Someone?" If she didn't know any better, she'd think Bloom was responsible for her Grandma's sudden appearance after four years.
And then suddenly there's a rustling sound behind Marinette, and Adrien's voice suddenly says "Surprise, Marinette! Happy birthday!"
Marinette spins around at once, face going beet red from her blush as she sees, yes, Adrien is really standing behind her. Leaves in his hair and jacket, hair messed up, and the biggest smile she's seen on his face in a while…ever since the Collector incident, actually. Has he really been that worried about displeasing his father all this time?
Makes sense, really. The guy IS Hawk Moth, not that Adrien knows that…
Adrien hands her a small blue box, about the size of her palm, and Marinette feels like her heart's simply stopped beating altogether. A small jolt of magic from Bloom, disguised as just poking Marinette in the side, reminds her that it is still beating and she needs to breathe.
And then…a green-skinned woman with red hair rides in on a flying motorcycle with…is that her mother?! With wings?!
Everyone scatters, with 'Befana' - Nonna Gina?! - quite literally gunning after Marinette with her weapon that turns anything it shoots into coal…and, apparently, it can turn people into Fairies. Rose gets hit as well, saying that Marinette's the nicest person they know and to leave her alone - Befana decides that, while it's disrespectful to speak without permission it's also very noble of her to defend a friend. Ergo, Rose gets turned into a Fairy.
Most everyone else has managed to take cover behind bushes and trees in the park by the time Cat Noir and Dragon Fyre arrive, but Cat Noir has to deal with Befana's Fairies while Dragon Fyre dodges shots from the candy-gun as the woman tries to turn her into Coal.
Befana gets a wicked grin, looking a lot like Bloom always imagined the Wicked Witch of the West would, and says "Defending someone who cannot defend themselves, how very noble of you!" She promptly switches from black orbs of light to white, and…aims at Marinette. Dragon Fyre doesn't even think about it, she leaps between Marinette and the shot and gets hit square in the chest.
And then suddenly, everything's burning - the air in her lungs, the skin on her body, the blood in her veins…the ball of liquid fire and agony that just entered her chest and lodged between her lungs. Her own magic rising up and reacting to it. For the first time in nearly five years, Dragon Fyre is burning and it hurts.
And then another ball of agony hits her…and she loses her fight to both stay in control of her magic and not get mind-controlled by Befana.
Most everyone stares in horror as Dragon Fyre takes that hit for Marinette, and promptly bursts into flames lying on the ground. One hand over her sternum like she's having a heart attack, no less.
Cat Noir's voice rings out from the closest rooftop, horror filling his voice even as he wrestles with Sabine, calling "Sis! No!"
Nino glances at Alya, then at everyone else, and says "We gotta help, guys!"
Kim and Ivan nod, running over to Cat Noir just as he gets flung down to the street…and they pin Sabine to the ground between the two of them. Alya, Nino, Juleka, and Luka, meanwhile, dogpile Rose.
Marinette, who's currently torn between horror at the sight of her best friend currently lying on the stage desperately trying not to lose control of her magic and fear for her Nonna, can only shake her head in admiration as she watches her friends - who don't have Miraculous' and have no experience fighting Akumas - do their best to help when Dragon Fyre's down, Cat Noir's busy fighting off another minion, and Ladybug's nowhere in sight.
And then, Befana shoots Dragon Fyre a second time after a butterfly mask appears over her face, and whatever control the red-head had is suddenly not enough.
As she.
Simply.
Explodes.
A wave of heat, fire, and energy bursts out of Dragon Fyre's body, knocking everyone down and Marinette off the stage. When the dark-haired girl blinks the spots out of her eyes, with Tikki worriedly asking if she's alright, she hears Rose's voice ask "Guys? Why are you on top of me?"
And then Sabine asks "Ivan? Kim? What are you two doing?"
When Marinette peeks out from behind the stage she was on, having gotten knocked off by the minor shockwave caused by the explosion, she sees what's easily the strangest thing that's happened all week…if not her entire life, and that includes meeting Tikki and learning she'd been chosen to be a Miraculous Holder.
Because she's looking at wings, reminiscent of an insect or butterfly's wings, sprouting from Dragon Fyre's back and flick and twitch at the slightest breeze. That's the biggest shock factor, but the outfit change is a pretty close second - haler top and miniskirt that show off her arms, legs, and flat stomach, her hair still in a ponytail but with a golden tiara resting in it, and ankle boots that look way too cute to be any good for running, all still in the same material and design as the super-suit she was in not a minute before.
Cat Noir lands next to the two girls, asking "Sis?! What happened?!" Plagg's currently no help, having said 'uh-oh...' and then trailed off.
Dragon Fyre groans, putting a hand over her heart and muttering "Ow…" She's never ever going to wonder why people complain about burns - she knew, in an abstract concept, that they hurt…but she's never been burned before. Now she has first-hand experience…well, the Miraculous Cure will repair any damage to the surrounding area, and she can heal people after the fight is over if they get missed.
Looking around, though, it doesn't look like much needs to be healed - the grass has grown three feet in an instant, there's flowers and weeds everywhere, and nobody looks particularly hurt.
Point of fact, Befana's staring at her with a flabbergasted expression on her face - though, she is a few feet away from where she was last time she saw the Akumatized woman.
Hawk Moth, meanwhile, can only stare through Befana's eyes and think What the actual fuck?! He distantly hears Befana say something about his language, but that's the least of his concerns right now - Dragon Fyre just sprouted wings and has an outfit change.
And then he sees her hit Befana with a fireball, and the woman goes flying backwards - he could feel that all the way down the magical connection, dammit! How hard was that?!
Dragon Fyre, Cat Noir, Marinette, and everyone else look in various stages of shock - and guilt, in Dragon Fyre's case - as Befana goes flying backwards out of sight after the fireball to the chest she took. After a moment of stunned silence, Dragon Fyre says "Well, that happened. I was just trying to knock her down, not hit a home run with her body." She moves to stand up, only to freeze when her new wings make their presence known by twitching.
Therein ensues a freak-out of epic proportions, all the balloons spontaneously popping and the tables of food exploding with the food burning as she shrieks "WHAT THE HELL DID THAT GUN DO TO ME?!"
To be fair…suddenly sprouting wings and getting an outfit change and power boost…not exactly something that happens every single day. And she hasn't even noticed the outfit change.
Dragon Fyre smashes Befana's Object, snatches up the Akuma, and takes off to 'go find Ladybug' before Cat Noir can even think about what to do.