Tikki sighed as her chosen wielder removed and then recolored the same spot on her face for what had to be the seventh time. Not that she was keeping track… except she totally was, because this particular piece of human culture still confused her after so many centuries of watching it.

"I'm not sure I will ever understand why girls are willing to spend as much if not more time preparing for their dates as they are actually on them," she commented, resting herself on Marinette's hair, which was still up in curlers from several hours beforehand when the girl woke up to start getting ready. "And it's not really helping in the 'reducing your stress and pressure' department. You know that Luka couldn't care less if you wear makeup or not. La Coccinelle wasn't so lucky."

Marinette frowned at her kwami through the mirror on her vanity. "Well, another convenience of modern feminism is that a girl is just fine getting all dolled up because she wants to... and so can guys. I'm no makeup artist, but I can say with certainty that having a properly made face is an important part of completing a look from an outfit. If your clothes are fab, but your face is drab, it's like making a fruit tart and then not glazing it! You can bet that Adrien wears makeup a lot of the time."

"I'm sure you don't only know that from staring at pictures of him long enough that you can tell the difference."

"That's not important!" she squeaked, the makeup not concealing a blush rushing to her face. "My point is, I want to give my Marinette Best for this date. Even if Luka doesn't care what I look like, he'll still appreciate that I put in the effort, because it shows that I'm taking this relationship seriously. Which I am."

"Oh, I see what you mean by doing this for yourself now..."

"I thought you were supportive of this idea!"

Tikki hugged the top of Marinette's head. "You know I'm always on your side. But that doesn't mean I can't have some fun too!"

"No wonder you and Plagg are always paired up," Marinette said dryly. "You two are more alike than you think."

Now the kwami was the one looking flustered. "Nuh-uh! We'd be doomed if I pulled anything close to what he does!"

"Whatever you say, Tikki."

At the Place de Vosges, a boy picked at his guitar with a concentrated look on his face. It was rare that he wasn't able to find the right concord of notes to describe how someone was feeling. Marinette had been a hard one, and he knew her song still wasn't complete; how could it be, when she was withholding a lot of her story from him?

The day she had broken down in his arms was one he remembered very clearly. Yet, despite opening up to him emotionally, she had remained very generic about the actual events that caused her overwhelming stress. It was understandable, given that they had only known each other for six months and spent a lot of their time together with the other members of Kitty Section, focusing on their music. He had no problem waiting as long as Marinette needed to become comfortable enough around him to trust him with the whole truth.

Today, the real emotion that he was unable to pinpoint with his melodies was his own. This was to be their first official date, and really one of the first solid pieces of evidence that they were even in a romantic relationship with each other, given Marinette's hesitancy. Her feelings towards Adrien didn't discomfort him one bit: the heart wants what the heart wants, after all, and it doesn't always listen to reason when those desires are in conflict.

The problem was that he was part of that conflict. What his heart wanted, above all else, was to help Marinette be happy, because he could see what stellar achievements she was capable of when she had the motivation she needed. But he believed what Marinette's heart wanted was to control her own happiness. She didn't like feeling dependent on others, and that meant if she wanted fully to realize her heart's vision, she would have to grow not to need him, and their relationship… which denied his own heart.

Was this a good idea for both of their first relationships? How invested should they get into it? Was it possible for Marinette to change her heart's desire? Luka hadn't expected to become so nervous about this… nothing usually fazed him. But now, everything felt like a paradox, a conundrum born of uncertainty.

Uncertainty. Maybe that was the key. He had been uncertain between several possibilities for her song, but maybe the uncertainty was the song. A seemingly discordant set of ideas that miraculously merge together into a beautiful sound…

His fingers began moving again almost without his input, and he became so fixated on crafting this tune that he failed to notice the muse herself until she sat next to him on the bench.

"That's… quite the melody you've got there," Marinette commented, looking a bit confused at the chaotic notes his instrument had been producing.

"Oh, Marinette. Sorry, I just got an idea for your song, and…" he took a moment to look her over fully, "… you look amazing."

She had chosen an azure sundress that matched her bluebell eyes, ending just above her knees. Over it, she wore a cardigan that was mostly purple but had just enough red blended into the hue to make it pop, plus matching walking shoes. Her hair had been curled and most of it hung loose rather than being tied into her usual pigtails. What had been separated wasn't folded back, instead forming two much larger curls that joined their brethren dangling just below the shoulders.

"Hee hee, thanks…" Marinette accepted bashfully. "You look nice too. You don't think this is a bit much for a simple lunch date, do you?"

Luka's version of dressing up was a pair of gray slacks, albeit not form-fitting ones, with a steel-blue overshirt worn open over a plain white shirt. Compared to her, he might as well have been wearing his same old jacket and torn jeans.

"You can be as much or as little as you want, Marinette. What inspired you to wear your hair down?"

"Oh, just…" Adrien said that I look beautiful with it down. Well, he didn't say those words, he just agreed with them, but close enough. Wait, I can't tell Luka that! She reddened a little bit as she realized she had started daydreaming, and suddenly words started pouring out of her mouth. "Uh, Kagami, would you believe it? You've met her once before, right? Japanese, just a smidge shorter than me, hair that looks incredibly similar to mine, which is weird because who else naturally has blue in their hair?"

She finally took in air and put her brain out of panic mode. "Uh, anyway, what I was trying to get at was, my hair ties fell out during… well, Chloé's parents' anniversary. It's a long story. But Kagami really liked it, so I figured, well, maybe I should experiment a little bit. I'm not the same Marinette that decided to put it up in… gosh, I don't even remember how long ago. CE, I think."

"That's a big step out of your comfort zone. I agree that it looks wonderful on you. It almost reminds me of… guitar strings. It makes me want to play with it."

Marinette blushed as the visual formed in her head. "I think I would like that. But how about we start with our date? It's a wonderful day out for a walk."

"Sure thing. Whatever makes you happy." Luka packed his guitar back into its carrying case and slung it over his shoulder to carry on his back.

There wasn't anywhere in particular they wanted to go, other than vague plans for lunch later. For now, they were content to walk the streets of Paris and talk about whatever subjects came to mind.

Almost an hour later, the couple gazed up at the magnificent Palais Garnier where Paris' national Opera was usually held. A row of Greek columns stood out on top of the ground floor arches, and the structure held up a roof of three tiers, ascending from gold to silver to a pale green color close to the one famously associated with America's Statue of Liberty. Each tier had matching statues of figures from Greek mythology – she didn't know which ones, since that wasn't a particular of interest of hers – with a golden instrument standing out at the pinnacle in the center. Alya probably knew what it all meant.

"Have you ever been to the opera?" Marinette asked, turning her attention to the boy currently holding her hand. His teal bangs at the front of his black hair reminded her a bit of the building's façade.

Luka looked back at her, a soft chuckle appearing from his mouth. "My mom won't even get near the theater; she thinks it's too pretentious to be considered real music. But I'd like to go one day, so I can make my own decision about that. It might just be a different form of expression than I know, you know? We Couffaines are well-acquainted with being different."

"Yeah, I imagine a lot of people don't know how to react when you tell them you live on a boat in the Seine."

"They probably think it's pretentious, too, especially after it became a pirate ship. It's never really bothered me, but Jules worries about it a fair bit."

"Hmm. I hadn't thought about– WAH!"

Her Ladybug instincts kicked in as she deftly avoided something falling from the sky. It splatted on the ground, and she shivered upon realizing it was bird poop. A pigeon roosted on the lamppost above them, and it seemed to be watching her with bugged-out eyes.

Then more pigeons flew in, a few more bombarding her with near-hits. She snatched Luka's hand again and ran for the nearest door as even more pigeons flocked around where they just were.

They burst through the entrance to a boutique, Marinette's mind traveling a mile a minute. "Mr. Pigeon must be back! I don't know what the birds want with me, but I'm gonna go hide in the back so they can't see me!"

"Marinette, please calm down!" Luka said, tightening his grip and leaning back to prevent her from pulling him along any further. "I don't think it's an akuma. No one else is panicking, and there hasn't been an alert."

His words successfully stopped her hustle, but she clearly wasn't settled down. He brought his arm around her in a comforting motion and led her to the window. "Look. I think they were just attracted to something on the ground."

He pointed to the flock, which continued to huddle around the spot where they had been standing in front of the Palais. A few moments later, they all flew up and away.

The musician could feel his girlfriend deflate within his embrace. "I'm– I'm sorry. I guess I'm just a little wound up. It's related to… the thing from before. All I can say is that the frequency of akumas around me is stressful."

"That's completely reasonable. It's really uncanny how many of them happen in the same place and time that you are." He rubbed her shoulder a little. "Let's not dwell on those negative thoughts, though. We're here to have a good time. Perhaps we could get André's ice cream?"

"That sounds nice. I don't think I'm in the mood for our stroll anymore."

Adrien was hiding something. That much Kagami could tell. He had a pretty good poker face about it, but it was clear that he wasn't enjoying their 'Japanese lesson' the way she had expected him to. Instead of her teaching him Japanese (which was, by design, a convenient way of being able to pack light and go anywhere of their choosing without supervision), they had chosen to relax in the sun at a café by the Seine and people-watch. Sometimes, it was nice to slow down and enjoy the little things.

And Kagami's understanding was that these moments of freedom from his dad's eye were times Adrien longed for greatly, much as she was opening her eyes to the great world beyond endless study and competition. Together, they were set to create a better path for themselves. One where they could not only succeed, but enjoy the success, rather than check it off of some parental checklist for them. She couldn't understand why Adrien was shuffling along instead of charging forward to seize this destiny as she was. And so she asked:

"Why?"

The blond model was startled from his seat across from her at the café, almost spilling his cup of coffee. "Why… what?" he responded, looking very perplexed.

"Your façade doesn't fool me any more here than in fencing, Adrien. You aren't fully present for our date today. Why?"

He set his drink down in turn. "Oh, um… I'm just thinking about… things."

"Still her?"

He blushed a little. "N-not entirely…" It was true that what Ladybug told him was still on his mind. Despite the cut-and-dried statement that they were not going to date, his heart hadn't been dismayed; instead, he found it was drawn even stronger to her than before. He used to worry that the reason she liked another boy was because he wasn't good enough for her, or that they were otherwise incompatible in some way he couldn't understand. Those doubts were vanquished when Ladybug had confided in him last week, proving the real source to blame for their separation to be Hawk Moth.

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. If you keep seeking other prizes while you already have someone firmly in your grasp, you might slip and end up without anyone at all."

"I know," he said, though it came out as more of an admission of defeat. He really was trying to focus on his relationship with Kagami; he had agreed to be her boyfriend, after all, and it was very important that he honor his agreements. But that possibility of a future with Ladybug simply refused to be left alone.

"Something happened the other day," he started, deflecting the conversation. "With Lila."

Kagami scowled, glad that she wasn't holding her teacup, as she might've broken it.

"She basically trapped me into staying near her by using her lies on the adults around me. The more I think about it, the more grossed out I feel. I mean, why does she think controlling me will get me to like her? Is my father aware of this, and would he do anything if he was? Is there anything I can do?"

"Unlikely. Lila modeling for Gabriel's brand was her idea, was it not? I doubt he cares about what she does."

Adrien frowned. That's not really what I wanted to hear… "But he cares about me, right? I know his business is important, but wouldn't he want to protect my happiness, too? There are plenty of other models in the world than Lila."

His date looked away. For five long seconds, she produced no sound.

"Doe–"

"I don't know."

Whatever words he had jammed in his throat. Kagami, admitting defeat? Not that she was a sore loser, but she never took it lightly and never surrendered unless it was clear that the outcome was set in stone.

The fencer swiftly withdrew a pen and a blank sheet of paper and set them on the table between them. With two deft motions, she drew a set of perpendicular lines, meeting in the corner to form a graph with two axes. She marked the vertical axis with a C and the horizontal one with a T. Then, she drew a straight line diagonally out, followed by a curve one that started below the line but quickly shot up past it until the distance between them was great.

"Early on in my training with the sword, my mother showed me this diagram. She told me it represents my knowledge over time."

"Your knowledge? How does that fit on two lines?"

"Simple. This line," she explained, pointing the pen at the straight one, "is the knowledge I possess. And the other…" she shifted the pen to the curved one, "is the knowledge I know I do not possess."

Adrien studied the graph intensely, a crease forming on his forehead as he processed the information.

"I apologize, but… I don't know what this has to do with Lila."

"It has to do with our path forward."

His quizzical look turned up to her.

"We are both learning what it means to be our own persons." With another flick, the pen returned to the straight line. "The knowledge we possess is that we are subject to the direction of our parents in ways that others our age have not been, and that the freedom to choose our own path is something we yearn for."

The pen moved back. "The knowledge we do not possess is what means will obtain such freedom, what measures we must be able to take, and what they will cost. Ergo, I do not know what your father thinks. I do not know why Lila is a lying demon. But what I do know is that we cannot turn back in the middle of this process, so we must stick together until the very end."

Silence hung for several seconds has he considered her logic. It was true that he would never, ever return to the life he had before wielding the Cat Miraculous. Chat Noir pushed his boundaries farther and farther than he could have ever dreamed of them going; Kagami probably felt the same way after becoming Ryuko in order to defy her mother.

And she was a good partner. Like Ladybug, she was decisive, determined, and never gave anything but her best. Unlike Ladybug, she had dedicated herself to him; for the first time in his life, someone had put Adrien as their #1 priority, and that was a feeling that was simply indescribable. So why was he so anxious about it?

"But… we aren't completely on our own," he said, voicing a different thought instead. "Marinette is there, and others at Françoise Dupont…"

"They are not in the arena with us. They can watch and support, but they are not experiencing our struggle. Only you and I are fighting the beast, Adrien." She took his hand into hers and repeated, "Only you and I."

"Right," he replied, unsure of what to think of that.

"Ohhh, it pains my heart to have to say, but André is all out of ice cream today!"

"What?" Marinette murmured, Luka frowning behind her. She didn't even know that was possible. She hadn't expected that the line would stretch around the block in early fall, but either way, André picked secret locations for a reason. He knew how to manage his supply with the demand.

André shuffled his large body around the cart and put his hand on the girl's shoulder. "Twice now the magic of Sweetheart's Ice Cream has failed Marinette. To run out of ice cream! In fifteen years it has never been so. For this, I express my strongest regret."

Marinette forced a smile for the ice-cream man. "It's okay. It's not a big deal if your magic is 99% effective instead of 100%," she said, proceeding to look back at her boyfriend. "Besides, I found love in the end, right?"

"Mmm, this I suppose is true. Though I can practically taste the blackberry and blue raspberry for you."

"It's fine, we can come back another time for those flavors," Luka assured, though Marinette could feel some tension in his chest. "How about some lunch."

The woman at the café's register frowned. "I'm sorry, but we had a huge surprise booking just five minutes ago. There are no tables for the next two hours."

Behind her, Marinette could see the wait staff frantically arranging half of the entire dining area, and all she could do was sigh.

The man at the café's register frowned. "I'm sorry, but there was a sudden kitchen fire just five minutes ago. We have to close for the next two hours to clean it up."

Behind him, Marinette could see a chef arguing with the fire department, and all she could do was sigh.

The server at their table frowned. "I'm sorry, mademoiselle, but ze last of our beef bourguignon was used just five minutes ago. It will be anozher two 'ours before we can have more," he informed, speaking in a non-Parisian tone that was hard to place… and understand.

Behind him, Marinette could see the very dish she wanted being served to another customer, and all she could do was sigh.

"However, I can compensate you ze daube, which is a very similar dish."

"Alright…"

She realized there had been a mistake before the food even hit the table. The smell alone made her nose scrunch up, and she could see Luka attempting to hide a similar face, even as his delicious-looking coq au vin was placed in front of him.

The bowl presented to her looked like it had been scooped out of a mud pit and boiled for far too long. Chunks of brown and orange mush that she presumed were supposed to be beef and carrots floated in a thick base that looked more like it was supposed to come out of you rather than go in.

"What… is this?"

"Ze daube, mademoi'. It is a hearty Provençal stew; zhis recipe has been passed down in ze chef's family for generations!"

Her stomach rumbled in protest, but she didn't have the heart to voice it against the server's comments. Instead, she presented another fake smile.

"Is that so? It must be quite an honor to try it. Thank you."

"You're very welcome, mademoiselle." Someone at another table flagged the server, and he left before Marinette could think of changing her mind.

The teen sat there for a moment, stirring in uncertainty, before Luka tapped the table to get her attention.

"If you want, we can switch meals. I hate seeing you so in the dumps."

"No… I wouldn't want to take away your enjoyment of our lunch because of my own bad luck. Then we'd both be unhappy."

"I'm unhappy that you're unhappy anyway. Please…" he implored, pushing his bowl towards her, "take it."

She slowly reached for the bowl, but before she could grab it, she was interrupted by cheering. Many of the other customers had turned their attention outside, and when she looked too, she saw a scene unfolding that got stranger with each passing moment.

A crowd of people was rejoicing in the street, running around while holding various objects like flowers, jewelry, and food. As they progressed down the boulevard, more of those items were flying through the air at people, who caught them in confusion. After only a moment, they threw their reservations aside and joined in the festivities.

"What on earth is happening?" she exclaimed.

Light began pooling into a dark observatory as a lens opened its cover blocking a large window. It was a display that always pleased the primary inhabitant of the room, as it heralded the time to reap what misery the chaotic elements of life had thrown in some poor fool's path.

Today, the room had two inhabitants.

Hawk Moth turned to the woman next to him, holding with his free hand a silver piece of jewelry shaped like a fan with seven large, round slats: The Peacock Miraculous.

"Nathalie… are you certain you're up for this?"

"100%, sir. As we have discussed already, I am the best one for the job, therefore I shall do it."

The masked man frowned. She didn't really expect him to believe that, when he could still see the paleness in her face and the limited capacity to which she could perform her regular duties as his personal secretary, did she?

"This is not a game, Nathalie. As we have discussed already," he stated, emphasizing his repetition of her words, "we do not know what will happen. That it may be easier for you because you are experienced with it is purely conjecture, as is the notion that your attunement to the miraculous will heal you in the same way that it has harmed you."

He sighed wearily. If only the spellbook had any information beyond the ludicrously expensive reparation instructions. "As hopeful as I am that you are right, I need you at your strongest. For your sake, and for Emilie's."

Thinking about Emilie reminded him of his other reservation with this plan. The damage to the Peacock was the genesis of this whole game of superheroes and supervillains. The Miraculous had drained the very soul of his wife, and now that it was repaired… it felt wrong to allow another to use it. To allow another to take the place of the woman who should be the one by his side wearing the functioning brooch on her chest. He cared deeply for Nathalie, and he was concerned at how easy it might be to become comfortable with her in that position and forget about just whom it was that he was waging this war for.

The suited woman placed a hand on his shoulder. "Gabriel… do not worry about me. If it is to help you and Emilie, I will become my strongest. I will become Mayura and help you win against Ladybug, Chat Noir, and all of their allies. They potentially outnumber us nine-to-one now that the girl is the Guardian, so my assistance is critical."

Although Hawk Moth did not look content, he acquiesced. After another look of hesitancy at the Miraculous, he presented it to her, and she quickly pinned it to her blazer. Her indigo kwami emerged from within, but he wasn't given a chance to speak.

"Duusu, spread my feathers!" Nathalie exclaimed, the enthusiasm unusual in her monotonic voice. She tossed her glasses aside as Duusu was sucked right back in, powering the Peacock Miraculous with the same coloring. Her stunning dress formed in place of her regular clothing, followed by her one-eyed veil over her now blue face and hair as she formed and unfolded her signature fan. Mayura was here, and she felt better than ever.

"Hmm…" she chuckled. "I sense a very strong emotion, but also a very unusual one. Do you feel it too, Hawk Moth?"

"I do," he nodded. "The desire for an eternal bond and everlasting happiness. Not an appropriate target for an akuma…"

"… but it ought to be quite the show for an amok," she agreed, plucking a feather from her fan. She grasped it in her hand as dark power infused into it, blackening the feather to a deep indigo. She blew it forth through the gap in the center on the window, where it fluttered over the streets of Paris as if it knew what its task was.

As Adrien and Kagami stood to leave, they heard a round of applause erupt from a restaurant not too far away. They had a clear view of the event that was the source of the excitement: a man down on one knee, holding what could only be a ring box out to a woman who was crying. The applause faded so that his next words carried out across the street.

"Fleur Deliss, will you marry me?"

"Chou– you– y-yes!"

The happy couple embraced tightly, and Adrien felt Kagami grab his hand into hers, causing a rush of emotions to surge through him. He turned to examine the look on her face, which was one captured dearly in the romantic occasion. He wondered… was that the future she saw with him?

It was a question that would go unanswered, as in that moment, everything went terribly wrong. The cheers cut out suddenly as a large, wispy form emerged from the woman's hand. Its shape looked vaguely human, though that was a generous description given that it was white and thus hard to discern against the cobbles and general brightness of the daytime. The couple looked at it in awe, and it formed its mist into an assortment of expensive-looking items that fell into the hands of the fear-stricken onlookers. Their attitudes flipped like a switch and they all began rejoicing once more.

The blonde model moved with practiced urgency, pulling Kagami along through their interlocked appendages. They ran inside the café, even as other patrons were evacuating the scene or foolishly getting a closer look, and he pulled her over the counter.

Instead of going with her, he released her hand and turned back to the storefront. "Stay here. I don't think it can get you if it can't see you."

Kagami was stunned for a moment before she realized what he was doing. "Wait, Adrien! What happened to 'we must… stick together…'?"

But he was already gone.

The first thing Ladybug noticed when she transformed was that her hair was back in pigtails. She had brushed off the curiosity that one time when her hair was in a bun, but her styling today was much more detailed and deliberate, so she had to wonder why the Miraculous insisted on this specific design for Ladybug. And why it keeps putting me in a bodysuit instead of something more fashionable… or modest.

The spotted heroine emerged on a rooftop above the restaurant her date was at. She felt bad about ditching Luka by disappearing into the crowd; he was probably worried that she had gotten caught up in the reverie. That was the best word there was to describe the utter madness that had taken the streets of Paris. Hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians were cheering and dancing, creating a party worse than any sports victory celebration she had ever seen.

A single glance above the roof level was all she needed to identify the source. The presents she had seen were being conjured by a floating white mass at the center of the clustered people. The color also made it easy to spot the black form trailing the crowd, which filled the heroine with real joy of her own.

Remaining out of focus from the bizarre shape and its orchestrations, she caught up to her partner in short order. "Chat! Thank goodness you're here."

Chat's face lacked its usual dashing-rogue look. "Ladybug! I'm so, so sorry I wasn't at the last akuma, I just–"

"We can talk later. Right now, we need to figure out how to stop this akuma."

"It's an amok, and the feather is housed inside of an engagement ring that this white cloud emerged from. I saw it all happen."

"An engagement ring? Does that mean this amok is feeding off of happiness?"

"It must be. No wonder it's causing everyone to go wild – that gives it more fuel. Talk about too much of a good thing."

"That, and it will be very hard to single out the person wearing the ring. This is a crowd of civilians we're talking about."

Chat growled quietly. "I bet the tabloids will have a field day reporting that Paris' heroes policed everyone's fun," he grunted.

Wow, he's really not his usual self if that's what his mind is on. Does he think his absence has ruined his reputation or something?

"Regardless, I think it's time we received a present of our own, wouldn't you say?" she remarked with a smile.

"Lucky Charm!" she shouted, throwing her yo-yo into the air to exude a multitude of hearts. The hearts formed together into a block of something that had been wrapped with red paper with black spots, which then fell into Ladybug's hands.

She immediately made a tear in the wrapping to peek inside. "A ream of paper?" she wondered. "What am I supposed– oh, hold on…" She took out the top sheet of paper and handed it to Chat.

"A wedding? Are you an officiator in your civilian identity?" And just like that, Chat's back to normal, or at least acting that way.

Her blue eyes looked around for something to use the flyers with. In the distance, one building caught her eye. Aha! The Palais Garnier… she couldn't see the other items she'd need, but she knew where to find them.

"If it's a wedding they're excited about, it's a wedding they're going to get. I need to gather some supplies first, though. Can you shepherd everyone over to the Palais Garnier?"

"Just call me Chat-perone, Milady."

Now she rolled those eyes. "Save the comedy act for the guests in case I'm running late." She looked at him in his own green pair. "Whatever you do, keep them in the opera hall. Once I'm there, you'll need to be ready to Cataclysm the ring."

He nodded silently, and she jumped off the roof to prepare.

Not wishing to waste any time, he ripped off the outer packaging and stuffed it in his pocket as he emerged from their scouting position and approached the mass of celebrators.

"Hear ye, hear ye!" he yelled, as loudly as he could. He threw a handful of papers down into the alleyway and then jumped to the next building. "Listen up, party people! It's time for the biggest wedding of the century!" Swish, more papers, new location. The sentimonster took notice of him, and it didn't seem pleased.

"Come this way to the Palais Garnier!" -swish- "Our beloved guests, if you'll pardon the pun," -swish- "Chou and Fleur shall be- hey!"

Chat dodged out of the way of a white table that had been hurled his way by his foe. "If you want to set up the decorations, you'll have to come with me, cloud monster."

He continued his rooftop hopscotch, tossing more and more flyers into the crowd, throwing his pitches, and dodging the return shots. He couldn't tell if the sentimonster had full control over the actions of the people it had placed into their stupor, but that wasn't a chance he felt necessary to take. Also, he rarely had the chance to unleash his pun arsenal like this, and he was going to make the most of it.

"Make your merry way to marry the happy couple!"

"Come one, come all, to the most joyful operatunity you'll ever experience!"

"This party's not over until the fat lady sings! Palai-se yourself over at Palais Garnier!"

Whether they were listening or not, it seemed to be working, as the crowd and the angry sentimonster were both following his lead towards the opera building. It was all going smoothly until he noticed Ladybug carrying a large makeshift net, woven from her yo-yo string, holding such a mass of items that she looked like Santa Claus. He could see a slight shift in the form of the sentimonster, and a much larger shift followed from the crowd… in Ladybug's direction.

"HEY!" he yelled, scattering the rest of the flyers into a cloud to get their attention. "The fun's over HERE!"

When nothing happened, he began running as fast as he could over the roofs towards his partner. His shout seemed to have gotten her attention, at least, but she was still in no position to defend herself.

"C'mon, Ladybug's too serious! You don't want to party with her!" he continued to taunt, making a display of himself with his staff extended. The sentimonster ignored him and began forming ribbons and assorted large objects to send towards the heroine. There's no way the Deliss couple knows that Ladybug is their primary enemy in this state… can Mayura influence the sentimonster behind the scenes?

"Hey, you made that joke last week! Ah!" Ladybug shouted, struggling to lift her sack to jump out of the way of a chandelier, which shattered on impact behind her.

"You said to save the good stuff for the theater!" he quipped. While his partner was evasive, their enemy's projectiles were still narrowing their berth with each attempt. Fearing the worst, Chat dropped his charade entirely and simply blitzed over to her.

He wasn't a moment too soon, as he saw a terrifying seven-tier wedding cake get lobbed towards her at a shocking speed for its size. "LADYBUG!" he warned, while performing a perfect swimmer's dive over the edge of the last rooftop to her exposed location in the street in front of the Palais.

"CHAT!" she cried as he intercepted the confectionary bombshell and was buried under a delicious mound of mind-control frosting that Ladybug again jumped to avoid. A silent, tense moment passed before he rose from the splattered dessert, literally caked in the white goodness, and turned towards his partner.

"Mmm… vanilla."

"Hu-what?! I thought you were–!"

He shrugged. "I'm just not the type of person who can be bought with material goods, I guess. Now, go. We have a job to do."

"R-right."

With his staff, he intercepted another chair sent Ladybug's way, and he opened the front door of the Palais to usher her in, as well as the manic crowd that had quickly caught up to them

"Right this way to the marriage of the century!" he called again as everyone began pouring into the opera building. "One at a time, no pushing or stampeding, mind the step, children," talk about no limits, he added mentally, "stay with your parents, and remember, stay quiet during the ceremony!"

As the crowd thinned, two particular humans stood before him. Their eyes were as misty white as the stories-tall genie that had rooted itself in the ring resting on their intertwined fingers. It remained as inscrutable as ever, though its lack of hostility at the moment meant it was either choosing to play along or smart enough to recognize that it couldn't hurt him.

"Ah, the lovely couple! Congratulations on your special day." He gestured them inside, and the mist downsized itself so it could fit through the doorway. Alright, that's a good start.

"Now, I know your families couldn't be contacted on such short notice, so we've arranged for yours truly to walk Miss Fleur down the aisle," he explained, raising his eyebrows emphatically. The hero extended his staff to touch a door to a hallway to his right. "Mr. Deliss, if you would head around that way to the altar–"

Chat stopped as a shudder forced its way across his body. The mist had shifted, and he guessed it wasn't too pleased given the way Chou was now scowling at him. He raised his hands in surrender.

"You know what, that's fine, you can both walk down the aisle! I'm all for non-traditional marriages. Let me just get in touch with the wedding planner so she knows." He retracted the staff and popped off the end to call His Lady, who answered quickly.

"Chat, is everything alright?"

"As smooth as my flirtatious pick-up lines, Bugaboo!"

She made a noise that sounded like a combination of groan and laugh on the other end. "Anyway, I was just calling to tell you that our happy couple wishes to walk down the aisle together. Can you work with that?"

There was a moment of silence, and then she replied in a sly tone, "Yes, that will be just fine."

Three humans and a sentimonster walked into the grand hall of the Paris Opera. Ladybug couldn't help but think that the situation was the start of a bad joke you'd tell your friends. It wasn't every day that they peacefully escorted their enemies into a national landmark, after all. She was forcing herself not to admire the beautiful three-story interior as Chat approached with the amokized couple – it helped to remind herself that she didn't want to spoil it in case she went with Luka.

All of the people under the sentimonster's control had calmed down, at least enough to claim seats in the orchestra section. They were all acting antsy, fidgeting and shifting about, and it perplexed her. If this was a sentimonster built on joy, how was it able to keep this level of influence without everyone being totally consumed by their merriment? Was it some sort of addiction that kept them wanting more?

It doesn't matter at this point, she reminded herself. Let's just finish this.

The trio reached the stage, where she had just finished arranging the makeshift altar from the supplies she had collected. Chat Noir climbed onto the stage and helped Fleur and Chou up, being careful not to get too close to the ring connected to the amorphous being above them. Ladybug approached and ushered them to their place center-stage, underneath an arch that had been constructed from wood planks, tied together with a long strip of fabric, and adorned with a hodgepodge of flowers.

She then directed Chat to a lectern behind the arch that was really a music stand from the orchestra, before taking her place in the audience in the front row. Chat cleared his throat and his face grew neutral, which Ladybug admitted he pulled off better than she had thought.

"We are gathered here today to join the hands – figuratively speaking, since they're already holding hands – of Fleur Deliss and Chou… hey, do you have a last name? And is Chou really your name?"

Chou remained still, giving no response at all.

"Well, okay then, let's continue. It's always a joy to see people joined in eternal love, and I know the proposal was only twenty minutes ago, and, um… you know what? Ever heard of a shotgun wedding? Let's just get this over with and get back to the fun, yeah?"

Again, no response, from neither the bride nor groom, or anyone in the audience. Chat placed his right hand on the two already-conjoined ones with the proposal ring, and the sentimonster bristled.

"I now pronounce you… Cataclysmed!"

Before their foe could initiate any sort of aggression, black power sparked out from Chat's hand, and the trail of mist connecting it to the ring was severed. Even as it reached down for Chat, the white form became hazy and dissipated into the air.

All at once, everyone else in the theater collapsed, which Ladybug presumed was from exhaustion. She leapt to the stage to catch Fleur as she fell, while Chat wrapped his left arm around Chou and gently set him to the ground. He then reached into his pocket and withdrew the wrapper for the ream of papers, presenting it to his partner along with the dark feather he had grasped in his Cataclysm hand.

"I brought wedding gifts, Milady."

"No more evildoing for you, little amok," Ladybug said, opening her yo-yo like a ladybug opens its wings to the glowing white compartment within and swinging it to charge up.

"Time to de-evilize!"

The yo-yo caught the amok in one swoop, closing up to perform its magic purification.

"Gotcha!"

She opened the compartment again, and a regular white feather floated up and away. "Bye-bye, little feather!"

Next, she grabbed the wrapper and threw it in the air as well.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

It burst into a swarm of ladybugs, which spread out in groups to restore all the damage. They all flew over the people in the audience, minus one that washed over the materials Ladybug had brought with her. Everything was whisked outside to be replaced where it had been before getting caught up in the amok. The ladybugs also cleaned up the streets that had been trashed in the festivities.

One last group covered Fleur and Chou, restoring the engagement ring and causing them to begin to awaken from the trance the amok had placed them under.

"Pound it!" both miraculous holders cheered as they bumped fists.

Within seconds, Ladybug's earrings beeped loudly, indicating that she was on her last spot.

"Chat, I'm sorry, but I can't stay," she said, already backing away to the front of the stage and swinging up her yo-yo.

"I- I'm not mad," she added, before pulling herself away towards the foyer of the building.

"Ladybug…" the black-clad hero replied, taking a futile step forward. It was good to know that she wasn't holding his absence against him, but for some reason, it didn't feel good.

"Impressive…" Mayura mused. "Jubilenie created a feedback loop of the emotion fueling it, increasing its own power and allowing it to grow beyond the control of the couple that possessed the amok. Even the grimoire did not possess this knowledge."

Hawk Moth's expression was not as pleased. "Obviously, it still needs work, since it was forced to comply to the couple's wishes for their wedding, leading to its downfall," he critiqued, before turning away from the window and looking at his sidekick directly. "The possibilities are certainly promising, but what I really need to know right now is, how are you?"

The blue-skinned woman laughed her sadistic laugh and fanned herself menacingly. "Simply marvelous," she replied, as the light shrank away from the window as its lens closed back in.

"Everything is marvelous," she repeated, the room quickly fading into complete darkness.

The appearance of the amok was the final nail in the coffin of an enjoyable date, so Marinette and Luka had agreed to meet for something lighter the following day. They found themselves sitting at an outdoor café by the Seine, holding mugs of coffee and tea, respectively.

"I'm glad you were feeling okay to come today," Luka began. "I was really worried about you… I realized it was an attack right after you walked out the door, but when I got out there… it was too late, I couldn't find you anywhere."

"I'm sorry I made you worry. I wish I could tell you what happened, but I don't remember any of it. It's just part of how Ladybug's power heals everyone from brainwashing."

"But that's not everything, is it?"

Her eyes widened. "What makes you think there's something wrong?"

"I can hear the turbulence in your heart as clear as the blue sky. It's a nocturne on a sunny day."

"It sounds so depressing when you describe it like that… but I suppose it is. It's not every day that you question the very concept of happiness."

"I can imagine that runs deep. Even witnessing the chaos from that amok…" he shuddered. "I've seen, played, and been to the sorts of rock concerts where everyone gets hyped like that and loses themselves. But even the pit comes with its rules that people follow. This was just pure mayhem."

"That's a good description. Like I said, I don't remember it, but the fact that it happened… the fact that happiness could be so consuming that Mayura was capable of making an amok of it, really makes we wonder…" she trailed, turning away to hide a faint blush.

"Wonder what?" he inquired, though she was pretty sure he knew where she was going with this.

"Well, you know how I feel about Adrien, and how strong it was for the longest time." Pretty much everyone who's not Adrien himself does, she added mentally. "So I wonder, if in some parallel universe where my dreams came true and he fell for me as strongly as I did for him… would that have been us getting amokized?

"Is there such a thing as loving too much, and is that what I was doing this whole time?" she asked, her voice breaking a little.

Luka grabbed her hand and squeezed it comfortingly, but he didn't say anything for several moments.

"I think there might be such a thing," he finally responded. "There are a lot of things that can go wrong with love: It can be misplaced, or someone might not be ready for it, or… well, I'm not exactly an expert on relationships. But I know that, when I'm in the store looking for a good guitar, and I find the one that plays the notes juuuust the way I like, it's a keeper for life. I never get tired of hearing it sing, and it never complains or holds back, no matter how I shred it, until the day it breaks apart in my hands. I don't think people are all that different, really."

"So what you're saying is… a good relationship shouldn't feel like it's consuming a lot of love?"

"Basically. Tuning and maintenance is always a part of the process, of course, but a good rock performance doesn't need smoke and fire and lights to get that energy flowing, you know?"

Marinette thought for a moment of her own on that. What he was saying made sense on a surface level, but Tikki's words on baggage also came to mind. Life has a habit of throwing nasty curveballs at people, creating big messes that need a lot of work to untangle. If everyone saw those messes and was turned off because it took too much effort… those problems would never be solved, and those people would always be alone. She need not look any farther than Chloé Bourgeois for an example. It was an injustice.

No, the greatest application of love was letting it fuel that work to overcome those barriers. And that left her stuck, for all the reasons she had told Tikki about. She wants to help Adrien, but there are other obstacles in the way, and Luka… Luka is helping her with her own messes. The conclusion to that line of thought popped into her head with sudden force.

"Does that mean our relationship isn't good? Because I'm a total mess and can't keep my head on straight and you're putting in all this time just to make me feel okay and it doesn't really work because there's all that stuff you know I can't tell you?"

Luka smiled that easy smile of his and shrugged. "Slow down, Marinette. I think you're exaggerating the situation a little bit. I admit I hadn't thought of it that way before, but I promise that's not how I feel about you. What I see is a girl who's so brimming with ideas and passion and warmth of her own that she has a hard time keeping it all in line. Muse has never been one to sit down and stay quiet, so what's the problem with that?"

"I-I, well…" she stammered, "I mean, when you that put it like, um, lut it pike that, uh…"

He laughed and used his free hand to ruffle her hair a little bit. "The only thing I need is for you to keep being you."

Chapter Trivia:

-The daube here is a play on words in French. Daube is a type of stew, but the word is also used as basically the French equivalent of the English word "crap". So the daube (stew) is daube (crap). At least, that's what my research says, I do not actually speak French, despite my username.

-Chou and Fleur Deliss are also puns, with a reference thrown in. Chou (cabbage) and Fleur (flower) are both used as affectionate nicknames in French. Put them together into chou-fleur and you get... cauliflower, which isn't so flattering. This malapropism is used as a joke in Team Fortress 2 where it's said by The Spy, who is French. Fleur specifically is named for the fleur-de-lis, a well-known decorative symbol.

-CE is short for cours élémentaire, the name used for the second and third grades of French elementary school, which if my math is right, is equivalent in age range to American second and third grades. I'm not actually French, despite my username.