Chapter 90: Undertaker
It's another day at school; weekends fall where they may. In an unusual turn of events, Marie Chauveau and Suzette Rault show up the moment the front doors are unlocked for students to enter in the early morning. Principal Damocles is surprised to see them, but they play it off as coming early to study and get homework done. He lets them in but doesn't follow up to see if they actually went to the library.
Through the next hour-hour and a half, the rest of the cast filters into Francoise Dupont High School. Among those who have arrived first are Monique Imhof, Rose Lavillant, Guy Nigels, Cameran Tyler, Mylene Haprele, Chloe Bourgeois, Sabrina Raincomprix, Le Chien Kim, Nino Lahiffe, Alya Cesaire, Lila Rossi, Stella Tenebrae, Jean Duparc, and Pierre Lefevre. Notably, Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste have not yet made it on campus.
When Alya arrives, she sees a good number of her classmates as well as a solid dozen unnamed upper and lower classmen gathered around one wall. She nudges her way next to Nino to see what all the fuss is about. And once she realizes what's going on, she races outside to the front steps just to intercept Marinette before she enters the school.
Marinette, of course, can see that Alya is flustered and out of breath. Marinette is pretty stressed herself, as seen by her nervously energetic ticks. She is absolutely determined to talk to Luka Couffaine this day to set things straight. Once the best friends get done greeting each other, Marinette tells Alya her plans. Alya grabs Marinette by the wrist and tells her that there is a major crisis as she pulls her friend into the school. Marinette can see Alya is dead serious and asks what's going on. Is Ladybug needed? By then, Alya has escorted Marinette to the wall where everyone is standing around. Marie and Suzette, in particular, are smiling like two cats who just ate a bunch of canaries.
When the present student body sees Marinette approach, they all fall dead silent and stare at her. Marinette pales, and Alya and Nino both move in a way that's protective of her. Sabrina Raincomprix and Monique Imhof step back, allowing Marinette free access to the wall where dozens of papers have been taped. Marinette's eyes gaze over it as they fill with tears. "Who could have done this?"
This is about the time Adrien Agreste arrives with Felix Graham de Vanily and Nicholas Sancoeur. Since both Felix and Nicholas head off to be alone, Adrien enters the main courtyard by himself. And it doesn't take long for him to notice the gathered crowd. He steps up beside Nino and notices Marinette, front and center, with her back to everyone, staring at the pages on the wall. He asks what's going on.
The whispering and gossip returns, and Adrien is aware that there's a lot of uncomfortable staring in his direction. He shifts and averts his eyes. As a celebrity, he's used the attention—but this doesn't feel right. He can sense coldness and hostility. Everyone is whispering surreptitiously, and he has no idea why. When he finally catches a glimpse of Marinette's face, he can see tears rolling down it.
That's when Marie Chauveau makes her next move. She pulls out one of the pages she saved, which is one of the pages from Marinette's binder, and begins reading it aloud in the most mocking, dramatic way possible. Suzette giggles as she does so.
The page is one of Marinette's many undelivered love notes to Adrien—and the binder had been full of them. Most of which have now been taped to the wall for the entire student body to read. And now, to double-down, Marie is reading the juiciest aloud. Murmurs rise again from the students as everyone pretty much knows Marinette was dating Luka, but here's all kinds of evidence that looks as if Marinette was cheating on Luka with Adrien. To top it all off, Marinette has had a stellar reputation within the school for her grades, kindness, and helpful attitude. So now people are gossiping about her being two-faced.
Alya charges forward and snatches the letter out of Marie's hands. She demands to know where Marie got it from and also insist that those are private; Marie should not be sharing them if she were any type of decent person. Marie shrugs and says she found the binder (this is true) and holds it up for all to see. Everyone can clearly tell it's Marinette's binder by the artistic cover and Marinette's own name; many students have seen her carrying it around before. And now it's in Marie's hands with many of its pages copied onto a public wall for all to see.
Alya knows Marinette would never leave it out in the open (this is also true). Internally, Marie is doing this to spite Marinette for being a better class representative than she is. Alya turns to Chloe, accusing Chloe of stealing the binder and passing it off to Marie. Chloe, haughtily, laughs. She's glad that this happened, but it wasn't her. If it was, she would totally own up to it. Internally, she's glad that this is happening as she's just waiting for Adrien to break Marinette's heart now that Adrien knows the truth. After all, Chloe knows Adrien only loves Ladybug, so now Marinette will get crushed.
Sabrina remarks that this is true, that Chloe would own up to something like this, and adds that she's not defending Chloe. That's when Alya notices Lila smiling like a fox. Alya gets in Lila's face, saying that she knows it had to be her. She's the one who stole the binder from Marinette's locker and gave it to Marie. After all, Lila has stolen stuff before as well as broken into other people's lockers. Lila feigns her innocence, saying there's no way she'd be so cruel and that she has no reason to want Marinette hurt. This is emphatically not true as she's crazy jealous of Adrien paying attention to Marinette. She not only wants to hurt Marinette, but she wants to hurt Alya through Marinette. However, she loudly insists she's been trying to turn over a new leaf and do the right thing, ask anyone! (Though all of her acts of selflessness were actually rigged by Lapinna.) How can Alya be so mean when Lila just wants to be a good person? Pierre Lefevre starts getting vocal at that point to defend his ladylove's honor.
Things are starting to become chaotic. The general crowd is gossiping and watching things unfold with some taking sides. Kim, who was out of the loop of the Marinette love triangle, admits to being very disappointed in her for leading Luka on—he'd never do that to Ondine. Rose Lavillant is trying to calm everyone down so that they get along, which isn't helping with Alya in Lila's face and Lila hamming it up to make herself look like a victim. Pierre is defending her, but Jakeel Aristide flat-out states that Pierre has terrible taste in girls. This starts the two sorta friends arguing with their mutual friend, Jean Duparc left to play peacemaker (oddly, much like how Rose, his crush, is also playing peacemaker). Chloe is smirking like no one's business while she's just waiting for Adrien to crush Marinette's heart, and Marinette is standing there in shock, tears leaking down her face. Marie, free of Alya since Alya is yelling at Lila, pulls out yet another letter from Marinette's binder that Marie kept on hand and begin reading it again in a loud mocking voice, which earns snickers from many unnamed classmates due to the purple prose it's written in.
Adrien himself is standing there, dumbfounded. Oh, the guy Marinette likes is named Adrien Agreste. It's not Luka. It's Adrien—wait that's me! Nino nudges him, but Adrien just stands there gaping.
The hallway falls quiet again as all heads, one by one, turn to the door. Luka Couffaine has entered with his sister Juleka in his shadow. He had no idea what was going on; he just saw the crowd and approached. And he arrived in time to hear Marie mockingly read Marinette's inner thoughts about her deepest feelings for Adrien Agreste and how she needs to be honest with Luka, that she (Marinette) only sees him as a friend. Marinette, whom he thought up until that point was his girlfriend and head over heels for him just like he was for her. However, unlike everyone else on the scene, Luka is able to hide his emotions well enough. Juleka drops her eyes; she's not hurt on her brother's behalf, she's angry.
Marie Chauveau stops reading the letter she has in hand and looks at Luka, sneering. Marinette Dupain-Cheng turns based on where everyone else is looking and realizes that Luka is there. He heard everything! Marinette is overcome with guilt as she wanted to tell him the truth in private. She wanted to tell him gently; she never wanted to break his heart. She wanted him to know, but not like this. Marinette's tears break into sobs, and she flees. Alya calls after her, but she still has to deal with Marie and Lila, so she turns her attention to snatching the second letter from Marie. Marie then produces a third letter to continue to humiliate her class representative rival. And Lila basks in the turmoil she caused; she's giddy at seeing Alya hurt through Marinette. Plus, in her mind, this has succeeded in driving off her last love rival. Adrien is hers!
Adrien Agreste is still processing everything that happened. As far as he can interpret the evidence, he has all reason to believe that Marinette is Ladybug. Oh, duh, I'm the guy Ladybug likes! He then calls out Marinette's name and takes off after her. Nino wishes him good luck as he runs.
Luka, however, keeps a strong mask on his emotions. He calmly walks up to Marie and the wall of shame she created. He plucks down Marinette's letters with care and stacks them together. Everyone else watches in surprise and silence. Marie demands to know what he's doing. Marinette had been cheating on him! Why does he care what happens to the letters of his ex-girlfriend?
Luka, very coldly, tells her to her face that it's not for her to decide. It's up to him and Marinette to decide if they're boyfriend and girlfriend or not. Not Marie. He then calls her low-life scum for doing something so cruel and underhand; it draws inspiration from how Yuki Sohma told off Tohru Honda's cousin in Fruits Basket. Luka's mature attitude in handling the situation and Marie's increasing freak out do draw some of his detractors in, away from her. Alya, now not having to deal with Marie or Lila, claps her hands loudly and tells them to all disperse. "Nothing to see here."
Someone in the crowd, perhaps Suzette Rault, shouts back that Alya can't tell them what to do. However, that's when Principal Damocles and Miss Bustier come around the corner and see everyone gathered around. Without knowing the drama, the principal demands to know what's going on. Marie and Suzette beat a hasty retreat, and several other students sneak away so as not to get in trouble. Luka, now holding all of Marinette's letters, tells the teacher and principal that nothing is going on. And again, he's so composed that people believe him. Most of the rest of the crowd leaves—but they leave to gossip about the unfolding events. Lila is in heaven as Marinette's reputation drops to the rocks. And Chloe is just smugly content that Adrien is going to break someone else's heart. She never did like Marinette, after all.
Elsewhere in the upscale section of Paris, Nathalie Sancoeur senses a massive swirling of negative emotions coming from Adrien and Nicholas's school. She can sense Adrien's confused emotions amid the miasma, but she can sense so much more powerful heartache and humiliation. She wastes no time in transforming into female Hawk Moth and sending an akuma in that direction.
And there truly are a lot of intense, negative, and intensely negative emotions at Francoise Dupont High School at that moment. Luka walks away, and Juleka follows him. She knows her brother well enough to realize that while he kept himself composed in public, inside he is really hurting. Badly. It's what he did when they were younger and he was processing their missing father. Juleka's instincts turn out to be correct as then moment Luka is alone, both of his arms start trembling. Juleka calls out his name and asks if he's okay. Luka insists he is, but Juleka doesn't buy it. She actually calls him out, telling him it's okay to confide in her. Luka is genuinely impressed she was able to find her voice.
Meanwhile, Adrien chases down Marinette, who is unable to run too far as she's crying too hard. Adrien catches her, pleading with her not to flee. Marinette turns to him, her eyes red. She then breaks into babble as she tries to explain the truth to Adrien. She basically has to force herself to power through what she wants to say as she's both upset and tripping over her words. "I am so sorry. I never wanted to hurt anyone. I tried to tell you. I tried to tell Luka. I tried to talk to you both so many times. But my words always tangled on my tongue, and I could never say what I wanted to say. The words so dear to my heart. I love you; I've been in love with you for so long. I've always loved you." It takes her like three minutes to just say that much, and it is largely incoherent.
Adrien is left speechless as his face slowly turned pinker and pinker. Dare he hope that this girl in front of him is Ladybug? That she's been as in love with him as he's been with her? This whole time? He's so ridiculously happy. And yet he feels guilty for being happy as Marinette is clearly very upset. Because, regardless, Marinette is one of his best friends. However, one tiny voice in the back of his mind nags—the fact he's not 100% certain Marinette is Ladybug. And it's that doubt that keeps him from confessing immediately.
Well, that doubt and the fact he spots the akuma at that moment. Adrien yanks Marinette behind himself protectively and warns her that there's an akuma. He tells her she needs to run and hide in an enclosed room until she's able to calm down—because it's clear the akuma is there for her. Adrien promises he'll protect her, and that's a promise he intends to keep no matter what. Friend or girlfriend, normal girl or Ladybug—Adrien will protect her.
Marinette, of course, is petrified by the fact that the akuma is targeting her. Her feet remain cemented in place until she realizes that Adrien is heading forward, approaching the akuma, intent on protecting her. She can't let that happen. She does a 180 and takes off running. The akuma, sensing her as the biggest source of negative emotions, flies over Adrien's head and follows her. Adrien, of course, then pursues it.
Marinette tries to find an alcove to duck into and hide in order to transform, though part of her wonders if that's a wise move as being akumatized as Ladybug would be even worse. Tikki calls out to her to calm down. She has to focus; to rein in her emotions. Otherwise, the akuma will get her. Tikki encourages her to think about everything and everyone she cares about. So as they run, they list things back and forth, although winded and panting. "Macarons!" "My friends, Alya and Nino." "Helping everyone in Paris." "My parents." "Spending time with the other kwamis." "Laughing while eating ice cream until it hurts." "Ooh, ice cream!" "Being Ladybug alongside all the other heroes." "Making a world where everyone can live freely with their emotions without having to worry about Hawk Moth." "And…Adrien…the boy I love." Marinette spins around, much more in control of herself. And when she looks, the akuma is nowhere to be found.
After all, she isn't the only teenager suffering this morning.
Juleka is still trying to get Luka to open up to her. When he doesn't speak, Juleka apologizes. Luka then is able to open his mouth and say it's not her fault. Juleka insists it is. She's so mad she's shaking in anger—but that rage is directed at herself. She then explains that she knew all along that Marinette was in love with Adrien—every girl in Miss Bustier's class knows. Juleka thought Marinette would have been responsible enough to tell Luka the truth by now; Juleka even encouraged her to do so. But she didn't, and now Luka is the one hurting. Juleka is every bit as guilty of adding to that hurt by allowing things to go on and for keeping silent on the issue.
Luka hugs her close. It's not her fault. It's his. He should have been more aware of things. Juleka shakes her head; she can still feeling he's trembling as he hugs her, but then again, she's shaking too. Luka did nothing wrong in this situation. As much as it pains her to say it, the fault really is all Marinette's. Luka falls silent as he knows Juleka is right. And now, he needs to do the difficult thing—he needs to break things off with the girl he's in love with.
That's when Juleka notices the akuma flying in their direction. Just like Adrien did, Juleka shoves Luka behind her protectively. She shouts at the akuma that if it wants her brother, it has to go through her. She then flexes her fingers as if baring claws. Roarr lets out a small cheer at her courage from inside her bag. Luka is confused at first, he has no idea why Juleka is doing what she's doing. But then he notices the akuma too, and his eyes go wide in fear. The akuma drops lower, and Juleka swings her backpack at it to deflect it.
Luka takes a deep breath to calm himself, straightens his spine, and looks dead at the akuma. "I am not your prey. I am a brother; I am a son. I have friends who trust me and allies who follow me. I know who I am, and I know the people who love me. I will not fall victim to your poison, and I will do everything in my power to stop your master. That is my promise."
The akuma flits away from him.
However, it doesn't leave the school.
And things are still crazy intense for the heroes. Adrien Agreste has at least been able to find an alcove to transform into Cat Noir. He's taken to the third floor, looking for the akuma. To his fear, he's lost track of Marinette. But if he can catch and Cataclysm the akuma before it gets to someone, all the better. He does his best to remain focused, but he is completely distracted by the prior events. Marinette loves me. And she might even be Ladybug. But even if she isn't…one of my best friends is in love with me! The hardest part for him is knowing how to respond. If she is Ladybug, of course he wants to say yes! But if she isn't… I mean, I love Ladybug. I really, really love her. But somehow I keep thinking about how nice it would be to date Marinette.
Speaking of Marinette, she's also frantically searching for a place to transform as there's no way she's letting an akuma fly free around her friends and classmates. Tikki asks if Marinette will be okay, and Marinette insists she will be. She just needs to focus on this, and then she can process everything and profusely apologize to Luka. "Luka!" She realizes where the akuma is likely heading, does a 180, and heads towards the stairs. She ducks under the stairwell and transforms into Ladybug and then continues onto the third floor.
Where she immediately collides with Cat Noir. Ladybug is so surprised she immediately starts classic Marinette-style babbling, and Cat Noir just stares at her. It starts to click for him; how many times has he heard that same flubbed speech pattern from both Ladybug and Marinette? In addition, there hasn't been an akuma alert. There's been no messages through Discord. How else would Ladybug know to arrive before someone was akumatized? Cat Noir can't help but smile.
Ladybug picks herself up. As Marinette, she's able to get herself "in character" as Ladybug faster than Adrien is. But it's clear she's still struggling with what just happened. She tells Cat Noir to stop grinning; there's an akuma on the loose! Cat Noir can't help but pry. How does Ladybug know about the akuma? Ladybug insists there's no time for questions now. They need to find the akuma before it infests anyone! She takes off, and Cat Noir follows. Milady does make a good point. But if she has another answer, wouldn't it be easier to give it? Say, Alya/Rena Rouge contacted her. But if she knows because she, too, is a student at this school. And she appeared from the same direction Marinette ran!
As they sprint across the upper hallways, several students exclaim in surprise, alarm, and excitement about the golden heroes racing through their school. As they go, Ladybug and Cat Noir shout at everyone to lock down because there's an akuma. They are respected enough that lock down begins. Once Principal Damocles hears word, he makes it official. It's the heroic thing to do, after all; it's what KnightOwl would do if he (she) were in his position. That being said, there is some resistance from the birthstone wielders due to their items corrupting them as well as from the snobbier members of the Western Order.
It's during this that Kagami Tsurugi arrives at school as these scenes have really only happened over a matter of minutes, and it's still early in the morning. The moment Kagami enters the building, she can sense there is massive tension. In addition, students are in groups, whispering their gossip; it's unusual to see something so toxic and secretive at Francoise Dupont High. Alya Cesaire runs by, looking for Marinette. Kagami catches her and asks what's going on. Alya explains about the cruel trick Marie did with Marinette's binder, how Marinette and Luka and Adrien all ran off, and how now Ladybug and Cat Noir and an akuma are there! During this, they happen to pass by Marie and Suzette. Kagami makes dead-locked eye contact with them. "That was disgustingly childish." Kagami and Alya head to where they're supposed to go for lockdown. Granted, both are checking the A Team Discord on the sly. Marie just glowers at their backs.
Luka and Juleka are also both racing through the school, looking for the akuma. Both feel responsible to help, and not just because they're Alpha/Viperion and Tigress. However, they get caught by Ms. Mendeleiev, who demands to know why they aren't getting to a secure location. Luka insists they are and starts to edge away. Ms. Mendeleiev says she's going to make sure of it and marches them there herself.
By now, the "this is an akuma alert, this is not a drill. Please remain calm and evacuate to a secure location. I repeat; this is an akuma alert" message is playing and most of the students are following Francoise Dupont High School's less-than-stellar lockdown procedure.
But not all of them. Nicholas is curious about the akuma as no villain has appeared yet. He's caught enough of the tail end of the drama to know something big had happened while he was in the library. And he wants to help; he wants to know his aunt's plan. But she's been silent. That's when Nicholas notices the akuma butterfly flitting by; it clearly doesn't have a victim yet. He can tell by how it's flying that it lost its target. Nicholas's identity crisis flares, and he reaches out through the telepathic link to Nathalie.
Akumatize me.
Nathalie/Hawk Moth is stunned by his request so much so that she doesn't speak. This gives Nicholas time to check to make sure no one is looking; he then grabs the akuma by the wings. The prompts Hawk Moth to shout NO! as she doesn't want to see her nephew akumatized. Her reaction, in turn, shocks Nicholas. She insists on knowing why he would want to do something like that.
Nicholas replies, still telepathic, that this was why he was created. It's his purpose. He goes on to make an argument about how it would further cement her own alibi, having her nephew akumatized. Plus, it's clear the akuma lost its target—he's right there, and being a willing victim, he's liable to gain more power and versatility. This is why you brought me into the world; I have nothing else. Why won't you akumatized me?
(Female) Hawk Moth, who is so emotional she's actually showing emotions for once, replies with the true reason. You're family. I couldn't bear to see you akumatized.
Nicholas falls speechless. It finally occurs to him. All of Nathalie's words and actions, how she used him as Adamantus, how she refused to akumatize him, how she was always overly cautious in placing him on the frontlines. It's not because he's a failure or defective. It's because she cares about him. He didn't think it possible. But now, in his heart, he knows it's the truth. And yes, despite being a senti monster, he has a heart. He has a place, he has friends, he has a home, he has a family.
We're family. And that's why you have to do this. Please. I'm begging you, Aunt Nathalie. He places the akuma on an item he's carrying, forcing the akumatization.
(Female) Hawk Moth lets out a dry sort of hiccup as she feels the power of the butterfly change the senti monster she considers to be her own son. She could break the akuma, but she can hear Nicholas pleading not to—he reminds her about her goal, to save Gabriel Agreste. And that's enough for her to go along with this, no matter how reluctant her heart is. She coaches Nicholas, explaining exactly what his powers are and the (false) story behind his akumatization in lieu of Marinette and Luka falling through. She begs him to be careful ("careful," again); there's no telling how Ladybug defeating an akumatized Nicholas will affect the senti monster. Nicholas insists he won't lose, but even if he does, he'll be safe as Hawk Moth still holds his amok. That's not enough for Nathalie because if Nicholas is destroyed, even though she can recreate him, he won't be the same.
The butterfly's powers surge around him, turning him into the villain Undertaker. He looks like a grave digger, which fits his abilities and fake motive. Nicholas/Undertaker begins purposefully stalking down the hallways, his heavy boots echoing.
The first people he encounters are Alya Cesaire and Nino Lahiffe. Having heard the alarm go off, Alya peeled out from Kagami to find Nino just in case either Rena Rouge or Carapace were needed. The young couple opted to ditch lockdown (which shouldn't be as easy to do as it is) and are also searching the school in order to help where they can. Of course, Kagami isn't happy about being ditched. But she figures it works to her advantage should Ryuko, Kamaitachi, or Ryutsume be needed. Granted, had they all known about each other, they would have stuck together—but, you know, secret identities and all.
Anyway, Alya and Nino run right into Undertaker. And both take a stance as if they intend to confront him rather than running away, which amuses the akumatized villain. He raises his arm, and two open coffins rise behind the two teens.
That's the moment Ladybug and Cat Noir come around the corner. Undertaker glances over his shoulder and sees them arrive, too late to do anything. He smirks and snaps his fingers. The coffins close around Alya and Nino, both protesting and attempting to fight back. With a single gesture, Undertaker forces the coffins underground.
Cat Noir is rightfully pissed off as Nino is among his best friends. He readies his baton and demands to know where Undertaker sent them. Undertake gives his name and explains "Where else would an undertaker send coffins?" They're unground, buried alive. "I wonder how long they'll last? Two minutes? Maybe five?" Cat Noir charges him in anger, but Undertaker is able to match him. After all, Nicholas is fully trained in martial arts thanks to Nathalie.
Meanwhile, Ladybug races over to where Alya and Nino disappeared. However, there isn't even a hole for her to follow. It's all sealed up. Cat Noir shouts at her. "Five minutes! You know who we need!" Ladybug agrees, but she's so flustered by on-going events that she nearly drops her yo-yo while she opens it up to cell phone mode. She freezes midway into typing a message to Viperion. Luka is Viperion! How on Earth can she face him now?! She broke his heart and humiliated him! Cat Noir notices her hesitation and wonders why. But then it occurs to him. He already knows Viperion is Luka as Adrien recommended Luka to be Viperion in the first place (although Cat Noir isn't supposed to know this). And if his theory about Ladybug is true…it's no surprise she's hesitating now. However, Cat Noir knows they can't afford to hesitate. Alya and Nino are in danger! Cat Noir reminds Ladybug as much, and Ladybug completes her message.
Luka is still with Juleka near the lockdown point when he gets the message. He can tell by how it's written that it's desperately urgent. He hastily tells Juleka he has to go and for Sass to come with him. This makes Sass elated, but Luuna looks lost. Luka hesitates just a moment. After all, Luuna really only knows him in the world, and she's never not been on one of his assignments. So Luka thinks super quickly and orders Luuna to look after Juleka for him. This perks Luuna up. Luka and Sass run off with Luka transforming into Viperion the moment he's out of line of sight of people. The moment he's completed transforming, he immediately activates "Second Chance" before running to where he hears fighting coming from.
Now, this is where things get interesting with canon—namely, what Ladybug's "Miraculous Ladybug" can and can't restore. In the New York special, it was noted it's a good thing that Aeon/Uncanny Valley is an android when she got hit with Cataclysm so that Ladybug could restore her, easy-peasy. That implies Ladybug might not be able to restore lost life. However, in other situations, maybe she can. For example, in Siren—there's no way that 100% of the people were evacuated with how fast the waters rose. Yet no mention is made of lives lost during any akuma incident at all, and those rescued from akumatization don't carry any guilt of lost lives either. Yes, they're not at fault for actions done when akumatized; it's all Hawk Moth. However, guilt doesn't work expressly through logic, and if there had been legitimate casualties, I'd imagine the akuma victims would still how some shreds of guilt, minimum. So that makes it seem as if Ladybug can undo any casualties. Granted, there might be other explanations. For example, maybe Siren just turned everyone who couldn't evacuate in time into fish.
That all being said, it does leave it open to "are Alya and Nino really in danger from Undertaker"? If Ladybug can undo any victims with her world-healing wave, then there's a whole lot less tension in this chapter. Granted, that's if she's able to kick off her "Miraculous Ladybug," and there have been times when she hasn't. On the other hand, if there is real risk of Alya and Nino suffocating, that makes this chapter way darker than it should be. Given the lighter nature of the series, I'd imagine there's ultimately no danger to Alya and Nino (and anyone else's) lives. However, there's still psychological damage, trauma, and just allowing civilians to suffer longer than needed. So at the very least, Ladybug and Cat Noir would want to save their friends before they're traumatized, panicked, or forced to endure being entombed for one second longer than necessary.
Speaking of Alya and Nino, they are both superheroes in their own rights—and Trixx and Wayzz got dragged along for the ride. Given that they're in a very, very emergency situation, both transform within twelve seconds of getting trapped. This allows them augmented strength and other abilities. And both try to break out of the coffins. However, they're trapped underground, so breaking the wood doesn't do them much good. And the power of illusions and the power to create barriers don't really help in situations like these, either. Regardless, it does buy them some time, and neither gives in—they both keep fighting.
Back at the main fight, Ladybug has only just sent her text to Viperion. Cat Noir is holding Undertaker at bay; he demands to know why Undertaker is doing this. Undertaker looks him dead in the eye and mournfully declares that since his whole family is buried, isn't it only fair to bury everyone else? What's the point in struggling when everyone is going to the grave anyway? Cat Noir vehemently shoots that whole train of thought down by saying there's so many things worth living for: friends, hobbies, love. He looks directly at Ladybug for the last one. Ladybug fumbles, and Cat Noir can practically see the Marinette in her.
Viperion joins them, skidding to a stop on the school tile. He asks what's going on and doesn't even bother with a greeting. Ladybug is glad for the distraction from Cat Noir's comment, knowing that it's actually Adrien behind the mask, compounded by the fact she finally confessed her feelings to Adrien through tears and stammering. So Ladybug gives Viperion the quick lowdown that Undertaker is a new akuma victim and that he imprisoned two student underground already. They don't know how long they have, but it can't be long. Viperion realizes that this is why she asked for him, and he admits to already setting his "Second Chance." Ladybug starts to thank him, but when she looks at his face, she remembers she's actually talking to Luka. Guilt overwhelms her; her smile falls, and she does completely silent. Viperion can tell something is wrong, and he inquires about it, not knowing that Ladybug is his (soon-to-be) ex-girlfriend.
Undertaker realizes pretty quickly that Ladybug is majorly distracted. He's still evading Cat Noir's strikes with his baton, but the akumatized villain frees one of his hands, causing a coffin to rise behind Ladybug. Both Cat Noir and Viperion shout at her to get out of the way, but she's still a bit too emotionally dazed. She turns behind her to look at the threat and is immediately enclosed within the box. Undertaker sinks it into the earth (which probably doesn't make super amounts of sense given everything beneath them from the flooring to the plumbing and wiring to the building's foundation to possibly sewers or subways or even the catacombs before getting to genuine underground. But since when has Miraculous been completely accurate? A wizard did it.) Cat Noir is furious to see Ladybug lost, and he charges Undertaker. Viperion just twists his bracelet, going back to a minute ago before he arrived at the scene.
He again races to Ladybug and Cat Noir, telling them in one breath that he already knows what's going on, which clues them in enough that time has been rewound at least once. Ladybug expresses that she's glad he's aware of the situation because she has a plan. She starts to explain it, but once again seeing Viperion's face causes her to lose track of her words. She again falls silent and dejected, leaving Viperion wondering what's wrong. Once again, Undertaker seizes the moment to entomb her, leading Viperion to rewind time once more.
This happens several more times with Ladybug relaying various parts of her plan before her guilt kicks in and she loses track of what she was saying. However, Viperion eventually has enough of an idea that when he joins Ladybug and Cat Noir, he mentions he already knows the plan and encourages Ladybug to use her "Lucky Charm," which she does.
Undertaker, however, is not inexperienced. Nicholas has clashed against the heroes many times as Adamantus. And seeing Ladybug kick off her Lucky Charm, he falls back before she can even catch the object. He darts through the hallway, raising coffins around anyone who wasn't quick enough in evacuating then sinking them underground. Principal Damocles is one of those captured this way as he was doing a final check to ensure all the students and faculty were safe.
Ladybug, Cat Noir, and Viperion pursue Undertaker in hopes of intercepting him before he does more damage. Along the way, Ladybug is skimming for something she can do with her Lucky Charm conjured item, but nothing has hit her yet. Cat Noir attempts to prevent one coffin from sinking, but even with his baton as leverage, he can't. He knows he could Cataclysm one—but that only saves one person while a dozen are in danger and Undertaker is still at large. Which means when Kagami gets captured, Cat Noir severely hesitates. This allows Undertaker to get the upper hand on him and entomb him instead. Viperion again turns back the clock.
Things repeat up until Ladybug recreates her Lucky Charm and Undertaker flees. Viperion grabs Cat Noir and says that they can head Undertaker off; he knows where they're going. The guys head off in one direction while Ladybug pursues Undertaker directly. Once out of earshot, Viperion asks Cat Noir if Ladybug is all right. He's seen enough through several time loops to know she is definitely distracted. Cat Noir plays dumb, "Really? I didn't notice." But he's not very convincing.
Of course, it's worth mentioning what the other factions are doing during these time loops. Without Alpha logged in on the Team B Discord, the rest of the members are a little lost. It's Froppy who picks up the slack and keeps them focused and organized. However, they don't get too far before the minutes repeat.
Only half of the Team A members are even logged in as Viperion, Rena Rouge, Carapace, and Kamaitachi/Ryuko/Ryutsume are obviously preoccupied. Several other members are having a hard time checking their cell phones discreetly while under lockdown with other people watching them. All of them, while usually patient enough, are incredibly antsy since there's an active akuma within their own school and as far as they know one of their friends has been the victim.
The Western Order is even more anxious. None of them have heard anything from Ivory/Madam Gros, and they're all wondering what they should do. Chloe Bourgeois has already snuck out with the intent of transforming, orders or not. She figures she can always cry "self-defense" in this case. Ivory has a very good reason for not contacting anyone. The news has yet to report this, and apart from akuma alerts, the exact details of the situation are unknown. Therefore, the only way the Western Order would know about the unfolding events and what to do to counter them would be if the Western Order has a presence at Francoise Dupont High School—which is obviously something Madam Gros wants to avoid at all costs. She's locked the door to her office; it isn't much, but she has to do what she can to protect what's inside. From there, she's closely watching the situation through the school's security cameras (which she used her abilities to convince Principal Damocles into giving her access to. Or rather, she brainwashed him into giving her access.) Her mind is racing with a dozen possible schemes, but overall, secrecy is most important.
By now, the pursuit has crossed the school. Cat Noir and Viperion successfully cut Undertaker off. He comes to a halt and prepares to back track, but Ladybug is blocking that hallway. Cat Noir orders his surrender…but that's when Chloe sneaks around the corner, looking for a place to transform into Queen Scorpion. Undertaker does know her identity, but that doesn't matter to him right now. Ladybug and Cat Noir do too. All that matters to the akuma villain is that he has a distraction. So, of course, he entombs Chloe, her muffled shrieks vanishing into the earth. However, Ladybug and Cat Noir are less emotional about Chloe being captured than Alya and Nino. They move to catch Undertaker in a pincher attack. But he's skilled enough to engage them both in martial arts at the same time. Viperion's bracelet is starting to beep now. He's just about out of time. And he knows he can continue to let Ladybug and Cat Noir handle the situation, but there's no telling what'll happen to the people who have already been entombed for five minutes. He turns back the clock.
Which, in Chloe's case, is probably a very good thing. She wasted no time in transforming into Queen Scorpion while she was underground—and she promptly Dissolved the coffin. Which caused all the dirt to flood around her, leaving her completely immobilized. Then, time reset.
This time, Viperion leads Cat Noir through a different route to cut Undertaker off. He's hoping to catch Undertaker earlier, both to prevent him from capturing Chloe and to get to him before Viperion's five minutes are up. He also doesn't waste time asking if anything is bothering Ladybug.
They're successful at intercepting Undertaker earlier with Ladybug immediately on his heels to prevent any escape. So Undertaker prepares to stand his ground. That's when Ladybug realizes the use for her Lucky Charm, and she begins to rig up her very creative Rube Goldberg device. But it takes her a moment, leaving her open to an attack from Undertaker. He raises his arm as if he's going to create a coffin, but Cat Noir leaps in to protect her. Undertaker adapts and raises his other hand, creating two coffins. With Cat Noir in mid-leap and Ladybug's hands full, neither can dodge. Both are entombed.
Undertaker locks eyes with Viperion. "You're next." Viperion replies that this is the last time; he now knows exactly what he has to do. He resets time once more before Undertaker can close in on him.
So, yet again the scene repeats. When Ladybug creates her Lucky Charm, Viperion snatches it. He insists that they trust him. Ladybug wonders what he intends to do; even she doesn't know the purpose of her charm yet. Viperion says she does…or rather did…and that she told him. He then instructs Ladybug to pursue Undertaker while Cat Noir takes a different route to cut him off. Viperion heads off in a third direction, directly through several locked windows, breaking glass, in order to get there first and construct Ladybug's Rube Goldberg device for her.
It works as Ladybug envisioned during a previous timeline. Cat Noir herds Undertaker by faking him out around Kagami and threatening him with a Cataclysm. Chloe then stumbles from around the corner, activating the device. Undertaker can't stop fast enough on the tile floor, and Ladybug ensures he falls into the trap by tripping him up from behind with her yo-yo. The device (whatever it is and whatever it's made of) completely ensnares Undertaker, binding his arms. Ladybug races forward to claim the akumatized item. She tosses it to Cat Noir, who obliterates it. This frees the akuma, revealing Nicholas underneath, much to Cat Noir's surprise. Ladybug does her world-healing wave, which frees Rena Rouge and Carapace. Luckily, the fight moved beyond them, so no one (especially not Nicholas) realizes that where Alya and Nino were trapped, Rena Rouge and Carapace reappeared. All three central heroes "Pound It!"
Viperion immediately leaves as he's down to seconds. He's barely in the bathroom when his transformation breaks. This leaves Ladybug and Cat Noir roughly alone. Cat Noir approaches Ladybug, but she makes an excuse and "bugs out"—her nerves and emotions are so frayed she really doesn't have the mental fortitude to stay longer. Cat Noir lets her go and turns to Nicholas, asking if he's okay.
Nicholas Sancoeur insists he is; he's so stoic on a normal basis that he's hard to read. Cat Noir asks what happened, and Nicholas explains that his family's deaths just really got to him today. He apologizes to Cat Noir for causing trouble and then says he wants to head back to class. The story he gave is, of course, a lie constructed by Nathalie to justify Undertaker's appearance and powers. Cat Noir bows out, and Nicholas continues on without anyone suspecting he's also Adamantus.
Needless to say, classes don't happen that day. Parents are called, and the students are sent home. Adrien, once he's transformed back, feeds Plagg and then immediately tries to hunt down Marinette. He has something very important to tell her. However, before he gets far, his bodyguard intercepts him. Solomon came the moment he heard there was trouble. It's his job to protect Adrien, after all, and even though he's non-verbal, he does really care about the kid. His body language makes it clear he's to leave immediately. Adrien pleads for just a couple of minutes, he needs to talk to someone. But Solomon is adamant and marches Adrien out.
Once they hit the exterior steps, Nathalie Sancoeur herself races by without even a sideways look. This surprises Adrien, and he watches as she races inside and finds Nicholas in the lobby. Nicholas is as stoic as ever despite recently being akumatized. Nathalie, however, is actually letting her emotions through. She races to Nicholas and embraces him before even exchanging greetings. It's clear she was very worried about him and very relieved he's now safe. These are her true emotions, despite her being the one to akumatize him at his request. She was genuinely worried about her nephew and what might happen if he, as an akumatized senti monster, clashed with Ladybug and Cat Noir. She did not want to lose him. Nicholas is very surprised by her reaction, but he hugs her in return.
This gives other students time to filter out, and among them are Marinette and Alya. They're both talking with "are you all right after all that?" but it's clear to the reader that they aren't referring to Marinette and Alya but rather Ladybug and Rena Rouge. Marinette locks eyes with Adrien as he's being pushed away. She freezes up entirely as her face goes crimson. Adrien begs all the harder, "just 30 seconds," but Solomon ushers him into the limo. Adrien tries to shout back to her, "Marinette, I…!" but the door shuts before she hears what's next. Alya makes a remark about how now "the cat is out of the bag" (lovely pun and she doesn't even know Adrien's identity), and she asks what Marinette is going to do next now that Marie revealed everything to the whole school. Marinette says she really needs to talk to Luka and apologize to him. Alya points out that Juleka and Luka are leaving right at that moment, so Marinette has her chance. Marinette droops as she knows this won't be easy, but she takes a deep breath and approaches the Couffaines anyway.
Juleka gives her one heck of a cold, angry glare, which surprises Marinette both from its intensity and from the fact it's coming from Juleka. Marinette apologizes and then asks if she could speak to Luka, alone. Luka tells Juleka it's all right, so Juleka walks on ahead. Luka and Marinette walk slowly, and Marinette once again starts Marinette-ing really badly. Once again, she has to force herself to power through as she stumbles over her words, even though she's half incoherent. She apologizes to Luka for giving him the wrong impression and for not speaking up about her true feelings sooner. She admits she tried, but the words tangled in her throat like they're doing now. Still, that doesn't justify letting things carry on because what she didn't want to happen did. She hurt him. And while she is immensely flattered by his affections and cares about him deeply and loves the time she spends with him and thinks he's a great guy and still wants to be friends with him, her heart has already made its choice. She's just so sorry that it came to this. He didn't deserve to be humiliated like that; that was all her fault.
Luka admits he loves her and that yes, it really, really, really hurts that she would go on dates with him all the while knowing that she loved someone else and would break up with Luka for the other guy if given the chance. Luka does tell her, very tactfully, that this means he and Marinette are over. Beyond that…he doesn't know. It's going to take him a while to piece together what he feels and how he'll heal. He can't say if he does or doesn't want to continue to be friends with her as the wounds are too fresh. For now, he just asks for space while he processes this all. Just know, he doesn't hate her. He's just hurting.
Marinette says she understands, and the fact he doesn't hate her is more than she could ask for. It's probably even more than she deserves. She starts down a separate street as their routes home (and relationally) diverge here. She tells Luka good-bye, and he says the same in return. This is very clearly a final good-bye.
Despite all these crazy events happening within the morning, evening comes fast for the cast. At the Agreste manor, Adrien makes a point of seeking out Nicholas. He asks if Nicholas wants to talk, at which point the ever taciturn Nicholas replies with "about what?". Adrien alludes to Nicholas's deceased family, and Nicholas expressly says he doesn't want to talk about it (really, there's nothing to talk about, not that Adrien knows that). Adrien continues to hang out with Nicholas, mentioning it can be unhealthy to keep emotions inside. He indirectly refers to the sense of powerlessness he had when his parents were comatose and the anger and recklessness it brought out in him. He also tells Nicholas he doesn't have to keep everything inside; he has friends and family now. Nicholas raises an eyebrow at "friends." Adrien insists the two of them are friends, and that friends help each other and listen when they're going through hard times.
Nicholas admits he finds having friends to be an odd concept. He never had friends before he came to Paris. Adrien says he didn't really have any friends outside of Chloe before he started attending Francoise Dupont High School (though the root cause of their friendlessness were two totally different things). Nicholas thinks about Gilles and Raissa and now Adrien. "It is…kind of nice to have friends." Adrien remarks that Nicholas seems to be smiling. Nicholas insists he isn't. Adrien offers again to help if Nicholas needs it in any way. Nicholas insists he's fine…but he admits he really enjoys listening to Adrien play the piano. He wouldn't mind hearing music now. Adrien readily agrees to this, and the two head to the piano in the lobby where Adrien plays songs he composed himself and Nicholas listens, in obvious enjoyment, and relaxes.
Nathalie watches them from the second floor. If only Gabriel was awake. What more could she want in life? The two boy she considers to be her own sons, acting as family. She has a place to belong. Everything is so close to being perfect. She just needs to snatch Gabriel out of the jaws of his magic-induced coma.
That evening, Adrien flops onto his bed, smiling like an idiot at the ceiling. Plagg helps himself to a midnight cheese snack from the mini-fridge and asks what Adrien is so excited about. Adrien tells the truth. "Marinette is Ladybug. And I'm the guy she's liked all along. Not Cat Noir: me." Plagg is so surprised he actually drops his cheese. He insists that can't be right and tries to deny Marinette being Ladybug. Adrien appreciates Plagg trying to protect "milady's" identity, but he has no doubts. Adrien reviews all the evidence, starting with the items from Ladybug's purse that Marinette owns, their shared ringtone, all the way up to how Ladybug knew about the akuma before any alert happened and how she arrived from the same direction today as Marinette and how Ladybug was acting like Marinette; Adrien finally sees it. And to think, all along, Marinette/Ladybug felt the same way about him as he did her!
Plagg, rather sarcastically, asks that if Adrien is so certain about this, is he going to tell Ladybug the whole truth? About himself? Adrien immediately replies with "absolutely not!" Plagg is moderately surprised by Adrien's determination and points out that that seems hypocritical—keeping his own secret while thinking he knows all about Ladybug.
Adrien insists that's not the case. He'd rather live in a world where he can tell Ladybug—tell Marinette—he's loved her this whole time. Where they don't have to keep secrets. However, if Marinette feels she can no longer protect the greater good while knowing Cat Noir's secret identity, she'd have to quit being Ladybug. Adrien simply cannot do that to the girl he loves. He knows how much being Ladybug means to her—and he can't imagine anyone else fighting Hawk Moth by his side. That's why he can't tell her he's also Cat Noir. Plagg says he understands Adrien's logic, but something about it still doesn't sit right with him. Maybe it's the fact he dropped his camembert.
To be continued in Chapter 91: Youkai…
