"Morning Adrien!" Marinette waved as she walked into the classroom, flashing a smile and… not exploding.
Her greeting seemed to pull him out of his thoughts but he had a ready smile for her in turn,"Morning Marinette." Was there a softness in that gaze? He looked so much better in person than in pictures, but his smile was small, not the bold Noirish grin. He blinked in amusement and Marinette realized she was staring.
"Oh sorry about that." She rolled her eyes searching for an explanation,"It's just you reminded me of someone I saw recently."
He was quick with an upbeat reply,"Well father has made sure lots of people see a face like this every day, so I'm not surprised." He mimicked her eye roll and shrugged.
"No, it isn't that." Marinette held up a hand, blocking out his eyes from where she stood, hair and mouth visible to her around her hand,"It's something…" she drew it out then let it go, dropping her hand with a shrug.
Adrien's eyes were wide when her hand fell. He rubbed the back of his head and glanced sideways,"Oh umm well I've seen a likealook...rrr. lookalike around too. That's probably it. It's probably just a fan who is even a little more dedicated than Wayhem." He ended in a nervous laugh.
"Must be." Marinette grinned and shrugged her bag's shoulder straps into a better position. She let him off the hook with another wave as she walked up to her seat.
Alya was already there and her eyes bored into Marinette the whole way up. As soon as Marinette sat Alya leaned in and whispered,"Girl what's gotten into you? You can *not* do this to me, I don't think my heart can take it."
The expected blush started to finally make its appearance on Marinette's cheeks, but it stayed gentle and warm. She fingered her bag,"I just had a really good breakfast this morning?"
"Get me some of whatever you're eating then." Alya nudged her,"I am guessing that's the real one this time? What happened with the other one?"
The question brought Marinette back off her cloud, Ladybug didn't wait for love. "He's probably still in Paris. He gave me a note." Marinette left out the warm smile and his accompanying words,'Here's hoping next we meet it's still as friends.'.
She passed the note across to Alya. It was a time and an address. Alya passed it back,"I've been there, a street cafe. A date? A trap?" Her friend's mind cycled through the possibilities.
Marinette hadn't known it was a cafe, that narrowed it down. "Not a trap. He wouldn't participate in a trap that could hurt people, he's still Adrien."
Alya's skeptical look spoke volumes. She tapped her lips with a finger,"Backup?"
Marinette considered,"Probably a good idea, but keep a low profile until I know what the game is." She looked down at the paper,"I have a hunch it's not him that will be there. That leaves one person, well, two." Marinette folded the paper,"No, I was right the first time."
Alya frowned slightly,"You're being tight lipped again Marinette. I'm here to help you, you know."
Marinette startled from her thoughts,"Sorry Alya. This is partially about things I can't share. You know the rules." She smiled helplessly, trying to still the qualms she had about all the recent transgressions. There was nothing to be done about them now, but she had to keep trying.
There was one more thing to do before Saturday, and a chance to try out her new acquisition.
Lunch time. Marinette ducked from the cafeteria and into the bathroom. She opened her bag and let Tikki out while fishing out a phone, not her normal one.
"What're you doing Marinette?" The Kwamii floated closer to inspect the old cheap looking phone.
"With so many heroes Tikki, I can't just turn into Ladybug to find them around Paris all the time. So I got this to try out. It's not registered to my name. I just have to trust people will be smart about it."
Marinette keyed open the phone, typing in Zoé's number and opening a new conversation.
Ladybug:This is Ladybug. We need to talk. Your sister is back in town and you are in danger. I will meet you after school. Be around behind your father's old hotel. Delete this immediately
Marinette's finger hovered over send. She tapped it then deleted the message and Zoé's number, leaving the phone a blank slate again,"Well, let's hope this works."
Ladybug's faith was well placed. She swung around behind the hotel, at first thinking it was a bust, but Zoé detached herself from the lee of a dumpster and stepped into the light. The loading dock was deserted right now, no deliveries and privacy walls screening the workaday parts of the hotel from the upper crust guests.
"You got my message." Ladybug turned the end of the phrase into a question, but not the obvious one.
Once more Zoé proved her worth,"I didn't get any messages, but it's good to see you Ladybug." She looked around nervously, checking the sky as much as the ground.
"I wish it was under better circumstances." Ladybug reached out a hand to rest on Zoé's shoulder,"Last time I kept you out of the loop, and I'm not sure that was fair. This time we know she's going to be targeting Vesperia directly. I wanted to put the decision in your hands. I can keep you benched until this passes, or we can work together to confront her and minimize the risk to Paris."
Zoé didn't answer right away. Ladybug watched the news play across Zoé's face as it must have her thoughts. When she spoke it was clear,"She's my sister. I want to be a part of whatever happens."
Ladybug nodded and opened her Yo-yo, reaching in and pulling out one of the octagonal boxes,"Then Zoé Lee, I entrust you with the Bee Miraculous. Use it to defend yourself if you are attacked before we can organize a plan. Keep it safe and hidden at all other times. You will return it when all this is done. Do you understand?"
Zoé paused again, and when she answered,"I do Ladybug." Her nod came with conviction that eased Ladybug's worries at putting another miraculous 'into circulation' no matter how hopefully briefly.
Ladybug glanced around their brief solitude,"Then I should be going."
"It's strange being back here." Zoé's words came tumbling out in a rush. She had her head down, and her posture was shrunken.
Ladybug turned back and reached out again. She took Zoé's hands in hers and squeezed gently,"I'm sorry we didn't catch her before she did all this."
Zoé crossed her arms over her stomach, huddled against a cold that wasn't the weather,"I'm sorry she did it."
There was a distinction there. Ladybug nodded,"Me too." another squeeze which brought Zoé's gaze back up, her expression a slightly forced hopefulness,"Go back to your father Zoé. For all that's happened, that's something to be grateful for."
Zoé's smile was still tinged with sadness but she nodded. Ladybug let her go and spun up her yo-yo,"We'll talk soon, I promise."
Ladybug swung back through Paris, her mind already full of potential ideas, outcomes, and problems confronting Chloé would entail. There were just too many random variables. Ladybug had learned her lesson last time.
With only Hawkmoth as experience she had approached the problem wrong. Chloé's goal hadn't been to fight, it had been to hurt. Winning battles was how you beat Hawkmoth, winning battles against Chloé just meant you were focusing in the wrong place. At least this time with Adrikat's warning she knew the goal this time, now how to thwart it.
A familiar outline caught Ladybug's eye even in thought and she checked her next jump. Adrien? He was on the roof of a flat-topped building, leaning on the parapet. She hated the fact that 'Is this the real one?' had to flutter across her thoughts. She was sure it was. She wasn't even sure Adrikat had one of Adrien's signature outfits. Adrien, alone, on a rooftop. Ladybug's newfound courage couldn't resist.
"Penny for your thoughts?" Ladybug landed beside Adrien. So far so good, her only reaction was a slight quickness of breath. She could do this.
Her arrival didn't even pull him back quickly from wherever he was. He murmured something, blinked, looked her way, and finally startled,"Ladybug!" an abashed smile slipped onto his face, but a small one. His body language withdrew slightly. So many little signs now that she was looking. He was in 'working Adrien' mode.
"Was it the spots that gave me away?" Ladybug felt a little giddy, she managed a joke. And his deer in headlights response was so absolutely adorable.
"I um, yeah, I mean." he twisted the ring on his finger as he searched for words,"Is something wrong? An Akuma?" he seemed to latch onto the idea like a drowning person.
Ladybug shook her head offering him a smile,"No, but while I'm here I do have news for you." She moved over to lean beside him on the parapet,"There's a sentimonster in Paris who looks like you. I.. don't think he's a risk, but if you hear strange stories, that might be why."
Adrien moved slowly, watching her for a long moment. Then resumed his own lean, side by side, arms folded looking down at the street below,"I- ran into him already. Thank you though. I didn't know quite what to make of it." His voice was even softer than normal.
Ladybug put on a cheerful smile for him, and to distract herself from the butterflies in her stomach. This still wasn't easy, just not impossible,"So, what brings you up to the rooftop? Hoping to be saved?"
"I'm doing another shoot in a studio down below. This was a place to get away for a moment." He seemed to be remaining stubbornly melancholy. While Ladybug was still trying to piece together an answer he continued,"Do you ever get to take off the mask, put down the pressure, and just be yourself Ladybug?"
Ooof, that hit home. Ladybug dipped her head,"I try?" on the plus side her butterflies stilled, though now it was an entire crowd waiting nervously still inside of her. When she continued it was more from instinct than thought,"The times the mask is off, that's why I put it on. I want to protect the people I know and love when I'm me."
He smiled, but it was a modeling smile. Ladybug was afraid maybe she'd missed the mark. He replied,"What if you met someone... while wearing the mask? Do you think you could ever take it off for them? Would you be afraid to? I worry sometimes. If I'm not who people think I am, I'll let them down."
"Oh, you could never let anyone down." the words tumbled out too quickly. They came from old habits and panicked reactions. They weren't right, and she could see how they bounced off him like any other platitude. She continued quickly, brushing a hand back through her hair,"I mean. If people only care about parts of you, but won't at least accept the other parts, is that true friendship?"
"Maybe." Adrien trailed off, still far away. Ladybug wondered if he was on another rooftop now, Their wardrobes reversed. The thought made her smile, and let the silence linger between them.
"You know." Adrien murmured,"I used to have a huge crush on you." He looked her way with another smile, a touch of sadness mixed with embarrassment.
She'd come to relax and she was being wound up in new ways. Ladybug couldn't fight off the blush this time. She turned her head to hide it. "I uh, Really?" she was tugging on one of her pigtails, petting the hair out nervously.
"Who could blame me? Strong, confident, alway so in control and sure of yourself. I know I'm not the only one who crushed on you, but I'd like to think I was one of the first." There was a rare hint of color on Adrien's cheeks as he spoke.
In control? Confident? Her? Ladybug didn't know if she should laugh, blush, smile, or cry at the notion of it. "Well, if we're confessing." the words were coming before she could filter them,"I had a crush on you too."
She'd stunned him with that. She felt like she was on fire, her red suit could have been a full body flush. She filled the shock with words,"Radiant, carefree, dreamy. The commercial is very convincing."
The tension broke and they both laughed a long moment. Ladybug smoothed her bangs back nervously, but as the laughter ebbed she felt control filtering back in. Adrien's eyes seemed a bit more focused on the here and now when he looked at her again, and his voice more sure,"Maybe we both fell for the masks a little?"
"Yeah." Ladybug reached up to touch her own,"It's easy to do isn't it? Pile everything up into the space behind it, all your hopes and dreams? So easy to forget there's a person behind it already."
Adrien smiled, and finally it was his own again, that small gentle Adrien smile,"I'd like to think we'd be good friends anyway."
"Me too." Ladybug turned back to the street, elbows on the parapet,"So what happened to your crush?"
"I-" Adrien fumbled,"I think I've met someone. Someone real to me, and in my world. Someone who well-. I don't want to jinx it, but she means a lot to me. More than a crush." he glanced her way,"And yours?"
"Ladybug nudged him gently with her shoulder,"About the same really. A crush can't really stand up too long in the face of someone real in your life."
That made him smile more,"I'm glad. Someone like you deserves the best."
If only you knew kitty. Ladybug straightened up. "I need to keep moving." She gave Adrien a smile back,"I'm glad you're safe, and thanks for the kind words."
Adrien paused, his gaze dropped a moment then he stepped in and hugged her. Ladybug froze for a moment, her mind's 'It's Aaaaaadrien!' still temporarily freezing her, but she unfroze herself. It's Cat. She warred in her mind and hugged him back. She was caught off guard again when he whispered,"Thank you, for everything you've done for us."
Oh Adrien. The ways he could lift her up without trying never ceased to amaze her. He let go and stepped back. Ladybug turned her head to blink a sudden wetness out of her eyes,"People like you make this a joy, not a chore." She replied in a wavering voice, then before she could betray herself any further she took out her yo-yo and fled.
In his Dark loft surrounded by the flutter of gentle wings Hawkmoth reached out into the evening air. Another day in the tournament, such simple pawns to use, such wellsprings of negative emotion. Perfect to both lull Ladybug and execute his plan.
Reaching out he caught one of the white butterflies, gently cradling it in his grip. He brought it down beside a small bamboo cage placed upon a pedestal. "Now my little akuma, fly away and bring darkness to wounded hearts.". Hawkmoth brought his other hand over but instead of gripping the butterfly normally he swept it slowly over the fragile creature.
Dark energy flowed, seeping into it, but the motion of his hand carried it past and the last sparks drifted not onto the butterfly but down into the cage. Within was something that might have been a butterfly once, but now was swollen and corrupted with dark power. One hundred akumatizations, one hundred fragments of power shared, one hundred times giving Ladybug an easy pass to build up this dark beast. Once unleashed it would create the ultimate warrior for his battle with Ladybug.
Hawkmoth let the first butterfly go and leaned down to peer in the cage,"Soon little one. We need only find a worthy target for your power."
Behind him Nathalie cleared her throat,"Sir. I have been working on that. I think I may have found you the target you seek."
She keyed up an image on the tablet she held and turned it to him. An image from a security camera. One figure in the night sky, holding another. Hawkmoth could just make them out in the grainy image. Cat Noir and,"Marinette Dupain-Chang. The incorruptible. Yet perhaps the perfect vehicle for Ladybug's downfall." Hawkmoth grinned, then tasting victory for the first time in months, threw back his head and laughed. He was so close…