Marinette awoke slowly that morning, her dream still swirling around in her consciousness. She'd dreamt that she and Coccinello were sitting together in Fu's office hours.

Dreams were strange like that, she thought vaguely. Coccinello didn't even know Fu.

It was that half-asleep thought that had her sitting up in bed, as alert as if she'd been hit.

She and Coccinello had been so focused on trying to beat this villain on their own, using their own resources, that she hadn't realized she had a resource that Coccinello didn't; Professor Fu. Marinette wasn't sure exactly how Coccinello had gotten his miracle stone, didn't know if he had a resource like the professor, but she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it earlier.

She jumped out of bed, checking her clock. 08:53. If she hurried, she could make it to Professor Fu's office hours before class started.

She flurried about the room, getting dressed and brushing her teeth at the same time, cursing herself for forgetting about the History of Modern Fashion reading among yesterday's excitement.

"Plagg, would that feather still be in my pocket?" she asked her kwami as she left the apartment.

"Most likely," he yawned. "Why?"

"I'm going to bring it to the professor," she replied immediately.

Plagg's eyes widened. "Oh, excellent idea, Marinette. I didn't even think of it."

"Neither did I; it came to me in a dream, I guess," and she winked down at him poking out of her purse.

There was a moment. "By the way, you were right about Alya. Thanks for trying to help me. And I'm sorry for not heeding your advice."

Plagg gloated a little, then waved a paw at her in dismissal. "I'm glad it worked out."

Marinette smiled to herself as she spotted the humanities building. She was glad, too.

The elevator ride felt too long. What if there was a huge line for his office hours and she didn't manage to get to speak with him before class time? She wouldn't have another opportunity to show him the feather today, and they needed all the time they could get.

The elevator ding!ed and Marinette ran out into the hallway, turning the corner, praying for no line…

Her breath whooshed out in relief. No one was here!

She approached Fu's office tentatively, poking her head into his always-open door. Well, almost always.

Fu looked up from his desk. "Hi, Marinette!" He seemed surprised, and Marinette wondered if he hadn't heard about the feathers yet. Or did the news not get a chance to film that?

"Hi, professor," Marinette fidgeted. "I have a question… about… um, a particular assignment of yours. May I close the door?"

Professor Fu just nodded, putting his bookmark in and turning his full attention to her. Once the door was shut, Plagg emerged from Marinette's bag. She looked at him and nodded, calling for her transformation.

Kitty Noire put a clawed hand into the pocket she remembered storing the feather in last night. She held it out to Fu. "Coccinello and I found these in the backs of the victim's necks after the last battle. They were in every single person, and we hadn't noticed before. Removing them brought them out of their comas, and Coccinello figured that this was some tool that the person behind this is using. But we don't know what to do to find them. So, I figured I'd ask you if you knew anything."

Fu took the feather, his expression morphing into one of horror. His hand shook as he held the offending object. "Oh… this is very bad. If this is what I think it is…"

Kitty Noire's brows disappeared into her bangs. "Professor? Are you alright?"

The professor shook his head to clear it and then looked up at Kitty Noire. "I need to get in contact with my comrades. This is very urgent, Marinette."

He fished around for a pad of sticky notes. He scrawled a number on it and handed it to her. "This is my burner phone number. Program it in your phone so that we can communicate."

Kitty Noire detransformed and took the note, pulling out her phone and dialing the number. Why did Fu need a burner phone? His smartphone was sitting there on his desk, but sure enough, deep in a drawer, muffled in files, something began to ring. Fu pulled the old flip-phone out and saved her number to it, smiling at her, although it was strained. "I will text you if anything comes up, and now you can do the same. Make sure that you never include any revealing information in your messages, though," he added gravely. "We need to keep the security of ourselves and of the miracle stones in mind at all times."

Marinette nodded, feeling sick to her stomach. Were the security measures really necessary? They must be, otherwise he wouldn't be going to the effort. But from who were they supposed to be protecting themselves, exactly?

She was about to ask as much when there was a knock on his office door.

"Be right there!" he called automatically, turning back to Marinette and offering her a smile that she supposed meant this meeting was over. But the usual brightness Marinette had gotten so used to seeing in her professor's expression was gone, leaving her feeling vacant and hopeless.

This was worse than she'd thought. She had been expecting the professor to not know anything, or best case scenario, to know exactly what it was and light up in excitement because they had found the key to defeating this enemy. But the terror eating at the edges of Fu's eyes was the stuff of nightmares. If it made the guardian of a miracle stone quake in his boots, what did it mean for his protégée?

"I'll let you get to work on that, professor," Marinette nodded, hoping to seem confident and reassuring. She turned to go when he spoke again.

"Oh, and Marinette?"

"Yes?" she asked, hope rising.

"Be careful about your relationship with Coccinello. It's dangerous for two miracle stone wielders to be romantically involved, as it can put you, and the miracle stones, at risk. It's technically forbidden," he added, his face somber.

Marinette's hope deflated. Forbidden?

"However," the professor gave her a tight smile. "I trust you, so I'll let it slide. Just make sure to be smart."

Marinette nodded fiercely. "Yes, sir." She opened the door to his office, letting in the student who had knocked, her heart pounding in her ears. Not only was the feather situation more dire than she'd feared, she was now breaking wielder rules. Fu decided he trusted her, but did she trust herself?

Plagg emerged from her purse, ears drooping upon seeing the look on her face.

"I'm scared, Plagg. I've never seen the professor so shaken. Even when he told me to find the 'different approach,' he was so confident I could do it, even when he had no idea how to help me. But this? This is different. It felt… wrong." Marinette wrapped her arms around herself as she waited for the elevator.

Unfortunately, all Plagg could respond with was a distressed expression of his own.

When classes ended that day, Marinette ran to Sloppy Joe's, her mind still reeling. She hadn't originally planned to go out scouting tonight; she was hoping to get some homework done, but Coccinello needed to know that she had confided the feather in someone, and that maybe things were more dire than they'd feared. She wrung her hands as she put her cap on over her ponytail. She hoped he wouldn't be too upset with her for doing so without asking him first. She knew she would have liked a heads-up if he was going to involve someone else in their confidential hero business, even if that person could be trusted.

As she clocked in, her phone began to ring, and for one awful, heart-clenching moment, she knew it would be Fu.

But when she pulled it out of her back pocket, her father's profile icon made her sigh in relief. She let the call go to voicemail as was her habit, but once her phone was silent again, guilt churned in Marinette's stomach. She wasn't meaning to be a bad child, to ignore the people who'd done the most for her. But every time she thought about picking up, all she could imagine was her mother, crying out, "Marinette, when were you planning on telling me about your superhero identity?" on the other end of the line.

That couldn't be allowed to happen, but she couldn't put them off forever.

She tied her apron around herself and decided that she would call them back, first thing after work today. Maybe they wouldn't say anything about Kitty Noire to her.

"Hey, Marinette," Lila called, waving from the deep fryer.

Marinette put on a smile and waved back, but said nothing, taking a look at the row of orders. She began organizing them from easiest to most complex.

Lila's expression fell. "You okay, Marinette?"

Marinette looked up in surprise. Lila seemed hurt, and Marinette immediately apologized. She hadn't meant to be rude. "Sorry. Just a busy week ahead of me. A lot on my mind."

Lila put her hand on Marinette's shoulder. "Midterms?"

Marinette pulled a face. That wasn't it at all, but what could she say? "Yeah, things are starting to heat up, with classes and my internship." Marinette rolled her eyes at herself as she turned away from Lila to pull the onion rings out of the fryer. One of these days she'd get caught up in her white lies.

But today was not that day. Lila tried to give Marinette a reassuring smile. "You got this! And once it's all over, you have that awesome party that I'm gonna throw to look forward to! I've decided it's gonna be more than just a work party, although all of you are invited," she called, blowing Aurore a kiss when she wiggled excitedly at that news. "I've decided it'll also be an apartment-warming party, so I'm probably gonna invite, like, everyone I know. It will be a blast! And maybe," Lila lowered her voice, her eyelashes dipping as she eyed Marinette flirtatiously, "you can meet a guy at the party, forget all about that jerk who doesn't even deserve to be named." Lila grinned brightly at the prospect, but turned to flip some burgers when their boss gave her a look.

Marinette colored, but thankfully Lila was too preoccupied to see it. Maybe she should make up some fake out-of-town boyfriend so that her friends could leave her love life alone.

Six hours later, Marinette hung up her apron and pulled out her phone as she left the restaurant. She scrolled through her call log, clicking her father's name and lifting her phone up to her ear as she listened to the dial tone. She hoped they wouldn't be too upset with her for taking so long to finally call back. She hoped even more that the jitters in her stomach were for nothing.

"Hello, dear," her mother's voice snapped her out of those thoughts, melting her heart instead. How was it that just the sound of a loved one could make you feel safe?

"Hi, Maman," Marinette answered. "I was just missing you. And Papa, of course."

Her mother put the phone on speaker. "Hi, Marinette! Are you doing well?" her father called, his voice seeming far away.

"Hi! I'm doing fine, just busy as always. How are you?" Marinette squeezed the phone between her ear and shoulder as she pulled her keys out of her bag, trying to keep her voice casual and level.

"We're great, sweetheart! The bakery is doing phenomenally!" her father called again.

"That's good to hear," she sighed, opening the door. It seemed that all her nerves were for nothing — they didn't suspect her and they didn't seem upset! Marinette let herself relax on the sofa.

"Now, we know something's up, Marinette. And if you think you can keep it from us, you're out of luck," her mother warned her playfully.

Marinette's eyes widened in terror. She knew it. Just as she was so sure, too!

She sat up ramrod straight, sweat breaking out on her forehead.

Because how on Earth did she think she could keep her mother from the truth? She could recognize her daughter in any place, any situation, no matter how well disguised she might be.

Fruitlessly, Marinette tried to play it off, but it was half-hearted. "Um… oh? What — what are you talking about? Everything here is just same old, same old," she answered, but it sounded thin even to her ears.

"Mm-hmm. Sure. When were you planning on telling us about the contest at the PDH? Or were you just going to mail us your winning hat?" she teased.

The breath tumbled out of Marinette's lungs, and she deflated back into the couch cushions. Her mother wasn't onto her. It was a miracle.

Her relief was poorly-disguised. "Ah, Maman. That's no secret! I thought it was a given that I'd enter the competition!"

Her parents laughed. "What bird are you planning on making a hat of, Marinette?" her father asked, much closer to the microphone this time.

Her shoulders fell. She really needed to get to work on her hat. Add that to the mountain of tasks. She tried not to grumble. "A swan. But I'm not sure how I feel about it. Do either of you have any birds you'd rather see inspire a bowler hat?"

Her father chuckled. "I don't know a thing about fashion, sweetheart. Maybe your mother…?"

Her mom was silent a moment. "I like the swan idea. But I'm feeling something deep red, maybe a parrot?"

Marinette thought about that. It was nice, but not any nicer than the swan idea. She needed something unique.

"I'll consider that," she replied, but her parents knew from her tone that she didn't mean it.

Her parents said nothing for a moment. Marinette heard the oven ding, and her father mutter something, his voice getting farther from the microphone. She was surprised by the hushed tone her mother used next. "Are you really okay, Marinette? Something seems different, you seem more… distant."

Just as she had thought she was in the clear, Marinette's stomach tightened in fresh anxiety. Her mother knew something was wrong, that things had changed between them. It was folly to be relieved. "I…" was all she could say.

"We can call back later, when Papa is busy, if it's something you don't want him to hear…" she offered, her voice full of hope.

Marinette's heart sunk down into the floor. So that's what this was. Her mother assumed this was about a boy, or some girl drama, or something else that, when Marinette used to live back home, she'd discuss exclusively with her mother.

But it wasn't. It wasn't something she could discuss with anyone, apart from the professor.

"No, Maman, there's nothing wrong. Everything is fine." It hurt her to say the words; she winced as they passed her lips. Her mother would know, too, that this was a lie.

The amount of time it took for her to respond was telling. "Okay," she said eventually. "Well, if anything does happen, and you need someone, you know I'm always here, at any time of the day or night."

Her mother's voice was so tender, like a caress down Marinette's back, like a soft kiss on the cheek, like a hug to tell her everything would be okay. By the time Marinette could nod and answer, the words were thick in her throat.

"I know that, Maman. I love you." Could the silent tears brimming over her eyes be heard on the other end?

"I love you too, my blessing."

The phone shook in Marinette's hands. That was her special nickname. Her mother hadn't used it since Marinette had been living at home.

All at once, Marinette wasn't sure she could keep doing this. "I should go work on my hat now," she squeaked, trying not to allow her current state to betray her, trying to get her voice even.

"Sure. Call again soon, alright?"

She sniffed, "Alright," but it was only a whisper.

As soon as the line went dead, Marinette curled up into a fetal position and sobbed. Coccinello would have to wait.

Once Marinette felt she could bear the weight of the world again, she transformed. She knew she couldn't put it off forever — Coccinello needed to know how things had gone that morning with Fu.

Kitty Noire checked the Eiffel Tower, the banks of the Seine, and the Louvre before she finally found him. She was scoping out the Arc de Triomphe, and she almost missed him, but her eyes travelled down the Champs-Elysées and landed on him, relaxing on the roof of a café. She sped over to him, and when he saw her, a smile spread across his features, lighting them up like a Christmas tree.

When she got closer and he saw the somber expression on her face, those lights went out and his smile fell. "Is everything alright, Kitty Cat?"

Kitty Noire wrapped her arms about her middle and she shook her head. "Not really."

Coccinello blinked, waiting for her to elaborate.

Kitty settled in next to him, trying not to think about how betrayed he would feel at the end of her news. Trying not to think about the look in Fu's eyes or the quake in his voice when he'd seen the feather. Trying not to think about her mother. "Earlier today," she started, "I brought the dark feather to someone, specifically to the man who gave me my miracle stone. I realize I should have consulted you before doing so, and I'm sorry about that. I know we're a team. We should make these choices together. It was disrespectful of me." She sighed, hands fidgeting in her lap.

Coccinello put his hands on hers to stop her nervous movements. "It's okay, Kitty. I'm not upset; I trust you. But I thank you all the same. It was thoughtful of you to be concerned about how I'd feel."

Kitty smiled up into his eyes, allowing herself to feel some small relief. It didn't matter that she'd brought someone into their private business; Coccinello trusted that someone because he was the guardian of a miracle stone. She opened her mouth to let him know as much, to thank him for his graciousness, but he spoke first.

"Besides, I trust Professor Fu as well. I think you did a smart thing, taking it to him. If anyone knows what to do about it, it's him."

Suddenly, Kitty Noire froze. How did Coccinello know Fu was the one who gave her her miracle stone? How did he know Fu at all?

His eyes turned to hers as he no doubt felt her stiffen beneath his touch. A raised eyebrow was the only question he managed.

Kitty Noire's heart thumped unevenly. Oh God. Did this mean…? "How… how do you know the professor?"

Coccinello shifted, nervous now. "Well, he gave me my miracle stone, I mean… it would be strange if I didn't know him."

Kitty Noire's jaw fell. She moved away from Coccinello just to get a better look at him. "You're saying Fu gave you your miracle stone, too?" Her mind was blank. All her thoughts had stopped, like trains that had converged on one track and crashed.

Coccinello nodded, a timid, small thing.

Kitty Noire held her head in her hands. "How long have you known this about me?" she breathed out in horror. When did Fu tell Coccinello that he was the guardian of not one, but two miracle stones? When did Coccinello learn that the same man was responsible for both their powers?

And how long had she been in the dark about it?

He gave her the answer she had feared. "Since he gave me my stone. Did he not tell you? Did your kwami not tell you?"

Everything Kitty Noire had been battling with that day came crashing down. All the stress of being a superhero, of keeping secrets from the people she loved most, of not knowing what to do with her stupid swan hat, of the endless drudgery of Sloppy Joes, of everything. Kitty Noire couldn't help herself; she shouted, struggling to keep her voice even but failing. "No! No one told me anything! I didn't even know I'd have a partner until that first battle!" She pulled at her hair in frustration, those tears coming hot and fast yet again, even though she'd been so sure she'd cried herself out that afternoon. "Why didn't he tell me? Why?" Her voice cracked in despair, in desperation. What else was he keeping from her?

Kitty Noire's anger had made Coccinello shy away, but he slowly moved closer to her, reaching for her hands, softly rubbing her back to calm her. "Kitty, Kitty, it's okay."

He was trying to make himself heard over her loud, spastic breathing. Kitty Noire hadn't realized she was hyperventilating. She hadn't realized she'd clenched her fists into ironclad weapons until Coccinello gently pulled them apart. She needed to breathe, she needed to calm down.

Coccinello continued on, oblivious to these realizations. "Had I known, I would have told you. I would have said it to you on the first day. But I had no idea. I was operating under the assumption that we had the same information as the other."

Kitty Noire closed her eyes, focusing on normalizing her breathing. But she was still reeling. Why hadn't Plagg told her? Why hadn't Fu mentioned it this morning? He had acted as if he didn't even know Coccinello, and yet Coccinello was probably giving Fu regular reports or popping into his office hours as often as she was!

Her eyes flew open. A new, horrible realization crashed over her, and she pulled her hands away from her partner to clutch at her stomach. Because she was sure she was going to be sick.

Coccinello whimpered, leaning close again, trying to pull Kitty Noire into his lap. "What happened now, Kitty? Are you ill?"

She shook her head, then nodded, then shook her head. Her eyes had closed again, because she couldn't bear those black spots that danced around her vision.

"You're in my class," it came out strangled, without voice. Kitty Noire was afraid that, if she spoke, she'd puke.

Coccinello said nothing, but just as her mother had done earlier on the phone, Kitty Noire knew that silence.

She grimaced, thinking of nothing but recalibrating her body's center of gravity, trying desperately to ward off the nausea that she knew was only in her mind.

It was a long while before she opened her eyes again, ready to face the question she'd been afraid of this whole time. Because it didn't really matter if Coccinello knew Fu. It didn't matter if he was in her class.

Coccinello met her eyes, his full of shame. She wondered what hers were full of, that would twist him up inside so tightly.

"Do you know who I am?" she breathed.

Because it didn't matter if Coccinello was in her Chinese Mythology class. It didn't matter that he was a student at Université Françoise-Dupont.

What mattered was that maybe they knew each other in their civilian forms. Maybe they had even spoken. Maybe they were… friends.

That thought was what had sent her into a spiral of lightheadedness. The idea of her, as Marinette, talking to one of her classmates, and him smiling, knowing all the while that she was Kitty Noire… it was awful.

But the one word she hadn't expected was the one that came out of his mouth. "No."

Her head whipped up. "No?"

Coccinello shook his head, that shame finally gone. "Not even close. I've known you were in my class since the get-go, and believe me, I've scoured the faces again and again. But I'm nowhere close to finding you, Kitty. Your secret is safe."

He turned back to look at her, a sad smile on his lips.

From that, she knew he was in earnest. "Oh."

Coccinello finally put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her against his side. "Please don't lose sleep over this. I'm not sure why Fu didn't give you the information, but believe me, it hasn't done me all that many favors. But from now on, I promise, that if I learn something, I'll let you know about it right away, just in case."

Kitty inhaled a shaky breath, touched beyond belief. She relaxed into the crook of Coccinello's arm. "Thank you." She almost started to cry all over again, but this time from joy. "I don't deserve you."

He ran his fingers through her hair. "Sure you do. You deserve the world, Kitty Cat."

It reminded her of her conversation with Alya from the night before, and that warmed her heart. Maybe things weren't perfect — maybe her relationship with her mother would always be strained. But at least she had Alya for support for her Marinette problems, and Coccinello for her Kitty Noire problems.

But thinking about her relationship with Coccinello made some of those trains of thought careen back on track. She frowned. "Apparently… our relationship is forbidden, Cocci. Miracle stone wearers aren't permitted to be romantically involved."

He didn't say anything, but this time — she knew — because he was mulling it over. Kitty elaborated in the silence. "But… he also told me he trusts us, whatever that means, and so he's turning a blind eye for the moment, until we do something stupid, I guess." Kitty hugged her knees to her chest, snuggled closer into Cocci's side. What did "something stupid" entail? She remembered back to that day at the Arc de Triomphe, when the two of them had gotten together. Kitty had been afraid then of a relationship being a distraction in battle. But now that they had been together for some time, and knew how to handle battles with maximum efficiency, Kitty had thought her fears had been for nothing. All the monsters they fought were large and brutish, with nothing clever or fearsome about them. They were simple to trip up as long as she and Coccinello used the right technique. But now, with Fu's warning, and all the secrets he'd kept from her… Kitty was beginning to wonder if she had a reason to fear after all. If there was something she didn't know about yet.

But Coccinello just reached for her hand. "Well, fortunately I know exactly how to feel about all of this. We're responsible. We won't let that happen. He's right to trust us."

So Kitty Noire let it go. All of her pain and frustration, resentment and worry. If Coccinello was confident, then she would be too.

She squeezed the hand he'd reached for, her lips forming her first real smile of the day.

Kitty Noire flew home, determined to get to work on all of her stressors, because it wasn't healthy for her to be as overwhelmed as she had been that afternoon. She detransformed into Marinette and started immediately, putting some gentle music on, blazing through her History of Modern Fashion reading, her assignments for all her other classes — including a write up for Chinese Mythology — and even getting to the next step for her swan hat.

She finalized the design, and even though she didn't adore it, it was still good, and that was all she could ask for at this point. As she got her supplies together to create the bowler hat itself, Alya left the room to make dinner, and Plagg took that opportunity to emerge from his bed under Marinette's.

"I thought you didn't like that design," he commented, and she sighed.

"I'm not crazy about it, but it will have to do," she replied, not looking at him in her focus.

"…But isn't it supposed to win a contest?"

She put her supplies down and gave him a look. "Yes. But I think I've given up trying to win. Bowler hats must not be my forte."

Plagg scratched his head. "Why are you entering at all then?"

Marinette stopped and allowed herself to think about that. The concept that she could simply not do the contest hadn't crossed her mind. "I'm not sure," she finally told him.

Plagg floated over to her desk and put his paw on her hand, which was still holding a pair of scissors. "Then don't do it. You've got enough on your plate right now. Maybe skip this contest and enter one you feel inspired for. It's silly to submit a hat that even you wouldn't choose to win."

Marinette remembered her promise to take Plagg's advice — and this advice certainly was logical, and it would help her mental health improve. One thing fewer on her plate. "Okay," she agreed after a few moments. "I just… won't do it, then."

Plagg smiled proudly but as Marinette cleaned up her materials, her stomach pulled with shame. It wasn't like her to give up, especially when it was something she knew she could do. Marinette was aware, deep inside herself, that she had the ability to make the most amazing bowler hat the Parisian Design House had ever seen, if only she could find the right bird.

So she added a condition to her promise. If inspiration struck — even for the swan — she'd go straight back to her sketchpad.

The next day, Marinette didn't catch a single word of Professor Fu's lecture. She was too busy scoping out her entire class. A part of her felt guilty doing it, knowing how upset she'd gotten yesterday just thinking about the reverse of the situation. But her curiosity was too strong to be resisted. She was dying to know who, among the fifty or so other college students that were in this room, was Coccinello?

She knew he had blond hair, and there were a handful of guys with blond hair that she could see. First was Sunflower Boy, and Marinette balked just thinking about it. Could Sunflower Boy be Coccinello?

She considered it for just a moment, and then put a lid on that consideration. Of course he couldn't. Coccinello had a personality; Sunflower Boy didn't. Coccinello was amazing and thoughtful and caring and… the list went on. Sunflower Boy was none of those things. And besides, he was already in a relationship with Chloé. Unless Coccinello was the kind of guy who would use his superhero identity to become a two-timer, which Marinette was 100% sure he wasn't, then it was impossible.

She moved onto the rest of the class. Marinette didn't particularly know the other blond students, and she imagined herself trying to make friends with them out of nowhere, and how odd that would seem to them. Unless one of them was Coccinello, then he'd know exactly what she was up to, and would also then realize that she had to be Kitty Noire.

Marinette broke out in a sweat just thinking about it. That option was out.

But what could she do? Sit in this classroom for the rest of the semester and never find out?

As she looked about some more, trying to lock eyes with any guy who even turned his head her way, trying to find those mirrors that would let her know what she was searching for, another thought hit her, and it filled her with dread.

What if Coccinello wasn't even blond at all? It was true that when Marinette was Kitty Noire, her hair became a more vibrant black, as if it, too, was charged with that magical electricity running through her blood. Was it too much of a stretch to assume the same probably happened to Coccinello?

She sighed in defeat. It was hopeless. Even in a room of fifty people, she still wasn't any closer to finding him than she would be if every man in the entirety of Paris lined up on the block. She put her head on her desk and realized now why Coccinello still didn't know her identity, after all this time of knowing she was right here. She truly understood now why he had said it didn't make any difference.

But that didn't change the fact that she had been in the dark. After class, Marinette went directly to Fu's office hours.

"Back again so soon?"

She could only nod, her chest tight. Marinette closed the door behind her and took a seat in one of her professor's guest chairs.

Fu immediately turned to give her his full attention. Marinette never sat.

"Is something wrong?"

She just nodded again, growing angry as she felt that telltale burning behind her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me everything?"

Professor Fu didn't answer immediately. "Which everything are we discussing here?"

Marinette threw her hands up, frustrated. "Oh, I don't know. Like, what a kwami even is, and why you entrusted me with one, and what I was expected to do and should know, and the fact that you owned not one, but two miracle stones, and that I'd have a partner to battle the monsters with, instead of being alone as I had assumed, and also the fact that said partner is in your class!" Marinette said in one big breath, the ends of words ramming into the beginnings of others, and mixing with the tears that turned her throat thick and made her even harder to comprehend. By the time she was finished, she was crying, and she wasn't even sure if the professor had understood her, if he knew why she was angry.

Fu let her ride out her episode, and simply listened as Marinette sobbed quietly into her hands, letting loose all her pent-up emotion.

Once she was finished, and was running her arm over her eyes to dry them, the professor merely said, "I'm sorry."

She waited for him to elaborate, but he never did. "You're sorry? That's it?"

Fu sighed. "I don't have a good excuse against your accusations, Marinette. I'm sorry I failed you. You're right, I should have been more communicative. It has been so long since I've lent my miracle stones to other wielders, I've forgotten how to trust them. Your trust is invaluable to me, and I hope I didn't lose it by failing to meet the standards you had come to expect of me."

Marinette slouched deeper into the chair, trying to retain her anger, but it simply wasn't there anymore. She still trusted Fu, he still had her high regard. "You didn't. I just… want to know what you're keeping from me." He smiled, nodding. "That's a very reasonable request. From here on out, there will be no secrets between us."

Was it really that easy? Had Marinette jumped to conclusions in thinking that Fu had kept her out of the loop purposely? "Well… if that's the case, what does it mean for a hero to 'go bad'?" she blurted, testing his promise.

"For some wielders, the prospect of magical power consumes them. They grow corrupted, they forget their mission to protect and serve, and instead turn their backs on the guardians. They become villains, in short."

"Has it happened before? To a wielder you'd appointed?" Marinette's resentment toward him vanished completely now; she was too enraptured in the information he was so willing to give her.

He shook his head gravely. "Not a wielder I'd chosen personally. But others, trusted by guardians before me."

They both grew silent. Marinette tried to imagine herself turning her back on Fu and Coccinello, instead trying to discover how to exploit Plagg's powers to make herself stronger… the images made her shiver. In no lifetime could she ever do it.

Fu guessed her thoughts. "You have been the wielder I'm most proud of, Marinette. Your strength and determination are something I admire daily."

She ducked her head, blushing, searching for her humility. "You're just trying to butter me up," she accused, but it was without bite. All she could think about was that he probably didn't feel that way about Coccinello.

"No, it's the truth. Anything else on your mind?"

And he smiled when she said, "Hmm, just another hundred things."

Once she left the humanities building, Marinette met Alya for lunch at the ChiCafé. They both sipped on their soup, happy for the extra warmth in the weather that was growing chillier by the day.

They chatted about their classes and other nothing topics when Alya brightened suddenly. "Oh, that's right!"

"What happened?" Marinette asked, blowing on her spoon.

"So, I talked to Nino. It turns out that Adrien and Chloé are in fact not dating, but they used to." Alya raised her eyebrows, waiting expectantly for a freak out.

But none came. Marinette shrugged dismissively. Adrien was the last person on Marinette's mind these days, and she had no scruples telling Alya so.

Alya gawked. "Are you sure? You used to be crazy about this guy. Now you find out he's actually been single this whole time and you're not jumping at the chance to hop aboard that dreamboat?" She looked at her friend as if she had gone a little crazy.

Marinette laughed. "Oh, Alya. I never thought I'd hear you call Adrien a dreamboat. And as for that, it's never going to happen. That boat left the harbor a long time ago. I wished it bon voyage and moved on with my life."

Under other circumstances, Alya may not have believed Marinette; she may have thought her friend was simply acting strong, not wanting to go back to her old flame in case she got burned again. But as she watched Marinette calmly eat her soup, her expression complete contentment, she couldn't help but smile with pride.

"Besides," Marinette added, "Adrien and Chloé may have broken up, but they are clearly not over each other. You should have seen them that day." She shot Alya a pointed look and Alya had to nod.

"You're probably right. Still," she sighed, "I can't help but be disappointed. Nino and I had such high hopes for the two of you."

Marinette put her spoon down and smiled at Alya. "It's okay. I'm just happy Adrien is happy. I hope he and Chloé get back together soon."

Alya's eyes abruptly took on a steely glint. "Hmm. Let's say… what if Adrien ended things with Chloé for real, and he asked you out? Would you keep this up or would you accept his offer?"

Marinette almost spit out her soup. Dang it, where was that out-of-town boyfriend she had said she'd make up? She was starting to think she was going to need him if she wanted to get her matchmaking friends off her back.

At the Parisian Design House, things weren't much better. Mireille and Théo were bantering at the front desk — as they usually did — and they dragged Marinette into their debate — as they usually did.

"I mean, I hope this doesn't mean they're going to leave Paris, or stop being heroes, or whatever it could mean," Mireille cried. "Wouldn't that be awful? I love them!"

"But if there wasn't more evil to fight, why would they hang around?" Théo argued.

"Marinette, what do you think?" Mireille jumped up when she saw her, physically pulling her by the arm to join in their conversation.

"What do I think about what?" she asked, although she could gather from context that it was a debate about herself and Coccinello.

"The news airing! Coccinello and Kitty Noire helped bring all the coma victims back! So I'm thinking the evil is gone, and it makes me happy, but also sad because that probably means Kitty and Cocci will go back to being regular people, and we won't have superheroes anymore." She pouted.

Marinette's pulse spiked. Although she knew it wasn't true, what would happen when they defeated the evil? She hadn't ever considered it. Would she ever see Coccinello again?

"The evil is not gone. A new monster could pop up any minute now!" Théo countered.

Marinette nodded, momentarily relieved. As much as she hated it, it made her happy. She didn't want to think about a future in which Coccinello was not her friend.

Wrapped up in her own thoughts, Marinette hadn't realized both interns were staring at her expectantly. "Um… What do I think? I think… I think that I like the heroes and I want them to stay, but I'm not sure about anything else." She put up her hands and feigned ignorance.

Théo grumbled. "Of course you want them to stay. Or should I say, you want Coccinello to," he teased, crossing his arms.

Marinette grew pink; she tried not to but she couldn't help herself. He wasn't wrong… Then she straightened. Why was he saying it like that? Did he suspect?

But Mireille brushed away her concerns. "Duh, doesn't every girl? And come on, Théo. I could say the same about you and Kitty Noire. Every guy in Paris dreams of getting some private time with her," she poked him in the shoulder and he hid his face, but Mireille laughed, knowing he was blushing as well.

That image made Marinette grow incredibly uncomfortable, and she moved to leave when Mireille called her back.

"Oh, wait! I meant to ask, are you doing the hat contest?"

Marinette froze in her tracks. "I'm… not sure," she fibbed, well aware that Plagg was listening in her purse.

"Well, you should! I know you're a really talented designer! I can't wait till mine is done! I'm going to do a swan! How beautiful and graceful will that be?" Her eyes swam with hearts but Marinette's actual heart sank into her shoes.

Then Théo delivered an arguably more crushing blow. "I'm doing a penguin, for your information, Mireille. It will take the judges by storm. Unique because it's flightless," he bragged.

But Mireille just laughed at him. "If you wanted to pick a bird based solely on whether or not it could fly, you should have chosen the dodo. I've heard they were flightless, and it would suit you perfectly," she stuck her tongue out and poked his forehead this time.

Théo swatted her away and Marinette took that as her cue to go, her heart heavy. So much for that. Mireille had taken her swan idea, and Théo's penguin sounded absolutely brilliant. Now she might as well actually give up the contest — there was no way she could win after hearing about their designs. She could do the parrot, as her mother had suggested, but… Marinette interrupted that thought. It was no use now.

That night, Marinette tossed all her swan designs and filed her notebook back on her shelf. Her shoulders fell, but she told herself it was for the best. Now she could focus on more important things, like her grades, and being Kitty Noire, and now she could help Ronaldo some more with his crazy flamingo hat.

She knew she was just making excuses to help herself feel better, so she buried herself in more homework to avoid thinking about it. She had a quiz coming up for History of Modern Fashion and she had hardly studied.

It was close to 22:00 when her phone buzzed, and Marinette's brow furrowed. Alya was sitting right at the desk next to hers. Who else would text her at this hour? Her parents were fast asleep.

She fished it out of her bag and nearly jumped out of her skin. It was from Fu.

"I have finished grading the assignment you turned in earlier today. Come by the Trocadero to get feedback on it. No need to bring your lucky charm," it read, and Marinette had to look it over a few times before she realized it was in a sort of code. Their conversation about security measures came back to her, and then she realized what exactly her "lucky charm" was supposed to be.

She stood abruptly from her chair, and Alya turned to see what had her so tense all of a sudden.

Marinette's mind raced, and she blabbered, "I… just realized I left something… at the Joe! Gotta hurry and get there quick before they close!" She laughed nervously, cringing at herself as she ran out of the room and down the stairs into the nearby alley.

Plagg materialized out of her purse, crossing his arms and giving her a look. "You know you didn't even go to 'the Joe' today, right?" He made air quotes around her nickname for her workplace.

"Yeah, yeah, but not now! We have major business to attend to! Plagg, transform me!" she cried, anxious to get there. Professor Fu had an answer!

Once she was Kitty Noire, she launched herself out into the night. Fu had explicitly asked her not to bring Coccinello. Did that mean this was a secret discussion, between just the two of them? She wasn't sure how she felt about that.

A few minutes later, though, she arrived at the Trocadero, and there Fu was, sitting on a bench, looking like any other Parisian enjoying themselves in the outdoors. Except for the fact that it was quite late, nothing seemed suspicious.

And there, in the shadows, stood Coccinello.

Seeing him relieved Kitty Noire. She didn't like secrets between them.

She landed at his side, and they walked together into the light from an overhead lamppost.

Fu looked up at last, expression unsurprised. "So. There's something neither of you know about."

Kitty Noire frowned in trepidation.

"You both know that there are two miracle stones. The black cat and the ladybug; you know this because they are right here, in front of you, the rings on your fingers giving you these powers as we speak."

Kitty Noire looked over at Coccinello's hand, and noticed for the first time a ring, large and red, completely camouflaging itself in the red of his suit. She had no idea that the miracle stones were both rings. But what else would they be?

Fu continued. "Of course, what you don't know, is that there are actually more than two. There are seven miracle stones in all."

Both Kitty Noire and Coccinello started in shock. Kitty's thoughts raced. Seven stones? So many more than she had conceived! And what other powers did they bring?

"I am a guardian, like three others, whose job it is to guard the miracle stones they possess with their life. To avoid risks, each guardian is allowed to carry no more than two miracle stones on their person at a time. My two stones, as you know, were the ones I entrusted you with. But there are three more guardians just like me, who could have chosen disciples to lend their powers to in order to combat this evil. Or, I should say, there were. Now there are but two." Fu's countenance darkened and Kitty Noire's breathing sped up.

"Caline Bustier disappeared. I tried to contact her, and she did not answer, which was very unlike her. So I investigated the school at which she works, and found she had simply not returned to work one day. That day was around the time the first monster appeared in Paris."

Coccinello looked down at the ground somberly. Kitty Noire's stomach flipped. She was dreading Fu's next words, she was afraid because she already knew what they would be.

"Then you brought me that feather, Kitty Noire, and I knew at once what had happened. You see, Mme. Bustier was the guardian of just one miracle stone; the peacock. And it is the peacock stone that uses these feathers. The wearer enchants what they pluck from their weapon, which is the fan. That feather melds itself into the back of the neck of whoever the wearer chooses — maybe an ally of theirs. The feather allows the peacock wielder to read their ally's emotions, so that they can create a creature to fight for the ally, or defend them, or help them in some way. That creature is called a sentimonster. The two of you have been battling these sentimonsters this whole time, although I did not know that's what they were until today."

The heroes were silent. Kitty had so many questions, but she knew the professor wasn't finished, so she waited.

"Ordinarily, that is what the peacock miracle stone allows one to do. However, these feathers are black, which means this miracle stone has been cursed. Its powers have been corrupted to do evil. Now, when the wielder melds their feathers into the necks of their allies — or in this case, those they have kidnapped to do their bidding — the sentimonster manifests around the person, instead of outside them, trapping the feather inside. It was very important that the two of you removed these cursed feathers from the victims. Now, whoever it is that is wielding this stone no longer has any influence over them." With this, Fu gave his protégés a small smile.

"However, your work is far from over. What's most important now is finding who has this miracle stone, and taking it back from them. At all costs this must be done," he finished, this tone grave.

Kitty Noire stared at her feet, her thoughts swimming. Her brain felt full, as if she could feel the weight of the new information bloating her mind. She put a clawed hand to her head. How were they going to find this person? How were they going to defeat them?