It was bigger than she imagined them to be. Black and chrome, shinier even than the baubles that hung in the village centre. Gina ran a reverent hand down its length then patted it proudly, smiling widely at Adrien and Marinette.

"A motorbike, Nonna?"

"Your parents are worried, my little sweet pea. I have told them – she is my granddaughter. She is strong and she can do anything. But I also know that you need a little help sometimes. I don't have much to offer, but perhaps a little transportation is just what you need. It's not like you can go off and defeat the Krampus in Santa's sleigh now, can you?"

Marinette spluttered. "But Nonna, I can't even ride a motorcycle!"

"Well how about you, handsome boy? Can you ride a motorcycle?"

Adrien was busy looking at the bike, barely paying them any attention. "Of course! No problem," he said, crouching down to touch the chrome wheels.

"There we are then, problem solved. Oh, Marinette!" She grabbed her granddaughter, pulling her into a warm hug. "This will be so good for you! And after it's all taken care of we'll go on a trip, me and you. We'll travel the world. See the Taj Mahal. Climb the Burj Khalifa. Explore Machu Pichu! It will be wonderful, no?"

Marinette smiled uncertainly.

"That sounds great. The thing with the bike though... it's not exactly something you can ride in the snow."

"Of course not, my dear. You fly it. Snow won't be a problem."

Adrien peeked up from behind the bike, his eyes shining.

"Just like Sirius Black!"

Marinette rolled her eyes, controlling her smile over Adrien's wonder.

"Well, I guess... thank you, Nonna."

"Yes, thank you," Adrien agreed.

"Well then." Gina placed her hands on either side of Marinette's face. "My beautiful granddaughter, how quickly you have grown." She kissed each cheek before letting her go.

"And Adrien." She gave him the same treatment. "Both of you take care of each other. I must dash. Good luck!"

Marinette turned to Adrien. "Well, I suppose that's that problem conveniently solved."
She looked at her phone, it was nearly midnight.

"Time for bed, I'm exhausted. Training is going to be intense if tonight is anything to go by."

Adrien nodded, giving the bike one last look. They flicked off the lights and headed out. Marinette opened her messages. It had been hours since she text Alya and hadn't had a reply yet. It was practically unheard of. She couldn't still be upset, could she? Nora was home now. She checked the message. It was unread.

Which was fine. Absolutely fine.

So what if Alya hadn't gone more than two waking minutes without checking her phone for as long as Marinette had known her? It was an annoying habit but at least you knew you could always get hold of her.

Almost always.

She was probably in a place with no signal. And she was probably really involved with chasing leads on the missing elves.

"-inette?"

"Hmm?" She blinked at Adrien who was waving a hand in front of her face.

"I was just saying, what time are we meeting tomorrow to train?"

She looked down at her phone again, screen black. Adrien's hand came down on her shoulder.

"What's wrong?"

"Ah, umm... nothing. It's probably nothing..." Her eyebrows drew together and her worry echoed in his eyes.

"Talk to me, Marinette. We're partners, right?"

She chewed her lip, nodding slowly.

"Yeah, you're right. Partners. Thanks, Adrien. It probably really is nothing."

Adrien shook his head.

"If you're worried about it, it isn't nothing."

She smiled but worry still creased her forehead.

"It's Alya," she said, bringing her screen back to life and showing him the unread message. "It's just not like her to not reply, you know?"

Adrien nodded.

"Alright, well it's too late to do anything about it right now. She could just be tucked up in bed. She's been working hard. But we'll go to her dorm and check at her parent's place as well first thing in the morning, okay? And I'll see if Nino knows where she is."

Marinette nodded mutely.

"Then for now, bed," he urged, taking her arm and steering her away from the armoury.

The next morning dawned bright and clear and for the first time Marinette woke before her alarm.

Immediately she checked her phone. Still unread. She'd gotten little sleep, anxieties causing her to toss and turn most of the night. Now she got dressed and headed to the kitchen.

No one else was up yet. She grabbed a banana and her water bottle and headed to the gym, Tikki following sleepily behind her.

Everything in her ached. Her legs were stiff, her arms were heavy and even her bum hurt from falling on it so many times. She stretched then jumped on the treadmill, taking it easy. Alone, the room quiet save the pounding of her feet, her thoughts came to the fore.

The pressure she refused to acknowledge up to this point, all the expectations everyone held for her – supervisor, future Santa, investigator and now Ladybug, the saviour of Christmas and champion over the Krampus – it all came to an overwhelming head. And so she ran, because it seemed all she could do. Tikki sat snuggled in her bag, watching and chewing on a cookie.

After she showered she found Adrien outside, waiting for her.

"You weren't at home. I thought I'd check here first," he said, handing her a steaming drink. "I guess I got lucky." She took it gratefully.

The bitter taste of coffee made her grimace. It wasn't usually something she drank but today she was glad for it.

"Thanks."

"I've messaged Nino. I've not had a reply yet though."

"Right."

They walked together in the crisp morning air, stopping first at Alya's dorm room. Marinette hesitated only briefly before knocking. It was still pretty early. After a moment they heard shuffling behind the door, then a bleary eyed Mylene appeared wearing an oversized Jagged Stone tee-shirt and her hair sticking out at odd angles.

"Oh hey, Marinette. You're here about Alya, right?" She said, rubbing at one eye. "I've already talked to her parents, I haven't seen her. She barely ever comes back at the moment. Her bed wasn't slept in last night. That's all I know, sorry."

Marinette paled, her heart beat loud in her ears.

"Are.. d-do you mean... Alya's missing?"

"I'm really sorry, Marinette. I wish I could be more help." Smiling sympathetically, she waved them off and closed the door.

She thought she was going to cry. Her chest constricted, her throat burned but then that fire became determination. Her face set she turned to Adrien.

"We need to find Nino and check CCTV, see if we can find out what happened."

He nodded, his face pinched. They took off running, Marinette's soreness from the day before forgotten. First to Nino's dorm room, his parents and finally the radio station. He was nowhere to be found.

"Maybe... I think maybe we should check Alya's investigation room."

"The room I found you guys in yesterday? With the radio?"

She nodded, already walking down the hall. When they got there it looked exactly as they had left it yesterday. Photos on the walls looked unseeing down at them and Marinette shivered thinking that now Alya and Nino could be up there too, their faces blank, emotionless. Alya was always so full of life she couldn't even imagine it.

"There has to be something here to help us. Alya worked so hard to investigate. I just know she would have left something."

Adrien walked around the room, looking at the faces, giving each one his focussed attention.

"Didn't she keep all her notes and stuff on her though? I always saw her with her phone or notebook. She never put them down."

Marinette bit her lip.

"Yeah, but I'm hoping she backed up her data. And maybe left something, anything."

"Alright," Adrien said. "Let's look around."