This chapter contains nothing graphic.

—

"Why can't you just listen to me for once?"

It was startling hearing Ladybug say something so harsh. Sure, Alya was a little enthusiastic when it came to superheroes, but she never really felt 'in the way' before.

It came from a place of concern, she thought. Or maybe Ladybug was having a bad day.

Either way, the tone in her voice offered no room for argument and Alya was left with no choice but to go home.

An hour later, she still heard booms across Paris, and her journalistic integrity got the better of her.

Soon she, along with a begrudging Nino, were off to investigate what was taking so long.

The path of the Akuma was not hard to find, considering all the damage to the roads. Occasionally, there was a building with a hole in it, but mostly just the roads.

"I hope they're okay." Nino said, staring at a crater in the cement.

"They're fine. They're superheroes after all!"

Then Alya's phone rang, with Sabine Cheng on the ID. "Hi mom," Alya greeted casually.

"Hi honey, you haven't happened to have seen Marinette, have you? I know you two aren't...really getting along right now."

Alya rolled her eyes. She and Marinette could be just fine if she just admitted she had a problem and went too far. "I wouldn't worry about it too much, we'll be okay. Marinette hasn't come home?"

"No! It's been nearly two hours since the Akuma came out and she hasn't checked in! I haven't gotten a text or anything! I tried calling her, but it's going straight to voicemail. I even tried to track her phone, but I can't find her. So she's somewhere out of service…"

"That's odd..."

"What's up?" Asked Nino, helpfully.

"Marinette didn't come home."

"Huh..."

"Nino and I are out trying to get the scoop on the Akuma. If I see any sign of her, I'll let you know."

"Thank you, Alya!"

"Oh!" Alya shouted right before Sabine could hang up. "Hold on, did you call the school? I think Marinette had detention with Miss Mendeleiev. She might be serving it somewhere else."

"Detention? What for?"

"She…she was talking to Miss Bustier, and then came to class without a pass." Alya said this with guilt in her chest. She should have said something. No matter how she felt about her friend. She should have stuck up for her when she was telling the truth.

I'm not lying!

"Oh my…well, I'll try Miss Mendeleiev's cell. Thank you Alya."

"We'll still keep our eyes out. Let me know if you find her!" And with that, she ended the call. But she just stared at the phone in worry.

"Now you're worried about Marinette?" Nino asked. It came out harsher than he meant, but it was an honest question.

"Of course, she's my best friend."

Nino crossed his arms. "Look, I know that's what you want to believe, but—"

"But what, Nino? You heard what Lila said! She was caught red handed taking dirty pictures of him!"

"Adrien said Lila is lying."

"He wouldn't know! He doesn't know her like I do!"

He gave her a look. "Okay, step back for a second. Do you think Marinette is really the kind of person to do this?"

"She stole his phone, Nino."

"So? That's not the same thing. Adrien said Lila lied about knowing Ladybug."

"No way! Lila does know Ladybug! They're on a first name basis!"

"So are you."

"That's different!" She got closer and whispered conspiratorially, "she says she knows Ladybug's identity."

His eye brows rose. "And you believe her?"

"Of course!"

"Why?"

Alya opened her mouth, and then shut it. Why indeed? Because she wanted to? Because it was easy? She bristled and shot back, "who's side are you on, anyway? I thought Adrien was your best friend?"

"He is," Nino said easily. "And I'm on his side. And he's on Marinette's side."

Alya scoffed, "he's just being nice! Or naïve! I don't know! He doesn't know how dangerous she is!"

Nino gave her a look of question. "Marinette? Dangerous?"

"He doesn't know her like I do. She can be...intense."

"I mean...I'm pretty sure he knows, Alya. She told everyone what she's done."

"Well, Lila can't be lying!"

"Why not?"

"Because that means I totally disregarded my integrity as a journalist and listened to some nobody, simultaneously betraying my hero and my best friend…More so my best friend. Thus, making me a terrible person, a shitty reporter, and a useless friend."

"At least you admitted it."

"Ugh!" She buried her face in her hands. "Why would you say that? You're not helping!"

"I think I am. That's what couples do, right? Help each other become better people?"

"Nino…if she ran away or worse…it'll be my fault. And she'll never know how sorry I am!"

"Well, you know Marinette, better than anybody. If anyone can find her, it's you. And you know what it takes to apologize."

Alya frowned, "still…I'm confused about Lila."

"What do you mean?"

"She's always been so nice. I don't understand why she would be lying."

"She could be telling the truth, or think she is and it wasn't Marinette. It could be a misunderstanding."

"Maybe…" Alya frowned, in thought. "I don't like this. I don't even care about the akuma anymore, let's go find Marinette."

"Now that is something I don't mind investigating."

—

They stopped at Kim's first, because he was the closest at the time.

"Kim!" Alya shouted, while pounding on the wood. "Open up! We have an emergency!"

"Hold your horses!" He shouted from inside. "I'm coming!" A few seconds passed, before he opened the door, just slightly. "The whole city is in an emergency! Didn't you see the akuma?!"

"Of course I did!" She crossed her arms, pissed at the notion. She had been the first to post about it, after all. "But we have bigger problems! Marinette's missing!"

He scoffed. "She's probably just ignoring you. Ignoring all of us. I…don't really blame her."

"No, she hasn't been home either. Her mom can't get ahold of her."

"Wait wait," he opened the door fully. "She didn't go home?"

"No!"

He frowned. "Look, I don't really feel good about the whole naked Agreste photo thing, but Marinette is still my friend. So I'm going to put that aside. Just let me grab my shoes."

It went like that from house to house of all their classmates. The second that Alya mentioned she was missing, they all got over their grudge. Mostly.

—

Sabine was sick with worry. It had been six hours since Marinette had gone missing and she still hadn't come home. Tom came in, panting from his run. "Is she back? Have you heard anything?"

"No, nothing!" She cried. "Alya and Nino went to check around school and at their classmate's houses. But there's been no word!"

Her phone dinged, a message from Alya. "We've asked everyone, even Chloe. No one saw her since the Akuma attack. Any word from the police? "

Sabine typed back. "No, not one bit. They said they can't help with someone over the age of sixteen unless they've been missing for 24 hours! But they said they'll let us know if they find anything. But that sounded like…if they find her body."

"That's bullcrap. We're on our way back. Maybe we can brainstorm a place that we haven't checked yet."

"Did you check with Adrien too?"

"We rang the bell and texted him, but no answer. He's the only one we can't get ahold of. But that's not that unusual."

"I'll try calling Gabriel's secretary."

"Okay, we're on our way back."

Sabine then went to her contacts and scrolled through the list. Then she dialed Nathalie Sancouer.

"Hello, Who is this?"

"Hi there, this is Sabine Cheng. My daughter Marinette is in Adrien's class."

"Ah, yes. Mrs. Cheng. How can I help you?"

"Well, we're panicking over here. Marinette never came home after that Akuma appeared and we can't find her anywhere. No one has seen her. We were wondering if Adrien did?"

Nathalie was quiet on the other line, before she said, "can you hold on for a moment?"

"Of course."

Tom turned on the tv, where Nadja was covering the Akuma, who had disappeared two hours ago, but the damage had remained. There had been a brief appearance of Ladybug and Chat Noir, but no word of them since.

"Any luck?" He asked.

"She has me on hold."

Then, there was a thundering of footsteps up the stairs before Alya, Nino, and the rest of the class, excluding Chloe and Sabrina, all came in the room.

"Anything?" Asked Alya, panting.

"I'm talking to Mr. Agreste's secretary right now. I think she's asking Adrien."

"Mrs. Cheng?" Nathalie asked over the phone.

"Yes, I'm here!"

"Are you home right now?"

"Yes?"

"And you live at the bakery by the school, correct?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Mr. Agreste and I will be over shortly. He would like to discuss this in person." That was surprising. Mr. Agreste? Here?

"Ah, okay. Yes, we'll see you soon then. The door is unlocked, just come up."

"We'll there shortly."

Sabine hung up, staring at the phone.

"Well?" Asked Alya, "did Adrien say anything?"

"No...Gabriel is on his way over. He wants to talk to us in person."

Nino winced, "that can't be good."

"You don't think..." began Alix, "that they ran away together?"

This was waved off with a snort from Kim. "Yeah right, after that whole photo fiasco, I think he'd try to stay as far away as possible."

"You must be blind if you didn't notice the way Adrien was treating her. If he hasn't dropped her by now, I doubt he will."

Lila sniffed. "Oh, this is all my fault. I just wanted Adrien to know what I saw, and I knew it would be best to get her friends involved, I just didn't realize she would take it so badly."

Alix scoffed. "Well, she got caught and called out. How did you think she would react?"

"I thought, maybe she'd see the error of her ways, and that we'd all be friends."

Alya scrunched up her nose. Something didn't feel right about this situation. Glancing over at Tom and Sabine, it was visible that they were put off by the topic.

"Did you tell Mr. Agreste?" Mylene asked. "You know how protective he is of Adrien."

"I did. I thought he deserved to know. He thanked me and said he was considering a restraining order. That's not what I intended, but maybe it's for the best." She glanced at Tom and Sabine. "Do…do you know what Marinette did?"

Sabine frowned, hard. "Yes, I know all about the rumor."

"It's not a rumor, Mrs. Cheng. I saw her for real—"

"Let me stop you, sweetheart." Sabine held up a hand. "Right now, we are worried about Marinette's safety. I don't want to hear about your petty drama."

"I understand, but please, you need to know—"

"I know." Sabine snapped, angrily. It wasn't often that she got angry, but when her daughter's safety and well being were attacked, then she turned into mama bear. "I know what you think you saw, or what you're insisting you saw. But if you're trying to tell me that my daughter, my flesh and blood that I have raised to be a wonderful woman being, is a liar and a creep, then you have another thing coming. I'm tired, and I'm worried sick. Don't test me."

Lila stared at the woman in shock, and then held her arm, sheepishly. "I was just trying to do the right thing for Marinette."

"Just drop it, Lila." Alix drawled. "We've all heard the story, and no one cares anymore."

"Let's all just take a deep breath." Alya insisted. "Mr. Agreste will be here at any minute. He might have snagged Marinette for some fashion thing and forgot to tell anyone, right?"

While that was the best case scenario, it was highly unlikely.

Nadja was back on the screen, near the Arc De Triomphe. "This was the last location the Akuma was spotted, and the damage to the structure still remains. The Akuma spawned at the renovation site of Notre Dame, where witnesses say a construction worker was akumatized after accidentally collapsing a scaffolding. No casualties have been reported, luckily. According to the Ladyblog, the official new source for all things Ladybug, Ladybug and Chat Noir were spotted on their way to intercept the akuma, though reporter Alya Cesaire was asked to leave by Ladybug, for her own safety. No one else has seen or heard from the heroes since. Which begs the question:

"Has Hawkmoth finally won?"

"No," said Alya easily. "There's no way. We would have known."

"Lila!" Kim exclaimed. "You know Ladybug personally! Can't you call her? See what's going on!"

Lila shyly shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know if that's a good idea. What if she's in the middle of a fight? What if I distract her?"

There was then a knock at the door.

Sabine swiftly answered it, to find Gabriel, Nathalie, and the Gorilla on the other side. "Mr. Agreste, thank you for coming. Please come in." She gestured inside.

The rest of the classmates were quiet, half watching the TV and half watching Gabriel.

"I'm sorry, we're a little crowded here. The kids just came back from their search party."

"Any word?" Gabriel asked.

Alya spoke up. "Nothing. We checked the school, the library, everyone's house, even Chloe's. Officer Raincomprix is out looking in the parks. We were just waiting to hear back from Adrien."

Gabriel looked at the assembled students, deflating slightly. "Adrien…hasn't been home yet. We can't find him either. He texted his driver at noon, around the time the akuma surfaced and said he was going somewhere safe to hide. That was the last we heard from him."

"Where's 'somewhere safe'?" Sabine asked.

Gabriel looked at the Gorilla, who simply shook his head. "I assumed it was with a friend. Perhaps Mr. Lahiffe or Miss Bourgeois. Though I was not made aware of the problem until a few hours too late. I was…busy." He frowned. "Adrien made me aware of classroom drama that was taking place. When you called, I immediately deduced that they would be together. At least, that is my hope."

"When was the last time anyone saw either of them?" Alya asked the room.

Nino answered. "When that akuma attacked, we all evacuated the building. Me and Adrien were together, but I saw him dart into the locker room. I assumed he was just grabbing something. Then I waited for a while outside, and then I saw you, Alya, coming back from chasing the akuma."

"So Adrien never came out of the locker room?" Gabriel asked.

"Not while I was waiting for him, which was like, 15 minutes? We checked the whole school though. No one's there."

"Okay, anyone see him in the locker room?" Alya continued.

No one spoke up.

"What about Marinette?" Sabine asked.

"She was the first one out the door when the akuma appeared." Nathaniel stated. "She took off pretty quickly."

"So the school," said Gabriel, "that was the last place both of them were seen."

"No one saw them anywhere else?" Alya asked.

Again, silence.

"This doesn't make sense. We checked everywhere they go. Where else could they have gone? What could have happened?"

"Maybe she killed herself." Alix stated, rather harshly.

Sabine gasped in horror.

Kim elbowed Alix. "Dude, shut up. Marinette wouldn't do that. Even if she was having a bad day."

Rose spoke up, "did you make sure to check with other family members? Her grandma?"

"I've called everyone in our address book. No one has seen her." Sabine offered, starting to cry.

Tom wrapped an arm around his wife. "Oh, my little honey bun. It'll be alright, we'll find them."

"Unfortunately," said Gabriel, "I believe we've exhausted our resources here. I'll call my Private Investigator and get a more thorough search started."

Just as he took out his phone, the TV cut to static and the picture fuzzed out. Max noticed it first, and went to fix it.

A woman in reflective sunglasses appeared on the screen. "Good evening Paris." She said.

The volume was just loud enough to get everyone's attention.

"Please excuse me for interrupting whatever pointless drivel you were consumed with. My name is Salo. I'm not an akuma, but you'll soon wish I was. I have succeeded where all the others have failed." She stepped back to show Ladybug and Chat Noir, bound and gagged.