I honestly can't believe we're here at the end! Thanks so much for reading!

Chapter 57: The Unclocker, Part 3

"I'm sorry," The Unclocker said. "You were right. I - Hawkmoth is the problem here, not you."

Slowly, The Unclocker slid her watch off of her wrist and laid it on the ground.

"I surrender," The Unclocker said.

Ladybug smiled, walking up and grabbing the watch. With relative ease, she smashed it, and a butterfly flew out.

"No more evil doing for you," Ladybug said. She easily captured the akuma.

"No lucky charm," Chat Noir commented. "How do you plan on using your cure?"

"Lucky charm," Ladybug called. A pad of spotted paper fell into her hands.

"Oh, right. Anyone got a pen?"

"I do," someone offered.

Ladybug scribbled a quick note, tore the paper off, and tossed the notebook up.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

The Ladybug swarmed the room. Ladybug could feel her ankle heel, the cuts on her face and ears disappear, and the dust from Blasto's explosions dissipate.

Chat Noir grinned as the butterflies disappeared. "That felt great."

"You!"

Adeline marched up to the superheroes, raging mad.

The cure would have fixed the timeline, so she wouldn't remember their conversation. That meant she was, once again, angry."

"Adeline," Ladybug said. "I know what happened to you, and I'm sorry. But this was Hawkmoth's fault, and Chat Noir and I cannot surrender to him."

"Yeah, just imagine what he'd do with a cataclysm," Chat Noir chimed in.

Adeline stopped, eyes widening. "Oh, um..."

"I wrote a note for your interviewers," Ladybug continued. "I wish I could do this for everyone, but- anyways, I hope this clears everything over."

Ladybug handed her the sheet of paper.

"Oh, uh, thank you?" Adeline replied.

"And thank you," Ladybug replied. "For everything."

"Uhhh," Adeline stammered.

"I don't know about you," Chat Noir said. "But I need a good nights sleep. See in the morning?"

"See you in the morning," Ladybug replied. "Bug out!"

Marinette woke up the next morning, sorer than she'd ever been.

Everything hurt.

She groaned, wishing she didn't have school to deal with. Muscles she didn't even know she had hurt. She felt groggy, sleepy, tired, worn out, and a lot like what she imagined being run over by a truck felt like.

"Come on, Marinette!" Tikki chimed. "I know you're tired, but it's a new day."

"I'm so sore," Marinette groaned. "I don't think I can walk."

Tikki sighed. "That was a difficult akuma attack. Maybe it would be better if you did skip today."

Marinette frowned. "Really?"

Tikki nodded. "It would be suspicious if you were horribly sore after such an akuma."

"You're right," Marinette agreed. "To protect my i

entity, I'm going back to sleep."

And she did. Instantly.

When she did wake up, Adrien had texted her about a bajillion times.

Almost all his messages ended with "I know you're tired, and if you're still sleeping it's fine, just wanted to talk to you."

Some of them were sweet thinking-of-you messages, others were updates about school, and unfortunately some of them were puns.

"I'm going to have to deal with more puns now, aren't I?" Marinette complained.

"It's sweet he thought of you, though," Tikki replied.

"Yeah," Marinette replied.

The last text was a meet up location - with a "if you can't come, it's fine, get some sleep" at the end - and Marinette was glad to see she still had ten minutes to get there.

"Up for transforming?" Marinette asked.

Tikki nodded.

"Tikki, spots on!"

Chat Noir had fallen asleep by the time Ladybug landed on the rooftop.

"Taking a cat nap?" Ladybug teased.

Chat Noir blinked groggily. "Ugh, yeah. That was exhausting."

Ladybug sat next to him, before giving into temptation and laying down.

"No kidding," Ladybug agreed. "I'm surprised you went to school."

"My father would have insisted I be up anyways," Chat Noir replied. "Figured school would be easier to deal with than Nathalie."

"I miss Alya," Ladybug mused.

"She's worried about you," Chat Noir replied. "She's a good friend. I mean, Nino's better, but-"

Ladybug shoved him playfully, and Chat Noir chuckled.

"So are you cool? With us knowing our identities?" Chat Noir asked.

"Nothing we can do about it now," Ladybug replied. "Besides, those last few akumas - we worked together well when we know each other's identities."

"Agreed," Chat Noir replied. "Nothing can stop us now.

Thanks so much for every read, favorite, follow, and review! This has been so much fun!