Chapter Twelve

Ladybug wiped the sweat from her brow once Conspiracy vanished for the dozenth time. A swing of her yo-yo launched her from the top of a chimney to an ungraceful landing on the sidewalk across the street, during which she slid forward and fell against the wall of a small boutique, panting for breath. She'd known from the beginning that chasing down Conspiracy was going to be a fruitless task. He was impossibly quick.

Chat Noir was not far off. The morning, though still early, was stiflingly humid, and sweat clung to the messy blonde locks hanging over his face. Beneath his mask, his skin was flushed red, but Ladybug could see the energetic glint in his green eyes, flashing at her as he caught her gaze. Ladybug turned around and pressed her back against the wall.

"Chat," she huffed, "I don't think this is working."

"Clearly," he replied, striking his baton against the ground. "Where'd he go this time? And where is Queen Wasp? Didn't you see her?"

"She was following us just a few minutes ago. I don't know what happened. She must have lost track."

"Maybe she's with Father."

Ladybug slid down the wall, the yo-yo dropping from her grip. As she watched it spin across the sidewalk with a rough scrape, Chat Noir padded to her side and knelt down. His hand on her shoulder was an immense comfort, and she practically melted under his touch, her head falling to the side to rest on his chest.

"What's wrong?" he asked, and by the tone of his voice, she could tell that he feared she was hurt.

"I'm fine, I just -" Ladybug shook her head. A glance up at the sky revealed no more than a thin blue-gray sheet of clouds looming above the rooftops of Paris. No shadow like a mark on the daylight, no bird tearing so unnaturally through the air. "This is all my fault," she finished, as she pulled her bangs off her forehead.

Chat Noir squeezed her shoulder. "No, it isn't. You're not responsible for anything Conspiracy and Volpina choose to do."

"I knew something bad was going to happen. He found me two nights ago. I thought I could protect myself and your family by being there but I was totally useless. It was dumb. He can turn invisible. Why did I think I'd be able to stop him let alone see him?" Ladybug buried her face in her hands, only to remove them a moment later, beads of sweat flying off her fingers.

"Marinette, you being able to stop Conspiracy last night would not have changed the fact that he showed up to begin with. He already knew about my father's identity. Either Lila told him her suspicions, or he's where she got them from but," he coaxed her back to her feet, taking both of her petite hands in his sleek black gloves, "either way, they knew. And you can't blame yourself for that. You're doing what you've always done. You're trying your best, and the road has been bumpy so far, but we're going to overcome this."

Chat Noir's encouragement had been a lifesaver from the very beginning. After nearly four years of partnership, his reassuring words never failed to bring a light smile to Ladybug's lips. She gazed at him softly, brushing her thumbs across his knuckles. "Thank you, Kitty," she told him. A heavy uneasiness still clawed at her from the inside. "You know I want to believe you, but I don't know how we're going to manage. Conspiracy has never landed a blow on us, but until we can actually touch him, we're just going to wear ourselves out. This will just keep going. And I'm going to keep digging a deeper and deeper hole for myself."

"It'll be alright. Things have been tense, I know, but they'll calm down once this is past us." Chat's expression hardened. "They have to."

Ladybug bent forward and picked her yo-yo off the ground. She knew how anxious Adrien felt for his family, for Nathalie who had been gravely hurt by their rash choices. And Gabriel, he said, was suffering in silence, blaming himself for everything that was going wrong. In addition to both of those things, however, Ladybug knew Adrien was mourning the peace he'd enjoyed with his family for so long. After years of grief and discord, he'd grown to deeply cherish the "normal family" his household had become, like a garden finally flowering. But now he was beginning to realize that there were some habits, some feelings that they had yet to grow past, some weeds they had yet to uproot.

Chat Noir turned away, pointing his sharp gaze skyward. "We should probably go find him again."

"Maybe we should look for Queen Wasp and your Father first. We've been getting nowhere."

"Or, we can try a lucky charm. There's got to be an object that can help us stop him, or slow him down at least."

Ladybug dipped her head. She stepped back and tossed her yo-yo into the air, calling "Lucky Charm!"

The object materialized and dropped towards them.

"Oh shit-!"

Ladybug pulled her fists into her chest and nearly knocked Chat Noir over trying to sidestep the Lucky Charm. A knife clattered on the sidewalk where she had been standing, it's red and black spotted blade catching the sunlight across its metallic surface. Ladybug retrieved it, observing its shape.

"It's a tactical knife," she told Chat Noir, "Which means it's not meant to be used as a weapon. I could have assumed that much. I've never gotten a Lucky Charm intended to outright hurt someone."

"How is a little tactical knife going to stop Conspiracy?"

"I don't know. Maybe we'll come across a rope we can cut? Whatever the case is," she folded the blade into the hilt, "it's all we have for now. Do you think you could call your father?"

Chat Noir tried, but though he dialed Hawkmoth on his communication device twice, his father didn't answer either time. Chat's lips formed a thin line across his face as he narrowed his eyes down at his baton.

To quell his worries, Ladybug set a hand on his shoulder. "We haven't encountered Volpina yet, not the real one anyway. He's probably just caught up with her."

"I hope you're right."

"Let's go."

Ladybug and Chat Noir swung back up to the rooftops of Paris. Every direction Ladybug looked, she expected to see Conspiracy soaring past, a streak of blackness against the morning. They paused to look down every road, peer into every alley, search around chimneys and terraces for any sign of the raven miraculous holder. The chase had moved this way all morning. He'd vanish and reappear only several meters away most of the time, but there had been multiple instances now of Conspiracy disappearing completely from the area, leaving the heroes to track him down a number of blocks away. Ladybug was half-certain he was distracting them, but the other half of her was all too wary of what he could do to get their attention if they quit pursuing him.

I haven't been able to touch him once. Ladybug was shocked at how adept Conspiracy was at using his miraculous. He was so slick, so fast and reflexive, that it seemed to her he had been a holder for a long, long time. Longer than she had. It was a frightening thought. Even Hawkmoth had only been using the butterfly miraculous as long as she had, and their fight had dragged on for years. Ladybug wanted this conflict with Conspiracy to end as soon as possible, but she couldn't be confident that she would be the one making it out of the other side.

He was too good, too trained. Ladybug's heart sank deeper and deeper into her stomach every time she remembered what Nathalie had suggested the night before. The only other person who knows your identity outside of us is the previous guardian.

Master Fu.

Ladybug could believe that Conspiracy and the Sorcerer had come from the temple - in fact, she was nearly convinced of it, but to think that Master Fu had been the one to expose her identity? To give the necessary information for these new villains to track her down? And not warn her? Ladybug didn't care if he had a choice or not, she simply could not fathom that Fu was the one responsible for this. She'd sooner tell herself Conspiracy made a lucky guess. That was a more confusing yet simultaneously more desirable explanation than Nathalie's. But Ladybug was only letting herself believe such a foolish notion because it was the only way to keep from losing her grip.

Last night, when they were alone in Adrien's room, he'd slipped his hand softly around her neck, the warmth of his touch sinking under her skin. "Bugaboo," he had pressed, "I know we don't want to think about this, but what if Nathalie is right? What if Fu did have something to do with this?"

She'd leaned forward, wrapping her arms around him and pushing him gently down into his pillows. Marinette laid there with her head on his chest as she whispered, "It won't matter. If Lila or Conspiracy come here tonight, we will be ready for them, and that will be the end of it."

Adrien hadn't responded then, but she could guess what was on his mind. This was a mistake. Marinette's vow of victory was her way of avoiding a painful potential truth. They'd been concerned enough for Nathalie to stand firm on the short-sighted plan, but they acted on foolishness too, and Marinette's was a result of denial.

Having traversed several blocks, Ladybug and Chat Noir came to a halt above a quiet street. Chat Noir ran his fingers through his damp hair as he studied their surroundings. "We've been here."

"I know. I feel like he's been going in circles."

"Seriously, does he want the miraculous or not?"

Ladybug briefly surveyed the area while she ran her thumb up and down the handle of her tactile knife, but she still saw no clear way to use it. Even more frustrating, there was still no darting shadow, no pair of grand black wings slicing through the air. She glanced over her shoulder, wondering if the tables had turned and he was now giving chase to them. But she remembered how it felt to be watched, a faint, needle-like pressure on the back of her neck or the crest of her cheekbone, and that eerie sense did not disturb her now.

"M'lady," Chat Noir murmured, his fingertips brushing her elbow. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Listen."

She clamped her mouth shut. There was a low hum in the distance, a low hum, that upon further listening, sounded like the lazy drone of several flying insects. Ladybug and Chat Noir crossed to the other end of the rooftop they had paused on, and standing in the middle of the road below them was a familiar girl with yellow skin and sleek black hair pulled into a tight ponytail. Several dozen wasps buzzed around her head, and twice as many lay scattered around her feet. She didn't even flinch when they shouted her name in unison: "Queen Wasp!"

"Ladybug? Chat Noir?" Queen Wasp didn't move. In fact, she seemed to Ladybug to be standing unnaturally still. Her knees were slightly bent, her arms held several centimeters out from her side with her fists curled shut, and her chin was titled towards her throat. "Oh, thank the stars! Don't just stand there, get over here! My wasps won't hurt you."

They listened, dropping from the building down into the street. Ladybug stared at the asphalt. A wasp by her foot was twitching, half-alive as though it had been stepped on.

"Chloe," Chat Noir said, "What's going on? Can you move?"

"It's Queen Wasp. And no."

"Did you get stung by one of your own…?"

"Hardly. They'd never betray their Queen," scoffed the akumatized girl. "Well, I was just chasing after that Conspiracy guy like you two were until I felt myself become totally paralyzed. Wasn't as painful as I imagined."

Ladybug stepped around to look Queen Wasp in the face. Her magenta glare was flitting around until it came to a rest as Ladybug stopped directly in front of her. With her head fixed downward, she could only lift her gaze as high as Ladybug's neck. The spotted heroine cautiously placed her fingers under Queen Wasp's chin and attempted to raise her head. It moved with effort, but Queen Wasp's twitching brow indicated the shift was uncomfortable, so Ladybug took her hand away. "How did this happen?"

"I don't know exactly. I thought I heard someone behind me. When I turn around, I see this freaky guy in a robe running up."

"A robe?" asked Chat Noir, swatting at a wasp buzzing around his ears.

"The Sorcerer," Ladybug growled. "They're here too."

"Oh, great," huffed Chat Noir.

"A sorcerer? Well, isn't that fabulous," muttered Queen Wasp. "Well, I was able to keep away from him for a while. I actually think I lost them, but then I hear this sound, and before I know it, I can't move. I can't even speak. The sorcerer-robe guy runs past. I have no idea where they went. In any case, I don't think his paralyzing power is as good as mine. It's wearing off. I think I can…" Her tight fists began to soften. A look of concentration hardened her visage as she just barely managed to shift her pinkie finger back and forth.

"How long have you been like this?"

"I don't know, fifteen, twenty minutes? Maybe a half hour? It's humid. I feel disgusting."

"Well, we're glad you're not hurt," Chat Noir told her.

"That's sweet of you, cat boy. Oh, I should probably mention that I can't get into contact with Hawkmoth - and just to make sure, you are working with him right? This isn't some elaborate trick?"

"No, he's on our side," answered Ladybug.

"You can't contact him?" asked Chat Noir, stepping closer to Queen Wasp, who cast her glance aside to watch him approach.

"I tried to when I noticed I was being followed, but he rudely cut the connection."

"Do you think the Sorcerer got to him too?" Chat Noir asked Ladybug, taking her by the arm.

"Either them or Lila."

"Anyway," Queen Wasp interrupted, a little too loudly for it to be thoughtless, "considering we have time as long as I have to wait for this weird spell or whatever to wear off, do you think the two of you can explain to me how exactly you got Hawkmoth of all people on your side?"

Ladybug exchanged glances with Chat Noir. His eyes beamed with panic for a moment before he turned back to Queen Wasp. "It's a long story. And we still have to find Conspiracy. For now, let's just say he's realized the error of his ways and wants to prove himself capable of using his miraculous for good."

"Wow, that's adorable," grumbled Queen Wasp with an eye roll that could have been large enough to topple her paralyzed body onto the ground. "Considering you guys were, like, mortal enemies I would have expected a lot more push and shove."

Chat Noir wrinkled his nose. "Mortal enemies is a little stro-"

Deciding not to continue the exchange, Ladybug held up the knife in the palm of her hand. The akumatized girl managed to recoil her neck by a nudge in response to the sudden movement. "Chloe, you wouldn't -"

"Queen Wasp."

"You wouldn't know how I can put this to use, would you?"

"Uh, it's a knife? Stab the bitch, Ladybug, when you find him. But -"

"Thanks for the advice." Ladybug grabbed Chat Noir's hand and started retreating down the street.

"Wait, hey!" Queen Wasp called.

"Come find us once the potion has worn off, okay? We'll need you to stop Conspiracy."

They rushed back up towards the sky. Ladybug snuffed her guilt for leaving Queen Wasp behind. The magic would fade soon enough and she would be able to join them subsequently, but even more interesting was that the Sorcerer hadn't freed Queen Wasp's akuma. They didn't think or didn't care to leave Choe helpless, even when nothing could have stopped them. Ladybug justified her quick departure by telling herself, quite convincingly, that Queen Wasp was safe, the situation was urgent, and they would need more time to explain Hawkmoth's alliance with care.

At her side, her partner was a lot less calm. Chat Noir's stony expression collapsed into one of fear when his third attempt to call Hawkmoth wasn't answered. After launching himself from one rooftop to the next over a narrow alleyway, Chat Noir stopped and looked at Ladybug imploringly.

"Adrien, I know you're worried, but he's probably fine."

"Probably. And if the Sorcerer has gotten to him too?"

"Then the potion will wear off, just like it's already doing for Queen Wasp."

"They'll take his miraculous. They have all the others, don't they?" Chat Noir looked up from his communication device, sweeping his gaze across their surroundings. "And with Volpina out there too, he can't be in a good position. Marinette, you should continue looking for Conspiracy. I'll go find my father."

Ladybug jolted in surprise. "Whoa, hold on. It's not a good idea for us to split up, Chat Noir," she said, sinking her fingertips into his shoulders.

"Then we should both go to make sure he's okay. If we catch Conspiracy on the way, great."

She didn't have the chance to argue with him. Chat Noir took off again, heading west, in the direction of his old house. Not wanting to wind up alone, Ladybug followed.

The sun beat down through the humid air. Ladybug's movements were slower and clumsier than usual, mostly as a result of the heat, but also because she was keeping an eye out for Conspiracy. Ahead of her, Chat Noir zipped nimbly from building to building, undeterred by either the day's stifling atmosphere or his concern for the appearance of their enemy. Ladybug was falling behind.

"Chat Noir, wait!"

She thought she'd seen a rapid movement out of the corner of her eye. Ladybug stopped on a fire escape, leaning over the rusted metal railing into the street below. A sedan drove past. Another followed, but upon several seconds of scrutiny, Ladybug saw nothing out of the ordinary.

"Chat!"

Giving chase once more, Ladybug tried to focus on keeping up with her partner, but now that she was making an effort to ignore her surroundings, her mind was even more intent on playing its tricks. She ordered herself not to turn her head, not to get distracted. Chat Noir, like the rest of his family, was unhinderable when determined to protect someone he cared about. She loved him for it, but when situations demanded practicality, this made him difficult to work with. Ladybug called his name once more, but he was too far ahead by now to hear her.

She braced to jump the gap between two buildings. Right as she reached the edge of the rooftop and fired herself up into the air, Ladybug startled at the sight of something in her periphery, registering in the sliver of a second it took her wince that this was no imagined streak of shadow, but a solid shape. Ladybug breath caught as she realized her fumble would cause her to miss her landing, and sure enough, she barely scraped against the opposite wall before she crashed down into the empty backstreet beneath.

The breath was blown out of her lungs upon her striking the ground. Ladybug's fist uncurled, and the knife spiraled across the ground away from her. She fought to regain her composure, turning over onto her side and slowly pushing herself back up despite the dull pain shooting through her spine and across her shoulder blades. Ladybug swallowed the strangled coughs that begged to leap out of her chest as her eyes settled on the form that had caused her to stumble.

His deep black glare pierced forth from behind his mask. Ladybug froze in horror as she observed: Conspiracy stood still against the brick wall at the end of the backstreet. His wings hung low, the tips of feathers hovering just centimeters off the ground. His pale lips were contorted into a tight frown as he stared, quiet and motionless, as if waiting for Ladybug to rise back to her feet.

She sucked in a few desperate breaths, each inhale sending a cool, blunt ache through her chest, but soon she began to feel the relief of regaining her breath and rose to her full height. The knife rested halfway between herself and Conspiracy. With wings like those, he had no need for another blade, but he could easily stop her from taking this one back.

Ladybug spun her yo-yo, wondering if throwing it at Conspiracy and inciting him to disappear again would help her, before she realized that the raven miraculous holder had not only been silent since she had fallen into the alley, but had been totally motionless as well. He didn't even look like he was breathing. Had he been paralyzed by the Sorcerer too?

"Conspiracy?" she called. No reaction. The longer Ladybug looked at him, the more his eyes appeared to be staring right through her. "Conspiracy?"

Queen Wasp hadn't been frozen in such a relaxed position. Conspiracy's shoulders were low, his legs straight and parallel, his head pointed directly forward. He looked vacant. Like a statue, Ladybug thought, or even less than one. A statue at least was carved with a sense of movement in flowing marble fabric or an extended limb. Conspiracy might as well have been sleeping standing up.

Ladybug inched forward, the swing of her yo-yo easing up and finally slowing down completely. The axle dangled gently as she pressed on. Her gaze flicked between Conspiracy and her Lucky Charm. With him in this state, she feared what a sudden movement would cause. Was this all an act? Was he waiting for something?

At last, she drew close enough to place her foot over the knife's handle. Ladybug held his blank, inky stare as she dragged the blade close, lowered herself warily into a crouch, and closed her hand over it. She didn't want to spare her focus long enough for Conspiracy to make a move by trying to think once again of a way to use it.

She wished Chat Noir was here. By now, he must have noticed that she was no longer on his tail.

"If you're going to just stand there," she murmured, "then now would probably be the perfect opportunity for me to tell you that breaking into an infant's room in the middle of the night is shameful, and that whatever you, Lila, and the Sorcerer are after, you should be disgusted."

Nothing. A chill shot up her spine.

Ladybug dared to step even closer. Then closer. And then she was just two meters away from him. If he lunged, he could decapitate her. The thought stopped her in her tracks. Ladybug unfolded the knife and grimaced at how small the blade was in comparison to Conspiracy's long black feathers.

Stillness. Silence.

Ladybug swallowed her fear. Perhaps Conspiracy's wings could slice through her yo-yo's string, but she couldn't stand here any longer. Just waiting.

She flicked her wrist to begin the axle's rotation once more.

It had made one full revolution when Ladybug suddenly went shock-still.

Two pairs of thumb and forefinger had slipped beneath her hair and pinched her earlobes.

Her earrings.

Her miraculous.

"No-!" she gasped, the yo-yo taking flight as she released its string. The axle launched over her head, but she never heard hit the ground. Ladybug twisted. She thrust the knife behind her. To her horror, it vaporized, and her fist clenched shut over empty air.

Pink light brushed its way down her body, from her head to her feet.

"Stop-!"

A strong, large hand wrapped around her shoulder and tossed her onto the ground. Marinette landed on her ass with a grunt. Above her loomed a tall, cloaked figure, whose violet garb hung loose off their body, whose hood framed a face masked in silver.

"Thank you," they said, and Marinette felt her flushed, sweaty skin go ice cold. "Lucky I caught you alone."

"What have you…?" Marinette's words were hardly discernible under her trembling breath. She pressed her fingertips to her earlobes, feeling two smooth patches of skin rather than the jewels she'd had stuck there for the last four years of her life.

"Don't worry. I'll bring them back. Once I'm finished, that is," the Sorcerer said. Marinette blinked her eyes rapidly, as if trying to stamp them out of existence. They didn't feel real standing above her now. Marinette was half-convinced this was just some terrible hallucination, that if she blinked enough times, she'd find herself back on her feet, covered head to toe in red and black, staring Conspiracy in his vacant face, the miraculous still secure in her ears.

They were walking away before Marinette had the chance to respond, their cloak sweeping against the fallen leaves and loose pebbles littering the backstreet. Rustle. Rustle. Rustle. Like pages being thoughtlessly turned. Like a story reaching its end too quickly.

"No, please," she choked out. "Don't do this. You can't. You don't know what you're doing."

But the words never reached the Sorcerer's ears, who emerged back into the sun's light on its beatdown. Marinette watched them grapple around their belt, hand falling on bottle after bottle of potions she couldn't begin to predict the use of, when they paused with their head aimed down. Under their breath, a deep curse reverberated back to Marinette. "Used my last one," they growled. "Walking it is."

A bottle filled with a bright green liquid was removed from their belt. Marinette had just gotten back to her feet, when they commanded, "Shelter." The bottle burst, and a forcefield formed around them, one exactly like the protective shields the holder of the turtle miraculous were meant to create. A deep anguish wrenched through Marinette's heart as she thought of Wayzz, as she thought of the miraculous the Sorcerer needed to create such a forcefield, as she thought of the man who had used that miraculous for over 170 years before them.

The man she'd failed.

"It's yours now."

The Sorcerer stole a final glance back at Marinette (at least, as far as Marinette could tell, they were looking at her) and took off, the shield moving with them.

Marinette shouldn't have followed. The Sorcerer was dangerous and untouchable and they had her miraculous.

But her feet moved instinctively. She emerged out of the alleyway, she started to give chase, and would have kept moving if she hadn't been suddenly grabbed from behind for the second time. Marinette yelped and elbowed whoever it was that was behind her.

"Cool it, Dupain-Cheng!"

"Chloe?!"

"It's Queen -"

She stiffened. Marinette had whirled around and thrown her arms around the akumatized, now-unfrozen girl, who might as well have been frozen once more based upon her unwillingness to return the embrace. "Whoa," she said. "What on earth happened? Is that the Sorcerer?"

"Chloe, they took them."

"Who took what? What are you doing out here? It's not safe."

Marinette pulled away, gripping Queen Wasp's shoulders hard enough to make her cringe and glaring straight into her burning magenta eyes. "The Sorcerer took my - they took Ladybug's -" Marinette gasped, feeling something inside her falter, like her very soul had been heaved off balance. Tears flooded her eyes, until Queen Wasp was a blur of black and yellow. "They took the miraculous."

"Wh-what miraculous?" asked Queen Wasp, her voice softer than Marinette had ever heard it, at least directed at her.

It took all of Marinette's strength not to sink to her knees. Her grasp on Queen Wasp weakened. Her head slumped. Marinette stared at her two regular pale pink slippers - she was still in her pajamas from the night before - and gave a sigh that crescendoed into a rattling sob. "Ladybug's miraculous."

"No way," Queen Wasp whispered. She stepped back, so that Marinette's hands had nothing else to do but bury her tear-soaked face. She could feel the akumatized girl's gaze fixed on her. Queen Wasp's voice was feather-light, lifted high by her shock. "Marinette," she breathed, "You're Ladybug, aren't you?"

Left with no reason to lie, Marinette nodded.

Several moments of wordlessness passed in which Marinette was left to dry her tears under Queen Wasp's astounded gaze. Above their heads, a cloud of insects swarmed, the drone of their flight creating a low hum that flooded the street. Once Marinette had mostly quieted her cries, a bright purple light shone around her ally's face in the shape of a butterfly. Queen Wasp listened for a minute, and then she nodded, dismissing the connection.

"Hawkmoth and Chat Noir are coming. They're not alone."

Queen Wasp grabbed Marinette and stepped in front of her, holding her arms out to shield her body. Marinette let herself be pulled as though she were as light as a doll. A voice at the back of her head commanded that she pull herself together, insisted that she was Ladybug with or without the mask, but her body and her heart felt weak enough to be crushed.

She didn't even have Tikki to comfort her.

From down the road, three familiar figures became visible, the first of which was Volpina.

"Hawkmoth told me she took off when Chat Noir arrived, but that the potion wore off quick enough that they could follow her. I'll handle this." Queen Wasp thrust in arm out towards the advancing Volpina, and her throng of insects darted forward. In the distance, Marinette watched Volpina's eyes go wide. She created an illusion with a swing of her flute, and the wasps slowed to a stop.

"What are you doing? Go!" Queen Wasp ordered.

They wouldn't. Volpina had enveloped herself in an illusion of a water shield. She looked about ready to change directions as well, until she spotted Marinette. She halted on top of a lightpost. Through the screen of water surrounding her, Marinette could not make out the expression on her face, though she hardly imagined she was looking into a pleased one.

Chat Noir and Hawkmoth noticed her too, both of their determined expressions reeling.

"What is she…?" Volpina's voice was dark and dripping with venom.

Queen Wasp commanded her insects to advance. When a number of them obeyed, Volpina shot a water spout out of her shield, scattering the creatures.

"What is she doing here?" shouted Volpina. It was just visible, the way she turned her head, first towards Chat Noir and Hawkmoth, who stared at Marinette, appearing stunned and devastated, and then towards the alleyway across the street. Right on the curb lay a bed of glass shards from the bottle the Sorcerer had used to hold their turtle potion.

The shield trembled. Droplets of water rained down from the light post and burst against the ground where they disappeared.

"Conspiracy," Volpina said, "There you are."

Queen Wasp cut her arm through the air, sending her insects from their idle position surrounding Volpina towards the alleyway. Chat Noir and Hawkmoth tore their attention away from Marinette to meet them. Wasps swarmed down the backstreet, and both Queen Wasp and Marinette raced to see them make a victim out of Conspiracy, whom Marinette had totally forgotten about after the Sorcerer had stolen her miraculous. She only hoped that he hadn't disappeared. He must have been paralyzed just as Hawkmoth and Queen Wasp had. He must have been used as a distraction by the Sorcerer to give them an opening to take the earrings. He must have -

Marinette stepped into view just as one of the wasps stabbed its stinger into Conspiracy's chest.

For one moment, one abrupt and relieving moment, Marinette's heart soared with victory.

But the next, it plunged into her stomach.

Because Conspiracy disappeared, again.

Queen Wasp balked, "What? How is that possible?"

Chat Noir and Hawkmoth leaped down from the rooftop, watching as that dark plume of smoke dissipated into the air leaving nothing in its stead but a swarm of confused wasps.

"He was an illusion," Chat Noir said. "But, how? Volpina was already using her power to make the water…"

A hand closed around Marinette's upper arm. Another slapped over her lips, and she was dragged from her position behind the other heroes at the edge of the alleyway over to the storefront wall. Volpina pinned her there, viciously ripped back Marinette's sweaty black hair and scrutinized her empty ear lobes. Marinette nearly released a muffled scream, but Volpina closed her fingers around her neck, squeezing her airways too tight for audible sound.

Her visage was warped ferociously. Volpina leaned her face into Marinette's and snarled, "You always wear earrings, Marinette."

Something that might have been, "Help" escaped her lips with what little breath she could manage to expel.

Volpina's eyes sliced to the side, landing on that pile of glass shards on the curb. Her lip curled back, and she jerked Marinette against the wall. "The Sorcerer, they took them, didn't they?"

"Let. Go."

She'd seen Lila angry before. She'd been privy to those many relinquishments of her sickly sweet exterior in favor of aggression and intimidation and bitterness and rage, but Volpina now looked madder than Marinette had ever witnessed. It was like something had broken behind her eyes, and now they reflected the light in many different jagged, uneven directions.

"Of course they did. It only figures they'd take what's mine." Volpina's fingers tightened, until Marinette couldn't breathe at all. "Miserable bitch."

But suddenly, she released Marinette, who slid down the wall coughing for breath. Volpina backed away, her gaze flashing with enough fiery wrath to light the city on fire. Marinette's noise caught the attention of her allies. They rushed out of the alley to her aide. Volpina reformed her shield of water illusion and fled.

"And for the record," she called back, leaping up the side of the building for the roof. She paused just long enough to wave her flute, and right beside her, Conspiracy materialized, and to Marinette's shock, he faded into existence the same exact way he had always reappeared.

After avoiding a blow.

After escaping touch.

I haven't been able to touch him once.

Vacant. Motionless. Volpina punched her fist through her shield. Her knuckles collided with his arm.

He evaporated into shadow.

"Holy shit," Chat Noir gasped.

Volpina turned away. "He was never real."

She was gone.

Queen Wasp ordered her wasps to follow, but Marinette let out a strangled cry for her to stop. "She's going after the Sorcerer," she explained hoarsely. "After my miraculous. Don't paralyze her. She'll lead you right to them."

Chat Noir was at her side, "Bugaboo," he said, eyes bright with worry. He drew her into his arms, hugging her tight to his chest.

"What happened? The Sorcerer took your miraculous?" Hawkmoth demanded.

"There's no time to explain. You need to follow Lila, before you lose her," Marinette rasped. She rubbed her neck, feeling out the spaces where bruises were sure to form.

Hawkmoth turned to his akuma. "Queen Wasp, I want you to bring Marinette somewhere safe. Take her to my-"

"Hawkmoth," Chat Noir said with warning, reminding his father with the edge to his tone that Queen Wasp already knew more than she was meant to.

"Queen Wasp, bring Marinette somewhere safe," Hawkmoth said again, "Take her wherever she tells you to go."

The correction made, Chat Noir handed Marinette off to the akumatized girl. He brushed back her bangs and stroked a finger down her cheek. "M'lady, it'll be okay, I promise."

"Careful, buddy, she has a boyfriend," Queen Wasp quipped.

Marinette and Chat Noir exchanged a look. "This isn't going to hold up, is it?" Chat Noir asked.

"What isn't?"

"Just take her, Chloe."

Queen Wasp rolled her eyes and bounded up to the rooftops. Marinette watched Chat Noir and Hawkmoth take off in the opposite direction. Her partner landed in the same spot Volpina had stood a moment ago, when she created Conspiracy out of nothing with the wave of her flute, as though he were as simple as a brick wall or a flash of light. Marinette's blood turned to ice. Because it was impossible, because it didn't make any sense.

How could she make two illusions at once?

How was Conspiracy an illusion the whole time?

Marinette had become way too familiar with Lila's deceit over the last several years, but though all logic shrieked that this couldn't possibly be, she felt it in the way her blood became ice water that somehow, some way, she was telling the truth this time.

Some bizarre, unbelievable truth.

"Should I take you home, Dupain-Cheng?" asked Queen Wasp. More softly, she wondered, "Marinette?"

"No." It still hurt to speak, but Marinette went on, "There's someone I made the mistake of leaving in the dark last night. I'm not going to screw up like that again."

"Okay, so where do I take you?"

"You have to promise to stay out of the room when we arrive."

"Got it, whatever."

Marinette clutched her hands tightly around Queen Wasp's neck. "Take me to the Agreste mansion."

...if it doesn't make sense now, it will. Bear with me :')

~Lullaby