This was immensely fun to write!
Gosh I just love this headcanon way too much x)
Enjoy~

"What, uh-…"

"Adrien, are you okay?", Nino tilted his head as his best friend's face paled and his eyes widened. Only as he pointed at his signature blue shirt and Nino looked down, he understood. His shirt was changing.

The boy gulped as the blue color changed to white with black stripes. It sliced open at some parts and got dirty.

"Wh-Wha-…?!", he exclaimed, stumbling back as he watched his pants changing as well. Shackles formed on his wrists, not connected but dangling from his arms nonetheless. Within seconds he looked like he had been imprisoned for a long time, maybe in the dark ages.

"What's-… What's happening?!", he screamed, looking at his dirty and ripped clothes that had just appeared on him. Adrien still sat on his bed, having come over for a study session, and watched him with an unidentifiable expression.

"Akuma.", the blonde finally said, furrowing his eyebrows.

"S-Sure?!"

"Well, your clothes just magically changed. I mean-… What else is there?"

By now Nino was panicking. He always wanted to avoid Akumas. He was the first to flee, always, and he didn't want to change that tradition. Now being part of an attack?! Oh, hell no!

Besides, he hadn't even been hit by anything!

His chest heaved up and down in quick breaths and he grabbed the shirt, holding it out.

"Oh, please no, please no…"

This was a prison uniform. A really cliché one but definitely one. He already knew where this would be leading, after all they had just played this game a few days ago. Damn…

Had the twins gotten akumatized again? Alya?

Oh, please no…

Before he could finish that thought, he saw a shadow outside his window. Nino gulped and moved to the back of the room while Adrien got to his feet and inched towards the wall with the window to peer outside. At first it stayed quiet.

Nino breathed through an allowed his shoulders to slump as suddenly an eye, surrounded by scales, appeared in front of his room. He yelled and fled further to the back as his wall suddenly crumbled, causing Adrien to leap on his bed to dodge the debris. A giant, clawed dragon paw reached inside and grabbed the frozen in fear boy, the scales uncomfortably pressing against his body. The dragon pulled him outside and before Adrien could do anything, before he could react in any way, the dragon took off with Nino in its claws.

"No-… No, nonononono, no, this isn't happening, this isn't happening!", he yelled as his house got smaller beneath him, as Adrien's shocked face slowly vanished in the distance. The dragon's wings carried them higher and higher until the dragon spotted its next destination.

The school, Collège Francois Dupont.

It dipped down in a sharp turn, getting faster as it flew towards the ground. Nino yelled and instead of flailing like before he tightly held on, his eyes tearing up at the wind blowing into his face.

His terrified screams and his wheezing breaths got faster, then it finally spread its wings again and they slowed down abruptly, the dragon touching down on the floor.

The school had changed as well.

Instead of the familiar hallways and the open classrooms the walls were now thicker and the classrooms divided into cells, the windows making room for metal bars. It had transformed into a prison, Nino realized.

He gulped as the dragon growled, heavily walking towards one of the cells to throw him in and lock him there. Only as he came to a halt on the ground, the shock of the flight finally making room for other thoughts, he realized who the game had included.

"A-Alya?!"

The dragon slammed the door shut and turned away, still growling. The smoke clouds rising from its muzzle were everything else than calming.

"A-Alya! Is-… Is that you?!", he tried again, worry now taking over. He got to his knees and crawled to the metal bars, still not trusting his legs to keep him up after that shock. He grabbed the metal bars and jolted them but nothing budged.

The dragon took off again and Nino was alone. That dragon couldn't be Alya, he realized. Somehow… Somehow it was wrong to think of the dragon as Alya. Plus, she would've been the one akumatized then, most likely, and that was just not logical. Possible but so unlikely.

Wait a moment… In the story, the twins had been with him. Immediately, he looked around in his empty cell but nobody was here except him. As he scanned the former school's yard and the other cells he couldn't spot them. So, he began yelling.

"Ella?! Etta! Are you here?! Girls!"

A whimper came from a cell somewhere far away from him and he immediately ran to the closest spot he could find on the bars in his cell, in the hope of hearing the whimper better the closer he got. As he listened closely he realized the cell couldn't be really far from him, not right next to him but just in a distance where they could hear each other.

"Hello?! Ella! Etta! It's me, Nino!", the whimper stopped and he faintly heard someone shifting, then an arm stuck out of the bars a few cells away from him. He pressed his cheek against the metal bars to see the caramel skin of one of Alya's twin sisters.

"Nino! We're here!", Etta's voice sounded and he almost cried out in relief but held himself back to keep a cool head.

"It's okay, it's gonna be okay! Is Ella with you?!"

The small hand showed a thumb up, then he heard her talking again.

"Yes, we're both here! The dragon, she's-… She's one of our friends! She got jealous we had that awesome game and wanted to pay it as well but we didn't want to because it's our game!"

He briefly bit his lip, not wanting to imagine how that must've went. And which horror the twins had to live through as the dragon captured them.

"It's okay, Etta, it's okay! All that matters is that we're here together!", he looked around, feverishly searching for a solution. The game had been that they had broken out, after all, "Okay, uhm-… Etta, tell me, do you have anything cool in your cell that you could use to break out?"

The girl remained silent for a second, the arm vanishing, He heard the twins talking to each other, then Ella spoke up.

"We have a bed and a chair made out of wood and a bit of straw."

"And a plate?"

Nino sighed and looked back into his cell, finding the same things. Everything looked as if it came right from the 800s.

"Okay, okay, that's good! I'll find a solution for us to get out of here!"

The twins gave him some time to think about it but after a few minutes one of them spoke up again, her voice small.

"Nino?"

He sighed as he lifted the bed, unfortunately finding nothing but the stone on the ground.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"… Are we gonna get out of here?"

It was Ella. He smiled as he leant against the bars again, looking over to their cell. He couldn't see more than a pair of arms hugging a metal rod, not much more.

"Of course, we're gonna get out. Remember the story we played out a few days ago? We're gonna get out and the dragon is good. Or, well, in this version the akumatized victim will be saved by Ladybug and Chat Noir. It's not a problem."

Ella snorted and he grinned, pushing himself away of the grid to search for a solution again.

"Heh, yeah… So this time, Alya isn't here?"

Nino shrugged, lifting up the bed to weigh it, deeming it heavy enough to try and break the door out of its joints.

"Well, maybe. Okay, I'll try something now, it's gonna be loud!"

He positioned himself and shouldered the bed, a simple wooden frame with three boards nailed on two crossbars with four small wooden legs nailed on the corners. It wasn't that heavy, Nino could easily lift it himself, but maybe he could create enough force to break the metal pins in the door joints.

He breathed out and in, then held the air and threw. The bed slammed against the metal bars and fell to the floor with a loud clattering sound as it broke.

"Nino?! Are you okay?!", the twins immediately yelled and he groaned in frustration, kicking against the splintered wooden boards.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. The bed is broken now.", he sank to the floor with a frown on his face, clenching his fists, "Damn…"

The twins audibly breathed through, silence weighing down on the building. He was helpless. He couldn't get the children out and they were scared. Man… But he had to help them.

He was the big one here. He had to have an idea…

Wait a moment.

He had seen that before. The chair looked like it could hold a little weight.

Someone should say again that movies didn't educate.

He quickly jumped to his feet and inspected the metal joints holding the door in place. It were half joints. With a little strength and a little bit of technique he could imitate Will Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean. There's hoping that this movie did its research.

"I'll try something else!", he yelled, already scrambling for the chair. He turned it upside down, hooked the hind legs under the scrawny back rest under a crossbar and tightly grabbed the front edge of the seating space as well as the backrest, making himself ready.

"Okay, just towards me and up. With a jolt. And one… Two… Three… UP!", he ripped with all his might, the lock of the door jumping and breaking out of the frame as he lifted the half pins out of their joints.

The door fell towards him and he jumped back as it clattered to the ground with a metallic grinding sound. He cheered out, quickly freed his chair and ran over to the twins' cell, tempted to break out in tears as he saw them unscathed and well. They were clad in the same dirty, ripped clothes as him, barefoot as well, but apparently the dragon hadn't hurt them either.

"Wait, I'll get you out!", he used the same technique as before just that he was prepared for the door falling towards him this time so he threw it to the side this time.

The twins immediately ran out and jumped into his open arms, burying both their faces on his neck.

"God, I'm so glad you two are okay… You are okay, right? No ouches I should know of? The dragon didn't do anything to you? How long were you in there? What-"

"We're okay, Nino.", a teary Ella giggled, snuggling closer to him. Etta on the other side giggled as well, curling into his side as he pulled them both closer against him, "We're just fine."

He sighed in relief, giving them both a kiss on their foreheads out of a reflex, then he leant back and let go of them, looking into their hopeful faces.

"Okay, we're gonna get out of here, okay? Don't doubt that. Ladybug and Chat Noir are already busy trying to get the Akuma, I'm sure. We gotta find a safe place to hide.", he breathed through, "Just keep close to me, okay? We're gonna find a way out of here."

The twins nodded with new determination, each taking one of his hands as he stood up, looking around. Ella pulled on his arm, pointing to a corner of the yard.

"Hey, that looks like an exit! Or, at least it's a hallway to somewhere?"

Nino huffed as he nodded, then observed the yard once more.

"Yeah, seems like our best shot. Come on, girls, let's get out of here."

The three of them quickly made their way over to the hallway and peered inside. Nothing moved but it didn't exactly look safe either.

"I dunno, girls… It looks weird to me. Should we really-"

Ella already pulled him forward, Etta pushing from behind.

"You said it's our best shot!", they argued, seemingly eager to get away from the open yard and the aligned cells, "It'll be okay!"

It wasn't, as it turned out. The hallway was a dead end. Well-… The dragon didn't really need a human sized exit on the ground. It could fly.

And the school surely hadn't been altered to take a prison break into consideration.

Nino grumbled as they turned around again, walking back to the yard to find another way out. Maybe they could get somewhere from the first level. Or they could climb out, even if that was his less preferred option. Not that he didn't like climbing, he loved it as a kid, but scaling a building with two small girls? Not so much.

Yet, as they reached the yard again, it was in vein anyway. Nino quickly pushed the twins behind him as he already saw the scaled tail of the dragon. They inched forward to peer around the corner and were greeted by the dragon eyeing the two broken cell doors, obviously not really amused by the sight.

"Damnit…", Nino breathed, "We're trapped. We gotta wait until the dragon leaves again…"

The twins both stayed behind him, thank god, as the dragon suddenly swirled around. The eyes narrowed to slits as it saw Nino hiding behind the corner, not having been fast enough to step back. Before he knew it, its claws had wrapped themselves around his body once again and a cold wave of fear washed down his back. Thankfully, the twins stayed back so they were still hidden. The dragon dragged Nino out in the open and brought him closer to its head, growling so that he could feel the seething breath on his legs.

It was furious. He could see in its eyes that it did not approve of the prisoners fleeing.

Only as the snout opened to reveal sharp teeth, as big as his lower arm, he realized he had been screaming the entire time. The dragon closed in on him and he squinted his eyes, leaning away, already expecting the worst.

Suddenly, he was thrown to the side in the claws of the dragon and slammed on the floor. His head connected with the stone and his body went slack as his vision blurred, leaving him to slide out of the grip and roll further without being able to stop it. He stayed lying on the floor as he heard growling, then a few noises that he could barely hear, sounding like fighting.

With a pounding head he tried pushing himself up but he was unable to do so, the pain and the dizziness just getting stronger as he moved so he stayed on the floor. He didn't care if the dragon would get him like that.

He just wanted to sleep, that would be nice… Just close his eyes for a second there, maybe wake up later and it would be fine again…

Something nudged him. He huffed and groaned, not wanting to move. It nudged him again and he grumbled, wanting to turn away and pull his blanket higher to sleep just five minutes later. School could wait…

It nudged him again and only now he realized this thing wasn't his mother. No, it was hard and-… Scaly and-… Somewhat urging… Plus he didn't have a blanket.

Two voices now reached his aching head, coming through to his mind. He knew those voices. Ella… Etta?

He finally opened his eyes, groaning at the light. Something moved and his face laid in a shadow so he could give opening his eyes another try.

The first thing he felt was shock as he saw the big head of a dragon right in front of his face. It had come to eat him now!

But he allowed himself a second glance and only now he realized there were entirely different colors on this dragon. It nudged him again, gently, a worried (what?) expression on its-… Face?

Since when did dragons have expressions? Since when could he read them?

And since freaking when did dragons exist and he thought about them like dogs or horses?!

Nino groaned another time, shaking his head but keeping his eyes open. Two blurry faces appeared next to the dragon's head, the twins. He squinted his eyes at them, trying to motion them to get away from the dragon but it didn't seem to worry them in the slightest that the dragon gently pushed one twin in the side, motioning her to not block its view.

Nino tried pushing himself up in a sitting position but the dragon softly placed its snout on his chest, keeping him down.

"… Wh-Wha-…", he tried asking, his mouth feeling dry and fuzzy, but only then he noticed the dragon's eyes. He knew those eyes. And he knew the story, "… Th-The almighty dragon… Alya?"

The creature nodded solemnly, straightening up again and laying down, keeping its claws away from him and the twins not to hurt them. She was gigantic. Being even a little bigger than the other dragon she easily towered over Nino if he had doubled in height, and that wasn't even taking the length and mass of her new body in consideration. Her wings were folded but he could still see the sheer power that radiated from these things.

He gulped but as she laid her head down next to him again, pushing her snout against his shoulder in a worrying, soft motion, he knew exactly that this was his Alya hidden in that body.

"Oh gosh you scared me…", he mumbled, turning to his side with the help of the twins to curl up around her snout. She happily blew a warm breath against his chest and he chuckled, closing his eyes again as he got dizzy from moving. The twins sat down next to her long, scaly neck, leaning against her. Nino brought up a hand to brush over her snout, the hard and warm scales feeling oddly calming underneath his palm.

"Man, what have we gotten ourselves into, huh?", the dragon playfully nudged his chest and he laughed breathily, still feeling sick and disoriented from the hit on his head, "Yeah, I know you're pissed you can't get any footage like this."

Half an hour later, the Akuma was defeated and the akumatized victim saved. Nino watched as the school transformed back to its old state with the help of the Miraculous Cure, the classrooms and open windows reappearing. Alya's dragon body shrank further and further, got softer as his clothes changed back, until his girlfriend laid in front of him, smiling up to him.

His pain vanished and he chuckled, sitting up as she did to place a little kiss on her lips.

"Hello there, almighty dragon.", he grinned and she rolled her eyes, wrapping her very normal, human arms around his neck.

"Dork. I really worried about you when you weren't moving after that other dragon dropped you."

The twins giggled and got up, sighing in relief at their normal clothes when the couple followed them to their feet.

"Okay, I could totally go for some chips and a movie right now.", Nino groaned, stretching like an old man, resulting in giggles from the girls, "C'mon, seeing dragons in real life was awesome but please keep it on the screen from now on."

"I think Alya was pretty badass.", Ella interjected, taking her big sister's hand. Alya grinned down to her and nodded, then caught Nino's gaze again.

"Think so, too. Now, I think Nino's suggestion sounds really good. I could go for a bit of cuddling right now. Who's with us?"

The twins gagged and shook their heads so Alya and Nino grinned, their arms tightly locked around each other's waist and shoulders for a one-armed-hug.

"Ew, then they'll want to kiss the whole time…", Etta contorted her face, "C'mon Ella, we'll ask Maman if we can go visit Papa in the zoo. He'll want to hear what Alya's been through!"

Alya giggled and rolled her eyes as she turned to Nino, watching the twins scramble off to the exit of the school. He looked after them, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Shouldn't we-"

"Let's give them a headstart.", she suggested, "They know their way around in the city."

He looked down to her as she snuggled up to his chest, tilting his head.

"What's up, Alya?"

"I was so worried…", she admitted, hiding her face in his normal shirt. He dipped down to press a kiss to her forehead, pulling her closer and holding her tightly as the twins ran down the stairs, "When I saw you not moving I was-… My heart stopped beating. I couldn't-… When I transformed into that dragon you and the twins were my first thought. I-… I wouldn't have-… I feared I was too late-…"

She sniffled and he shook his head, his lips still pressed against her hair.

"Shh, it's okay, Alya… I don't even feel it anymore, the Miraculous Cure healed it."

Alya slowly breathed through and nodded, her fingers clenching into the fabric on his back.

"Yeah… I suppose so… I'm so glad you're safe."

He chuckled, leaning back so he could kiss her lips now.

"I'm glad you're safe, too. And hey, you did look pretty badass as a dragon. I only prefer human Alya."

She giggled and playfully pushed him away, rolling her eyes.

"C'mon, let's catch up with the twins before they kick off another Akuma!"

He laughed as he followed her.

"I thought that was Chloé's job!"