MB: I might be a little omniscient with this chapter, at least for the first and last bits. After all, so many people, so many perspectives... and not my favourite fight scene. Another one of those hasty "Let's get this over with" scenes, you know?

But don't worry – the good stuff with come soon!

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE:

HONOUR AMONG THIEVES

STOMP. STOMP. STOMP.

The ground thundered with the footsteps of the stone guardians, who continued to close in around the six young thieves.

Kim fired an arrow at one of them. It bounced off the jackal's head like a broken twig.

Rose threw a few stun pellets at them, but the statues were unaffected by the exploding, pink smoke.

Ivan pulled Mylene behind him, raising his club. Max and Juleka did the same with their own weapons.

Neither of them said a word as they stood back-to-back, but they were all thinking the same thing: they were done for.

Suddenly, a tiny shadow flew over the group.

Mylene glanced up... and beamed with newfound hope. "Alix!" she cried.

Her five friends snapped their eyes up to the sky with bewilderment.

At the same time, a green-and-black blur fell towards them, along with four other colourful characters.

Nino landed in a low crouch before grasping his green shield and grinning at the curious guardians. "Time to rock and roll, dudes!" he called before flinging his weapon forward.

DONG-DONG-DONG-DONG!

The shield bounced loudly against the giant jackals one by one, causing them to stagger and stumble from the impact. The dents the shield had made left cracks upon their stony skin.

Soon after, Alix zoomed faster than ever on her wheeled shoes and tripped one of the statues up by the leg.

It fell to the ground with a loud CRASH!

Alix screeched to a stop, panting with a proud smile.

Marinette, Adrien, Alya, and Nino formed a blockade between the thieves and the guardians.

The prince turned to his best friend with a smirk. "You stole my pun," he whined.

Nino shrugged. "It suited the situation."

Marinette grinned. Alya rolled her eyes.

Alix turned to her relieved, thieving friends, only to frown when she did a tally. "Where's Bridgette?" she asked.

"Mothball took her somewhere in the city," Kim growled. "They're going for the Hand of Midas."

Marinette glanced back at the archer. The outline of her mask rose up with a mixture of dread and simmering anger.

Adrien eyed his bride-to-be and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Go get her, Milady," he said. "We'll buy you some time."

"Yeah," Nino affirmed dryly. "Ten of us against a few dozen statues. What could go wrong?"

"Heads up!" Alya shouted.

Everyone dispersed as the statues came at them, their spears raised and their eyes glowing furiously.

Adrien rolled back up and snapped to Marinette. "Go! Hurry!"

Marinette's brow furrowed with resolve, and she nodded. "When playtime's over, come and find me," she said with a wink.

She spun her yo-yo and threw it towards one of the towers. Then, she sailed up into the air and out of sight.

Grinning, Adrien turned to face his enemies with calm, feline smugness. "Sorry guys. No hard feelings."

Alix pumped her fist into the air as she crouched into a fighting stance. "For the Queen of Thieves!" she chanted.

"The Queen of Thieves!" Kim, Rose, Mylene, Ivan, Juleka, and Max chorused before engaging their enemies.

One of the statues charged at Alya.

She merely lifted her hand, and the marble underneath the statue turned to slimy goop that swallowed his feet before solidifying.

As the statue fought to get free, Adrien leapt at him and knocked his spear away with his staff. The guardian tried to slam his fist down on the prince, but Adrien leapt again and – with a hard yell – brought his staff down, severing off the stone arm at the elbow.

If the statue was shocked, it didn't show it.

And when it lifted its other fist, a whip of orange flame wrapped around its arm and yanked it to the side.

Alya grinned as she tugged her enchanted whip harder.

The lava-like material melted the stone clean through, and the statue fell onto his knees as he lost his second arm.

Then, Adrien and Alya ran at the statue together, the prince with his staff, and Alya with her magic reed flute.

SLASH!

Their attacks got the guardian in the head and the middle, and the giant, jackal-headed man crumbled to several pieces. When the heroes landed, all that remained of their opponent was a pile of dusty rubble.

Adrien gave Alya a thumbs-up. "Solid work," he said with a grin.

The redhead narrowed her eyes at him playfully.

Alix zoomed around another guardian as he tried to jab her with his spear, but she moved too quickly.

"Here I am!" the speedster called with a friendly wave.

The statue attacked, but his prey danced away.

"Now I'm here!" Alix said mischievously.

The statue struck again.

"Nope!"

And again.

"Other side, pal!"

And again!

"C'mon – I'm not even trying!"

The guardian fervently continued to hit Alix.

That is, until a golden gargoyle came crashing down on top of it, sending dust and chunks of rock everywhere.

Alix finally stopped and looked up at the marble balcony above her, where the statue had fallen from.

Ivan and Nino waved at her from the top.

"Thanks, Turtle Boy!" Alix called to him.

"Carapace!" Nino corrected her.

"What-ev!"

Marinette swung between the marble towers like a flying squirrel, sliding down along the sides of one before flying over to another one with her yo-yo.

It wasn't until she neared the main citadel when she spotted two figures along an open walkway. They were moving towards the large entrance that resembled the mouth of a griffon.

One of the figures was blue, hair and all.

Bridgette!

Marinette didn't need to guess who the other person was. The sunlight off his shiny mask gave him straight away.

Perched on top of a golden gargoyle, Marinette formed a hasty plan in her head. If Hawkmoth wasn't holding her sister hostage, Marinette would swing down and send him flying across the island.

If only she had some kind of distraction...

Marinette's eyes perked up. That's it!

She stood quietly and said, "Tikki, spots off."

In a whirl of light, she returned to her regular attire, and the ladybug kwami appeared beside her, looking confused.

But Marinette smiled assuredly at her little friend and said, "Tikki, I need you to pass on a quick message."

Two more statues came down.

Rose, Juleka, and Mylene cheered and high-fived.

Alix and Kim teamed up to send another guardian over the edge and into the water. They fist-bumped with mutual pride.

Meanwhile, Alya flew up onto a golden obelisk to get a better view. So far, the heroes were winning, and the guardian's numbers were dwindling.

But the redhead could tell that something was off about this whole island. It felt like a pulse of magic vibrating beneath the stones; surges of power like deep breaths blowing in and out. It must be the turtle, Alya thought. It must be getting ready to dive back into the ocean.

Before Alya could contemplate this thought further, something red and sparkly popped into existence in front of her.

"Alya!" Tikki said urgently. "Marinette needs a distraction. Something big!"

The enchantress blinked... and then grinned. "Something big, huh?" she said, twirling her flute. "You fly off and tell Mari I've got the perfect thing in mind."

Tikki nodded, and she disappeared in a puff of pink smoke.

Drawing on the magic within her amulet, Alya warped through a vacuum of space. She zoomed around the Vanishing Isle until she was hovering right in front of the giant turtle's face.

The beast's looming red eyes stared down at Alya curiously as she reappeared, as though wondering if she was something tasty to eat.

Hey... There's an idea.

Alya blew out a sharp breath before puffing out her chest. "Here goes nothing," she said.

She brought her flute to her lips and began to play.

The music travelled along the wind like a soothing lullaby, one that took you to a field of lavender flowers underneath a peaceful, night sky.

The turtle's mouth inched open slowly, and the wind picked up as the creature breathed in a deep, high-pitched yawn.

Ignoring the gagging stench of fish and seaweed, Alya flew straight inside the turtle.

In the darkness, there was a sweet call of "Tickle-tickle-tickle!"

The turtle's pupils shrank to the size of pebbles.

Bridgette gasped as an ear-splitting cry sounded through the city, and the ground shook violently beneath her feet.

Hawkmoth staggered back, letting go of his hostage as he struggled to regain his balance.

Bridgette would have gotten away, or given her old teacher a good kick in the chin, but the sudden earthquake caused her to collapse onto her side.

Just then, something red swung over and slammed into Hawkmoth, sending the swordsman sliding along the slippery marble a few, good feet away.

Red. Black polka-dots. Blue hair.

Bridgette's heart paused for a good long second.

Then, she watched as her little sister landed on both feet right beside her, glaring at Hawkmoth.

The silver-faced man rose up, grunting and grasping his middle. His eyes were the very image of distorted hatred as they bore into his new enemy.

"Ladybug." The word sounded more like a curse than a name.

Marinette ignored it, all the same. "You took my sister away from me years ago," she said, casting Bridgette a soft side-glance. "I'm not losing her again."

Bridgette saw the gleam in her sister's eyes – a gleam that said, I forgive you – and she smiled with a wave of overwhelming relief.

Hawkmoth huffed and rushed to grab his fallen cane.

Again, Marinette was too quick. She spun her yo-yo in a glowing arc and brought it up in an upper-cut.

The impact of metal on skin and bone made Bridgette wince, more so when Hawkmoth twisted over onto his front and fell over a small staircase.

He landed at the bottom with a hard THUD, groaned for a brief moment, and then sagged against the floor.

Neither sister breathed for a moment until they were both absolutely sure that the swordsman was unconscious.

Then, Bridgette said with half-a-grin, "I guess that toy of yours really is useful."

Marinette snorted, but her expression was amused and friendly. "I'll take that as a "thank you"," she said as she walked over and helped her sister to her feet. Then, she unsheathed the dagger from Bridgette's belt and used it to gently saw through the rope bonds.

As soon as the ties came loose, Bridgette flexed her wrists and turned to face her little sister.

The memory of their last conversation made her stomach flutter. There were so many things Bridgette wanted to say; so many things to apologise for a thousand times over.

But the Queen of Thieves – who always had some witty remark or comment up her sleeve – just stood there dumbfounded and uttered the only words she could muster: "You came all the way out here... for me?"

Marinette smiled, and she handed the dagger back. "How could I do anything else?" she asked, speaking as though their bitter exchange in the desert had never happened. "You're my sister. We may have different paths, but we're blood, just like you said."

Bridgette felt her cheeks warming as she slid the blade back into its scabbard. "Now you sound like our mother," she noted.

"Philosophical advice does seem to run in the family."

"As does stubbornness, I believe."

Both sisters giggled, and the sound of their voices mingling made Bridgette even warmer than ever.

It was the kind of warmth she had only felt with Alix, and Juleka, and Max, Kim, Mylene, Ivan, and Rose: a family's love. And now, the Queen of Thieves had a new addition to her family.

That reminded her. "Mother and Father?"

Marinette bumped her fist on Bridgette's shoulder. "Worried, as usual, but I think they'll both be happy to hear you apologise in person." She grinned. "Now, let's get that treasure of yours."

Bridgette's eyes widened. Then, she couldn't stop her smile from growing. "Oh, so you're actually going to help me now?" she asked with feigned skepticism. "Have my thieving ways finally rubbed off on you?"

"Nah," Marinette said as she began walking. "I have Alya to thank for that." She beckoned her sister to the griffon-face entrance. "Come on – we need to hurry if we want to get off the island in time."

Bridgette stared after her little sister for a good moment, and then a swell of pride filled her veins. "Now she sounds like me again," she murmured with a chuckle before running to keep up with Marinette.

Some things really did run in the family.

Entering a hidden sanctuary to find a magical treasure was undoubtedly one of them.