Marinette froze and choked on air. Tikki let out a low hiss and zoomed behind Marinette's right pigtail. Marinette tried to smile at her mother, hoping desperately she hadn't seen the kwami. "Yes, of course, Mama! Everything is just fine."

Sabine looked at her daughter suspiciously, then climbed through the trapdoor with ease, surprisingly nimble for her age. The petite woman approached her daughter, surveying the room with pursed lips. "Your room is an absolute pigsty, darling. What have you been doing?"

As Marinette fumbled for an answer, her mother's eyes fell on the girl's mannequin, and her jaw dropped. "Marinette, did you make this?"

Marinette nodded. "Yes, Mama. Do you like it?"

"Like it?" Sabine rushed towards her daughter and pulled her to her feet, hugging her tightly. "I love it! You must wear it sometime, Marinette." She rose to the tips of her toes and kissed the young designer's cheek, leaving a faint mark of pale pink lipstick. "What's the occasion?"

Tikki cleared her throat softly yet meaningfully, too quiet for Sabine to hear. Marinette sighed and opened her mouth to answer, but her mother had continued on.

"Oh, I know!" she cried. "It's the Valentine's Dance, isn't it? I got an email about it last week. When was it again?"

Marinette didn't even bother trying to answer, and simply watched her mother pull out her mobile phone and check her email. When she read the date, the baker let out a gasp and almost dropped her phone. "But it's tonight!" she exclaimed. "Do you need any help getting ready?"

Marinette was about to refuse, but then caught the shine in her mother's eyes and had a change of heart. "Yes, please," she smiled, deciding that she would let her mother prepare her, then leave and transform into Ladybug. Perhaps she could get ice-cream, or even bring her sketchpad and do some designing to soothe her troubled soul. Yes, that sounded good.

"Wonderful!" Sabine clapped her hands, barely containing her excitement. "I'll just pop down to tell your father, and grab a few things, then I'll be right back, my sweet. Oh, how exciting! My little Marinette!" Sabine rushed back downstairs, muttering to herself about cosmetics and hairstyles. Marinette smiled fondly and shook her head.

Tikki swirled out from behind her pigtail, looking slightly less enraged. "You'd better go to the dance, Marinette," she said, in that deep voice. "You can't run from things forever."

Marinette pressed her lips together. "I know that."

"Are you going to the dance, or not?" demanded the little kwami.

Marinette started to answer before the sound of quick, light footsteps on the staircase caught her attention. "Hide, Tikki!" she whispered urgently, gesturing to the little pink creature. Shooting her a thunderous look, the kwami darted off to hide again.

Moments later, Sabine burst through the trapdoor, holding a box and a mound of slightly stained fabric, which she tossed to her daughter, setting the box on Marinette's vanity with a thud. "Here you go!" she announced. "Let's get started. Put on your dress, sweetheart."

Marinette frowned. If she applied makeup or hair products while wearing her dress, it could get dirty. However, she decided to trust her mother and obeyed the woman's orders. Sabine bustled about as Marinette carefully removed the dress form the mannequin, making sure nothing tore. She pulled off her shirt and jeans and cautiously stepped into the gown. She cleared her throat and tripped over to her mother. "Could you zip me up, Mama?"

"Certainly." Sabine carefully adjusted the zipper and tucked it away, making it almost invisible. Marinette turned to face her mother, who looked delighted. "Oh, darling, you look gorgeous!" She clasped her hands together and blinked back happy tears. "So grown up."

Marinette looked at herself in the mirror, and couldn't help but admire her work. The gown was form fitting around the bodice, with a sweetheart neckline. Transparent, sparkling fabric spread out from the blue material, creating long sleeves and a higher neckline. The skirt flowed out, light blue with a filmy layer floating over the blue silky material. The hem of the dress brushed the floor, just long enough that Marinette's sock-covered toes peeped out.

Sabine picked up the piece of stained fabric that she had tossed to Marinette, and draped it over her shoulders so that it covered most of the gown, like a cape. Rolling up the sleeves of her blouse, Sabine studied her daughter's face critically.

"You have a natural beauty, so not much makeup," she mused. "But we'll do your hair, perhaps with a diamond clip. Something formal, but not too formal."

Marinette raised her hand. "It's a masquerade ball, Mama," she informed the woman. "Here, I'll grab my mask." Marinette walked over to the mannequin and retrieved her mask, careful not to trip over her skirt. Using the mirror as a guide, Marinette put on the mask, using pins on the edges to hold it up. It was the same blue and silver as the dress, and like Ladybug's mask, covered only half her face. It was mostly blue, with silver embellishments around the edges and between the eyes. Simple, but effective.

Sabine nodded, and leaned in close, uncapping a tube of lipstick. She applied it to her daughter's lips. "Well, that's the makeup done. Now for the hair." Sabine frowned in concentration, eyes fixed on Marinette's dark locks. Picking up a brush, she took out the girl's hair ties and began to run it through the silky strands. Carefully, she picked up a handful of hair and plaited it loosely. Sabine pulled the rest into a low, messy bun, leaving wisps around Marinette's face. Plucking up two pins, Sabine slid the bejewelled accessories into her daughter's hair, completing the look.

For the next forty minutes or so, Marinette underwent a severe pampering session, including a pedicure, bath (with bubbles, and taking care not to ruin her hair), and moisturizing. With fifteen minutes before the dance began, Marinette slipped back into her dress, fresh, clean and polished.

She slid on her heels and teetered downstairs, gripping the rail firmly and cursing herself for not practicing walking in the things. Her parents waited at the bottom, her father floury and her mother teary, both smiling proudly. As she reached them, Marinette was wrapped in a hug by her father. "My Marinette, the prettiest girl in Paris!" he boomed. Releasing her, he whipped out a camera and began to snap photographs. "Say cheese!"

Marinette tolerated her parents for five minutes, before announcing that she had to leave. Her father nodded and took off his apron. "Let's go then!"

"You're coming with me?"

"Of course! We want to meet your date!"

Marinette stiffened. "Oh...there's no date. I'm going solo tonight."

Her parents looked surprised for a fraction of a second, before carefully arranging their faces into supportive looks. "Oh, well, that's not a problem then. Come on!"

Marinette sighed, and stumbled after her parents. Well, that was her plan down the drain. She'd have to slip away during the dance to transform.

MLBMLBMLB

"Marinette!"

The second Marinette tripped through the door, a harsh shriek assaulted her ears, and a tiny figure in pink slammed into her, almost knocking the air out of the young designer.

"Good to see you too, Rose," she said breathlessly.

Rose beamed up at Marinette. "Oh, isn't it wonderful? All our hard work has paid off!"

Marinette forced a grin. "Yeah, wonderful."

"You look beautiful!" gushed Rose. "DId you make that?"

Marinette nodded silently, and Rose squeaked excitedly. "You're so talented, Marinette!"

Rose's loud cries had attracted more attention. Juleka, Mylene, Ivan, Alya, Alix, Nino, and Kim approached the two girls. Alya smiled at her. "Marinette, the dress is gorgeous. Thank you so much!"

"It suits you," responded Marinette, studying the burnt-orange, floor-length, halter-necked dress with pride. "So, what was the good news?"

Alya tapped her nose with her finger and winked. "Oh no, you don't, girl. That's classified information."

Marinette groaned, and turned to greet the others, complimenting them on their outfits and chatting. Ten minutes later, the party was in full swing, with the lights dimmed and people twirling around on the dance floor, rocking to Nino's truly brilliant mixtape.

Chloe and Sabrina stood by the door, criticising the outfits of every single person in between checking their phones for the time. "He was meant to be here by now," moaned Chloe. "He'd better not be sick."

Marinette rolled her eyes and kept dancing.

More people streamed in, but no golden-haired, green-eyed models were amongst the flow of finely-dressed students. Not that Marinette cared. She was concentrating on how to sneak out of the courtyard without her friends noticing.

Eventually, she managed to escape. Ducking behind a post, Marinette opened her clutch. Sure, the party was fun, but she was over it. It was time to get out of here.

"Tikki," she whispered into the clutch, where her kwami lay hidden, "spo-"

There was a sharp thud behind her, and Marinette snapped the purse shut, earning an indignant squeak from Tikki. Heart fluttering, Marinette slowly turned around, trying not to look suspicious, as though she crouched behind poles in ball gowns and heels all the time.

The person was several metres away from her, facing away. He was tall, with a mop of blonde hair that shone faintly in the dim lamplight. Marinette's chest tightened. Chat Noir?

He turned, and Marinette realized that she'd spoken out loud. Oops.

Crossing her arms, Marinette turned to walk away. But something seemed...off about him. Against her will, the bluenette turned to look at him properly.

It may have been dark, but there was one thing on her superhero partner that always stood out in darkness. Or rather, two things. And those things were his luminous green eyes. But something was wrong. Because Chat Noir's eyes were not their usual emerald shade. Tonight, they were deep purple, like amethysts.

Or, thought Marinette with growing dread, her heart turning to stone, like an akuma.

MLBMLBMLB

Alya Cesaire had been looking forward to this night for months. Sure, the party was an absolute blast, but there was one thing that could make it even better, and that thing was the arrival of Chat Noir and Ladybug. She'd only heard back from the former, but Alya was sure that Ladybug would tag along with Chat. They had to have some form of communication for when they were out of the suits, right?

In any case, it was still going to be incredible. And everyone assumed that they weren't coming, anyway, so they were in for a shock. Alya checked her phone. Chat Noir should be here by now.

MLBMLBMLB

After all the fuss about Ladybug potentially being akumatized, Adrien had never expected that he would meet the same fate. He also hadn't expected that his kind classmate would be the cause of it. But then again, he'd never expected that Marinette would be Ladybug, either.

He hadn't seen the akuma coming. The model had woken in the early hours of the morning, transformed, and snuck out of his room via the window, with no intention of returning to attend school. Quite honestly, he was sick of it all and needed some time to himself.

The last time he'd seen Marinette, she was slamming the door to the bakery, shutting him out of her house, and possibly even her life. Chat had always assumed tha he and Ladybug would stick with each other, but after seeing the look of pure hatred on the superheroine's face last night, anything could happen. It wasn't like his partner to hold grudges, but he'd caused her a lot of pain. He understood that now.

But he'd said he was sorry! Ladybug needed to understand that Chat had had no idea what he was doing to her. Sure, she had the right to be mad, but not to the point of removing herself from his life.

Chat stopped to lean against a chimney, chest heaving, mind swirling. Ladybug couldn't leave him!

Suddenly he felt something slam into his back with notable force. Chat stumbled against the chimney, clutching it for support as something cold began to spread through his body, like ice in his veins. His vision blurred then refocused, now edged with a purple glow. The superhero's mind went blank, narrowing to the cool, quiet voice in his head.

"A troubled boy, spurned by the girl of his dreams. She doesn't want to be in your life? I can give you the ability to change that. All I want in exchange is your Miraculous, and Ladybug's."

Chat Noir smiled as the voice continued to talk. "Yes, Hawkmoth."

Dark ripples spread over his body, as the guardian of Paris succumbed to Hawkmoth's will.

Hi, guys. I do have some stuff to say, but first I want to talk about this chapter. In the reviews (thanks so much for them, by the way!), some of you have said the story is losing its intensity, and becoming a bit of a rom-com. The first bit of this chapter was pretty boring, I'll admit, but it was easy to write and I'm really slack. I'm going to try to pick up the action levels again, so thanks for your support.

Secondly, I know I took forever to update, which isn't really acceptable when I said I'd try to update twice a week, and I apologize for it. I had exams and heaps of assignments due (relish your primary school days, kids), which were extremely stressful for me and everyone else taking them. In addition to that, I do have some mental illnesses, which can make things extremely difficult, and definitely made the past week or so almost unbearable. I am recovering though, and I do have medical help and support. I'm going to do my best to get this story done before the term ends because I have a new project planned. So thanks for bearing with me!

P.S. Someone said that there were some spelling errors. While I appreciate you pointing that out, please remember that I am Australian, and we spell things slightly differently to other countries. Also, I use an editing app (I'm lazy) so please let me know if I should change apps. Thanks again!