A/N: This is the last chapter of the story. I will try to wrap everything up in this chapter. Thank you to all of you who took the time to read this story and to all of you who actually enjoyed it. I really appreciate it! I had so much fun working on it, and I will definitely aim to write more Miraculous Ladybug fanfictions in the future!
Chapter 9: The Turtle
POV: 3rd
Cat Noir headed towards Nino's house, nervously gripping the turtle bracelet and ladybug earrings in his hand. Tikki and Wayzz floated behind him.
He had talked to Master Fu for half an hour, just discussing what could be done. Eventually, Master Fu gave him the turtle bracelet he kept on his wrist and told him to give it to someone he trusted. Then he told him that the earrings could be given to Alya.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Cat Noir asked Tikki.
"It's our only option," Wayzz answered first. "And hey, it's been a while since I've transformed. It should be fun."
"We need to save Marinette and Chloe," Tikki added. "And Alya and Nino can be trusted. They're your absolute best friends."
"Alright," Cat Noir sighed. He stopped when he jumped down onto Nino's roof. He took a deep breath before flipping down and into the open window.
Nino and Alya jumped up when he came in unannounced. He grinned a bit when he realized that they had been kissing. "Hey, guys. I need to ask for a favor," Cat Noir said to them. "I have a feeling you two will be happy to do it."
"It depends on what it is," Nino said.
"Alya, how would you like to be Ladybug temporarily?" Cat Noir asked, watching her eyes widen in surprise.
"Where's the real Ladybug?" Alya asked softly.
"Okay. Listen. Don't get mad. There's a very good reason why she kept the secret," Cat Noir started. "Ladybug was akumatized." He watched as the pieces clicked together in Alya's mind.
"Marinette?" Nino demanded. "Marinette is Ladybug?"
"Yes. I managed to get her earrings off of her earlier, and I have them for you, Alya. Do you want to help me?" Cat Noir asked. Alya nodded.
"Let's save my best friend," Alya said. Cat Noir gave the earrings over.
"And I didn't forget you, Nino," Cat Noir added. "You get to be a turtle. You can come up with your own name."
Cat Noir handed over the turtle bracelet, which he put on quickly as Alya got the earrings in. "Alright. How do we transform?" Alya asked.
"Wait, I have a much more important question for you," Nino stepped in. "Who are you?"
Cat Noir nodded. He knew that one of them was bound to ask after he told them that Marinette was Ladybug. "I'm Adrien," Cat Noir said. Their eyes widened even bigger.
"Prove it," Alya said.
"Plagg, claws in," Cat Noir said, and Plagg left his ring. Cat Noir transformed back into Adrien. He smiled when he saw the looks of pure shock and amazement on Alya and Nino's faces.
"That's so cool! My best friend is a superhero!" Nino laughed.
"So is mine!" Alya squealed. "No wonder Ladybug notices me so much!"
"Wait, that means that Marinette put us together in that cage at the zoo," Nino realized. Alya smiled.
"We have to thank her later," Alya said. "But seriously. Adrien, how do we transform?"
"I have no idea how Marinette transforms into Ladybug. I feel like it's the same way with me, but she must have her own catchphrase," Adrien admitted. "Tikki?"
Tikki flew out from behind him, and Alya laughed, her eyes lighting up. "She can just say 'Tikki, transform me'," Tikki said.
"Oh, you're so cute!" Alya said, grinning.
"Not as cute as me," Plagg defended, coming out.
"Are you two completely forgetting me?" Wayzz asked.
"What about me? What do I say?" Nino asked Adrien.
"Same thing, except you say his name. His name is Wayzz," Adrien answered as Wayzz flew over to Nino.
"You're a cute little guy," Nino chuckled.
"So you just follow Marinette around all the time?" Alya asked Tikki. Tikki nodded. "That's so awesome. You give her her powers?" Tikki nodded again. "Sweet!"
"Wayzz, transform me!" Nino shouted, making Alya and Adrien jump a bit. After a second, he was transformed into a turtle. He was in a suit like Cat Noir's, except it was green. He had a green mask, his glasses gone. He had a shell on his back. "Awesome!" He looked down at himself. "I'm going to be... Turtle Man!"
"What about Shell Head?" Alya whispered under her breath, laughing to herself. Nino didn't hear her. Speaking up a little louder, she said, "Tikki, transform me!" She was transformed into Ladybug. Her hair was pulled up into the pigtails like Ladybug's, and she looked almost exactly like her, except for the skin color. Her glasses were gone, too.
"Can you guys see alright?" Adrien asked them.
"Yeah. I see great," Nino said, and Alya agreed.
"It's kind of hard to put a mask over glasses, and they'd look stupid if they had glasses over their masks," Plagg sighed. "Their powers include heightened vision, so they can see just fine without them. They'll come back when they change back."
"That makes sense. Plagg, claws out!" Adrien said. Once he was turned into Cat Noir, he looked at the two. "Ready to go save Marinette?"
"Yeah!" the two agreed.
"What's the plan?" Alya asked, pulling out her yo-yo and playing with it.
"So Nino, you're going to protect Chloe," Cat Noir said. Nino nodded. "Alya, you know Marinette better than just about everyone else. You and I are going to trap her and get her purse away from her. That seems to be where the akuma is."
"So I know Ladybug captures akumas, but how do I do that?" Alya asked.
"I think Tikki will help you. While you're Ladybug, Tikki is your guide," Cat Noir told her. "You probably just need to step on it once you get it off of her or rip the strap. The akuma will come out after that. Once we get there, I'll buy you time to pull out your lucky charm. Then we have five minutes before you change back. With all of us working together, it shouldn't take that long."
"Wait, why five minutes?" Alya asked.
"Because once you use the lucky charm, you're starting to really drain Tikki's power. She can only keep the power up for so long," Cat Noir explained. "The same for me. When I use my cataclysm, I only have five minutes because I'm draining Plagg's power."
"Do I have a special power?" Nino asked.
"Not that I know of. I didn't talk to the holder long enough to find out that information. And you didn't really give Wayzz a chance to explain," Cat Noir told him. "But let's go."
Cat Noir carried Nino to Chloe's house, and Alya followed along, laughing as she used her yo-yo to swing from building to building. She was having the time of her life. The three flew through the window of Chloe's room. Chloe and the Heartbreaker looked up.
"About time you returned," the Heartbreaker said, moving away from Chloe. She completely ignored Nino as he ran over to Chloe and untied her. "And you brought a friend."
"Two friends, actually," Alya corrected. "Marinette, let us help you."
"I'm not Marinette," Heartbreaker growled. "I knew you couldn't be trusted, Cat."
"I am trustworthy. You know that," Cat Noir said. "I may be a flirt as Cat Noir, but I really do love you." He gave Alya the gesture to use her lucky charm.
"Lucky charm!" Alya said. A chain fell into her hands. "What am I supposed to do with this?"
"I think I have a pretty good idea," Cat Noir said without looking away from Heartbreaker. Without any time to think, Heartbreaker lunged at him, sticking her hand into her purse. He leaped out of the way as she threw something black at him. It dissolved as it hit the wall.
"Stand still, Cat," she hissed.
"Hey, I'm the one doing the hissing, alright?" Cat Noir said, smiling at her. "It's a catastrophe when someone steals my job."
"Stop it," she snapped, her black eyes narrowed at him. "Your cat puns have never been funny."
"That's un-fur-tunate, absolutely heartbreaking," Cat Noir sighed. "I thought my puns were hiss-terical."
As he was distracting Heartbreaker with cat puns, Alya snuck up behind her, the chain in her hands. Then, without a second thought, she ran at Heartbreaker and jumped around her, wrapping her up in the chain. Heartbreaker screamed at the two as Alya gave the end of the chain to Cat Noir. Nino and Chloe watched silently.
With a quick flick, Cat Noir used his staff to remove the purse from Heartbreaker. "Do your thing, Ladybug," he said, staring straight at Heartbreaker. She struggled against the chains, whipping around. "I'm sorry this happened, Marinette. It'll all be over in a second." He walked towards her as Alya ripped up the purse and released the akuma.
Cat Noir dropped to his knees in front of Heartbreaker. She stopped struggling for a second to look at him. "I'm sorry, Marinette," he breathed before leaning over and kissing her lips gently. By the time he pulled back, it was Marinette who was all chained up, the akuma already captured.
Alya and Cat Noir quickly untied her, and Alya got rid of the chains while Cat Noir helped Marinette to her feet. She looked like she was in a lot of pain, which kind of alarmed him.
"Come on, Turtle Man and Ladybug. We have to change back," Cat Noir said.
"What about me?" Chloe demanded.
"You're at home. You're fine now," Cat Noir said simply. Chloe looked like she was about to complain, so he stopped her. "You seriously hurt Marinette this morning. I heard about what happened. That wasn't alright. You have no reason to complain right now."
Before she could say anything else, the four left the room. Alya carried Marinette while Cat Noir carried Nino again. They got up to the roof, and Alya and Adrien had only a few seconds to put down Marinette and Nino before changing back.
"Adrien," Marinette said in fear, looking at Alya.
"Don't worry. She knows. So does Nino," Adrien assured her. "I confided in them because I needed help. I'm just lucky you didn't truly use your power against us. Tikki told me you'd probably be twice as strong as any of the villains we've gone up against so far."
"Nino?" Marinette asked, looking at Turtle Man. He smiled.
"How do I change back?" Nino asked Adrien.
"'Wayzz, detransform me'," Adrien told him, guessing.
"Wayzz, detransform me," Nino said, and in a few seconds, he was transformed back into Nino.
"What happened?" Marinette asked.
"You were akumatized because you were angry over what happened this morning," Adrien sighed. "Look, I know that you saw what happened. But please believe me when I say that I didn't want it. It was all Chloe."
"That makes sense. And it also makes sense that I went straight for Chloe," Marinette sighed. Adrien walked over and hugged her tightly, kissing the top of her head. "Alya, you're going to put this on the Ladyblog, aren't you?"
"Nope. I'm sworn to secrecy. Just like you and Adrien. Nino and I will keep it a secret," Alya explained.
"What about the Ladyblog, then?" Marinette asked, pulling away from Adrien.
"I'll still post updates on it, but it won't be centered around trying to unmask you. It'll just be posting videos that I capture, any interviews I get from you again, stuff like that," Alya said, smiling. "I'm just so glad that you're okay, and I'm so excited to know that my best friend is a superhero."
"Oh, before I forget, thank you!" Nino said excitedly. Alya and Adrien smirked as Marinette gave him a confused look. "We figured out that you were the one who locked Alya and me in that cage at the zoo. You were basically the reason Alya and I are dating now. And I wanted to thank you."
"Thank you," Alya said.
"You're welcome, you guys," Marinette said. "So are you taking over now as Ladybug?"
"Of course not! That's your job, Marinette. You and Adrien are partners. I was just a temporary while we saved you. No one could truly replace you," Alya assured her.
"I couldn't bear to work without you, my Lady," Adrien admitted. Marinette smiled.
"What about you, Nino?" Marinette wondered.
"I have to give the bracelet back. Adrien told me that I was a temporary, too. Which is kind of a shame. I kind of liked being a turtle. Wayzz, where'd you go, buddy?" Nino said.
"I'm here," Wayzz said, sitting in his hoody.
"Do you need anything?" Nino asked.
"Just some lettuce," Wayzz told him.
"I can get that," Nino said.
"Yeah. You may not have used any special power, but I'm sure it still drained him a bit," Adrien said. "Plagg, I've got camembert for you."
"Thank you," Plagg said graciously as Adrien pulled out a piece of the smelly camembert. He ate it quickly, not even taking the time to savor it.
"Wait, he eats cheese?" Nino asked.
"Yeah. I have no idea why. It's what refuels him," Adrien answered.
"What does little Tikki eat?" Alya asked.
"Cookies," Marinette answered for him. Alya smiled. "I have a few, if you'd like to give them to her." Alya nodded and Marinette pulled a chocolate chip cookie out of her purse. She handed it to Alya who then gave it to Tikki who sat in her palms. She ate slowly and quietly.
"So how do we get down from here?" Alya asked.
"Just wait until Plagg and Tikki finish eating and refuel," Adrien said. "Marinette, you feel like turning into Ladybug for a little bit so we can get them home and return Wayzz to Master Fu?"
"Absolutely. It's nice to be back," Marinette said, smiling at him. He reached over and took her hand, holding it tight as they watched Tikki eat and Nino talk to Wayzz. They looked at each other for a second before smiling.
It was sure to be even more interesting for them now that Alya and Nino knew, too. But neither of them minded. The pressure of keeping the secret from them was off now, and that's the way they liked it. Seeing their friends so happy was worth it.