"Chat, you're breaking my ears." Ladybug complained, hunching forward against the cold night wind. Stupid spring, she thought. Totally unreliable.

"Whaddya mean, m'lady?" Chat leaned back, sprawled out on the still-warm slate, tail curled behind him. So dramatic! She laughed to herself. "Is my meowing really that bad?"

"No, no, continue your serenade. It's wonderful. I mean your puns."

Chat sat up, green sclera glinting in the moonlight, mask creased by that awful smirk he always wore. "You love my puns, bugaboo."

"Sure. But I keep thinking I hear other people say them when they're speaking normally."

"So I'm…" He leaned forward, quirking his eyebrows. "Cat-chy?"

"Oh my gosh, Chat, shut up." She laughed. "This is a serious problem!"

"Oh, of course!" He spoke suddenly in a lower tone, mock lacing every bit of it. "You're so lovesick you're imagining your favorite part of me in other people!"

"Chat–" She shoved him away. "I. Do. Not. Love. Your. Puns."

He sat back, spinning his tail idly behind him. "And yet here I seem to remember you saying you did. Do you remember when we fought Truth, m'lady? If I remember correctly, which I usually do, you said, "My favorite characteristic of Chat Noir has to be his humor!"

"I was under a spell!" Ladybug complained.

"And it forced you to tell the truth." Chat rebounded, leaning closer again with his trademark smirk. "Which means you do love it when I act like a clown, despite your increasing resistance to my wonderful punning."

"CHAT…"

"You know I'm right."

"You're insufferable."

"No more than you are stubborn, m'lady."

Ladybug rolled her eyes and stood as Reyna Rouge, Carapace, and Viperion landed on the roof in front of them. "Thank you for ending that." She said.

"We were fighting like a married couple again."

"CHAT–"

"OK, guys, focus." Reyna pushed between them, smiling. "That's enough flirting for one night."

Carapace choked on his smoothie.

"We are not flirting." Ladybug insisted. "And Chat, what exactly did you mean by that last comment? Just how stubborn do you think I am?"

He shrugged, pulling out his baton with a nervous chuckle. "Well… OH LOOK AT THAT AKUMA TIME TO GO SAVE PARIS– YEEEEEE!" He leapt off the building with his trademark screech and propelled away, leaving Ladybug to shake her head. "I will never understand–"

Reyna put a hand on her shoulder. "Hate to break it to you, girl, but there is actually an akuma. We should probably go."

In the end, Crusher wasn't so hard to beat, especially not with the five of them working together. However, Marinette was increasingly grateful for her Lucky Charm: the angered construction worker made a mess of the city. And of course, Chat Noir was incredibly frustrated when said akuma knocked down the Eiffel Tower. Again.

"So, there's a person copying my sense of humor?" Chat asked as Ladybug pulled him to his feet. A stray lamppost had sent him flying into a nearby minivan.

Ladybug pulled her hands from his. "I wouldn't say that. He's got a sense of humor on his own… I think."

"You think? Must be a bit of a downer."

Marinette felt heat flash under her suit. "No, he's not! He's pretty amazing! It's just his dad…"

"I know what that feels like." Chat muttered— but before Ladybug could press, he shook his head, ears flapping. "Well, m'lady, what exactly did he say to you?"

Thrown by the sudden change of topic, Ladybug swallowed before responding. "He, uh, just made a car— I mean, a cat pun. 'Pawsitively awful', or something like that."

Chat Noir did a double take. "Huh. He really is a copycat." He took a step closer, green eyes shining dark. "Or, maybe…"

Then the tension was shattered. Viperion landed between them, body rigid. "Battle's over, guys. Let's regroup."

They bounded, swung, and jumped over the rooftops of Paris to their usual rendezvous, Ladybug's mind churning. What had that been about? 'Maybe' what?

She was their leader. She had to focus.

"Good job, guys!" She called as they formed a scraggly half-circle, bracing against the cool wind that sliced through the otherwise beautiful day.

"No, it wasn't." Viperion stepped forward, clenching his bracelet. "That took four tries. Four…" he sucked in a breath. "Horrible failures, before we managed to get the akuma without anyone getting crushed."

Well, that explained his strange behavior.

Chat's breathing hitched. "Who was it?"

Silence.

Then, Viperion looked up. He opened his mouth— the air wavered. His band glowed. "It was you, most times. One time it was— Ladybug."

Chat let out a growl, but Ladybug was too horrified to notice. Her partner had been killed, three times, and she'd failed each time.

She whipped around. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"No!" He cried, breath coming fast— was something wrong? "But you—"

She leapt forward, heart pounding, hands tracing his shoulders and spine and ribcage, checking for anything—

"Did anything hit you?"

"A lamppost, but—" His eyes were wide, sclera shining, deep concern etched into his features.

"Are you hurt?" Marinette hissed, and for a moment she didn't even think they were superheroes. They were just kids, just freaking kids, and he might be dying for all she knew– and Luka! She whipped around. "And you saw it happen!" She shrieked, launching herself forward again and grabbing his arms. "Oh, my god, that must have been awful! I never should have–"

Two friends. And you failed them. A new voice broke through her mind, and the eeriness of it sent cold shivers down her spine. How disappointing, Ladybug. Don't you feel you should punish yourself for your atrocious failures?

"Ladybug, listen to me… " Luka's voice was fading in and out, swept away on a tide of cold self-loathing. "... not your…"

Sky dark with clouds, she just managed to make out something flitting toward her. Horror ran through her, freezing her limbs.

A dark butterfly.

She could feel Luka trying to tug her away, and others, too, but all she could focus on was the evil sucking her in. Its cold energy was growing on her, pulling her away…

Adrien screamed something, and a black blur flew threw the air–

The moon broke through the clouds. Marinette fell to her knees, gasping– but it wasn't her she was worried about. Chat Noir (why had she heard Adrien?) landed, hissing- and crumpled to the ground on unsteady limbs, Carapace barely managing to break his fall before his head collided with the ground. "Ladybug!" He yelped.

"What? I can't– I can't Lucky–"

"Go transform back! Hurry!"

She rose on shaking limbs and raced off across the rooftops, ducking behind a nearby chimney. "Tikki, spots off!"

Her kwami flew in front of her, immediately confronted with a macaron waving through the air as Marinette struggled to keep her limbs steady. The adrenaline rush that came with donning the suit washing off her wasn't helping either. "Hurry, Tikki." She muttered, swallowing on a dry throat. "I'll explain later."

Her kwami swallowed the macaron in one bite, eyes shining with concern, and flew up to her holder's ear. "Ready, Marinette!"

Marinette did a double take. "Don't you need to rest?"

"I'll be alright!" Tikki promised. "This sounds important!"

"It is." Marinette stood. "Tikki, spots on."

She bounded back over the tops of the building, suit's energy granting her a clarity of mind she hadn't had before. "I'm here. Is he OK?"

Carapace looked up, still cradling an unresponsive Chat. Reyna was standing protectively over them, Viperion knelt next to them with a hand on Carapace's shoulder. All wore pensive expressions. Ladybug stalked forward, unhooking her yoyo. "Here goes nothing. LUCKY CHARM!"

A flash of light pierced the night, and Viperion caught a red-and-black-spotted pillow. "A nap?" He suggested, looking to Ladybug with a shrug. She took the pillow from him and flipped over, eyes scanning it with a certain analytical swiftness. When she saw the logo on the tag, she nodded. "I know where we have to take him."

A few minutes later, they landed in Adrien's bedroom. Ladybug flicked on the light, putting a finger to her lips. Carapace was the last one to climb through, holding the back end of his shield as a stretcher as Reyna took the front end, Viperion looked around in awe before quietly detransforming and turning to Ladybug, who was fluffing a matching pillow on the large bed. "Are you sure you want us in here?" Luka asked. "Will they know…"

"LUKA?!" Carapace stumbled, almost sending Chat sliding off the shield. Ladybug pounced forward and scooped him up in her arms before he could hit the floor, carrying him bridal style to the bed and setting him down, Reyna wordlessly handing her a blanket to wrap around him. "You're– oh, whoops."

"It's OK, Nino." Luka insisted, and Carapace jerked back in shock. "I don't mind you knowing my identity."

"HOW DO YOU–" Alya placed a hand over his mouth, detransformed now, and Nino licked it, ignoring her hiss of displeasure. She wiped her hand on her jeans as he continued– "How does he know who I am?"

Luka let out a hearty, gentle laugh and plopped down cross-legged on the floor. "I know who everyone is. Second Chance, remember?"

Nino blinked. "Well, I guess we can detransform then." And he did.

Marinette wanted to interrogate Luka about that, but she was a little too worried about Chat to think clearly.

Alya sighed. "Can we please focus?" She asked, gesturing widely at the limp form on Adrien's bed, black leather blending in with the dark bedspread. "We have to ask our kwamis–" she whispered, but the damage had already been done. A light flicked on down the hall. "Hide!" She hissed, and her friends scattered– all except Chat Noir, who's Miraculous was beeping. Marinette flung the blanket over his face, hoping it wouldn't suffocate him, and rushed to the closet, pushing Luka into it. "Stay put." She hissed, and then she pressed herself in with him, peeking through the slats of the closet door to make sure Nino and Alya were out of sight. Why does he have to have so many windows in his room?

A sharp inhale met her ears. Luka, barely visible, was wedged in between a row of suits and the corner of the small closet, eyes wide. "Marinette…"

She winced, coloring. She was practically on top of him. "Sorry." She whispered.

He shook his head, taking a deep breath and readjusting as she moved as far away from him as she could in the cramped space. "Actually," he began, "There was something I–"

She clapped a hand to his mouth, eyes conveying an apology as his went crossed. "Someone's coming." She hissed, hoping the sound would carry to her other two friends, wherever they were hiding.

"Adrien?" A beam of warm yellow light sliced through the room as his door was opened. "Are you alright?"

Silence. Marinette's mind was churning, struggling to think of some way to get out of this–

A voice came from behind her. "Oh, yes, Nathalie. I'm alright– I just knocked something off of my nightstand. Good night!"

The door shut. After several moments of tense silence, hardly daring to breathe, Marinette let the door to the closet creak open. Her heart pounded on her ears. Was she gone?

A splash of red caught her eye and she shook her head violently, praying the little desk lamp was enough light for Nino to catch her warning. It wasn't until the hallway light flicked off and the resounding thumps of Nathalie's prosthetic enhancers tramping down the stairs had faded that she nodded and the others slunk out of the shadows, Luka coming out of the closet with a bewildered expression. Marinette instantly rounded on him. "How'd you do that?"

He smiled. "Do what?"

"Do Adrien's voice like that."

Luka's smile stretched. "I have no idea. I just did it."

"I thought Adrien was hiding in here with us!" Nino exclaimed in an excited whisper. "Dude, that was so cool."

Alya crossed the room. "And I thought it was Chat Noir who said something, but he's still out cold."

Marinette followed her friend, suddenly mindful of her bare feet on the linoleum floor. She was in her PJ's. Great. And now that the magic from the transformation had worn off, she was quickly tiring. As she got closer, she saw a muddled clump of– oh, it was the kawmis, huddled around Plagg, who was sitting on a hand poking out from under the blankets. That ring looked familiar…

"Marinette." Luka warned.

She looked away. "Do you guys need food?" She asked the kwamis. Trix, Wayz, and Sazz all gratefully accepted their food, but Tikki and Plagg remained inconsolable, pressing their little bodies against each other as they watched the Black Cat holder sleep.

"Tikki–"

Plagg interrupted Marinette, normally gravelly voice even more raspy than usual. "Sugarcube…"

Tikki reached even further, barely managing to wrap her little arms around Plagg's midsection. If Marinette hadn't been so worried, she would've squealed at how cute they are. "I know, Plagg, I know." Tikki whispered.

"He's so young…"

"He's strong." Tikki responded. "He'll be alright, you'll see."

"You guys should go." Luka said, taking Marinette's place at Chat's side. "I know who he is already."

"We should know." Alya insisted. "We know who you are, and Carapace, and Ladybug, and Reyna Rouge, so–"

"Correction: I can't know who Chat Noir is." Marinette sucked in a breath, remembering just why she couldn't. "Either he gets akumatized or the world ends."

Luka nodded. "It's a long story." He added before the others could ask. "So I'll stay and talk to his kwami, try to figure out what happened."

"Do you think it has anything to do with the fact that he used two cataclysms in a row?" Nino asked.

Oh.

"Mon dieu." Marinette whispered. "He did that… for me."

"He's burning up. Alya announced, slipping her hand out from under the blankets, where a shock of blonde hair was just barely visible. "You guys have to go. Marinette, world-ending, and Nino can't keep a secret– no offense, babe, but it's true."

"You can't either!" Marinette replied. "At least not from me. Come on. We'll stay at your house. I'll leave a note for my parents saying Nino needed help with an essay."

Tikki floated up to Marinette's eye level as the other two transformed. "Marinette, may I please stay with Plagg?" She asked, little red body shivering. "I think he needs me." She continued in a quieter voice.

Marinette's nose scrunched, but she nodded. "Alya, can you carry me or something?"

"Sure." Reyna scooped Marinette up bridal-style and jumped lightly into the open window space. Marinette turned back to Luka, who was deep in hushed conversation with Plagg. "Luka, can you make sure Tikki and Plagg eat? I know they're worried, but they really need to."

"Sure." He didn't look up.

Marinette hesitated– but then they were flying through the cold night air, buildings blurring around them.

In the end, she managed to sneak in the front door of the bakery with Reyna holding the bell down so it wouldn't chime, grabbing enough treats for the three of them to have breakfast and leaving a little note where she knew her dad would find it when he came down to start his day. And then they were off again, soaring through the crisp early-morning air to Alya's house.

They landed at the door with three damp thumps. No one spoke as they padded quietly through the homey living room and down the hall. If they woke up the twins…

But they didn't. Reyna closed the door to her small room, and as soon as it latched the two superheroes whispered their detransformation phrases, sinking to their knees as the magic washed over them and left them exhausted.

Marinette fumbled through the darkness until she came to the minifridge Alya had in her room "for emergencies". All it contained were several bunches of slightly over-ripe grapes and a shelf of energy drinks, one of which Nino grabbed and downed.

"Does fruit work for your kwami too, Nino?" Alya called through the blanket of darkness, voice soft and tired. Marinette could just make out the reflection of her glasses in the bit of light coming from the fridge. "I'm not prepared for company."

Nino whispered something to Wayzz and nodded, red cap standing out. Marinette threw him a bunch of grapes.

"Alya?" She asked eventually.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Chat is OK?"

Alya paused. "Plagg hasn't come over here screaming yet, so I guess so. But… you're still catastrophizing."

"Yup."

Alya scooted through the darkness and wrapped her arms around her friend. "He's probably fine."

"Yeah." Nino added in a ghost of a whisper.

"But we don't know how this works!" Marinette gripped her ponytails. "What if he hurt his kwami? What if he hurt himself? What if he doesn't get better? We don't know what happens when you use adult powers before you're ready!"

"Adult powers?" Alya asked.

Marinette nodded, then remembered her friend couldn't see her. "Yeah. Master Fu told me that someday we'll never have to detransform." Wayzz let out a long, sad sigh at the mention of his former holder. Out of Marinette's sight, Nino drew him in for a little hug.

"Maybe he's starting to get his adult powers." Alya tried after a moment, voice uncomfortably loud in Marinette's ear.

"He passed out, Alya."

Just then their phones buzzed. Marinette pulled hers out and clicked Answer, putting it on speaker as low as she could and motioning to the others to crowd around. "Are you guys OK?" She asked.

"Yeah..." It was Luka. Marinette let out a little squeal, quickly hushed by her much more pragmatic reporter friend. Nino blew a sigh of relief, the light from his phone briefly illuminating his face. "Thank the ancients." He muttered.

There was a light shuffling sound from the phone. "Adrien came back, by the way. He said it's OK if we hide Chat up here until he wakes up."

"When is he gonna wake up?" Nino whispered.

Luka took a deep breath. "We don't know yet," He said, and Marinette could imagine him sitting cross-legged on the couch, itching for an instrument to play. "Sometime soon, hopefully. He won't be out for more than three days."

"Three days?"

"He wasn't supposed to try that sort of stunt for another two or three years."

"Oh." That shut Marinette up.

After a moment, Nino added, "So are you sure he's–"

"Yes, he's fine, Nino, I promise. That's what Plagg told me."

"OK." The young musician didn't seem very comforted, but he leaned back. "Well…"

"We should get some sleep." Alya said.

Nino scoffed. "Are you kidding me, Alya? Can you imagine what your sister would say if she found out I was here overnight?"

Marinette giggled; she couldn't help it. This was late (early?) even for her. "So what do we do?"

Alya stood, moments later the ceiling light flicked on. Groans echoed throughout the room as the light streaking from the yellow bulbs pierced their eyes. When Marinette could see again, she found Alya standing in the center of the room with her hands on her hips. "We might as well stay awake then. Come on, we'll make it look like we're studying." The trio, moving slowly with the exhaustion and stiffness of the night before, pulled out several of her textbooks and arranged them on the floor. "Good night, Luka!" Marinette called, and he said goodbye.

"So." Nino began after a moment. "Luka is Viperion."

"Yup." Marinette popped the p. "It's getting harder and harder to hide our identities."

"Why do we care again?" Alya asked, reaching past Nino for an energy drink.

Marinette stretched out on her stomach on the plush carpet, idly flipping through their math textbook. "Honestly? I don't know. Master Fu told us to."

"He's the guy who had Wayzz, right?" Nino reached for a grape, dislodging a still happily-feeding Trix. "The old Guardian?"

"Yeah." Marinette didn't bother to pull herself from the memories. "He was awesome. Kind, wise, honestly really weird. He asked me to get him constipation pills one time and I accidentally gave the prescription to Adrien."

A moment passed, and then suppressed laughter rebounded through the room. It was silenced instantly, however, when a hallway light flicked on. They all huddled together in silence, eyes wide. Alya snuck up and flicked off the overhead light, pressing a finger to her lips. None of them dared to breathe.

A burp echoed through the hallway.

They couldn't contain the snickers. "And that would be my sister." Alya sighed, chuckling. A moment later light flicked back off and the heavy footsteps receded back down the hallway. Marinette's stomach slowly began to unclench. Chat's identity was safe. He was safe. They'd beat the akuma. And now it was time to start a fresh, new day.

Alya's alarm went off. "Good morning, everyone!" She whispered, and another round of laughter echoed through the morning air.

A/N: Well, there that is. Pay attention to Luka, by the way. And let's hope Chat gets better! God bless!