"Marinette… are you hurt? Let's get you out of there."

Marinette felt weight shift around her trapped legs, and then hands underneath her arms, lifting and gently pulling her out of the pile of suits of armor.

"Cat Noir… thank you for saving me. How did you get in here?" she whispered, half-opening her eyes.

A hum was the only response she got.

Once she was fully clear of the armor, her rescuer sat her down on the floor and plopped next to her.

Marinette gratefully turned toward him, opened her eyes, and said, "Kit…"

Her eyes opened further.

"ADRIEN?!" she shrieked.

"Rest a bit," he replied. "It's been a busy night."

"But… but… Alya!" Marinette moved to get up.

Adrien put a hand on her shoulder and gently held her in place. "She's fine. Don't worry."

Marinette allowed herself to relax a bit, closed her eyes, and put her head on Adrien's shoulder. Let's see how long I can do this without freaking out. I bet if I keep my eyes closed, it'll be as long as I need...


Unfortunately for Marinette, keeping her eyes closed only caused her brain to kick into overdrive.

What happened over there? Adrien went around the corner, I heard a yell, then nothing… then Adrien came back for me. ADRIEN CAME BACK FOR ME! Wait, no… hold that thought. Where's Alya? If she's "fine", then how come she's not with us? Unless she finally got her wish and told Adrien that she wanted us to have some alone time, and she's just waiting around the corner for a few minutes so we can cuddle a bit! Yeah, that must be it! But if Alya told Adrien about wanting us to have alone time, then that means that ADRIEN KNOWS I LIKE HIM! Oh no, this is a disaster! How on earth am I ever going to function around a boy who knows I like him?...

...Wait a minute, if he knows I like him, and he's letting me sit here with my head on his shoulder, and he's okay with it, then maybe that means he likes me back! Unless he's been frozen since I closed my eyes! Let me listen for his breathing.

...OK, he's still breathing. Am I still breathing? Maybe this is all happening because I was frozen. Or maybe I was hit in the head by an errant knight. I know… I'll pinch myself.

"Ow!" Marinette breathed.

"Are you OK? You seem restless. You're not hurt, are you?"

"I'm fine." Marinette sighed. "I, um… want to see Alya real quick. Stay here and wait for me?" She shot Adrien what she hoped was a winning smile, got up, and dashed around the corner.

The last thing Marinette heard before she saw the familiar tomato-red hair was Adrien's voice yelling "Wait! Marinette!"


Adrien rounded the corner for the last time.

Alya, Marinette, and Nathaniel were standing in a triangle, little more than an arm's-length between each of them.

Marinette was frozen in a defensive posture, looking like she was trying to back away from Nathaniel but not quite being able to.

Alya had her hands spread out as if she were pushing Marinette and Nathaniel away from each other.

Nathaniel had a pleading look on his face, reaching for Alya.

Adrien waited for the standoff to resolve itself. He could be patient. It's not like they're going anywhere, anyway.


"ALYA!" Marinette screamed.

"She's frozen," Adrien said.

Marinette whirled on the red-haired boy. "NATHANIEL!" she yelled.

"He's frozen, too," Adrien shrugged.

"Wha…?" That was a bit too much for Marinette to take.

"I think something backfired."

"You mean… Nathaniel went after Alya and she caused it to rebound and get him, too? How would something like that even happen? And why didn't it happen on any of the other victims?"

"That's too many questions for me right now," Adrien laughed, sleepily. "Why don't we go wait by the entrance for someone to come let us out? It's so late right now that it's early, and someone is bound to notice something's wrong and alert the authorities."

Two little children watching for the sun… Marinette's mind automatically played for her. Watching for the sunrise with Adrien sounds like a dream, especially after this nightmare of an evening. Plus, if I don't get some rest, people are going to wonder why Ladybug is exhausted when SHE has to make an appearance at the end of all of this.

"I'd like that," Marinette answered. She reached out, took his arm, and paused.

"What is it?"

"I… don't know. Something's nagging at the back of my mind. Since Nathaniel's not a danger anymore, I want to get a closer look and see if I can find the akumatized object. Keep it safe for Ladybug, that sort of thing."

"Whatever you want, Marinette. I'll wait over here." Adrien went back to the corner and leaned against the wall.

Marinette walked toward Nathaniel cautiously. His eyes were wide and his arm was outstretched in Alya's direction. Marinette noted the usual red t-shirt, but her eyes were drawn to his other hand, where it looked like he was holding a piece of paper. Marinette took it and unfolded it, but it was just the beginning of a sketch of someone with dark hair wearing a red hoodie. She smiled to herself and put it back in his hand.


"Something still doesn't add up, Adrien. Can we swing by Chloe really quickly?" I've got a feeling I'm going to need something, just in… case. An image of Cat Noir giving her a grin and a thumbs-up floated into her mind for a split-second.

"Sure thing, Marinette. No hurry; the sun won't be up for another couple of hours, at least."

Marinette and Adrien went to where Chloe stood, frozen in the middle of a hallway.

A little sleight-of-hand, and… presto! Marinette slid something in her purse and shrugged her shoulders visibly. "Guess I was wrong, there's nothing here either. Sorry, Alya. Looks like you were on the wrong track."


Adrien and Marinette huddled together in the lobby of the Louvre, staring out at the dawning sky.

"Two little children watching for the sun…" Marinette giggled and blushed a bit. "You know, Adrien, this isn't the first thing that came to mind when I imagined watching a sunrise with you."

"You imagined watching sunrises with me?"

Among other things, she didn't say. "Yeah…" she said dreamily, then giggled again. "You're on my mind a lot, you know. Ever since our first day of school together, I just can't stop thinking about you. Sorry, I'm probably being pretty creepy," she finished.

"You know, Marinette, I've been watching you tonight. You've taken charge, been compassionate, fair, just, level-headed… all the things that I'm looking for. It's funny," he chuckled, "the rest of that line says One saw spots… if I didn't know any better, I would have assumed we had Ladybug here with us all along!"

The wheels started turning in Marinette's head. How do I even respond to that? Adrien's comparing me to Ladybug! Rational thoughts were rapidly replaced by static as her brain short-circuited.

"Adrien… that's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. I mean it." She took a deep breath, smiled, then looked him in the eyes. Bashfully, she moved her head towards his, letting her eyes close.

She felt his fingers reach up and brush her cheek, moving her hair off of the side of her face. Those fingers traced along her cheekbone, back towards her hairline…

...Marinette leaned in closer…

...and gasped, instinctively flinching away when Adrien's fingers pulled on her left earring.

"Those earrings are very pretty, Marinette. Can I have them?"

A small cry escaped her as Hawk Moth's telltale energy signature illuminated Adrien's face.


Scrambling up and away as fast as she could, Marinette exclaimed, "No! How could you?!"

Careful, Marinette. He's a victim, here. This isn't your Adrien. He's not responsible for this, Hawk Moth is. Keep him talking and maybe he won't freeze you and take your earrings.

Marinette backed towards the stairs.

"Sweet, trusting, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. It's amazing how much of this I was able to get done right under your nose! All in the name of attracting Paris's Finest Superheroes. But they haven't come yet, have they? I wonder if they might be already here. You're pretty protective of those earrings, Marinette. Why won't you let me see them?"

"Gift… grandmother… birthday… special…" she stammered out, retreating down the stairs. "How did you do it?" she pleaded. If I act desperate and helpless, he'll be less likely to freeze me first and ask questions later…

"Can I tell you a secret? Actually, here, let me show you." Black-and-purple bubbles boiled around Adrien, and when they evaporated, Marinette saw… Nino.


"How do I know you're not messing with me? How do I know this is the real you, Nino? Or Adrien? Or whoever you are?! Nino's down by the drinking fountains! We all saw him!"

"Did you? You saw someone by the drinking fountains, but you could only really see the clothes. My clothes. Or… that's what I wanted you to think." Nino-the-akuma followed Marinette downstairs.

"You see, not everybody in the classroom trusts Nino Lahiffe. Sure, they all know me by sight, but I'm not best buds with everyone in the class. Nobody is. Not even you, Marinette. But the closest I could come to someone who is universally trusted and loved was the golden boy himself. That's why I got him first. That's why I assumed his identity.

"Once I was Adrien, doors opened up to me. It's easy to move around when everybody trusts you. Sabrina didn't even question it when I popped back into the auditorium to get something out of Adrien's bag before we all went upstairs. And you and Alya didn't question it when 'Adrien' suggested we take the long way to the lobby.

"Nobody noticed when I slipped away and hid in the shadows, waiting for someone to find Sabrina. Poor, slow, polite Mylène… she never saw me coming. I'm not even sure she was listening to anything at all, to be honest. Mr. Kubdel's rambling drones about Egyptian astronomy were enough to put anyone to sleep!

"And speaking of poor Mr. Kubdel… that's entirely your responsibility! You and Alya, even though we were paired off for safety, managed to somehow leave me alone to wander the museum for at least ten minutes! It was simple to go and see him, and him being by the master breaker only worked in my favor. I was gone and back before you two even noticed!

"Chloe then made sure suspicion was off of me - not that I had to ask her to do it, of course. She immediately jumped all over Alix and started accusing her of being responsible for all the terror. It was a dream come true! And when I caught up with Chloe later, I made sure to thank her in the special way that only I could… and since I was disguised as her 'Adri-kins', she didn't even scream when she saw me. It was too easy…

"Alix crashing into Chloe was a stroke of luck that I couldn't have even imagined! It set Alix up for the fall I needed her to take. When she decided to go off alone, it was too perfect! I could hide in plain sight with the rest of you, and wait for my opportunity. I almost got Nathaniel at the pastries when he left the restroom early, but instead I wound up getting Alix instead!

"Nathaniel probably guessed that there was no way he would be able to convince the two of you - crushing, lovesick Marinette and her BFF Alya - that I was behind all of this, so he thought he would be able to wait it out until morning when reinforcements arrived! The only flaw in his plan was that he had the most intrepid investigator I know on his tail, and Alya wasn't going to let up anytime soon.

"Alya's other goal was to get you and 'Adrien' alone together tonight, so when she gave us that opportunity to sneak off, I was more than happy to take it. Unfortunately for me - and for her - she stumbled right across poor Nathaniel! Nathaniel had seen me freeze Alix, so he had to go, and quickly. I then had to get Alya before she could alert you. But before that, I had to immobilize you, and that required me to think a bit on my feet…

"I froze the pedestal underneath one of the suits of armor to knock them over. With you safely out of harm's way, I sprinted around the corner and found Alya and Nathaniel. I had to get Alya first, because even if Nathaniel yelled, you probably wouldn't have believed him. Plus, you were nicely tangled up…

"Nathaniel was the next to go. After that, it was a matter of coming back here with you. I didn't have to freeze you since you're pretty trustworthy, and you also didn't suspect me. We could have waited this out together. I'll have to do it alone, though, and that's OK. If I freeze you and the authorities come and Adrien Agreste, model student, is the only survivor of a dangerous akuma?

"It was almost perfect. But then you had to come along and ruin it. And now… you're going to pay for it. FREEZE!"


Marinette jumped out of the way of the freeze blast and backed into the main gallery. I can't transform into Ladybug right now because it will just confirm to Hawk Moth who I am! Ohh… this is bad-bad-bad! She dodged another freeze blast and bolted around the corner to the Pharaohs exhibit, with a third freeze blast narrowly missing her. She dove behind a statue and reached into her purse. I hope this works. There is no other option after this. Rena's gone, Carapace is out of the question, Queen Bee is down for the count… I hope Cat Noir can figure out what to do when he gets here, but even then we run the risk of the akuma multiplying before we can purify it.

Her train of thought was derailed by Nino coming into the exhibit hall. "Come out, come out, wherever you are, Marinette! Let's not make this harder than it has to be!"

She waited until he passed, readied an object in each hand, and leapt out behind him. As soon as he turned around, she activated the light on her phone…

...And aimed it at Chloe's diamond-encrusted phone case, creating a light so bright that Nino was blinded! Stumbling around, Nino fell deeper and deeper into the exhibit hall…

...Until Marinette gave him a swift kick from behind, pushing him into a sarcophagus, which she then slammed shut!


"Tikki, SPOTS ON!"


Nino was still stunned from the light when Ladybug opened the sarcophagus and yelled, "Hide, Marinette! I've got this!" He was even more shocked when Ladybug took his hat and ripped it in two expectantly.

Ladybug was the shocked one, though, when nothing happened.

And again nothing happened when she took Nino's glasses and snapped them in half.

She tore the headphones from around Nino's neck and threw them on the ground. A purple-and-black butterfly, mercifully, floated up from the wreckage.

Third time's the lucky charm, I guess. Good gracious, Cat Noir _is_ really starting to rub off on me. "Time to de-EVILIZE!"


Ladybug dove behind a statue again. I have to do my thing REALLY fast before Nino comes to. It won't do for him to wake up and find eight classmates, Ladybug, and no Marinette. And I'll need a cover story…

"Lucky charm!" she called out, catching the object that landed in her hand.

"Huh… that's interesting," she commented, before throwing it up in the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!"

The swarm of magical ladybugs were still going when her voice whispered, "Tikki, spots off."

And Marinette was left to wonder about the events of the past evening, and what they meant.