Author's Notes:
-Wow. I'm surprised by the lack of recognition. Is this a sequel that no one asked for or is everyone but me watching season 2 somehow?
Anyway, moving on...
It was the first day of school, in the middle of August. A young girl with brown hair was looking to sit next to Marinette. The bluenette tapped on the young lady's shoulder to get her attention.
"Um, excuse me, but I'm saving this seat for my friend Adrien. You probably know who he is."
The young lady hesitated. She looked very confused. "Uh... Who's Adrien?" she asked.
Had it not been for Marinette not knowing who Adrien was a year ago, she would have either laughed at her or teased her. But considering that she didn't know who Adrien was, she decided not to say anything.
"It's alright, you can sit behind me." Nino said.
Marinette tuned out Nino's conversation with the new girl. A week had passed, Marinette was on her way to Cafe Blanc to figure out where she would be meeting her parents at the end of the month.
She smiled. "Looks like a pretty nice place."
"Psst. Marinette, over here!" a voice whispered. She turned towards the alley and found Cat Noir. He retreated further into the alley and Marinette followed him.
"Cat Noir. What are you doing here? I thought you were going to busy until three o'clock."
He hesitated. "I.. I got off early."
Marinette looked at Cat Noir skeptically. "You snuck away from them, didn't you?"
He looked guilty. "Yes, I did."
"You sly, agile cat." Marinette chuckled. "So what brings you here?"
"I got a surprise for you." He got out a red blindfold. "First I need you to put on this blindfold."
She looked at him. "Any reason?"
"I'm taking you to a special place. All you need are yourself and your earrings." He looked at her adoringly.
Marinette didn't pay attention to his last line and put on the blindfold.
Oh, you gullible young girl. You're even more foolish than I thought. the boy in the black cat suit thought.
A light mask formed around his eyes. "Excellent work, Copycat." Hawkmoth congratulated. "Now bring her to the Notre Dame."
Copycat took her hand and they started to walk towards the church.
Meanwhile, Adrien Agreste, the real deal, was unaware of what was happening. He was at the park for a photoshoot. Unlike many other photoshoots, his parents were with him. They sat on a nearby bench, enjoying the summer day.
Gabriel smiled. "I must say, it's quite a lovely day. The sun is shining, the birds are singing. It feels like nothing could go wrong."
Terra looked about 45 degrees to the left and gasped. "Uh, Gabriel..."
She pointed at a Cat Noir doppelganger leading a blind-folded Marinette to who knows where.
"Wait, if Adrien's here then... Oh no..." He turned to the photographer. "Photoshoot is cancelled. Take your things and leave immediately."
Vincent, the photographer, looked confused but complied with the order. Adrien looked at his father, sad and concerned. "What's the matter? Did something come up at work?"
The two pointed to Copycat with Marinette. Adrien gasped. "Another Cat Noir? But that's not me! It has to be a trick! Oh wait, Renard would never use his illusions to deceive others." He ran behind the nearest tree and Plagg came out from under his vest. "That Copycat is going to pay! Plagg, claws out!"
He transformed into Cat Noir and ran after Copycat, who was leading Marinette towards the Notre Dame. He was so close. Just one more street and Hawkmoth would get what he wanted.
"Leave her alone, you imposter!" Cat Noir commanded.
The small audience around him gasped and started murmuring. Copycat retorted. "You think you're the real Cat Noir? Ha! You're just a mere imposter, a Copycat!"
Cat Noir growled and charged towards Copycat. They fought each other with their staves as if they were swords. Marinette took off her blindfold and saw two Cat Noirs fighting each other. "Cat Noir? What's going on?!"
"The cat who blind-folded you is Copycat!"
He was knocked down. Marinette quickly ran away from the scene. The fight raged on.
"How are we supposed to tell which one's real?" a spectator asked.
"This has to be a trick!" another stated.
"Hold it!" a voice shouted.
The two stopped fighting as Renard entered the area. "This is not a trick." He walked towards Copycat. "The villain that longtime superhero Cat Noir fights is an imposter whom we don't know very much of." He got out his flute and shot an orange energy ball at him who was rammed into a black car as a result.
He stuttered. "But... but how could you see through my ruse?"
"I'm a fox and a master of deception. I know a lie when I see one."
Soon enough, Ladybug appeared. She lassoed up Copycat.
"Perfect timing, my lady." Cat Noir smiled.
"Once Marinette had told me that Copycat tricked her, I came here as soon as possible."
She spun him around and kicked him into the car. She looked for a photo of herself, which she thought would be the akumatized object, but it seemed he didn't have it.
"Where in the world is that akumatized object?" Cat Noir asked.
Renard found a photo with a purple rim, but it wasn't Ladybug. Ladybug ripped it up, purified the akuma and everything was normal. Only after the crowd dispersed and Renard and Cat left, Ladybug began to wonder, Why is Hawkmoth after my civilian identity?
The following day, while waiting for Ms. Mendeleiev to hand back their tests (she was behind in grading them), Adrien and his classmates were discussing the topic of Hawkmoth's intentions. Everyone was speaking (except for Zoe, who was listening to music.)
"Why does Hawkmoth even want the Miraculouses in the first place?" Kim asked.
"That's what I've been trying to figure out." Max commented.
"What I'd like to know is why Marinette is being targeted so much." Alya commented.
Juleka raised her eyebrows. "She's being targeted?"
"Yeah. I didn't realize it until Copycat's return, but it seems Hawkmoth is bent on targeting Marinette!" Adrien exclaimed.
"But only one villain is known to have gone after her as far as I can tell." Rose added.
"Actually," Marinette began, rubbing her arm akwardly. "Simon Says targeted me as well."
The entire class (save for Zoe who wasn't paying attention) gasped. Nino looked at her questionably. "And you didn't tell us this earlier because..?"
"I didn't want to scare you." Marinette answered. "I'm sure that this war will be over soon. Hawkmoth's on his last legs."
"You do make a point there." Mylene said.
More time had passed, and it was September 30th. Of course, the akumatized special of the month was a person who had already been akumatized once before. It had been two months since school started, and four months since she and Adrien gained new allies in the Miraculous Civil War. After she ate lunch, she slowly made her way down to the box office.
Adrien had just arrived at the box office. A young girl with a crown of fake flowers was already waiting for him. She wore a pink dress with heels to match and she held a red rose in her right hand.
Adrien was startled. "Zoe? What are you doing here?"
"Ah, my sweet Adrien, you're finally here!" Adrien looked at her in confusion. She threw her arms around him. "Yes, yes, I'll be your girlfriend!"
"What? You got it all..."
"Oh shush now. You sent me that letter. You can't deny it."
"Hey you!" Marinette shouted. She glared at her with extreme hatred. "Get away from my boyfriend!"
Zoe gasped. "You.. Your boyfriend?!"
"How could you have not known that he was mine?! You really thought Adrien Agreste was single?! You are such a fool!"
"Marinette..." he tried to say, but he was ignored.
She marched up to Zoe. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but Alya was right! You are a dumb, blind, oblivious fool! You don't deserve your friends or any kind of love!"
She yanked off Zoe's crown of flowers off her head and tore it into pieces. She gasped in horror as the destroyed fake flowers flew to the ground. She dropped her rose, fell to her knees and started crying. She grabbed her boyfriend's hand and took him with her.
"Come on, Adrien. Let's get out of here."
He wanted to tell her that what she had done was wrong, but he couldn't find the right words to say. They had about five minutes before they went to their math class with Ms. Mendeleiev. Suddenly, Marinette felt a cold chill creep down her spine.
"Are you okay?" Adrien asked.
"It's nothing." she answered. "Let's go."
She tried to dismiss it, but deep down, she knew something was wrong. But what was it?