Nino did not sleep well that night. After waking up to a nightmare of Zoe being killed in her akumatized state of mind by the other superheroes, he looked at his alarm clock; 4:52am. He tried to go back to bed, without any luck. He got up again at 5:20 and went into Zoe's room. He thought he saw something so he turned on the light switch. He gasped as he saw that all of Zoe's flowers had wilted, save for one. Nino knew that Zoe took great care of her flowers, so how did they all die overnight? He did not know, but the only flower remaining was a small orchid plant that had yet to bloom.

"Zoe..." he clinched his fist and tried to hold back his tears. "I know that you can't hear me, but I know you're truly a good soul who didn't deserve to become a pawn for Hawkmoth. I vow that until you return, I'll look after your garden. Or rather, what remains of it.."

He broke into tears that fell on the orchid plant as he watered it. Nino felt as if the whole world had fallen apart. His friend Marinette was kidnapped by Flora, and she was Zoe's akumatized form. He didn't think it could get any worse. Unfortunately, he was wrong.

"You're kidding."

"I'm not kidding." Alix said as they stood in the commons.

Max nodded sadly in agreement. "Adrien has dropped out of school."

Nino was saddened and shocked. "But.. but why?"

Kim shrugged. "I don't know. He even asked his chauffeur to pick up his bags yesterday since he wouldn't go back here to retrieve them."

"Could his father be forcing him to do this?!"

"I doubt it." Alix answered.

They went up to class. Everyone was depressed. Ms. Bustier was not there, and so the students were left to their own devices. Some caught up on the homework they forgot about the previous night. Then came Ms. Mendeleiev's class. She fell slightly behind in grading their assignments.

"I know everyone's depressed after yesterday's events, but we must carry on." the science teacher reminded them.

"How can we?! Nearly all of my friends are gone!" Nino snapped.

"Perhaps you should let him speak to a counselor for emotional support. He's going through a rough time." Nathaniel suggested.

Amelia sighed. "Alright. Here's a hall pass." She handed a slip of blue paper to him.

"I'll take him to the counselor, for moral support." Alya said.

The two left the room. He was about to go down the stairs, but Alya stopped him.

"Aren't we supposed to be going to the counselor's office?" he asked.

She looked him with her eyebrows scrunched and her face in a scowl. "Nino, I want answers. Why were you trying so hard to protect Zoe?"

"Alya... I know you're angry, and you deserve an explanation." He sighed. "The thing is... Zoe, she's not only a foreign exchange student, but she's also a resident at the Lahiffe apartment. She... she refused to believe anything about Hawkmoth, the akumas, and the Miraculous legends, whether it be past or present. Since she didn't believe any of the above, I thought she was in more danger than the average citizen. I was paranoid that she would be akumatized, or worse, willingly go down the path of darkness like Lila did. I've never really told anyone except for Adrien about this, but Lila's betrayal hurt me. It felt worse than a kick to the rear.

"I know I've cancelled some of our dates, and I apologize for my dishonesty. I should tell you what actually happened. While I've never been romantically involved with her, she is sort of like a sister to me. On Bastille Day, I took her to a skating rink, got her some pastries from Marinette's bakery and watched the fireworks show in the park. On August 20th, I showed her a bird's eye view from the Eiffel Tower. On September 1st, Zoe was the one actually sick, not my sister. I wanted to be sure she would be okay. I'm sorry I've been a bad boyfriend and you probably hate m.."

She grabbed his collar, and smashed her lips onto his. For six seconds, he was so surprised that he couldn't shut his eyes. After closing his eyes, he threw his arms around her and deepened the kiss.

"You still love me?"

She chuckled. "Who said that I had stopped?"

"I thought you hated me for forgetting about you."

"I was being stupid by jumping to conclusions."

He looked at her crazily. "You always jump to conclusions. You had the right to be suspicious. I was the one being stupid by hanging out with another girl."

"Let's just say that we were both being stupid and move on."

"Yeah.." He chuckled slightly before looking at his girlfriend again. He threw his arms around her. "Alya, you mean everything to me, and now, with Marinette's capture, Zoe's akumatization, and Adrien leaving with no explanation, you're all I have left. If anything were to happen to you, I.." He started crying. "I don't know what I'd do."

"Don't worry, everything will be ok." She looked at Nino sincerely. "Feel any better?"

"Although now what do we do? Head back to class?"

Alya pondered to herself for a moment. "We could, but where's the fun in that?"

They ran down the stairs, where no one could find them. The DJ smirked, tackled her to the ground and proceeded to make out with her. For most of the class period, they were cuddling, smooching, or telling each other jokes to lighten their spirits. When they returned to the class, they discovered why Zoe had been akumatized and why she thought that Adrien was single in the first place.

"Don't you have something that must be said to them?" Max inquired. "They have a right to know what happened, especially Nino."

Nino glared at the pink haired skater. "What happened?"

"I... I'm the one responsible for her akumatization. I typed up a note that read 'Dear Zoe, I cannot help but be spellbound by your beauty and your kind heart. Meet me over nearby the box office during lunch. Signed Adrien Agreste.' After typing up the note and printing it, I put it on her locker, hoping she would fall for it. I set up a chair, video recording equipment, ate a box lunch and some popcorn, and watched the chaos unfold."

"Alix, how could you?!" Nino screamed.

"How else was I supposed to get back at her?" Alix retorted. "Despite the fact that I had defeated my evil self, I still feared that history could repeat itself again. I had to type it since I had no literate forgery skills, nor do I know anyone who has those said skills. Anyone have the ability to mimic Adrien's writing?" Silence dominated the room. "Just as I thought."

"Do you have any regrets about doing this plan?"

"Yes. I had no idea what the consequences would be and while I was laughing and enjoying seeing Zoe suffer. I shouldn't have hurt her because of her obliviousness. If only I could turn back the clock..."

Nino, despite his great loss, was sure that things would get better. Unfortunately, he was wrong. Akuma attacks became very common, occurring at least four times a week. One time, there were three akuma attacks in a single day. About a month later, on October 30th, Jade Ninja, Renard and Abeille were facing their worst akumatized villain yet; Merlin.

He was a wizard with a long purple cloak with various sigils and symbols such as stars and spirals. His hood was over his head, but one could still see a little bit of his black hair on his head. He carried a wand in his cloak and he mainly wielded a four foot tall staff with a blue glass sphere. He fired numerous blasts of blue energy from his staff at the heroes. They were fighting on the rooftop of an apartment building.

"We have to stop him!" Abeille exclaimed as she dodged another blast.

Renard looked at Merlin in terror. "We're running of time!"

Merlin shot a beam of energy from his hands at Merlin, only for him to extend his right hand. His hand glowed with gold energy. "I think your attempt will backfire!" He drew an arrow pointing in Renard's direction. The attack fired right back at him. And he was blasted to the ground.

"Ow.."

Merlin fired a beam of black light towards Renard, only to be shielded by Jade's shield. Abeille jumped down and pursued the wizard.

"You'll never get past this shield!"

"Blinding sun and witches fire, your shield's time now expires!"

A red ball hit his shield, turning it from a bright green to a dull forest green. It also began to rust and dent up.

"My shield! It's useless!"

Abeille was screaming, as she was trapped in a hand of fire. Renard's Miraculous beeped. Was it the first time or the second?

"I'm running out of power." he mumbled. "I'll be back in a bit!"

He ran off to a nearby alley as Abeille cried out for help. Jade was scrambling to find a solution before Abeille was burned to death or died from suffocation. He tried to throw his shield at the hand with no luck. Renard quickly reentered the battlefield and blasted a beam of energy at the hand of fire, causing it vanish in a puff of orange-colored smoke.

Jade looked at teammates, distressed from the battle. "What do I do now? My shield can't protect us from his ruthless onslaught of attacks."

Abeille grabbed his hand and took him to an ally so they could catch their breath. Renard then followed. She scanned her surroundings and looked closely at his staff. "We got to get that staff away from him!"

"It won't do us any good, Abeille! He can use those powers with or without the staff!" Renard cried out.

"But it will make him less powerful!"

"Guys!" Jade scolded.

Merlin noticed them. He threw fireballs at the trio, in which they swiftly dodged. He then threw ice at Jade Ninja, causing him to be encased in ice. He floated upward to the roof. Abeille followed him by climbing up the fire escape, leaving him out of Jade's line of vision. He couldn't see what was happening on the rooftop.

"Your days of terror are over, Merlin!"

"Abeille, don't!" Renard warned.

Jade Ninja realized what happened all too late. The akuma was lose.