Chapter Ten

A Second Strategy

Marinette just made it into her room by the time the earrings' magic ran out. She shut the door to her room, only to turn around and find Tikki lying on her bed, looking exhausted.

"Are you alright?" Marinette asked the Kwami, the tone of her voice expressing worry. Tikki sat up and smiled at the girl.

"Of course, Marinette," she smiled. "It's just the 'price' Kwamis pay for using their magic. We're drained every time our magic runs out. Don't worry, I'll be back up and ready to go by morning." She showed Marinette a cheeky grin.

"So, tomorrow's the second ball, huh?"

Marinette looked at the ground, nervously shuffling her feet. "I'm sorry we didn't get eyes on the Moth," she said. "But we do know he's around now – he shared his powers with someone so they could take me out. She took Chat out, too -" she paused briefly when she heard herself use such a stupid nickname for Prince Noir "- she was after the Prince, but not in the way the Moth intended her to be."

Tikki let out a sigh. "Of course he'd abuse Nooroo's power… She's a very powerful Kwami, and when used in the wrong way, her powers can do great damage." She looked Marinette straight in the eye.

"Marinette, now you and… Chat know what you're up against. Don't allow the Moth to use innocent bystanders to get what he wants."

Marinette nodded, confirming that she understood the importance of the situation, but failed to hide a yawn from Tikki's sight.

"You must be exhausted, too," Tikki chuckled. "I completely forgot how much of a wild night you must've had."

Marrinette nodded. "Yeah," she said. "I've never seen anything like it…"

Tikki nodded and got up from the bed, inviting Marinette to take her place. Marinette took the invitation gladly, and allowed herself to fall onto the bed. She was gone before she even hit the pillow.

Plagg had detransformed back to his normal self and lay on Adrien's bed breathing heavily when Adrien returned to his chambers. He felt bad for Chloé, but then again, perhaps, she'd got what she deserved.

Adrien let out a disappointed sigh as he tore the mask from his face and tossed it in a corner. Then, he sat down beside Plagg.

"What's the matter, Kid?" Plagg asked. "Didn't have fun tonight, did you?"

Adrien shrugged. "That's not it," he said. "I was having fun, while being beside the Ladybug Princess. We even danced. But… it went wrong as soon as we actually started to focus on the mission you gave us." Another deep sigh escaped from the boy's lips. "Perhaps I'm not fit to do this, Plagg. And perhaps the Lady thinks the same way."

"Don't say that, Kid," Plagg said. "Master Fu chose you two for a reason. Just because things didn't go right straight away, doesn't mean you're inherently bad at it. Rome wasn't built in a day, you know."

Adrien accepted Plagg's argument. "But still," he said, "I'm just a teen, and this Moth is obviously an adult. He managed to turn someone I know against me. She'd never been the kindest character, but then again, I'm pretty sure she'd never go this far on her own.

"Partially because she could never do this on her own, but… there's a good person inside of her. And one day she's going to show there is."

"That's what the Moth does, Kid," Plagg said. "He darkens hearts, basically possesses them. The people who are affected by his Akuma become disillusioned and aggressive. He'll be using people you care about to hunt you down and turn in your ring."

"Well, I won't let him," Adrien proclaimed. "What if he possesses father? Or Nino, the stable boy?" It struck Adrien that he'd forgot to check up with Nino that night. Surely he'd get an earful from him the next morning.

"I won't allow people I care about to get in harm's way, Plagg," Adrien said, motivated to stop the Moth once again. "I'll do whatever I can to stop the Moth and free your friend, I promise.

"If I free yours, I'll free mine."

Plagg nodded. "That's the spirit, Adrien," he said, and got up off the bed. "Now, if you'll excuse me, you should get some beauty-sleep, while I raid the kitchen. Preparation for tomorrow night."

Adrien snorted and rolled his eyes, but couldn't help but smirk. "Sure, Plagg. Just make sure you don't get caught."

"Also, keep that ring with you," Plagg said, tossing the ring at Adrien. It landed on his chest.

"You don't want anyone else finding it and discovering what it is, Kid. Trust me."

After that, the Kwami left the room. Adrien put the ring on his finger and closed his eyes. Tomorrow would be different, he knew it.

Marinette felt exhausted when she woke up. The sun was already high up in the sky, indicating that it must've been around noon when she finally opened her eyes.

Marinette rushed down the stairs, her ponytails messy and uneven.

"Dad!" she shouted, approaching her father in the bakery.

"Dad, I'm so sorry, I overslept," she told her father. "I'll get on with the deliveries straight away."

Her father smiled away her concerns. "Morning, pumpkin," he said. "Don't worry about the deliveries, your mother will be filling in those for you for the next few days. We heard there'll be two more nights to the ball, so we figured you'll be far too tired to work." He winked at her. "Didn't think we could plan ahead, now did you?"

Marinette opened her mouth to respond, but couldn't come up with one at all. "I – I don't have to work?" she asked.

"Nope," her father confirmed. "Until the ball is over, you'll be a Princess. I mean, you were specially invited, weren't you, Princess Dupain?" He winked again.

Marinette chuckled and curtsied. "Why, thank you, Your Majesty," she said. "I am very honoured to be blessed with this gift thee hath bestowed upon me."

Tom ruffled his daughter's hair. "Don't talk like that again, alright?" he said. "You'll become too fancy for my own good."

Marinette chuckled and walked away. When she'd exited the bakery and returned to the living room of her home, she began thinking of things to do that day. It'd been a long time since she hadn't done the deliveries, because she enjoyed doing them as a child and had been doing them ever since. She hadn't felt this sense of priority-less, responsibility-vacant freedom.

Marinette considered a chat with Tikki might be the best idea. Perhaps she could gather more information on the Moth and use it against the man come nightfall. Last night had proved to Marinette that she and Chat – she secretly hated that nickname, but then again, Prince Noir was such a mouthful all the time, and his costume did resemble that of a black cat - needed to come up with at least a somewhat solid strategy in order to get the best of the Moth.

Of course, Marinette couldn't contact Chat during the day, as she had no idea who he was, but it could allow her to plan ahead and involve Chat in her plan later that night. And all the little kitty would have to do was play along. The Princess had it all covered.

Marinette smirked and headed up to her room, only to exit at nightfall.

The second ball was minutes away from commencing. Of course, everyone now knew what Adrien's suit looked like, but they still had no idea who Prince Noir was – except that he'd been part of the striking pair that had overtaken the dance floor the previous night. The Lady held the same status. And still, they somehow managed to enter the castle unseen that night.

"My Lady, there you are," Prince Noir said, welcoming his partner in crime with open arms. "I'm glad to see you safe and sound after what happened last night."

"Same here," the Lady said, smiling at her companion. "That girl got the best of us… I wonder what happened to her after I left."

"Oh, she got a fitting punishment when the Prince found her out," Prince Noir told his Lady. "She ran out of the ballroom crying her eyes out."

Marinette bit her lip, a pang of pity for Chloé going through her heart. Of course, the girl was as obnoxious and spoiled as she could possibly be, but she had been used like a puppet in the Moth's game. Perhaps the Prince had been too harsh on her.

Then again, Chloé had a tendency to cry crocodile tears and stamp her tiny feet when things didn't go her way, so perhaps this was just that.

"Well, I hope she's learned her lesson," the Lady replied. "Don't trust villains, let alone side with them – you'll never achieve your goals that way."

Prince Noir nodded approvingly. "Affirmative, My Lady."

The duo had made mistakes last night, and those mistakes had lead to their mission failing. Beginner's mistakes, easily avoided, but they were made, and nothing would change that. The Lady and the Prince simply had to put their mistakes from the previous night behind them, learn from them and prepare for the night that was to come.

And even if they didn't succeed tonight, there'd be a third night. Which also meant a possible night to simply have fun as two regular ball guests, if the Moth got caught tonight. Something Marinette could certainly live forward to; a night of mindless, luxurious fun would be a proper reward for catching a dangerous magically armed criminal.

After all, thanks to the Moth's decisions last night, the Lady and the Prince held a slight advantage over him. Marinette had gathered, however little, more information from Tikki, and the Moth had shown off his most important feature the night before.

He'd given away his biggest secret straight away, while the Lady and the Prince had managed to keep all of theirs – the Moth had no idea what he was really up against, because he'd simply sent someone else he thought would be able to do his dirty work for him.

Guess he was wrong. And Marinette would not let the opportunity of using the Moth's mistake to her advantage pass her by; she'd grasp it firmly, and use it to its full extent.

"So?" Prince Noir asked his Lady. "Tonight's our second chance. Any ideas on how we're going to do this?"

"I actually do," the Lady said. "I've come up with a plan throughout the day – my Kwami was able to provide me with plenty of helpful information about the Moth."

Adrien smiled. His Lady was so clever.

"Well, tell me," Prince Noir said, "because I'm all ears."

It might've just been Marinette's height that disallowed her to see the top of Prince Noir's head properly, but she could've sworn his cat ears turned back and forth as he spoke, taking the girl out of the moment for a brief second.

"Yes," she said, returning to the here and now. "The plan. The plan to stop the Moth. The plan I specifically created to stop the Moth…" She had to refuse the urge to slap herself in the face, and cleared her throat theatrically. "Yeah. So…"

She motioned for Prince Noir to follow her to a silent corner of the castle, near the entrance – most guests had made their way inside the ballroom, and the duo could talk freely.

"Alright, Chat," the Lady said – Marinette almost bit her tongue for using that stupid nickname again – "I need you to listen to me, and listen closely. The plan's success or failure depends on your capability to listen to me."

Adrien nodded, tilting his head slightly. It was almost as if the Lady was suggesting that Prince Noir would get distracted and mess something up. If that were true, it hurt Adrien slightly, but he decided to push it aside and chalk it up to the Lady being nervous and overly determined to succeed tonight. Obviously, she'd put a lot of time in this plan she'd come up with.

"Don't worry, My Lady," he told her, "I'll do anything you say. In fact, I'd trust you with my life."

"Bad decision, really," the Lady said, "although I appreciate the compliment.

"Now listen here and listen close, because this plan will be a tricky one to get right. I mean that if we fail, that might mean that the Moth will be victorious by midnight."

The Prince raised an eyebrow behind his mask. "Wait, what?" he said. "My Lady, what are you planning?"

The Lady smirked – both a smile of nervousness and confidence. "I'm going to give the Moth exactly what he wants, Chat," she said. She no longer cared about the nickname. "I'm going to surrender my Miraculous to him."

Adrien had to hold his breath.