The date had been going exceptionally well. The two girls had gone and shopped at a massive thrift store that Marinette had spoken highly of (yall gotta read The Best Gift in Life by breeeliss btw), and then made their way to a cute little restaurant. It had been fun, fluffy and probably was everything Lila ever wanted in a date. Even the voice had quieted down and said almost nothing throughout the whole thing.

Essentially, it was going too well.

Lila was waiting for something to go wrong. The absence of the voice made her nervous even if she was relieved. Not too long ago it had been going on about how something would happen soon. What would happen? The voice had said Lila wouldn't be able to ignore it for much longer. What would it do to force Lila to pay attention to it?

Maybe it left.

"Lila?"

Lila snapped back to attention, blinking as she looked at Marinette, who was giving her a concerned look.

"What's wrong?" She asked, placing a gentle hand on Lila's, which lay on the side of the table.

Just as Lila was about to reply, someone screamed. Lila looked to the source of the noise, peering through the window to see what was happening. But to her surprise, the window had a layer of frost on it, and behind the glass was none other than Chloe Bourgeois made of ice. Blue swirls of energy shot down from the sky, each hitting different civilians and turning them into ice.. With every new ice statue, the temperature dropped.

It was the summer.

Marinette stood up immediately, her free hand almost slamming on the table.

"An akuma!" She exclaimed quietly, eyebrows drawn as she tried to see the villain.

"Go," Lila said, nodding at Marinette's fierce expression, "And good luck, Marinette. Be careful!"

"Thanks. I'll be back," Marinette smiled, gave Lila's hand a quick squeeze, and then ran out of the restaurant to find somewhere to transform.

I thought she'd never leave.

"Can you just shut up?" Lila curled a hand into a fist and muttered to herself. She'd almost given herself false hope that it was gone, but here it still was, mocking and derisive. The voice laughed, echoing in her thoughts as she pressed her lips together, beginning to get a little irritated.

The laugh moved her mind to outside, and the breath touched her ear again and she whipped her head around, teeth clenched as she looked around. But just like before, no one was there. Lila took a controlled breath as she stood up from the table. Maybe she could just sit in the bathroom or whatever. She didn't want to just keep sitting here.

As if that would do anything, the voice sneered and Lila felt her annoyance amp up just that much. She got up anyway, though.

I'm not going anywhere, Lila, it said gleefully, you can't get rid of me!

Lila found the bathroom mercifully empty and she took a stall, closing the door behind her as took a few deep breaths.

"What are you?" She asked, crossing her arms. The voice had gotten to a point where she couldn't just blame it on puberty or whatever.

It went silent.

Great. Out of all the times for the voice to stop talking, it picked the one where Lila explicitly asked a question. Lila gripped her arms, trying to calm herself down. She was getting more than annoyed and it was making her tense up.

I'm you, it finally said.

"No, you're not!" Lila's voice rose as she shouted back, and she glanced up in surprise when it echoed loudly in the empty bathroom, and composed herself. "You only appeared a little while ago! Where did you come from and why are you here?"

Because of you.

Lila blinked in incredulity. Confusion replaced anger.

"What? What are you talking about?" She took a seat on the closed toilet, looking down at her hands as she tried to figure out what was even happening.

You took me in and now I am a part of you.

Lila's hand went to her forehead as she furrowed her brows, staring hard at the bathroom door trying to figure out what that meant. She'd taken in plenty of akuma, but that couldn't be right, because they'd been removed and purified. Furthermore, she wasn't being transformed into a supervillain and wreaking havoc on Paris.

"No, I didn't," Lila said, "Go away,"

But that was futile.

Then, on both side of her ears-

"Never," The strange breaths were suddenly on either side of her, disturbingly close and real. Her hands flew up to cover her ears, her heart beginning to pound. But as she looked left and right, nothing was there.

In the beginning, it had been a mere thought.

Now it was intruding in her reality. Maybe this was all a hallucination.

I'm real and I'm a part of you. The voice was back in her brain, back where it was a little easier to ignore.

"I'm not going anywhere."

Sure, Ladybug was a superhero. But her costume wasn't exactly great at repelling the cold. Outside of the restaurant, Paris had been transformed into a winter wonderland. People-shaped ice blocks dotted the streets, many already covered in a fresh layer of snow. The hot summer had given way to a frigid winter, and the buildings were frosted and the roads iced. She felt the chill in her fingers and toes, but had no time to even shiver as she leaped from rooftop to rooftop in search of the akuma.

From what she'd seen and heard already, the akuma's name was Glacia and she was essentially turning everything to ice. Especially people. There were plenty of new ice statues all over town, now.

(check out this swaggy akumasona)

"Freeze!" The akuma's clear voice suddenly called out, and Ladybug darted left to avoid the blue magic hurtling towards her.

"Is that Elsa?" A different but familiar voice said, and Ladybug glanced behind her to see Chat Noir racing over. Finally.

"My name is Glacia," The akuma corrected haughtily, skating past them on ice she was created as she moved. She changed her direction, making the ice loop back towards them. She was wearing an icy blue and white skater outfit, with a large snowflake-shaped hairpiece holding up her white bun.

Ladybug and Chat Noir moved from that building to another, hitting away small chunks of ice that Glacia hurled.

"Any idea where the akuma is?" Chat Noir asked as they ducked behind a chimney.

"I don't know, her ice skates maybe?" Ladybug shrugged as she rubbed her hands together, trying to get feeling back in them.

"You know, it's a little warm out here," Glacia sang as she skated through the skies, creating massive ice trails that swirled around the buildings and through the roads, like a roller coaster. "Come on out so I can cool you down!"

Ladybug pulled Chat Noir out of the chimney cover so they could move, sensing Glacia had been about to discover them.

"No thank you!" Chat called out as they ran.

"Don't give me the cold shoulder," Glacia pouted, and then threw a bolt of blue magic towards them.

"Gotta admit, she's got good puns," Chat Noir said as they narrowly dodged it, "It gives me shivers!"

Ladybug sighed, not particularly in the mood to appreciate Chat's humor. Not while she had to leave in the middle of a date, and not while she felt herself dying of hypothermia.

"Let's try to get her ice skates," She suggested, and they ducked in cover again so she could summon a Lucky Charm.

"Sounds purr-fect," Chat nodded, and Ladybug threw up her yoyo.

"Lucky Charm!" She called out, and was vaguely unsurprised when a pair of red and black dotted ice skates landed in her hands.

"Are you going to compete with her or something?" Chat Noir raised an eyebrow. Ladybug shrugged, pulling the covers off of the blades and pulling the skates on. She could probably take the trails that Glacia made herself; the akuma probably wouldn't suspect it.

She wasn't amazing at ice-skating, but Ladybug knew enough to stay on her feet. She hobbled over to the side of the roof, and stepped onto the ice path that was already there. Glacia had moved on, looking for the superheroes elsewhere.

"Chat, you can distract her while I take this," Ladybug said, and then she was off. She wobbled a bit before steadying herself, and then she was flying on the ice, skates carving into the frozen surface.

Glacia wasn't too far, and Ladybug saw her fairly soon. She had moved higher up to above most buildings, looking down in the streets to find the superheroes. Ladybug skated faster, wincing as her feet adjusted to the pain of ice skating. She only had a few minutes to defeat the akuma.

True to her command, Chat Noir had raced ahead, catching Glacia's attention. This forced the akuma to slow down a bit, taking time to aim at Chat with her magic rather than just skate away. Ladybug was getting closer, and she squinted amongst the snow and frost in the air.

"Why don't you just chill?" Glacia taunted, hurling shot after shot of ice at Chat Noir, who sprinted across the balconies of an apartment building.

Ladybug threw her arms around Glacia, dragging her down. Unfortunately, Glacia's ice trail had ended where she was standing, and they both flew off the side. Ladybug hurried, twisting in the air to try and pull off Glacia's skates as the akuma screamed. She realized that the whole skate was actually attached to the akuma's tights or whatever, so she settled with grabbed the steel blade and yanking at it.

"Get off me!" Glacia shouted as they spun, falling faster and faster. She struggled, but Ladybug managed to seize a blade. As fast as her cold fingers could allow, she whipped out her yoyo and let go of Glacia, hurling the yoyo towards a building balcony. It wrapped around the iron and pulled her from the fall up and away towards Chat.

"I got the skate!" She wheezed as she landed, grimacing as she did so on the skate blades. She broke it over her knee.

"Nice!" Chat Noir cheered. He suddenly fell quiet when nothing fluttered out of the broken blade, and Ladybug felt a wave of annoyance crash over her.

"If it wasn't in there, then where is it?" Ladybug grumbled.

"You're going to detransform," Chat Noir suddenly said, not letting that failure dishearten him.

"Crap, you're right," Ladybug rubbed her temple, "I'm sorry, you'll have to go on without me for a little bit. I promise I'll be back soon, Chat Noir,"

You failed you failed you failed.

"You can trust me! She only has one skate on now anyway, so she should be easier to deal with," He said, confidence unwavering. Ladybug nodded and darted inside the apartment of the balcony as Chat Noir leaped away. The place was empty, thankfully, and with a beep of her earring the transformation fell away.

"You okay, Tikki?" Marinette asked, fishing in her purse for some cookies. She'd taken up a habit of keeping some form of snack in there for moments like these.

"I'm fine," The kwami said, rubbing a tired eye, "I just need some fuel." She was curled up on Marinette's numb hand. Marinette's other hand grabbed the pack of shortbread cookies from her bag and she tried to tear it open with the one hand, but failed. She had to set Tikki down on the nearby couch so she could open it, and then she placed one of them in front of the kwami.

"Where do you think the akuma is?" Marinette asked tiredly.

"It seems the only other likely object could be her hairpin. She doesn't have any other actual object on her," Tikki said between mouthfuls, trying to eat as fast as she could.

"I'll try that, next," Marinette said, and sat down on the couch too. She pressed her cold palms to her face, trying to warm them up. She wasn't dressed for this kind of weather.

"Don't let this stop you, Marinette. The akuma have been getting stronger and you've been doing a good job," Tikki added, "I know you can defeat her."

Marinette smiled a little bit, trying not to focus on the fact that this was the first time in awhile that a Lucky Charm had failed her.

"Thanks, Tikki."

An absurdly long time had passed since winter had fallen, Lila observed. It didn't normally take Ladybug and Chat Noir so long to defeat an akuma. She'd moved from the bathroom back to the table, and she was getting worried. Everyone in the restaurant seemed similarly on edge; they'd all been sitting here for too long now. It wasn't safe to go out, but it appeared they were beginning to doubt that Paris would be saved.

Maybe she's finally lost! The voice said hopefully. Lila pushed it aside.

"I'm scared," A small voice suddenly said in the muted chatter, and Lila glanced a few tables away to see a small child of maybe six years seated across from a parent.

"Don't worry," The parent said back, "Ladybug and Chat Noir will save us."

The child got up and moved to the other side of the table so they could hold onto their mother.

"What if they don't?" The little boy said, frowning, "I'm so cold,"

Lila moved a little closer. Doubting their heroes wouldn't do the Parisians any good. She wanted to believe Marinette would be okay.

"They will," She said, kneeling next to the boy. "Ladybug and Chat Noir always save the day. They always have and always will, so that little boys and girls like you can be safe."

"Really?" He asked, seeming to believe her at least a little bit.

"That's right! They've always saved the day before," The mother chimed in, nodding gratefully at Lila.

There's always a first for everything, the voice said, I'm sure the day when Ladybug fails will come soon.

"I guess you're right," He said, and then smiled a little.

Just then a blaze of pink flew past the window, melting the frost on the windows. The snow and ice coating the streets vanished, and all of the victims started to thaw. Their icy appearance gave way to warm flesh and colorful clothes. Lila felt relief and satisfaction course through her as she watched, and then turned back to the boy.

"See?" Lila continued, gesturing to the window as a resounding gasp went through the restaurant, "They always will," A cheer went up among the people in the building, and many of them got up to leave.

Not always, the voice said, not for long.

While several customers hurried out, Marinette stumbled in, unnoticed in all the commotion. Lila got up, suddenly worried. Marinette looked exhausted.

"Marinette!"

"Hey Lila," Marinette mumbled quietly, and Lila threw her arms around the girl, holding her close and feeling her relax visibly in the embrace.

"Are you okay?" She whispered.

"I could be better," Marinette replied, and Lila hugged her a little tired.

"Do you wanna go?" Lila asked, and Marinette nodded.

"Let's go to my house," She suggested.

The two hurried out of the restaurant and were suddenly hit the summer heat. Lila paused, soaking in the warm sunlight.

"Did anything happen?" Lila asked as they stretched under the sun. At that, Marinette deflated a little bit. "Marinette?"

"It took three Lucky Charms to defeat her," Marinette finally said, looking down.

"Three?" Lila asked incredulously. That was unheard of. Three Lucky Charms meant three separate transformations. She frowned as she realized what kind of a fight Marinette had had to do. Why were the akuma getting stronger?

"Yea." Marinette sighed tiredly. She cracked open her purse and Lila looked in to see Tikki curled up and asleep inside. The kwami was out cold.

Wow, Ladybug was weaker than she thought.

Wait.

Lila froze. That thought hadn't been by the voice.

She'd heard it in her own inner voice. That thought had been out of place and it didn't belong.

Not once in all her time knowing about Ladybug had she ever doubted her power. Why was she doubting it now? An uneasy feeling settled in her gut. Something felt dangerously wrong.

A laugh sounded in her ear and all of a sudden her mouth was moving.

"I didn't realize how bad of a superhero you are."