The next night, Chat Noir didn't visit Marinette like she'd been expecting.

She'd hoped he was just busy, but he didn't show up Thursday either.

At school, Adrien hardly looked at her, like he wasn't even missing her. And when she said hello to him in class, he waved only briefly and quickly turned back to his notes, like he was uncomfortable. She wasn't sure what to make of it, other than to reinforce his rejection. He liked someone else and might have asked her out by now. Maybe having a female friend felt wrong to him all of a sudden.

Friday started on a sour note, so it shouldn't have been surprising that it ended in a mess.

It was snowing when she got up, and she was almost late to school. By the time she had gotten outside, the snow had turned to rain and covered the sidewalks with slush and ice. Even though she lived across the street, by the time she got into the building, breathless and freezing, her shoes and socks were soaked through. She was cold and miserable on top of lonely and missing Adrien.

There were only two minutes until the bell when Marinette ran through the front door and into the courtyard. Her first class was on the second floor, so she bolted toward the stairs, but not so quickly that she didn't see a flash of blond hair hiding underneath the steps.

Adrien sat there, whispering to his bag.

Marinette stopped dead. It wasn't like him to risk being late. And he was obviously talking to Plagg. It really wasn't like him to be so cavalier with his secret identity. What was wrong?

As she walked closer, she could hear his urgent whisper.

"—think she's more likely to say yes to?"

Marinette stopped frozen where she stood. She didn't want to hear this conversation. Stupid cat, she did not [italics] want to hear about this conversation. (And was he seriously considering asking someone out as Chat Noir?!)

"What if she says no?" he asked in a pained voice, a little louder.

"Adrien!" Whatever problem he was having with his crush, he shouldn't be making it worse by talking to Plagg in public. "Walk with me to class?"

He dropped his bag, flinging it over his shoulder and behind his back so it was out of her line of sight.

"Oh," he said. "Yeah, sure."

"Great, let's go." And she headed up the stairs before she could reflexively grab his hand. "Don't want to be late!" she called over her shoulder.

His footsteps were heavy on the stairs below her. When she was halfway up, he suddenly picked up his pace.

"Marinette, wait."

"Yeah?" She turned to find him standing on the step right below her. With their height difference, her face was only a little bit higher than his. The proximity was distracting and she almost missed him saying he wanted to ask her a question.

"Question?" she repeated. "Oh, yeah. What do you need? Is there something I can help you with?" If he was going to ask her to help him with his girl problems again, then–

"Oh, not help. And you can say no anyway, but I was just wondering…" He broke off and wiped his palm on the side of his pants. His other hand was clutching his bag's strap in a vise grip.

"Yes?" she prompted.

A breeze whistled through the courtyard, fluttering a few pieces of wet, yellow paper. They flapped feebly, then started to swirl, attracting puffs of dust and more scraps of paper until it was a small cyclone. The sky that had been dull to begin with suddenly dimmed even more. The clouds parted. Stars blinked to life overhead.

"Chloe," Adrien muttered.

The sky kept darkening. And the wind kept getting stronger.

"We have to move," Marinette said, pigtails whipping at her face. "You go find an empty classroom to hide." And transform. "I'll… make sure Alya stays where she is." And also transform.

A strong gust almost lifted her off her feet and managed to send her tumbling down the stairs. Fortunately, Adrien had a better grip on the railing and kept them both upright. The wind howled at them. The doors of the second floor classes were only barely-visible outlines.

Adrien clamped one arm around her waist, the other arm securely around the railing, and hauled them upstairs.

The walkway in front of the classrooms was only protected by an overhang, not by walls. It didn't offer much shelter, but Marinette felt less like she was about to fall, so she pulled herself away from Adrien. They both needed to transform.

"No!" his voice was barely audible over the wind.

"What?" she yelled back.

"I'll find Alya. You hide. I need to know you're safe."

The screech of metal from below them made Marinette jump. "What was that?"

"Bench," he said, pushing her against the wall and shielding her as much as he could.

It was ripping the benches out of the floor downstairs? They had to hurry. Feeling along the wall, she passed several occupied classrooms. It was almost totally dark. While he wasn't transformed, she knew his eyesight would be as limited as hers. She hoped he wouldn't notice she was leading them to a janitor's closet that should be empty. If he shoved her into a classroom with a bunch of students and took off, she'd never be able to get away.

"Wait, Marinette. I think we passed–"

"Here!" The door was solid. No glass window indicating a classroom. She wrenched it open and the wind pulled it out of her hand, slamming it against the wall with a crack. She tumbled inside, expecting Adrien to slam the door shut behind her so he could be alone to transform. Instead he yelled and jumped in after her, knocking her to the ground and fumbling to close the door after them. It snapped shut, and something crashed into it half a second later.

"What was that?" Marinette said, pushing herself up. If outside was dark, this was pitch black. Adrien shuffled toward her, kicking boxes and bottles that she'd knocked off the shelves as she'd fallen. She could hear where he was, but she didn't see him as he helped to lift her.

"Lucky, that's what we are," Adrien said. "I almost didn't see it. Bench."

"We can't stay here. It's going to rip the building apart if Ladybug and Chat Noir don't show up soon." She pushed against the door, but it didn't move. She twisted the handle but it didn't turn.

Adrien pressed against her, feeling the door and frame around it. "It's all twisted," he said. "It hit the handle and jammed it."

The door rattled with the wind, but it didn't give.

They were trapped.