"Adrien! Wake up!"

Adrien let out a groan as he was dragged back to consciousness. "Ughh… what happened?"

"You blacked out, kid," Plagg said, floating into view. "I told you I had a bad feeling about this place."

Adrien sat up against the wall, finally noticing a rather large hole in the floor. "What happened there?" he asked.

"You stepped onto a transmutation circle," Plagg said plainly. "It activated when you stepped on it, but I was able to destroy it before it did anything."

"Wait," Adrien said. "Where's Ladybug?"

"Pigtails went ahead to scout. Don't know when she'll be-"

"We're back!" Ladybug interrupted, stepping through the open door. "Spots off!"

As Ladybug's transformation unraveled, Adrien pulled out a piece of slightly squashed cheese. "Do you have a plan to get us out of here, My Lady?" he asked as Plagg began eating the offered cheese.

Marinette shook her head. "Not right now," she said. "We can't go back the way we came-"

"Why not?" Adrien asked. "I'm pretty that my baton can reach all the way up."

"Plagg destroyed the hallway when he destroyed the circle," she replied.

The tiny cat god burped. "Excuse me," he said.

Adrien shook his head. "So, what do we do? I don't think we have faced an akuma like this before."

"It's not an akuma," a ladybug-colored kwami said, floating into view. "At least, not the kind that you are familiar with."

"What do you mean, Tikki?" Marinette asked.

The new kwami, Tikki, started explaining. "Up until now, the two of you have been fighting corrupted champions of the Butterfly Miraculous."

"What does that have to do with it?"

"Different kinds of magic encourage different traits. And ultimately, despite the current owner, the Butterfly is a producer of life magic, magic of empathy and change." Tikki shuddered. "This foe…"

"Just say it, Teeks," Plagg interjected. "It's blood magic."

Marinette blanched. "I'm guessing that's bad?" Adrien asked, his heart pounding.

"Very bad," Plagg confirmed. "Blood magic is one of the worst kinds of magic. While it has some use in some healing spells, most of it is extremely dangerous. Use of blood magic tends to amplify the worst traits of mortals, so even those with benign motives will eventually descend into madness." He shuddered. "I've had the misfortune of… meeting some long-time users of it." seeing the pale faces of the Parisian teens, he quickly added, "Not that you two are in any danger! While you are wearing your Miraculous, you are immune to the corruption!"

"Okay," Marinette said, helping Adrien up. looking at Plagg, she added, "Anything else you can tell us?"

"There's going to be a focus for the spell, maybe more," Plagg answered. "The more foci, the more powerful the spell is. Once we find them, we will have to destroy them, and Pigtails will have to purify what comes out." Plagg's nose wrinkled. "Those six items were probably the foci."

"If they were, they weren't the real ones," Tikki interjected. "I didn't sense anything disturbing about them. Well," she added, looking at the cartoony surroundings, "nothing more so than anything else in this place."

"Also, we are not alone," Marinette added.

"Huh?" Adrien asked.

"While I was exploring, I saw someone else. They were carrying a cutout and whispering something. I tried to follow him, but he had disappeared."

"Do you think he will help us?"

"Probably not," Plagg cut in. "Depending on how long he has been in here, he's going to be a few slices short of a cheese platter."

Marinette slumped. "So much for that idea," she lamented.

"I will say this, though," Plagg added. "If anyone has managed to retain their sanity down here, they would be one of the most stubborn, most bull-headed, most determined people who ever lived."

-MToLaCNBatIM-

"Alright Joey. I'm here. Let's see what you wanted me to fiIINNNDDDD!"

A beat.

"What the hell happened here?"

-MToLaCNBatIM-

"But the odds of us finding anyone here is pretty much nil."

"You know, Plagg," Adrien said. "This has been the most helpful you have ever been."

Tikki giggled, a bit of humor returning to her eyes. "Plagg can be helpful once in a while," she said. "He's just too lazy most of the time."

"This is nice and all," Plagg spoke up, "but can we get a move on? This ink is clinging to my skin, and it's going to taste terrible when I have to clean it all off!"

"Here's an idea," Tikki said as Adrien started to speak the transformation phrase. "You could take a bath."

"But I hate baths!" cried Plagg as he was sucked into the miraculous.

Tikki only giggled as she went into the earrings.

Now suited up, Ladybug led Chat back through the open door. Going down a stairwell, the pair found themselves in a large room lit with candles and decorated with images of Bendy.

"I'm sensing a trend here," Chat said as he picked up another tape player. "Hey, Ladybug what's on this one?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "I must have missed that one the first time I went through here."

"Well, let's see," was all that Chat said before he turned it on.

"He appears from the shadows to rain his sweet blessings upon me. The figure of ink that shines in the darkness. I see you, my savior. I pray you hear me.

"Those old songs, I still sing them. For I know you are coming to save me. And I will be swept up into your final loving embrace.

"But, love requires sacrifice. Can I get an amen?"

Ladybug and Chat Noir exchanged a look. "Okay, that is kinda creepy," Adrien finally said.

"I said, can I get an amen?"

With reflexes born of battle, the superheroes spun around, weapons facing to where the voice had come from.

But there was no one there.