"Toxinelle, wait," Claw takes hold of my hand. "Before we go to the hideout, may I show you something first?" I stare down at his hand wrapped around mine, then up to his face. His voice seems different, formal. Whatever he wants to show me must be important. "Lead the way."

Claw leads me to a less clean side of Paris, full of abandoned offices and warehouses. He seems to be looking for one in particular, and at last we come to a stop in front of one. From the outside, this building could be a myriad of things, at least its still a mystery to me what lies in store.

Claw jiggles the handle, and gives a soft growl. "Locked. And to think, I made you come all this way in the rain for nothing." A smile crosses my face. "Maybe not for nothing. After all, there's more then one way to remove a lock." I slid a hairpin from my hair, and slide it, twisting it back and forth. Two seconds later, we hear a click and the door swings open.

Claw's eyes meet mine, with an open mouth. "How did you do that?" he asks. "If you can keep a secret, I'll tell you." "Try me." "When I was younger, my parents would hide all the sweets in the pantry with the door locked. Me being very determined to have my sweets, and hard candy makes awesome jewelry, it didn't take me long to learn how to pick a lock."

In the dark room, I can't tell if Claw is blushing when he says, "You maybe a hissing Cockroach, but I do think your sweet."

We come to a plain-looking wall, and I turn to Claw. Just what is he up to? "Hold on, and no peeking," he grins at me as he heads over to a small glowing keypad. "Fine," I sigh, spinning around.

A second later a soft buzzer sounds and I turn back around. Claw holds out his hand again. "Here, take my hand."

He flips on a light, and I want to rub my eyes to make sure I'm not dreaming. Row and after row of dresses and suits and more accessorizes then I could count line the walls. "Claw, what is this place?"

Other then a fashion designer's idea of heaven that is. "Now its my turn to ask you to keep a secret. My mother was a fashion designer and these are either rejects or items that never made it to the show floor before she died."

Oh, this is a special place. I'm special to Claw. I'm special, me, Marinette. Its a nice feeling. "Thank you for sharing your secret with me," I kiss him, then place my hand on my heart. "And I'll keep the secret here."

Next morning, I now wish I would have taken something with me, for I don't know what to wear. Its early, but it don't want to be late. Then Mama opens the trapdoor. "Good morning, honey. I was wondering if I could help you with your hair today?" I give her a grateful smile. "Could you help me with an outfit too? Otherwise, I'll be wearing pajamas to school!"

Mama sighs as she brushes my long hair in the mirror, and I notice she looks a little sad. I talk to her reflection. "Is something wrong?" "Oh, I'm just missing home, I guess. I wonder if your school will have a dance soon, my kimono is just the right size for you now." "A dance would be fun, but I wouldn't know which guy to take." "Guys?" Mama teases. "My, Marinette, your popular!" I grin back, then continue. "Its hard, cause I like both of them, but you can only choose one."

"You'll know when the time is right, honey. Now-" Papa peeks his head in, and Mama stops. "Papa?" "I think you girls should see this," he says seriously, not joking and jovial like his usual self.

I hold Mama's hand as we walk downstairs, my heart beating in my chest. The TV is switched on, and it takes a second to figure out the scene. There was a fire, obviously and maybe some sort of earthquake?

Papa turns up the volume. "The Guardian's Temple has been destroyed by an unknown cause, leaving the monks and Guardians homeless!"

We get an another airel shot, this time on a mountain where the monks and Guardians are looking confused and saddened. Was this the work of the Supreme? Whatever it was, I need Claw. Now.

Thank goodness my parents usher me off to school, but I only duck into an alleyway to transform. Then I immediately dial my partner. "Did you see the news?" I ask. "I did. Why is the Supreme punishing them if he knows the Butterfly Miraculous is somewhere in Paris?" I lean my forehead against the cool bricks. "I wish I knew." Then my eyes snap open with a determined light. "Claw, we can't just let them stay stranded and homeless." "Toxinelle, where would hide them?" "In the abandoned warehouse you showed me last night!"

Silence crackles in the air. "Okay, after all, they'll need to stay hidden. One problem, how do we get to them?" I groan. I didn't think of that. Let me see if I can find anything in my bug phone. Hey, what's this?"

There's a help option from a Guardian app, and I grin clicking it. Only this time its the other way around.

"We have seen your plea for help, and if there's anyway you can travel to us, you'll have food, water and shelter and a place to stay!" I call Claw back, and tell him my plan. We have work to do.

Three hours later, we have more long beards in the room then I've ever seen. They make Claw's Mohawk hair look tame. And somehow they know we're both in school, and tell us ditching isn't healthy.

I'm not surprised when Adrien and I get three hours of dentition, and when I walk in, I'm surprised to find Adrien read a How To Read Mandarin 101 book.

"You know, you could just ask me on a date in English," I tease, setting my school bag down beside my chair. Adrien grins at me. "Who said I wasn't? No, I have, uh, out of town relatives at home." Huh, I don't remember Adrien never mentioned Chinese relatives. "Maybe I could meet them. My Mandarin's pretty good after all!" "No!" Adrien says, a little to loudly. "I mean, they're very shy."

"Oh, I know what's going on here," I smile. Adrien gulps. "You-you do?" "Yep. One of your relatives is our age and devastatingly handsome and your worried when I meet him, I'll fall in love. I love you, Adrien. And no one's going to change that. Now, come here so I can kiss you."

"I don't know," Adrien grins, looking more like his old self. "Is kissing really part of the dentition?" I give him a look, and he smiles, leans forward our noses brushing. The kiss is sweet, and I float off, possibly to Cloud Adrien.

After dentition ends, Adrien dashes off. "Don't you think he's acting a bit strange, Tikki?" I write. "Marinette, you two are always strange. In a cute way." I giggle. "Thanks a lot."

I text Claw I'll pick up food for our unexpected guests, but when I finish I realize I need help carrying them. Claw meets me outside the store. "One Fleabag, at your service. Did you make sure there isn't any cockroaches in the food?" I roll my eyes. "Ew. And where they are, there probably a delicacy."

When we pass Starbucks, Claw looks like he's going to go straight by it, but I yank on his tail. "Hold it, Fleabag! I need coffee to keep up my strength!" "Oh, yeah. What's your excuse for when we don't have guests?" I plaster on a sickeningly sweet smile. "Putting up with you?" I snort, bursting into giggles as I open the door, seeing the expression on his face. He knows I love him, he just likes giving me a hard time.

"Should we be making rice?" Claw asks, as we get supper started. I can't get enough of the pink apron I found for him. "Puh-lease. They probably see rice in their dreams. No, Italian spaghetti it is!"

"Oh, I see what's going on here," Claw winks. "And what would that be, darling Fleabag?" "You want us to find an extra long noodle and we meet in the middle with a kiss." "Your describing Lady and the Tramp." "You calling me a Tramp, Cockroach?" I raise my eyebrow. "Do you want me to answer that?"

After dinner, one of the Guardians walks up to us. "How can we thank you enough, taking us in at such short notice?" "What happened, anyway?" "It was a peaceful night till suddenly smoke and fire filled the sky. A voice like thunder rent the air." "What did it say?" Claw asks. "The Supreme is the ultimate ruler and soon you shall all bow down only to me. This is a small taste of what's to come."

I feel sick, and it wasn't the spaghetti. Its my fault. This wouldn't have happened if I had found the Butterfly Miraculous and handed it right over. And now look at the mess we're in.

I leave the warehouse, angry at myself. I am more determined then ever to find the Miraculous and make things right. But where do I start looking? If only I had a picture of what this holder looks like.

But alas, the trail is as cold as a winter snow, and I'm right out in it. I detransform, then head for home. As I pause to unlock the bakery door, a limo passes by. I wonder if its Mr. Agreste, coming home from work.

So many things to do, so little time. But that's a life of a hero, or a thief like me.