Ladybug must have been serious about demanding an answer, because she made them meet up just thirty minutes after the akuma attack.

"So a random, cosplaying civilian beat you up," Chat Noir summarized.

I averted my eyes. 'She would have beat you up too.'

Chat Noir chuckled and flexed his non-existent muscles. "She can try!"

"Chat," Ladybug clearly wasn't in a joking mood.

"Sheesh, fine." Chat mumbled. "No fun today."

Ladybug ignored his commentary and stared me down. "Why did she attack you?"

'Honestly, I don't know,' I scrawled on the ground. 'She kept talking about how I was "mocking her family's legacy." Whatever that means.'

Ladybug brought her fist to her chin, quiet for a moment. "How did you get your Miraculous?"

I titled my head, thinking back on the mildly traumatic event. 'I found it in a weird sinkhole.'

"Really?" Chat plopped down into crisscross applesauce right in front of me. "I found mine in my bag."

"I also found mine in my bag," Ladybug mused. "Which means someone gave our miraculous to us, unless they teleported there, or something."

Ladybug kept talking, but I was distracted reliving how exactly I discovered Knight's Charm. The sinkhole had been covered in strange skulls, that, now that I thought back on it, looked a lot like the mask I wore as Ghost. So I wasn't robbing someone's grave, but maybe it was more of a... memorial?

"You might have found the hiding place of a Miraculous that's supposed to be passed down a family line." Ladybug mused.

'No wonder she wants to kill me.' I wrote. Because if it was the memorial of their families legacy, and my name was coincidentally Ghost...

"She wants to kill you!?" Chat squeaked.

'Yeah. Then she gave me a chance to explain myself and I told her I had no idea who she was or what she was talking about. She told me to meet up at the same place in 1 month.'

"But she wants to kill you." Ladybug frowned.

'idk anymore. I think my fate is still in the air.' I shrugged.

"You're not planning on actually going, are you?" Ladybug started pacing.

'Only one way to find out if she still wants to kill me.' I joked, completely ignoring the rising distress in the other two's faces. 'Besides maybe she'll give me more info.'

"I'll go with you!" Chat Noir declared. "She can't beat us both up!"

She definitely could. I shook my head. 'Im pretty sure it's supposed to be 1 on 1'

"Have you tried asking your kwami questions?"

'Knight isnt very talkative.'

Ladybug pursed her lips. "Tikki is always very open with me..."

"Yeah," Chat Noir chuckled. "Plagg also isn't very helpful. He only ever talks about awful cheese."

I shook my head. 'I mean they literally cant talk. I get that from them.'

"That's inconvenient. How else are we supposed to prove your innocence?"

I blinked. We were proving my innocence? 'They mentioned they were going to investigate, and that they'd find out the truth somehow. So I figured we wouldn't have to do anything. All I have to do is show up.'

"Well how do you know she isn't crazy?" Chat Noir folded his arms.

'She sounded like she knew more about what was going on than I did.' I paused, thinking back on the sinkhole again. It was somewhere in the city. I think I remembered the street I was on, trying to run from the stoneheart clones. It wasn't far from the school, but the direction was a bit jumbled in my head.

If Chat Noir used cataclysm on the exact spot I found it, could I find it again?

I shook my head. I was pretty sure that Ladybug could only revert the damage caused in an akuma attack, so then there'd be a gaping hole in the road. I couldn't deny that I was curious though.

"What if she tries to take back your miraculous." Ladybug questioned.

'It's stuck in my chest, so good luck with that.'

I abruptly realized that both of the superheroes were staring at me with their jaws dropped.

"It's stuck in your chest?!" Chat sputtered.

"How in the world did you manage to get it stuck in your chest!?" Ladybug exclaimed.

I stared at them before slowly writing: 'Im guessing you guys dont have that problem'

"Not in the slightest." Ladybug shook her head. "What did you think Hawkmoth meant when he said he wants to take our Miraculous?"

Chat was still staring.

'I think we're getting a little off topic.'

Ladybug shook her head in disbelief and muttered something under her breath.

'I'll take care of it, okay?' I wrote. 'Its not even a big problem.'

"How is your life being in danger not a big problem!" Chat threw his hands into the air and jumped up.

"Leave it, Chat," Ladybug shook her head, eyes narrowed. "Ghost doesn't want our help."

Okay, that was uncalled for. It wasn't that I didn't want their help, I just didn't want to make them go out of their way to solve my problem. My life wasn't even on the line. Probably. My life depended entirely on The crazy lady's investigation skills, which must have been pretty good, considering she somehow knew I was going to be passing through that courtyard when I didn't even know I'd be passing through that courtyard.

...I was going to have this entire conversation with Chase later. And he was going to scold me twice as much.

"Besides, I do have other things to talk about," Ladybug added, expression mostly flat, save for the slight pinch in her eyebrows that suggested she was worried.

Chat settled back down and we both were silent while we waited for her to continue.

"This akuma fight was too close," She started, "We almost lost. We took too many risks."

Chat Noir looked away.

"And it's my fault." Ladybug admitted.

Chat snapped his head towards her. "What, but I'm the one who-"

He clamped his mouth shut when Ladybug looked at him. "I made a reckless plan. I'm used to having three people at my disposal, and when Ghost wasn't there to pick up the slack, we got overwhelmed and overpowered."

Really? When I got there, it had looked like they had just started to engage with Pharaoh.

"Pharaoh is a step above all the other akumas we've faced so far, and we need to expect it to get more difficult from here on out," Ladybug continued. "We need to train more often."

Chat Noir and I both started nodding, but Ladybug wasn't finished.

"We all have something that we need to work on. I need to work on my strength. Chat, you need to learn how to fight with a baton, not just use it as a dull fencing sword. Ghost, you need to work on your stamina. You can't keep ducking out of the fight because you're about to pass out."

I ignored the flicker of irritation, because she was right. It was annoying that my abilities were so draining, when the only thing Ladybug and Chat Noir had to deal with was a five minute timer after using their special power. But I genuinely had no idea how I was supposed to increase my... magic? My magic endurance. Was I supposed to run laps or something?

. . .

Sleep didn't come easy to Marinette that night.

She settled down into her bedsheets, wrapped up in her comforter and arranged her pillows exactly to her liking. She blocked the pale moonlight coming in from her window, save for just a sliver that sneaks past the gap between her curtain rod and the ceiling. Everything should be perfect, ready to soothe her to sleep like it always did.

She couldn't stop thinking.

The room was still and quiet. Tikki was tucked in on a pillow of her own. Her mannequin that wore the dress stood serenely, silhouette painted by the cool blue of the moon's light. Her sheets were soft and familiar, but...

She almost failed.

Alya's mom was counting on her, and she almost failed.

Her mind rolled with scenario after scenario. She shouldn't have tried the distraction plan, not without Ghost. It was too risky, but she did it anyway. And it failed. She let down Chat Noir and Alya and she almost got Alya's mom killed.

She wasn't sure what hurt more, the fact that she let everyone down or the fact that she was the first one to give up.

It was only Alya coming in like some deus ex machina that she managed to regain hope, even if it was in the form of a 'hail mary' final attack. Even then she was certain that she would have failed again, gotten overpowered again, had Ghost not shown up last minute.

Something stung the back of her eyes and Marinette bit her lip. She rolled onto her other side, face smooshed against her pillow. She squeezed her eyes shut, and ignored the tear making its way down her face, soaking the pillow.

She eventually fell into an unsettled sleep, filled with tossing and turning. Vague forgotten dreams of unrelenting, rotting hands and helplessness filled her head. Panic welled up within her even as she slept.

Her eyes snapped open early Sunday morning when her phone started ringing from its place on her desk.

Her sheets were soaked with sweat and twisted around her, trapping her limbs. She could feel her heart beat rapidly in her chest and she gasped in air. She extracted an arm from the tangle of blankets and rubbed at her face.

She rolled out of bed and crawled over to her phone, because her legs were still solidly wrapped up. She reached up and grabbed her phone, looking at the callers ID.

It was Alya.

Marinette frowned. Alya didn't normally call - she glanced to the time - at 10 in the morning, on a Sunday anyways. Not because she wasn't awake, but because Marinette normally wasn't awake and Alya respected that.

Mari shrugged, before accepting the call.

Her phone was eerily silent.

Marinette's eyebrows pinched together in confusion. "Hello?" Was this a butt dial?

She heard an intake of breath, that turned into a hiccup. Then a shaky exhale.

When Alya finally speaks, its with a slightly congested tone that makes it sound like she was either recovering from a head cold or was crying.

"Mom's not waking up."

Marinette was glad that she was already on the ground when the news hit. "W-what do you-?"

Alya choked back a strangled laugh. "She went to bed r-right after we got back from the museum, she didn't wake up for dinner or breakfast. She's still asleep and I-I"

"I don't know what to do! Nora is out of town for a wrestling match, the twins don't know what's wrong- I had to make dinner for them and Mom usually makes a special breakfast on Sundays, but I had to give them cereal-"

"Alya, take a deep breath," Marinette tried to soothe. "Have you tried waking her up?"

"Y-yeah, but it didn't work!" Alya was hysterical. "I tried shaking her, calling her name, even some cold water- Nothing is working! I don't know what's wrong!"

Alya burst into guttural sobbing, each breath a struggle. Marinette kicked the sheets off of her legs, gripping the edge of her desk in order to stand up. She wrapped her arms around her waist, as tightly as she could manage, digging her fingers into her sides. Mari's chest tightened with every single hitch in Alya's breath.

Eventually, Alya grew quiet, save for a stray hiccup.

"Here's what you can do," Mari said softly. "Call an ambulance, okay? They're professionals, they'll know what to do."

"Okay," Alya sniffed.

"Do you want me to come over?"

"Y-yeah."

Marinette stayed on the phone and told her parents she was going to Alya's.

The trek was short, because Marinette was jogging the entire distance. She let herself into the apartment, and found Alya curled up on her mother's bedroom floor, eyes bloodshot with tear tracks carving salty paths down her cheeks.

She knelt down and gave her a tight hug, supporting her as Alya dialed 112 and explained what was wrong to the operator.

And in the chaos of the ambulance arriving, Marinette remembered seeing the pale light that left Alya's Mom yesterday, the dark swirling clouds and the ray of light.

And Marinette knew that she was the one at fault.

. . .

"You aren't looking good, Sugarcube."

Tikki smiled, but it was a weak, fragile thing. "I'm fine. Just... haven't had to deal with this much corruption since..."

"You can't lie to me." Plagg scowled. "I don't know why you insist on purifying it."

"You know why." Tikki narrowed her eyes.

"No," Plagg snapped. "Just because you can purify it, doesn't mean you should."

"You'd rather leave Nooroo to rot? Chip away pieces of him until all that's left is a husk?" Tikki glared. "That's just like you. Selfish, inconsiderate and vain."

"It's him or you, Sugarcube!" Plagg growled. "Between the two, I know who I'm choosing."

Silence chilled the space between the two. Neither were willing to give ground.

"Look," Plagg sighed. "I don't want to. But if you don't look out for yourself, I will."

"I know, I just..." Tikki sighed. "I didn't want it to come to this."

She stared up at the dark sky. She remembered being there when the world was still dark. When stars were mere potential around her. She remembers seeing the first explode into being and the light had dazzled her. It was what she existed for.

Funny how, even as they died in a super nova of beauty, as their remains crashed together and formed new planets and as those planets formed solar systems, and those solar systems formed galaxies... As the universe grew Tikki's interest shrank. It narrowed onto one galaxy, one solar system, one planet, where something so insignificant yet grand was budding.

Humanity had drawn her in, like an electron to a proton. She saw them and witnessed the potential of mere atoms at the beginning of Time. She saw their ambitions and their bright life. Rute loved their spark. Diance was proud of their dreams. Wyrm observed them flock together as civilization rose.

Yet people had embodied destruction just as much as creation. They killed and plundered. They suffered the plight of terror and the pride of war. Plagg never relished destruction. Grimm didn't delight in their fear.

Somehow Humanity embodied the very concepts of the universe better than Kwami ever could. Creation and Destruction. Dreams and Nightmares. Unity and Disorder.

Somehow Humanity had led them to this.

. . .

"You know what would suck?" Chase heard Keana say from beside him.

He glanced at her. "Don't say a word."

It was opening night and Chase refused to let Keana jinx it.

She had a mischievous smirk on her face. "It would suck if an aku-"

Chase slapped a hand over her mouth, muffling the rest of her sentence. "Not. A. Word."

She licked his hand and he looked at her with utter disgust. It was a necessary sacrifice; he was not about to have an akuma interrupt the first performance because Keana wanted to tempt fate. He wiped his hand on his jeans.

"Go tell the girls that warm ups are in ten." Chase instructed.

Keana rolled her eyes, but retreated to the girls dressing room.

Chase went over to where Bianca was. "How are Lights and Sound?"

Bianca pressed a button on her headset. "Luka says the levels are good. We should be ready soon."

Chase nodded and checked his watch. It was 6:30, which meant it was time to unleash the floodgates. Sure enough, the student ushers had already propped open the auditorium doors and were handing out the program Alya had made. And the noise quickly rose as more and more people filtered in.

"Make sure no one breaks center," Chase said. He did not need to have a cursed show and people peeking through the curtains before it began was a good way to get terrible luck.

Bianca saluted and continued preparing for the show.

Chase wrung his hands before shaking them out.

The cast gathered in the girls' dressing room (it was the larger of the two) for warmups.

Chase's eyes watered from the smell of hairspray, but he knew the guys' dressing room was worse. That was why he didn't spend any extra time in them if he didn't have to. At least the girls' dressing room didn't have a vague undertone of axe spray.

The music was paused and they all formed a big circle.

"We're on in around thirty minutes," Chase started. He spotted multiple people glance around nervously and several people looked a little pale. "Beast, you're up."

Warm-ups helped people get in the right headspace for performing. It reminded the actors to enunciate, it got the blood flowing, and it helped them get into character. But it also hyped people up and helped soothe any anxieties that performing in front of an audience would cause.

The warm ups continued, but Chase couldn't deny that he was distracted. It was the opening night, which often felt like one of the most cursed nights that could happen in a show. Even as everyone in the room got excited, he was busy worrying over anything that could go wrong. What if the sound system stopped working? What if the wheel on the set piece broke?

Chase shook his head.

There wasn't anything he could do about it if it did go wrong. He had to trust the performers to deal with the fallout of any missed cue or forgotten line.

His job now was to sit in the audience and worry.

Warm-ups wrapped up, leaving Chase with just enough time for a pep-talk.

The room was buzzing with energy, but he brought it down to a calm focus with his words.

"Today's the opening night." Chase started. "You guys knocked it out of the park with the dress rehearsal yesterday. This is the same thing, the only difference is the audience. But the audience doesn't matter."

He took a breath in and continued. "What matters is that everyone does their best. There aren't judges down there, this isn't for a grade. All you need to do is take everything you've worked on in the past months and use it. But the most important part is to have fun."

"But not too much fun," Gen interrupted and chuckles filled the room.

Chase smiled and made eye contact with Keana. "So go out there and give it your best shot."

He winked.

"Curtains open in five minutes," Gen said, "so be there on time or not at all."

Chase left then, heading towards his spot so he could introduce the show to the audience. At 7:00 exactly, the lights dimmed to black over the audience and Chase made his way towards the center of the stage in front of the curtains. A spotlight pointed at him, blinding him.

Chase smiled his best smile, and didn't squint. "Welcome! I'm Chase Luana, the student director for College Francoise Dupoint's production of Beauty and the Beast."

The audience, majorly made up from parents or kids who go to the school, cheered. Chase waited for them to quiet down again.

"Before the performance starts, I ask you to please silence your cellphones and note that flash photography and filming is strictly prohibited. If you have any children who decide that during the performance is the best time to throw a tantrum, I ask you to step out until they are calm for the enjoyment of the rest of the audience. I'd like to thank the Parisian Community Theater for hosting us and allowing us to use their stage."

"And with that, please enjoy the show!" Chase smiled once again and the spotlight shut off. He made his way down towards his seat in the audience and settled in.

The curtains unfurled and the lights shone onstage.

Once again, Chase couldn't help but think about his helplessness as the actors began to perform.

It wasn't an unfamiliar feeling: he felt it every time Keana went to go save the day.

. . .

"You're not going." Father said.

Adrien was over it. Keana and Nino were right when they said that Mr. Gabriel Agreste refused to let him have any fun.

"Why?!" There was actually no good reason! Adrien double checked everything!

"Adrien," Father warned. "You will not be taking that tone with me. My decision is final."

"No, tell me why! My schedule is open tonight, I've done all my homework, I already finished my lessons-"

"Adrien."

"-and you can't say that 'it's a bad influence.' The show is Beauty and the Beast.That's Disney! The most family friendly, 'good influence' show you can watch!" Adrien paused. "Honestly, I've definitely seen worse from my modeling gigs."

"It's dangerous!" Father said sternly. "You never know when an akuma will-"

Adrien rolls his eyes. "You can't stop me from living just because an akuma might show up! If I live life under a rock, the world will pass me by, and it'll be your fault."

"Stop this rebellious behavior this instant." Father demanded. "Everything I do is for your good!"

How could any of this be for Adrien's good?

Adrien furiously shook his head. "I'm going."

"Adrien-"

He stormed out of the office, swinging the door shut behind him. He let out a harsh breath and tried to get his temper under control.

Why was Father like this? Adrien wished the man would pick a lane. The man wanted to micromanage his life and be nowhere near him at once. It seemed mutually exclusive, but his father was finding a way to do both at the same time.

And the worst part was that Adrien didn't even know which one was worse.

Adrien rushed to get out of the mansion, but Gorilla was standing by the front doors. The teen tried to open the door, but his body guard positioned himself to stop him.

"Really?" Adrien ground out. "You're really taking his side?"

Gorilla's face stayed in the same expression, but Adrien could see the silent man's eyes soften. However, he still didn't move from his spot in front of the door.

"Fine." Adrien seethed. "Whatever."

He spun around and stomped towards his room.

He slammed the door shut behind him, but it was too well crafted to make any satisfying noise.

"Tough luck, kit," Plagg's nasally voice said as he drifted from Adrien's satchel.

"Who says I'm giving up?" Adrien challenged. He quickly constructed his bed disguise, arranging pillows so it looked like he was in bed. And as a final touch, he pulled out his mannequin head - complete with a blond wig - that he had bought earlier in the year.

"You know, after all that fighting, they're gonna know where to find you if you sneak out." Plagg rolled his eyes.

"Well they won't find Adrien if they look," Adrien grinned. "Plagg, claws out!"

"Ugh, kit-" Plagg groaned before he disappeared in a flash of light.

Chat Noir jumped out of Adrien's window, and began vaulting over rooftops towards the theater.

He snuck in and found a nice cozy place in the rafters, out of the way of lights and speakers. He settled down just as the curtains unfurled.

He was in awe of the singing, the dancing, the passion the actors had. They looked like they were having so much fun, and he almost cheered when he saw Keana skip into view. He did laugh when she acted all lovey-dovey over Gaston, but that was okay because the audience's laughter covered it up.

The lights were dazzling and he could feel the music in his core. It was better than any modeling show could ever hope to be.

But then, he saw it:

A small black butterfly fluttered past him, making it's way towards the actors onstage.

No way.

"Cataclysm." Chat whispered with a snarl. Energy crackled around his hand.

It was all too easy to pluck the corrupted butterfly from the air and watch it turn to dust.

He grinned and sat back down.

No way Hawkmoth was ruining this.

. . .

"Can someone zip me up? I need to be on!" Belle's actor panicked.

"I got you, girl!" Alya rushed over, pinching the back of Belle's gown together and tugging the zipper up. Then she clipped the top. "You're good!"

"Thanks!" Belle left the dressing room in a rush.

Alya let out a breath and glanced over towards Marinette who was doing an emergency sew job on one of the ensemble member's costume.

"The zipper didn't break, did it?" Mari sounded worried even as she was preoccupied fixing the waistband of a pair of pants.

"Nope, it's good." Alya returned to Marinette's side.

Alya felt restless. She had volunteered herself as her bestie's personal assistant for the show. But Mari had an entire group of hard working costume crew members to help out, she didn't need Alya.

After the- After Mom-

Alya had thrown herself into work. She still had so much she needed to get done. She put up posters everywhere she could, she spent hours making sure the program was perfect. She interviewed the cast and crew so she could advertise on social media. She did all her homework and made sure to study.

It wasn't enough.

No matter what she tried to distract herself with, the thoughts crept in. No matter how much she did, she always returned home at the end of the day.

Her home that now felt empty, even though it had the same number of people in it as always.

Nora had come home when she heard about it. She had been on a wrestling trip and had to put it on hold to help support the family. She put her career on hold to help fix Alya's problem. Only there was no way to fix it.

Mom was in a coma and it was Alya's fault.

There was no way to get around it.

Mom had made her promise not to film or watch dangerous akuma fights. Alya had broke her mom's trust and done so anyway. She stayed there, when she should have run away with Marinette at the first sign of trouble. She was so stupid, she didn't even try to flee when the akuma himself showed up.

Alya didn't perceive the danger she was in. Ladybug had always fixed the damage done by an akuma, so the consequences didn't matter to her. The only thing she'd get was a stern talking to from her mom and some sweet footage for the Ladyblog.

But Ladybug couldn't fix this problem.

Mom had only woken up after Ladybug purified the akuma and fixed all the damage like usual. But she had still been so weak. It was like Mom had gone without sleep for a week and was running off a five hour energy shot. Ladybug's magic was that energy and it petered out all too quickly.

And Mom wouldn't have even been in that situation if Alya wasn't an inconsiderate idiot.

She-

"Alya?"

Alya blinked, her vision blurry even though she was wearing her glasses.

Marinette's kind face was in view. "Can you hand me a pin, please?"

"S-sure," Alya warbled. Her voice sounded like it was stuffed full of cotton balls. Mari didn't comment on it. She reached over and plucked a pin from the pincushion that was right next to the seamstress.

"Thank you."

Alya let out a shaky breath and nodded.

She didn't deserve to be thanked for anything.

. . .

The musical was over.

It felt like they just won a war and the cast party and the after cast party definitely made it feel like they were partying the night away after a fierce battle. Chloe had donated her dad's hotel lobby for the cause and offered to make the hotel staff whip up some food, but people decided to bring snacks for a more potluck feel.

Chase oversaw the party like a king who had run out of energy.

Genevieve nudged his side. "Ready to do this next year?"

Chase slowly turned to her, feeling his life drain away by the mere thought. " No- just no. This was a learning experience, but Damocles better freaking hire an actual drama teacher next year."

Gen laughed and suddenly Luka was in on the conversation.

"You did great man." They exchanged a fist bump. "Not a single missed cue."

Luka nodded placidly. "Thanks. It was tough, I think I'd rather stick to acoustic and leave the sound mixing to Nino."

Laughter erupted from across the room where a bunch of kids were playing some sort of party game.

Chloe flickered her hair. "You people just have no taste!"

Keana wiped a tear from her eye, still chuckling. "Not my fault you can't take a joke."

On the projector was Quiplash 2, and someone had compared her normal outfit to that of a bee. It wasn't even that funny, but it had managed to make everyone playing absolutely lose it.

"Who wrote it!" Chloe demanded.

Marinette shakily rose her hand, before bursting out into another uncontrollable laughing fit. This triggered everyone else.

"This is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous," Chloe complained. But she didn't seem genuine in her outrage in the slightest. It was probably the sleep deprivation that cooled off her normal defensiveness.

The front door opened and a blond with green eyes poked his head in. Adrien looked around in awe. It reminded him of his failed birthday party, except with twice the noise and people were actually having a good time.

"There you are, dude!" Nino appeared out of nowhere to sling an arm around Adrien's shoulders. "Did ya like the show?"

"It was great!" Adrien grinned. "I loved what you did during the curse scene! It made it sound like the sorceress's voice was echoing. And the lights were so cool!"

"Adrien!"

Keana was there now, weaving through the crowded lobby. It didn't take long at all for her to get to Adrien, and when she did she grabbed both of his shoulders in a vice grip.

"What was your favorite part!" She demanded.

Adrien, a little caught off guard from her energy, just stared. He hadn't even been thinking about his favorite part. How could he choose?

Keana either got impatient or took his silence as purposeful, and shook his shoulders dramatically. "C'mon, tell me!"

The apparent interrogation attracted the attention of more people.

"Adrikins!"

"Wait, A-Adrien's here?"

And two more people were racing through the crowd to see him.

"Keana Luana!" Chloe shouted as she approached, jabbing a finger at Keana. "Don't you dare interrogate him without moi!"

And beside the blonde, was Marinette who had her hair half up and half down, like she was in the middle of getting a crazy hairstyle. "I didn't know you were coming to see the show!"

Adrien smiled at her, surprised. He was seventy percent sure that Marinette didn't like him (she never could look at him when they interacted, and avoided alone time with him like it was the plague), so it was nice to see his theory might be wrong. "Father didn't let me, so I had to sneak out."

"Yeah, you tell him!" Keana cheered and held out her hand for a high five.

"Good job, dude," Nino congratulated him.

Chloe gave a sharp nod of approval and Marinette gave a thumbs up with a hesitant smile.

"Anyway," Keana said. "What's your favorite part?"

"The whole thing," Adrien said honestly.

Keana groaned. "That's such a cop out."

"But all of it was good!" Adrien defended.

Chloe scoffed. "If you can't decide, then your favorite part is whenever I'm on stage!"

Keana side-eyed Chloe. "That's exactly what my parents say whenever I ask. And it's also a cop out answer."

Nino leaned over as the two girls started bickering. "Just pick a few random things you liked," he advised. "It doesn't actually have to be your favorite part."

"Thanks dude," Adrien relaxed. Keana and Chloe were still arguing about something, leaving Marinette, Nino, and Adrien to watch in vague amusement until they finished.

"-it doesn't matter if it's true," Keana rolled her eyes. "It isn't specific enough to be an answer!"

Chloe folded her arms with a hair flip. "Hmph!"

"Okay." Adrien said. Both Keana's and Chloe's heads whipped in his direction.

"I liked all the cool sound and lighting effects," Adrien started. "And the Gaston song looked super fun, especially when everyone formed a big line and did that big line dance. And Be Our Guest was exciting. I loved how Beast and Belle fell in love, that was so sweet. Tale as Old as Time was beautiful, especially Belle's dress."

"You l-like Belle's dress?" Marinette's voice was high, like she was surprised.

Adrien blinked. "Well yeah. It's gorgeous and it looks like real ball gown, not a costume. I could see all the layers of fabric even from my seat." He didn't mention that his seat was in the rafters.

Marinette ducked her head and muttered, "I-I made it."

"Really?" Adrien's eyes lit up. "That's so cool! I knew you were talented from the hat competition, but a dress like that is on another level!"

Her cheeks reddened. "Thanks, Adrien. That means a lot coming from you."

"Well," he scratches the back of his neck. "I only know this much about clothes from exposure. I'm not making or designing anything, I just wear it. People who can make clothes are a lot cooler."

A sort of strangled noise escaped Marinette. "Thanks!"

Adrien smiled, completely clueless.

"I knew you'd like the Gaston song," Keana said smugly.

"Well, I knew he'd like Be Our Guest." Chloe rolled her eyes. "Besides, everyone likes the Gaston song."

"And everyone likes Be Our Guest."

Adrien was glad to see the two girls getting along. Even if it seemed... mildly hostile.

So the party went well.

The following morning everyone was exhausted. Then Monday morning came and people went to school, like normal. And then after school came, and everyone in the musical had no idea how to fill that time anymore.

After months and months of daily practice, and then two weeks of living and breathing the musical, it was gone. Over and done with.

The stress faded away and brought relief. People finally had time to do their homework and study for tests. They had time to spend with their friends without obligations. They had time to themselves.

But with that came a sense of... Hollowness.

An emptiness that came with having a routine and it being ripped away from you. Working on a project like that only for it to be completed suddenly and leave your calendar looking as blank as you feel. After the celebration of a birth, where the mother is sitting by herself wondering how nine months passed so quickly.

This feeling haunted nearly everyone afterwards; It was jokingly called post-musical depression.

Keana, luckily was one of the exceptions, considering she was still busy. Same with Marinette. They both had duties to clean up after Hawkmoth, the local temper tantrum throwing super villain.

Adrien could only feel grateful that it was over. After his friends joined the musical, he hardly got to hang out with them outside of class.

Chase could finally take a nap without regrets. And he crossed his fingers he wouldn't have to run the whole show next year.

. . .

It was Monday morning, the Monday after the show.

I felt like a zombie. Nino looked like a zombie. Heck, everyone looked like a zombie - even Chloe, who had spent time to put concealer on to cover up any signs of exhaustion.

Madam Bustier came in with far too much energy for a Monday morning. She smiled at the crowd of undead she called her students. I yawned and five other people yawned in sync.

"Good morning class!" She said. I was among the many students whose response was incomprehensible.

"For everyone who was in the musical, you all did a fantastic job." Madam Bustier clasped her hands together and smiled. I sat up a bit in interest.

I was not the only one who perked up, and soon the class erupted with noise as people bombarded her with questions.

"What was your favorite part?" Rose asked.

"Which night did you watch?" That was Julika.

"What's your favorite dance number?"

Madam Bustier raised her hands to calm the suddenly rowdy class. "Settle down everyone. I still have announcements. I can answer your questions after class."

Several people grumbled. I slumped back down in my chair.

"Thank you." The teacher smiled. "Now, I know it's late in the year, but we have two new transfer students."

Transfer students? In the middle of the apocalypse? Well- I know I'm a transfer student technically, but I moved here before it was official.

Madam Bustier held her arm out, and the door opened. In walked two girls. I looked at them with mild curiosity, but mostly with apathy.

They took position at the center of the front.

"Hello," The one to the left was of Asian descent and had her black hair styled in a bob. She bowed. "My name is Kagami Tsurugi."

Her voice lacked inflection and she didn't include any fun facts in her introduction. Kagami began making her way to a seat in the back and for a moment I was sure she made direct eye contact with me. Which was awkward, so I quickly averted my eyes towards the other newcomer.

"Hi, I'm Lila Rossi," She smiled and waved. She had long brown hair and tanned skin. "My mom's an ambassador for Italy, so that's why I moved here. I hope we can all be good friends."

She made her way to a seat.

At least Lila's explanation made sense. I didn't pay much attention to the news, but even I knew that Paris and France in general was in a lot of political turmoil.

Honestly it was a miracle that Chloe's dad was still the mayor. People, from what I knew, got upset at leaders when there was a crisis going on. They either thought they could solve the issue better or that the person in charge wasn't doing enough at all. Often, there was no elegant solution to perfectly manage a crisis.

Especially when the crisis in question was an unprecedented apocalypse restricted to a specific city.

I shook my head. What a ridiculous situation. There aren't any apocalypse movies with only one city affected by a horde of zombies. It'd be such a huge plot hole, cause what's stopping everyone from just moving cities?

The answer? Politics.

It's been talked about to an extent, an evacuation that is. Not only would it be a logistical nightmare to have a city wide evacuation for a city as big as Paris. But Hawkmoth wasn't a swarm of mindless zombies or a plague. What would stop him from following the fleeing population and bringing terror to another city? Nothing.

I supposed the bigger question was what restrained Hawkmoth to the area of Paris? I knew he wanted Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous for whatever reason, but he attacked Paris specifically before he even knew they were here.

He either tracked them to a specific area before he launched his attack, or he just picked a city at random and crossed his fingers hoping he'd hit jackpot. He could just live here, but why in the world would he launch an attack at his own city, without even knowing his target was here?

Seemed kinda dumb to me. I mean, if I was a magical moth themed terrorist, I'd be launching attacks from a hotel every other week then go back to wherever I actually lived.


AN:

Yeesh, lots of emotions going on this chapter!

As understandable as it would be to have an akuma during the show (lots of upset and stressed people, sometimes missing a cue is enough for an emotional breakdown), I didn't really want to write and akuma attack during the show. The chapter's nearly 7k words, adding an attack would easily boost it to 10k, maybe more. And there hasn't been time for the characters to reflect, so here we are!

As of now, I'm working on chapter 25, and 23 and 24 are completed. I'm trying to post at the start of each month. I'm also writing a pokemon spinoff AU (no miraculous; just the Luana family, pokemon, and hollow knight) that focuses on cozy vibes :)