Marinette sighed as she exited the airport. It had taken three days, but she and Adrien were finally back in Paris.

"It's good to be back," she said. "I still can't believe that we were only gone for three weeks!"

"Yeah, it feels more like we were in that studio for four years!" Adrien added.

Marinette gave her boyfriend a look before turning back to Mr. Arch. "Thank you for getting us back to Paris," she said.

"It was the least I could do after getting in that situation in the first place," Mr. Arch replied, wringing his hands. "If I had any idea what would happen, I would have never sent that book."

"Don't worry about it, Uncle," Adrien said. "Everything turned out alright in the end."

"Marinette! Adrien!"

Marinette turned and was caught up in a huge pair of arms. "Papa!" she cried.

Tom Dupain just squeezed her harder. "I missed you so much," he said, tears welling in his eyes.

Over to the side she could see Adrien being fussed over by his driver/bodyguard. But for now, she just basked in her father's arms.

Finally, he let go and asked, "Are you ready to go home?"

"More than you can believe," Marinette replied. Turning to Adrien, she said to him,"See you later."

"Not if I see you first, Princess," he shot back as the Gorilla led him off.

She turned to see Tom grinning at her. "Finally confessed to him, did ya?"

"Papa!"

-MToLaCNBatIM-

Upon entering the bakery, Marinette was swept up in another hug. For such a small woman, Sabine Cheng had a crushing grip. Not that Marinette was complaining, she had missed her mother.

"Welcome home, wǒ de háizi," Sabine said. "I am glad that you are safe."

"I'm home now, Mamam," Marinette replied. "I'm sorry that I worried you,"

"Don't worry about it," Tom said, wrapping his arms around the two of them for a quick hug. "We're just glad you're safe."

"You didn't cause too much trouble with your absence," Sabine said after releasing Marinette. "We were able to hire a bit of help for the bakery, and the other heroes have done admirably in taking over your Ladybug duties."

"That's good to hear-Wait!" Marinette squeaked. "You knew?"

"Of course I did," Sabine replied, smiling mysteriously. "I was of two minds to tell you and of three minds not to worry you."

Tom spoke up as Marinette was processing that. "If it makes you feel any better, I had no idea until your mother told me."

-MToLaCNBatIM-

"-and this should be all that you need to get caught up with your classmates."

Marinette accepted the sheets of paper from the school counselor. "Thanks, Mlle. Bustier," she said as Adrien received his package.

The one-eyed woman smiled back at them. "Now go on. And tell my sister I said hi."

"It still is strange having a school counselor," Adrien said as they walked away. "Even after seven months."

"Tell me about it," Marinette added. "Still, it's good to see her settling in. Oh, hey Alya!"

"Marinette!" the blogger cried, catching the other girl in a hug. "It's still good to have you back!"

"Yeah, same dude," Nino said, preforming a handshake with Adrien.

"As if you didn't see us this morning," Marinette added.

"Nice bracelet," Adrien said, looking at the other boy's wrist.

"Yeah, I got it from Master Fu," Nino said.

"Wait, what?" Marinette cried.

"I guess no one told her yet," Alix said, stepping up to the group. "By the way, Future-Me told us your identities and we have been taking care of the city."

"Well, thanks for that," Adrien replied, since Marinette was blue-screening again. "Did you have any troubles?"

"Well, most of the 7th Arrondissement is currently made of candy, but we haven't have any big problems."

That was when everyone's cellphones start lighting up.

"Akuma at the movie theater," Nino said looking at his. "Ten euros says that it's Animastreo again."

"Sucker's bet," Alix said.

"I just remembered-"

"I forgot my-"

Marinette and Adrien dropped their excuses at a knowing glance from the other three teenagers. "This way!" Alya said. "We've got an akuma to beat!"

-MToLaCNBatIM-

It felt exhilarating flying through the air again. Back in the studio, it had been too cramped for acrobatic maneuvers so Ladybug was enjoying it again.

She looked beside her at her teammates. Chat Noir was pole-vaulting his way across the rooftops while Rena Rouge and Carapace made do with super-powered jumps. Buzzkill was swinging along using her top in imitation of Ladybug.

The five heroes landed on a rooftop and peered over at the akuma. A long serpentine beast was crawling out of the movie theater, with large wings and tiny arms. It let out a roar and released a cloud of smoke from its mouth.

"Okay, it's not Animastreo," Carapace said flatly.

"Dangit, I should have taken that bet," Buzzkill quipped.

"I am Fafnir!" the dragon cried. "And I shall deal retribution upon movie directors that blatantly ignore or outright change the stories of historical figures!"

"Okay... that's weird," Chat said flatly.

"At least Hawkmoth got this one close to the mythological Fafnir," Buzzkill said frowning. "Especially after the mockery he made out of Pharaoh and Anansi."

Chat stared. "Didn't know you had an interest in mythology," he said.

Buzzkill grinned. "My dad's the museum director, and the people on my mother's side of the family literally live in history. Of course I do."

"So, what's the plan?" Carapace asked. "Cause, you know, we have a big freaking dragon to fight!"

Rena spoke up then. "I have an idea."

"...How worried should I be?"

-MToLaCNBatIM-

Nadja Chamack cowered behind an abandoned vehicle as Fafnir crawled along the ground, his wings too small to grant him flight. With the disappearance of Ladybug into some vortex, covering akumas had gotten even more dangerous, as the attacks were not always swept away. Sure, the turtle hero fixed up the worst of it, but now there were lingering scars of past attacks.

She had even heard something about a student having being turned into a centaur and not changing back.

But still she went out, hoping to spread the word and bring warning to Paris.

Fafnir roared as a flash of red swung around.

Nadja relaxed just a smudge. Rena Rouge must be on the scene, the fox hero having distracted foes before with an illusion of Ladybug. But the illusions were just that, illusions. Nothing more than irritating distract-

Fafnir roared as he reeled back from a large pole that smacked him across the snout.

Nadja stared. That was no illusion...

Fafnir tried to breath fire, but Ladybug's string tied his snout close, before she yanked his head back. The sudden movement caused the dragon to let go of something that he had been holding in on of his front claws, which Chat Noir pounced upon. An akuma butterfly emerged from between his fingers trying to escape.

"No more evil-doing for you, akuma! Time to de-evilize!"

But Ladybug was too quick and caught the butterfly. As the pure white insect flew away, she pulled out a red ball with black spots and threw it into the air crying, "MIRACULOUS LADYBUG!"

As the healing ladybugs were dispersing, Nadja was already approaching. "Ladybug, Chat Noir, a word!"

The pair looked to each other and turned to her. "What is it, Madame Chamack?" Ladybug asked.

"Where were you? What happened to you? The video on the Ladyblog showed you getting sucked into a vortex, what happened there?"

"That is a long story, one that began seventy years ago," Chat Noir said.

"But that's not important," Ladybug added. "All you need to know now is that we're back, Paris!"