This story takes place prior to Season 4 of "Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir." I do not own the rights to any of the characters used within this story.

Chapter 6: Rendezvous

Chat had stood there with a look of confusion on his face until another furious beep from his ring had broken him out of his stupor. He'd turned away blushing and bounded off into the city on his baton.

Marinette let out a shaky breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. Her legs felt weak, and her knees felt like they could give out at any moment. She forced herself to breath in deeply before letting it out again. Chat Noir was Adrien. Her crush was her superhero partner. And she'd spent the last however long singing love songs to him, several of which were entirely too accurate… That was a lot to process.

"Right," she thought. "First things first. I need to find Tikki."

She made her way back across the street and into the ruins of the karaoke lounge.

When Luka had asked her to dance, before his song, she'd taken off her purse to avoid having it hit him or anyone else and spilling her kwami on the floor in front of everyone. When the akuma had attacked, she'd forgotten that it wasn't at her side. "I'm never taking my purse off while I'm out ever again!"

Her mind was filled with thoughts of what could have happened to Tikki while she was gone. She had to stop and shake her head as she picked her way through the rubble to keep herself from picturing too many horrific things.

Marinette finally found herself standing outside the open door to Room 3 of the karaoke lounge. Being careful not to disturb anything that seemed structural, she carefully made her way into the room and found the couch where she'd set down her bag. But it wasn't where she'd left it.

She searched frantically around the area, eventually seeing it sitting on the floor a little ways away. "Tikki," she called as she snatched up the purse, peering down into the opening. But her eyes were only met with the empty interior of her purse.

Turning in circles, she called again, "Tikki!" This time, desperation was evident in her voice as her eyes scanned the room for any sign of the red kwami of creation.

Chat landed in an alley a block away from the plaza where the sounds of the akuma battle were coming from. As his feet touched the concrete, his transformation ended and Plagg appeared in the air in front of him.

"Adrien! That was too close! What if you'd transformed back while you were jumping off that roof? You'd be squashed on the pavement like a beautiful camembert!" The kwami crossed his arms and stuck his nose in the air briefly. "Speaking of which, you don't happen to have any on you, do you?"

"I'm sorry, Plagg," Adrien sighed as he pulled some of the smelly cheese out of an inner pocket of his shirt. "I had to get close to the fight so I could get an idea of what we are up against while you recharg. Come on, I need to get closer. You can eat on the way."

Adrien held open his white outer shirt, and Plagg flew inside. "Fine. But you better have more cheese in here. This isn't going to cut it for what I had to watch between you and pigtails."

The model took off running down the street towards the sounds of battle. "Later, Plagg. Right now, we have an akuma to deal with."

His footsteps skidded to a hault as he came to the end of the street and hunkered down behind an upturned car, peeking over it at the plaza before him.

Carapace and Rena Rouge were dodging attacks from Wreckord Player. Jumping in when they could to land a blow of their own as openings were available. The pair looked tired. "How long have they been fighting him," Chat thought to himself. Then, another thought hit him, "Where's Ladybug?"

"Plagg, are you ready?"

"I'm never ready for this…"

"Well, we don't have any other choice. Our team needs us! Plagg, Claws Out!"

Marinette knelt on the floor of the broken-down karaoke shop, her head cradled in her hands and fresh tears wetting her cheeks. Where was Tikki? What had happened while she and Adrien were trapped in the karaoke machine?

A loud crash echoed through the streets of Paris.

Marinette felt her body stiffen at the sudden noise in the deafening silence. A sob escaped her and she felt her body shudder. Marinette sniffed and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Looking up, she gave the room one final scan, looking for any traces of her friend.

Nothing.

"Okay…" She forced herself to take another deep breath, trying to silence the sob that was clawing it's way up her throat. "I… I don't know what to do… But I can't just sit here… Chat Noir is out there on his own. He needs help… Adrien needs my help…" With one final sniff, Marinette pulled herself up to her feet and started to stumble her way back to the street.

She hated seeing the streets of Paris, her city, like this… Empty. Broken buildings and cars everywhere. It felt desolate.

Marinette wiped the tears off her cheeks and squared her shoulders. She may not be Ladybug, but that didn't mean she wouldn't do whatever she could to save her city. She looked around, and then began running towards the direction of the fighting that echoed through the quiet streets.

Tikki had been watching the fight between the two Miraculous holders and the akuma from the relative safety of a rooftop overlooking the plaza. She hated not being able to help her chosen's friends. Alya and Nino were good people, which was why Marinette had picked them to fight along side her as Rena Rouge and Carapace. It pained Tikki to sit on the sidelines as the couple risked their life down below.

Rena dodged yet another hunk of rubble thrown by Wreckord Player just in the nick of time, while Carapace took the opening created by the akuma's attention on his partner. He threw his shield, which struck true before bouncing back to his waiting hands.

But the boy's excitement about his successful attack was short lived as he was just a little too slow to dodge Wreckord Player's fist. He sailed through the air, smacking into the front of one of the stores around the plaza. When he fell to the ground, sizeable cracks were left in the glass and stone behind him.

Rena was by his side in seconds. "Hey! You okay, babe?"

Carapace didn't take time to answer, shooting to his feet and raising his shield above his head. "Shell-ter!" A green dome materialized, cutting off the attack that had been about to hit his girlfriend from behind. He gritted his teeth. "I'll be fine, but we gotta come up with a plan…"

His words were cut off as a familiar baton smacked the side of Wreckord Player's head.

"Hey! I think their dance card is full. Why not take a spin with me?"

Behind the akuma's shoulder, Carapace saw Chat Noir perched on top of one of the abandoned cars with his usual feline smile lighting up his face.

Carapace felt some of the tension in his body release at the site of the black cat hero. "Nice of you to join us," he called across the battle ground.

"Sorry, I took so long. I was stuck in a tree and there was no fire department to get me down." Chat Noir jumped out of the way as Wreckord Player threw discs at where he had been sitting. "Where's Ladybug? Have you seen her?"

From Tikki's hiding spot on the rooftop, she saw as Chat Noir entered the fight. The relief that filled her tiny body was more than she'd felt in a few hundred years. If Chat Noir was here, that meant that Adrien had found a way out of wherever the akuma had sent him and Marinette. Which meant that her chosen was probably out too.

She hovered back and forth, scanning the streets around the plaza, searching for the girl who held the power to truly turn the tides of this battle.

Marinette felt her breath coming in ragged heaves as she finally neared the plaza. Running across the city was much easier when she had the magical strength and stamina that came from being transformed into her alter ego. She stopped at the edge of the plaza, leaning over with her hands planted on her knees and her lungs begging for air.

The sounds of renewed combat ahead of her, brought some sense to her, and she stumbled forward into the plaza and behind the first car that she saw. It wasn't the ideal hiding place, but it would have to do for now.

She dropped to the ground, leaning her back against the car as she tried to catch her breath. Marinette focused on trying to control her breathing. "Deep breaths. Like Mme. Bustier taught you. In for four. Hold for four. Out for four." As her heartbeat began to quiet, she turned back to face the plaza.

Chat Noir was engaged in fighting the akuma, and across the plaza, she could see Rena Rouge and Carapace picking themselves up off the street out front of a broken storefront. That caught her attention. Neither of the later two heroes should have had their Miraculous, especially now that Marinette was the Guardian and Master Fu had gone to London. Which meant that someone who knew where the miracle box was and knew the identities of both heroes had gone to Marinette's house and retrieved the Miraculouses and then presented them to the couple while she and Chat Noir had been trapped in the karaoke machine. Marinette could only think of one being in existence who had that kind of knowledge.

"Tikki?"