The Lucky and the Unlucky

Chapter 5

I had to write an essay yesterday and i struggled to write 1000 words and i realized that i can do that easily when writing about a cartoon but not for school so nice

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It wasn't possible, how could this had happened? Adrien was for sure not out of the question, she very much still had a crush on him, he was in the dream too after all.

But Chat worried her. It's not like she disliked him, not at all, but thinking about him romantically almost scared her. It was true that his many visits had made her see Chat differently compared to when they were in battle. Maybe it was her fault, maybe she was too focused on fighting that she never noticed the little things he said and did. In the end the little things are the ones that matter.

So the only logical conclusion was that she had a crush on both, but that never ended well, that she knew.

"Marinette!" Alya elbowed her best friend back to earth. "What?" she whispered back. Miss Bustier cleared her throat "Marinette please answer role call". The girl apologized, her cheeks becoming red.

"Hey girl are you okay?" asked Alya, worry painted on her face. "Yeah I just- I have a lot on my mind you know?" the brunette nodded, still worried but understanding "Remember that whenever you need me I'm here for you"

Marinette smiled and thanked her, but for something like this she needed to figure it out on her own.

The first period went on as usual, a part from a small change, instead of Marinette looking over at Adrien, it was the opposite. Marinette was so distracted over her dream that she didn't even bother looking at him, while he was stealing a few glances trying to figure out if what Plagg had said was right.

But both teens were forced out of their thoughts as they were making their way to the lab for their next class.

The earth violently shook under the student's feet, the two superheroes didn't need to check twice to know that it was time to transform. Marinette winked at Alya and made her way towards an empty classroom. One of the good things about having your best friend know about your secret identity was that you didn't have to waste time to come up with a lame excuse, Alya could do it for her.

Adrien too managed to slip away from the class, Nino barely noticing as he was called over by his girlfriend .

The blond dove in the boy's bathroom as the ground shook again, there was no time to lose. "Plagg, claws out" he announced.

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"Well hello M'lady, fancy seeing you here" he purred after having made his way towards his partner. He expected her to just roll her eyes, which she did, but now with a sweet smile. Not that she wasn't sweet, but she was usually more on edge and less talkative at the beginning of a battle.

"I'm always here to protect you and the rest of Paris Kitty" she teased and giggled. "You couldn't handle all these villains on your own, who would make the puns?" he scolded.

Ladybug smiled again, but was remind by the destruction of a near by building that it was no time to flirt. "Come on Chat"

They made their way to the scene and were met by a tall woman with extremely long black hair. They didn't even have time to breath as the woman wrapped her hair around the two heroes, immobilizing them.

"I'm Caspasia, welcome to your end Ladybug and Chat Noir"

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The battle went on for an hour and the results were devastating, for Paris and the two heroes. Luckily the Miraculous Ladybug fixed most of the damage and the hits that both the teens had taken, but they remained both utterly exhausted.

Chat didn't even have the energy to flirt with his partner, he just gave her a weak goodbye, extended his baton and made his way back to the mansion.

As much as she knew she had to, Marinette just couldn't go back to school. She made her way back home and de transformed while landing on her bed, her parents were in the bakery anyway, she could just say she passed by the back door.

She laid on her bed, face smushed against her pillow, making it almost impossible to breathe. Pretty soon she heard her phone ring, it was Alya, she always called her after a battle to make sure she was okay.

"Wow girl that lasted a long time" she heard her best friend say from the other end of the line. "Tell me about it" grunted Marinette in response.

"Can I come over? They didn't even force us to go back to school" Marinette agreed, she could rest while Alya talked about her "analysis", as she liked to call it, of the situation. She said it was always important to observe things from every angle and talk them over to retrive as much information as possible.

As she was about to drift off Alya barged in her bedroom. She greeted Tikki and then hopped on Marinette's bed. "Wake up, this is important".

The bluenette grunted in protest a few times but eventually sat up, devoting her attention to her best friend. "I'm worried, all these akumatizations are getting stronger and stronger, you and Chat can't keep doing this, you have to find a way to get to the source" Marinette nodded, as much as she feared Hawkmoth she knew that she had to face him sooner or later.

"I thought the same thing today, I'm gonna talk about it with Chat tonight". The problem was more in how they were going to find him, but Alya had a plan.

"I actually did some research and talked about it with Tikki last time I came over, when you fell asleep" Marinette smiled guiltily, she really wanted to be a good friend to Alya but being Ladybug came with having a very bad sleep schedule.

But Alya didn't seem to mind, she just continued "You told me about Nooroo's cycle and how, if Hawkmoth wasn't using the miraculous in that moment, the Kwami's would have been able to track him down" Marinette nodded.

"Tikki, care to add?" asked Alya. Tikki and Alya's friendship had really bloomed, they got along perfectly, worrying about Marinette was their main bond. Alya often asked her about Kwami's and their history, which Tikki was more than happy to talk about.

"Soon it will be Duusu's cycle and seen as Hawkmoth uses the peacock miraculous much less often we might succeed into tracing her down" she squealed in excitement.

Marinette was suddenly wide awake, this might actually work. The idea of facing Hawkmoth was so remote but now, with a real solution, there was hope. Marinette's heart was filled with joy, but mostly fear.

"This is perfect! When will it be Duusu's cycle?" Tikki smiled "In thirteen days". Marinette beamed at her best friend and her Kwami, she was so grateful for them "I have to tell Chat"