(The next morning)
The next morning had come quickly, and Marinette was already dressed and had finished breakfast as the news played on the living room T.V.
"The stone beings are scattered all over Paris, and for the time being, they are showing no signs of movement. Police have cordoned off the area." Nadja Chamak said as clips of some of the frozen stone beings played on the screen before changing into the mayor as he addressed a group of reporters in front of city hall, while Officer Roger stood behind him.
"We won't stop until we find a way to get these people back to their normal selves. But now we are not making much headway" The mayor said before the screen changed to show Nadja Chamak as she came back on the screen, with a picture of Ladybug and Chat Noir to her left.
"Paris is relying on our new guardian angels, Ladybug and Chat Noir to save us all. Our lives depend on them." The reporter said while Marinette could only watch in shock and disbelief. The entire city was relying on possibly two teenagers to save them. No pressure, right? Thankfully, Tom notices her worry and stops taking care of the dishes to comfort her.
"I know how upsetting and scary this is, but don't worry sweetie. We've got two superheroes looking out for Paris and the best way of helping them is to show them that we're not scared because we trust them." Tom said, trying to help his daughter not feel afraid of what is happening, but it doesn't do much good.
"But what if Ladybug fails?" Marinette said, still believing that she didn't deserve to be a hero because of her mistake yesterday. She did think it over like she told Jim and Toby that she would, but ultimately, her self doubts and insecurities got the better of her.
"Then..." Tom began to say, eyes going wide with thought for only a second before he sprung into a pose.
"I'd come and save you. Super Baker to the rescue!" He proudly proclaims as he pretends to fight a villain with a baguette making Marinette laugh. He and her brothers always knew how to cheer her up.
"Thanks, Super Dad." Marinette said before she kissed him on the cheek and ran up to her room to finish getting ready for school. She had grabbed her backpack and purse and was nearly ready to go when she looked over at her vanity and paused. The ladybug earrings were still in her drawer. With hesitation, she walked over to the vanity and pulled the drawer out, then pulled out the box, deciding what to do before putting them in her purse.
"They'd have a better wearer after today, someone who could really save the day." Marinette said quietly to herself, confident in her choice before heading back down into the living room and leaving for school
Meanwhile at the Agreste Mansion Nathalie was waiting in the dining room for Adrien to arrive for breakfast and a briefing on his schedule. It was silent except for the clock that made the passing of time audible, as Nathalie became impatient.
"What's he doing?" She asked out loud just as the clock chimed. She then decided it would be best to check on him and went to his room
"Adrien?" Nathalie called out after she opened the door, only to find that he wasn't there. This was bad. This was very bad. Mr Agreste would not be pleased. And unfortunately, she was proven right when she told him.
"You didn't see him leave?!" Gabriel said as he stood at the top of the main stairs, while Nathalie and the Gorilla stood next to each other at the bottom of the staircase, heads down in shame.
"If anything has happened to my son, you'll be held responsible!!" The absentee father shouts, while Nathalie and the Gorilla just take it like champs.
Meanwhile, Adrien; who had used his Chat Noir persona to escape his prison-like house; had arrived at the park near Marinette's house and was booking it as fast as he could to get to school. He was determined to make this something that he wouldn't let his father stop him from doing.
"You're such a strange kid." Plagg said after he flew out of Adrien's messenger bag and floated in front of him as Adrien continued to run towards the park exit.
"Who would want to be at school when you could stay home all day?" The kwami said, not understanding why his new holder wanted to take part in the hell that is the education system when he could be staying at home all day as most teenagers wanted.
"You don't get it Plagg, I've had enough of being shut up at home by my dad. I want to meet people and make friends! Go to a normal school like everyone else." Adrien said as he continued to run. Adrien was certainly not like most teenagers. Considering that he had been a model from an early age, and had been kept in a gilded cage most of his life, it was time for him to get out and explore the world. And if that meant sneaking out of his house, and disobeying his father, then so be it.
"Ahg, I think I'm feeling weak." Plagg said, right after he stopped flying in front of Adrien and hovered in midair while laying back like a drama queen, which annoyed Adrien to no end as he stopped running a few feet away from the cheese demon.
"You know what's strange?" Adrien said as he backtracked to the kwami and reached for his bag, and pulled out a piece of camembert.
"The fact that all you eat is this disgusting, rotten smelling camembert cheese and then I have to smell like it 24/7. That's strange." He said as he held the cheese away from him, allowing his kwami to take it and swallow it whole.
"If you want to be able to transform into a superhero then stinky cheese is the deal, my friend." Plagg said as Adrien sighed and moved his outer shirt so Plagg could hide in it before going the rest of the way.
At the same time as Adrien had his little conversation with Plagg, Marinette had walked over to the school and was climbing up the front steps, while Alya stood near the front door, looking through her phone.
"Marinette!" Alya shouted at her with a wave when she looked up from her phone and noticed her coming up the stairs, causing Marinette to look up and see her.
"Oh! Hi, Alya." Marinette said as she got to the top of the stairs and greeted Alya with a smile before Alya handed Marinette her phone.
"Check it out." Alya said, while Marinette confusedly looked down at the phone where she could see a homepage to what looked like a blog about...
"Ladyblog, bringing you all the latest news about the coolest superhero, Ladybug." Alya said excitedly as she placed an arm around Marinette's shoulder as the pigtailed girl looked at the phone screen, before looking back at Alya with hidden amazement. She really worked fast when she put her mind to it.
"How awesome is that? Check out the number of views since I posted the video!" Alya said as she took her arm from Marinette's shoulder, using it to take her phone back from Marinette and picked up her walking pace, while Marinette started to feel ashamed and stopped walking. How could Alya make a blog dedicated to what a failure she was? She didn't deserve to be considered a hero.
"But, why do you trust Ladybug so much? All these stone beings..." Marinette said, shame creeping into her voice, as she looked down at the floor to avoid Alya's gaze.
"She's gonna handle them." Alya said after looking up from her phone and turning to face her, not knowing that Marinette envied her confidence.
"But what if she's not really cut out to be a superhero even though everyone thinks she is?" Marinette said as her doubts got louder and louder in her head, telling her what she already knew... that she had messed up.
"What are you talking about, girl?" Alya asked, not understanding why Marinette was being so down in the dumps. But her confusion immediately cleared when she gasped in realization.
"Oh wait." Alya said, before walking closer to her new friend, almost invading her personal space, and adjusting her glasses
"I know what this is about." She said, much to Marinette's worry. Shoot! Was she that easy to read?! Looks like Jim and Toby wouldn't be the only ones who knew she was the one who messed up.
"You're scared." Alya said as she put a hand on her new friend's shoulder, while Marinette's heart began to calm down from her inner panicking.
"But don't be! I've seen her with my own two eyes, girl. Ladybug is a true superheroine! She's gonna protect us all. I believe in her." Alya said with confidence before she began making her way to class. As she left, Marinette felt something swell inside of her as she glanced down at her purse. Alya would be perfect. So Marinette ran after her and soon noticed that Alya had stopped to listen in on a group of their classmates surrounding Ivan.
"So you really don't remember anything?" Alix asked as Ivan sat hunched over on a bench, trying to avoid their questions.
"You were totally going ballistic. It was soooo cool." Juleka said, who seemed a bit too into the events of yesterday to be concerned for the poor boy.
"You were seriously out to crush me, dude." Kim said, also seeming a bit too into it for his statement like he enjoyed being chased after Ivan's akumatized self. But Ivan wasn't really paying attention, since his focus was on Mylene; who was standing a few feet away from the group; as she looked up from her feet to accidentally meet Ivan's gaze, but turned away again
"I'm sorry, I wasn't myself." Ivan said, shying away as much as he could. But unfortunately, it didn't do much when Chloé suddenly joined the group, while Marinette caught up with Alya
"Pfft. Once a monster, always a monster." Chloe said, just to butt in, when nobody wanted her to, especially when it made Ivan shoot up from the bench, growling and storming off.
"Don't let the door hit you on the way out!" The she-devil said as she called after him before laughing.
Meanwhile, in a certain 'villain's' lair, Hawkmoth was standing in the centre of his lair, right in front of the large window as it opened up to let in the natural light of the day, once again awakening the hundreds of white butterflies, as he could feel chaos brewing in Ivan's soul.
"Yes, feel the burn of those words. Lose your temper, Ivan." Hawkmoth said before he lifted his cane towards his line of sight, looking directly at the gem holding Ivan's akuma captive.
"Your akuma awaits you." The escaped psychiatric ward patient said before he flicked the top of his cane, making the metal sound with a dull ring while aggravating the akuma inside.
Back at the school, Adrien had reached the front of the school and began running up the stairs just as a familiar silver car pulled up to the curb.
"Adrien! Don't do this! Your father will be furious." Nathalie said as she and the Gorilla had finally caught up with their charge, causing the boy to turn to face them while Nathalie walked out of the car and towards the bottom of the stairs trying to reason with Adrien. When did her secretary job become a nanny one?
"Tell him you got here too late. Please." Adrien said and with his final plea, he ran through the front doors and into the courtyard. Nathalie sighed as she saw him leave. Unlike his father, she didn't have the heart to keep him locked up. He had become something of a nephew to her, and despite her orders, she knew this was what was best for him.
Back inside, Marinette had left the group to try and cheer Ivan up from Chloé's snide comment, while Alya had decided to once again, stand up to the stuck up prima donna.
"How could you say that to Ivan? You're the real Stoneheart." Alya said as she stormed up to the little brat, having had enough of her horrible behavior.
"Ugh. So I'm the one who broke Sabrina's Dad's arm, am I?" Chloé sarcastically said, before walking up to Alya, challenging her.
"Just because your footage of those lame superheroes was shown on TV, doesn't mean you have to get so high and mighty." The blonde snake said as she got up into Alya's personal space, and blew a bubble with her chewing gum, letting it pop, to further her clear disregard for Alya.
"You little-" Alya angrily said, not wanting to take any of the spoiled brat's crap any longer.
"Oh! Look out, she's angry!" Chloe said, mocking Alya's anger, and not taking the bespectacled girl seriously.
"She's gonna split her underwear and turn into a huge muscley monster!" The mayor's daughter said, much to Alya's anger, as she stalked off before she totally blew her cool.
"Hey, Chloe." A voice suddenly calls out from near the school entrance. Chloe immediately became distracted by the voice and turned to see Adrien, who had just greeted his childhood friend with a smile.
"Adrikins! You came!" Chloé excitedly cries out before she runs over to the boy to embrace him. Her exclamation had soon alerted the general school population to his appearance as they one by one began to recognize him. A steady murmur formed before a crowd surrounded them.
Meanwhile outside, Nathalie had just gotten back into the passenger seat of the car, and soon felt the Gorilla's questioning stare on her. Immediately, she could guess what it meant... 'What are we going to tell Mr Agreste?'
"I'll handle it." Nathalie said, knowing that she had to tell her boss that he was being a dick, and had to let Adrien have more freedom. And as the Gorilla drove away from the school she hoped she could find a better way to word that before they got back to the mansion, so she wouldn't lose her job.
Back at the school, while Alya was confronting Chloe, Marinette went to find Ivan. She soon found him as he was in the locker room listening to music to calm himself down as he sat on the floor. With a smile, Marinette walked over to him and crouched down next to him, then placed a comforting hand on his arm. Once he felt her hand on his arm, Ivan took off his headphones, signaling her that he would hear her out.
"You know, you should tell Mylene how you feel." Marinette said, taking advantage of Ivan's desire to listen to her.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Ivan said as he looked down at the floor, trying to preserve what he felt was his pride, from his classmate. But unfortunately for him, Marinette wasn't having any of his denials.
"Come on, I saw the way you look at her." Marinette said, with a smile, just before he looked at her with wonder then looked away disgruntled, much to Marinette's worry.
"No negative emotions, Ivan." She said, trying to get him to stay positive, but it did cause him to glance at her in confusion.
"Oh! What I mean is... be positive. I'm sure Mylene has feelings for you, too. Go talk to her." Marinette said, whispering the last sentence to help her get her point across.
"I'm no good with words anyway." Ivan said as he sighed while looking down at the floor in frustration. Meanwhile, Marinette was determined to help this boy.
"Who needs words? You... could draw her a picture, send her flowers..." Marinette said, listing things Ivan could do to show Mylene how he felt, while the boy looked up from the floor as she did.
"I could... write her a song?" Ivan said, thinking of his own idea while glancing over to Marinette, who thought the idea was perfect.
"That's a great idea! What girl wouldn't want a love song written especially for her?" Marinette said while imagining what it would be like if someone did that for her. But she quickly brought herself back down to earth so she could continue helping Ivan.
"Go for it Ivan, and, uh, stay positive." She said as she gave him a thumbs up and happily sighed as he practically skipped excitedly away, presumably to get to work on that song, while she watched him leave with a smile. She then got her things together, right before her phone suddenly buzzed. Immediately, Marinette pulled it out and saw that Jim had texted her on the group chat.
Group Chat: Arcadia Oaks Troublemakers
Jimbo: Hey Sis, I hope your day is going well. Have you given Alya the Miraculous yet?
And at that question, Marinette was brought back to reality. But not wanting to leave her brother hanging, she started to reply back.
Group Chat: Arcadia Oaks Troublemakers
MariFairy: I haven't been able to yet, but I will soon. By the way, she made a new blog, called the Ladyblog. It should be another way to get the details on akuma attacks here. I'll send you guys the link
MariFairy: (Link to Ladyblog)
Once again, she didn't have to wait long for a response, as she was about to leave the locker room, her phone buzzed, making her bring it back to her eye level to see Toby had responded
Toby Pie: AWESOMESAUCE!! But truth be told, both I and Jim are hoping you change your mind
MariFairy: Not going to happen Tobes. This is for the best. Talk to you guys at lunch
Jimbo: TTYL Marinette✌️
Toby Pie: Bye MariFairy😘
After Toby sent the text, Marinette then put her phone back into her bag and exited the locker room to meet up with Alya to walk to class. Time to do her thing.
Meanwhile, in Hawkmoth's lair, the villain had slammed the end of his cane into the ground in frustration, while he felt Ivan's emotions becoming positive.
"The negative emotions... they're fading!" The chrome dome said with a growl as he took in what was happening.
Back at the school, Adrien had let Chloe 'show' him around the school; ie clinging onto him like a leech; telling him all he needed to know, and soon began to take him to their classroom, while he had to stop to sign autographs every so often. While Adrien hated signing autographs, it was all worth it when Chloé brought him into their classroom.
"This is your seat, Adrikins. I saved it for you, right in front of me!" Chloé excitedly said, while gesturing to the seat in front of her stolen one before Adrien walked in through the door.
"Thanks, Chloe." Adrien said as he kindly placed a hand on her shoulder as he walked past her to sit down in his new seat, next to Nino while Chloé walked up and stood next to her friend.
"Uh, hey. Adrien," The boy said, as he reached out a hand to shake to introduce himself to his new seatmate.
"You're friends with Chloe then, huh?" Nino suspiciously asked, leaning away slightly. It wasn't because he disliked him right away, but Chloé did kick Marinette out of her old seat just so she could sit behind him. For all that Nino knew, this guy probably is just as much of a bully as Chloé. But then his eyes shifted to watching Chloé as Sabrina knelt like a servant on the steps up to the higher level desks, as Chloé placed her chewing gum into her awaiting hands and put it onto Marinette's seat. No one even said anything as they watched the deed being done, but there was one person who didn't understand why Chloé was doing this, and that was Adrien himself.
"Hey, what's that all about?" Adrien asked as he stood up from his seat and looked over at Chloé in confusion.
"The brats that sat here yesterday need a little attitude adjustment. I'm just commanding a bit of respect, that's all." Chloé said, having not seen the need to tell her friend that she was really just another school bully and wanted to torment people just for the fun of it.
"Do you think that's really necessary?" Adrien said as he kneeled down and prodded the gum trying to get it off of the seat. He knew he had a lot to learn, but he was pretty sure this wasn't it.
'Better get that off the seat before the person who had to sit there came in.' He thought to himself while Chloé laughed as she and Sabrina got back into their 'seats'.
"You've got a lot to learn about school culture, Adrikins. Watch the master." The blonde said as she leaned back in her seat to watch the inevitable outcome that was sure to soon happen.
Meanwhile, Alya and Marinette were making their way to their classroom, having taken a longer route to just talk to each other before the bell rang, and were closing in on their classroom.
"Alya, wouldn't you like to be a superhero and go out and fight monsters and villains?" Marinette asked, hoping that her new friend would say yes.
"Totally! I'm not scared of anyone! Why?" Alya said, totally confident in herself that she would be able to be a great hero too.
"Oh! No reason." Marinette said before she looked away quickly.
'Don't make eye contact, she'll know something's up.' Marinette thought to herself as she tried to be as inconspicuous as possible while Alya turned her gaze from her and back to the path in front of her.
'Phase one is already in motion, don't mess it up now! Ok, phase two, go! Just slip the box into her bag' She thought as she reached into her bag, pulled out the box holding the earrings, and carefully slipped it into Alya's messenger bag.
'Success!' Marinette cheered in her subconscious as they both walked through the door to their classroom, only to find Adrien was still at her seat, trying to get the gum off of it. They gasped, considering that to the two of them, it looked like he was the one who was being mean.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Marinette said angrily as she stomped over to Adrien, who was suddenly pulled away from trying to help, by her shouting. He was so busy trying to figure out how to get it off, that he didn't hear the gasp at the door. But he did, however, hear the angry girl who marched over to him. How was he going to explain this...
"Uh- I-" Adrien tried to say, trying to defend himself, while Chloe and Sabrina burst into laughter, effectively rendering any response of his to be useless.
"Ok, I get it. Good job you three. Very funny." Marinette said, thinking that Adrien had a hand in on the 'prank' and was not amused.
"No! No, I was just trying to take this off!" Adrien said as he stood up from his kneeling position to try and reassure her that he was trying to help
"Oh really?" Marinette said with a frown, getting into his personal space before she went to solve the problem herself, taking off her backpack and keeling on the floor to get a closer look.
'Aaaand she doesn't believe me. Dang, it!' Adrien thought as Chloé and Sabrina kept laughing while Marinette reached into her bag and grabbed a napkin to put over the gum.
"You're friends with Chloe, right?" Marinette said as she angrily glanced back at the model, not happy at all with him and there was not a person in the room who didn't know it.
"Why do people keep saying that?" Adrien questioned quietly before Marinette had stood up from the floor, and with a frown, went into her seat, and promptly began to ignore him. Immediately, Adrien went into his own seat, feeling bad that he had made a bad first impression on a possible new friend.
"Now do you see what I mean about respect?" Chloé snidely said while Adrien sighed. Why did it have to turn out that his childhood best and only friend ended up being the actual worst? But as Adrien contemplated his situation, Marinette and Alya contemplated where they had seen him before.
"I know I've seen him somewhere before." Marinette said as she glared at Adrien, while Alya was looking through her phone for a possible match to the new boy's identity when it suddenly came to her.
"Look at this," Alya said, before handing her phone to her new friend, showing Marinette some pictures on the screen, which she immediately recognized.
"Of course! He's the son of my favorite fashion designer, Gabriel Agreste!" Marinette said as she swiped through the gallery Alya had pulled up on her phone. Just her luck!
"Daddy's boy, teen supermodel, and Chloe's buddy? Hah. Forget it." Alya said, making Marinette nod and give Alya back her phone, as she turned to face the board... After that, Marinette pulled out her own phone from her bag, opened up the Arcadia Oaks Troublemakers group chat and sent a text.
Group Chat: Arcadia Oak's Troublemakers
MariFairy: I did it, Alya now has the Miraculous
Jimbo: That was quick
Toby Pie: Yeah, like lightning. We just hope you are making the right choice, Mari
MariFairy: I am. TTYL 👋
Jimbo: See ya soon 🔜
Toby Pie: Bye ✌️
After Toby sent his text, Marinette put her phone away and turned to the lesson. Meanwhile, Nino; who had witnessed the whole event, did not understand that if Adrien was like Chloé, then why did he try to stop her.
"Why don't you tell them it was Chloe's idea?" Nino said, speaking his thoughts. Maybe this kid wasn't as bad as they initially thought.
"I've known Chloe since I was a little kid. I know she's not perfect, but I can't throw her under the bus. She's like my only friend."
'This poor kid. He really needs a better influence than Chloé. Operation Protect Sunshine Child At All Costs is a go.' Nino thought before he brought out his hand towards Adrien with a smile.
"I'm Nino, and it's time for you to make some new friends, dude." Nino said, making Adrien smile as they shook hands to their new friendship.
But on the other side of the school, Mylene; who had to use the restroom before class and got distracted on her phone as most do; ran out of the stall so she wouldn't miss class.
"Oh, no I'm going to be late!" Mylene said as she neared the door. If she didn't sprint, she was going to be late! That would be no good. She hated when Miss Bustier was disappointed in her. But just as she ran through the bathroom door she nearly ran into something... someone?
"Eek!" The girl said as she ran into Ivan as he stood outside the door.
"Ivan! You scared me!" Mylene said, calming down a bit to see a familiar face
"I made this for you." Ivan said before he started playing some heavy rock music, causing Mylene to cover her ears to keep her hearing intact.
"Mylene, be serene! Be serene!!" The boy said, yelling the lyrics he had written down, but Mylene was far too overwhelmed by all of the loud noises and her already anxious disposition and booked it out of there. Ivan could only watch as she left. He didn't know what he did wrong, except that maybe Mylene didn't actually have feelings for him. He then crumpled the paper with the song lyrics, into a ball without letting it go, and threw his phone to the ground stomping on it, instantly regretting his actions. It was broken and there was no repairing it... just like his heart. He sighed as he slumped to the floor.
Meanwhile in our resident villain's lair, as the large window opens up once more, Hawkmoth relishes in the surge of negative emotions and Ivan stews in his despair.
"Yes... this is what I have been waiting for." The delusional old man said as the butterflies were once again stirred from their resting on the floor, and started fluttering through the air around Hawkmoth.
"You know the way, evil akuma. Track down your prey. Fly away and evilise him!" Hawkmoth said as he lifted his cane from the floor and into the air, allowing the akuma to phase through the gem on the top of the cane, and flutter out of the lair through the window, heading into the city towards the school and to corrupt Ivan once more. The 'villain' didn't have to wait long for the akuma to arrive at the school and enter the locker room, where it quickly located the devastated Ivan. Without hesitation, the akuma flew into the crumpled paper in Ivan's hand, allowing the purple outline of a butterfly to appear on his face once more.
"This is your second chance, Stone Heart, and this time you have extra help. No one will stop you from capturing the love of your life. Just remember, I'll need something in return." 'Hackmoth' said through the link, which brought a sinister smile to Ivan's face before he stood up from the ground and the dark aura appeared around him once more, transforming him back into Stoneheart. Once he was transformed, he took a few steps away from the bathroom door, and immediately all around Paris, the Stonebeings came to life and began to cause panic.
Back in the classroom, the students were blissfully unaware of what was happening right under their noses, while they patiently waited for roll call to be over. Role call was supposed to be an uneventful time where you rehearsed saying 'present' approximately 500 times so you'd get it right when you were called.
"Agreste, Adrien?" Miss Bustier said, expecting the boy to know what to do. Unfortunately, Adrien was blissfully unaware so Nino had to let him in on the morning ritual.
"You say 'present'." Nino whispered to his new friend, trying to help him. But it didn't do much because as soon as Nino said that, Adrien shot out of his seat like a rocket.
"Uh, Present!" Adrien said, raising his hand into the air as well. His overenthusiastic announcement of being in school brought laughter to almost everyone in the class, save one Marinette who was still peeved about the situation that had actually been created by the next to be called.
"Bourgeois, Chloé?" Mis Bustier said, as Adrien embarrassedly sat back into his seat.
"Present." Chloé said, still smiling from her friend's excitement. Give him a few months, and he'll see it isn't all sunshine and rainbows. However, the third name was where the trouble started.
"Bruel, Ivan?" Miss Bustier said, not noticing that Stoneheart was lumbering towards the classroom door, intent on making a scene.
"Present!" Stone Heart burst through the door causing most of the class to scream and run, while the akumatized student could care less, as he was focused on...
"Mylene!" Stoneheart said as many of the students; including Adrien; ran out of the classroom while others; including Marinette; went to the back to hide from Stoneheart, as he approached Mylene, and grabbed her in his hand, lifting her to his eye level.
"Let go of me, Ivan!" Mylene said, trying to reason with him. But unfortunately, it didn't do much good.
"I'm not Ivan anymore. I'm Stoneheart!" The akuma said, while the other students still in the classroom watched in fear.
"Why are you doing this?" Mylene asked, trying to help her friend, and possible crush, and understand what was going on in his head.
"So you and I can be together. Forever!" Stoneheart said, telling Mylene what he truly wanted. But unfortunately, Chloe had decided that unlike most of the class, she would stay in the room and call her Daddy as if he could help her.
"Daddy, the monster is back!" Chloé 'whispered' into her phone as she cowered underneath her 'desk'. Oh so loudly did she call him, that Stone Heart heard and instantly recognized his tormentor.
"YOU!" Stoneheart said, before he grabbed the desk, and threw it away before grabbing Chloé with his free hand, much to her protest. He then walked to the wall of the classroom, as the remaining students; two who had not yet left the classroom were Alya, who was filming the whole thing, and Marinette who was waiting to see if Alya would figure out the whole superhero thing; watched as he broke through it, leading to the outside and lept from the hole in the wall landing on his feet, right in the middle of the street before he marched down it, holding the protesting girls.
"Put us down, Ivan!" Mylene cries out while Chloé whimpers loudly like a baby, while Alya ran to the hole, and watched them leave, before turning to face Marinette as she hid behind one of the desks in the back of the classroom, with excitement.
"Come on! Let's follow him!" Alya said, wanting to get first dibs on the story before anyone else. But Marinette wasn't having anything to do with akumas anymore.
"Oh no. You go. I'm finding myself a safe place to hide." Marinette said, not wanting to get caught in the middle of the chaos. Well, not as caught up as yesterday... but still.
"Girl, you're gonna miss Ladybug in action!" Alya said, trying to convince her new friend. But unfortunately, Marinette knew that unless Alya looked into her bag and found the earrings, Ladybug wouldn't be showing up. Marinette then looked at Alya's bag as it sat on the seat next to her. She was having doubts that phase three would ever come to fruition, so she took it and held it out to the other girl.
"You and Ladybug will both be better off without me." Marinette said, not looking Alya in the eye out of shame.
"If you say so." Alya said, as she gave up trying to convince her, and ran to follow her scoop... without her bag!
"Wait! Your bag!" Marinette shouts out to Alya as she leaves. But she was too far away, so Marinette had no choice but to follow her.
'Dang it!' Marinette thought as she ran after Alya as the aspiring reporter went after the new story.
Meanwhile, Adrien had made it to the locker room and opened one of the unoccupied lockers, allowing Plagg to fly out of his overshirt.
"My first day of school and I don't even make it past roll call." Adrien complained as Plagg floated in front of him, but was also thankful he made it outside fairly easily thanks to the position of his seat.
"A day off? Now that's what I'm talking about." Plagg happily said as he then lays on a miscellaneous roller skate on the lockers top shelf as he smirks at Adrien. But unfortunately, it didn't last long.
"Oh no, no, no. We've got homework to do. Plagg claws out!" Adrien said, right before transforming into Chat Noir. Once transformed he was easily able to catch up with Stoneheart between the giant footsteps in the concrete and the complaining Chloe in his left hand.
"You have no idea who you're dealing with. My Daddy, the mayor, will bring in the police, the army, the entire cavalry!" Chloé said, flaunting her dad's resources that she was sure he would use to make sure she was rescued.
"And don't forget the superheroes!" Chat Noir said as he leapt into the air from behind Stoneheart and hit the villain with his staff before landing in a crouch on the ground. But Stoneheart immediately began to grow in size, which Chat Noir had forgotten he could do.
"Oh no! My bad." Chat Noir nervously said as he watched Stoneheart grow even bigger than he had the last time he and Ladybug fought him.
"Ugh. Super incompetent, you mean." Chloe grouched as she could only watch the fight in Stoneheart's clenched fist.
"Hah! You wanted the cavalry? Well, here it is!" Stoneheart said, just as many Stonebeings began to flood the area. All the people who had been turned into statues were now being turned into mindless slaves under the original's control and surrounded the now nervous Chat Noir.
"Seize him!" Stoneheart yells out, just as the Stonebeings began to carry out the command, trying to catch Chat Noir ss he ran between them and dodged the many blows the Stonebeings were trying to land. He had no way to fight back against them as Stoneheart began walking away!
"Ivan! Where are we going?!" Mylene demanded as Stoneheart was walking down a street next to the school and towards the Eiffel Tower.
"To deliver a message and then we'll be brought together forever by a pretty black butterfly." Stoneheart said as if in a trance making Mylene nervous, while Chloé didn't seem worried at all.
"Uck! All this lovey-dovey stuff is making me sick." Chloé said as she propped her head onto her arm as her elbow rested on part of Stoneheart's clenched fist while looking away from him and Mylene with a roll of her eyes.
"Don't worry, little monster. I'm gonna take care of you, too," Stone Heart chortled, making Chloé fearfully shrink back further into his fist. On second thought, maybe being rude to and provoking the large monster holding you captive was a bad idea.
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Meanwhile, in Arcadia, both Jim and Toby were doing their homework at Jim's house, when Jim's phone buzzed with a new notification.
"Jimbo, your phone is ringing off the hook." Toby said as he continued doing his homework, not even bothering to look up.
"I'm on it." Jim said, before looking up from his homework and picking up his phone to see why it was buzzing. His face lit up when he saw a notification from the Paris News app.
"It's the Paris News! There's a live stream going on." Jim said excitedly, pulling Toby from his work.
"Really? What's it about?" Toby asked, curious if it was about Stoneheart.
"Looks like Stoneheart has been re-akumatized. And Chat Noir seems to be all on his own!." Jim said as he opened up the app, while Toby scooched over closer to him to watch as well.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's see if Marinette actually gave the Miraculous to Alya!" Toby said, to which Jim chuckled and opened the video and they started watching it.
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Back in Paris, Alya had finally made it to the battle scene to find Chat Noir holding off several Stonebeings, and crouched down on the ground to film the action, just as a Stonebeing had thrown a car at Chat Noir. Thankfully, the cat hero dodged it but was wondering why he was alone in facing these monsters.
"If you can hear me, Ladybug, I could use a little help!" Chat Noir shouts out, making Alya realize that Ladybug really wasn't there yet.
"What is she waiting for?" Alya said as she looked around to try and catch a glimpse of the spotted heroine. Little did she know, the person she was looking for was also looking for her as Marinette just rounded the corner to see the ongoing battle.
'Come on Marinette! There she is! Just get Alya the bag and...' Marinette thought to herself, just before her train of thought was interrupted when one of the Stonebeings threw a car at Chat Noir, but missed, causing the car to tumble towards Alya!
'Oh no!' Marinette's thoughts screamed out as she watched the thrown car about to crush Alya. But thanks to Chat throwing his baton, she was saved, but now Alya was trapped and one of the Stonebeings used the hero's lack of focus on them, to capture Chat Noir with his fist! Marinette drops Alya's bag, and she watches in horror as the Stonebeings walk away with the captured Chat Noir.
"Let go, you rock head!" Chat Noir frustratedly cries out while trying to break free, before Marinette then worriedly glanced over to Alya as she was pinned to the wall by the large car.
"HELP!" Alya cries out, while Marinette just stands rooted to her spot. This was not going well. But what should she do?! What could she do?! She messed it all up! This wasn't what she wanted. But now, there was only one option left for her, and it wasn't to turn tail and hope everything turned out alright. With her mind made up, she reached into the dropped bag, pulled out the box containing the Ladybug Miraculous, and donned the earrings, just before Tikki appeared in front of her in a bright red orb of light.
"I think I need Ladybug!" Marinette said, much to Tikki's joy, that she had come back.
"I knew you'd come around!" Tikki excitedly said, glad that Marinette was willing to try again
"Well, I'm still not sure I'm up to this, but Alya's in danger. I can't sit back and do nothing!" Marinette said with certainty, knowing that she had a job to do. And afterwards, hopefully, she would know what to do. But first...
"Tikki spots on!" Marinette cries out confidently, transforming into Ladybug. Once she did, the first thing she did was move the car trapping Alya by throwing her yo-yo around a few lamp posts, before going around the back of the car, and back to her, before she pulled on it, while holding her foot on another post to add leverage, and releases the pressure that kept Alya pinned to the wall. She dropped to the sidewalk, and crawled out from behind the car, and to safety, just before Ladybug let the car drop back against the wall, and retracted her yo-yo.
"You can't stay here. It's too dangerous." Ladybug said as she walked towards Alya, right before she flipped up Chat Noir's baton so she could bring it to him and ran down the street before she zipped off with her yoyo. As she swung around the corner and continued down the street; using lamp posts as anchors for her yo-yo to grab onto; she caught up to the large but slow stone minion that had caught Chat Noir and landed on the wall of a building before leaping into the air.
"Chat Noir, extend it!" Ladybug said as she was in the air, right before throwing him his baton while he was still trapped in the lead Stonebeing's fist. But thankfully, Ladybug's aim allowed him to grab it and he managed to get free, falling to the ground, and rolling to a stop. Ladybug then pulled him by the ankle with her yoyo just in time to dodge a stone fist and reels him up the bend of a lamp post that she was perched on.
"Sorry I was late." Ladybug said as she looked down at her 'catch of the day' as he put his baton away.
"M'lady, have I ever told you you turn my world upside down?" Chat Noir said as he hung upside, and winked at her, much to her amusement.
"Oh, you're quite the jokester aren't you?" Ladybug said, knowing that she might have another 'funny man' to deal with. She already had her dad and brothers thinking they were hilarious, what's one more 'comedian' to the group going to do? But their moment was interrupted by the roar of the three Stonebeings that had captured Chat Noir as they surrounded them.
"But your comedic timing needs work. We've gotta get out of here!" Ladybug said before leaping up onto a rooftop, dragging him with her by pulling him by the ankle, to the rooftop before retracting her yoyo, allowing him to regain his bearings and followed her lead as she swung away from the minions.
"Hey! Aren't we going to take care of them?" Chat Noir asked as he leapt on the rooftops behind Ladybug, confused as to why they were running, while she looked at the newscast she pulled up on her yoyo.
"No. If we want to save them all, then we go to the source." Ladybug said as they arrived at Trocadero, and looked towards the Eiffel Tower as it stood proudly in front of the area, which was where the original Stoneheart was.
"That one." She said as Stonebeings were closing into the surrounding area below the tower, where the news and police had set up, while news choppers hovered in the sky around the villain as he stood at the midway point of the Eiffel Tower and roared. Meanwhile, halfway across the bridge separating Trocadero and the Eiffel Tower, the mayor was under a police blockade worried about his captured daughter.
"I demand my daughters' safe return!" The mayor said as he called through a megaphone demanding Stoneheart to let his daughter go.
"DADDY!" Chloé cried out to him, vaporizing Stone Heart's last shred of patience, as he
"You know what..." Stoneheart said as he brought the hand holding Chloé closer to him.
"You're welcome to her!" He shouts out just before throwing her away from him, and towards the ground. The mayor cries out in fear, as Chloé comes hurtling to the street.
"Ah! Help! I promise I'll be nice to everyone, say please and thank you and-" Chloé said as she pleaded with some unknown force to rescue her, just as Ladybug caught her in the nick of time, and landed on the bridge with a skid of her knees which would have been much more painful without the indestructible suit.
"... I didn't promise." Chloé said, much to Ladybug's confusion, considering she didn't hear what she was saying before she caught her.
"What?" Ladybug said as she let Chloé go, and she ran to her dad, who was ecstatic to see his daughter safe.
"My little princess." The mayor said as the two embraced, glad to have his daughter safe in his arms.
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Meanwhile back in Arcadia, both Toby and Jim were watching what was happening on Jim's phone, thanks to the live stream from the news app, and were surprised to see Ladybug catching Chloé.
"What the? Was that?" Toby asked, wondering if he was seeing things, or not, because if Marinette really did give Alya the miraculous, then she looked exactly like Marinette did when she faced Stoneheart.
"That wasn't Alya. That was Marinette." Jim said excitedly, as he turned to face Toby.
"But she said she gave the miraculous to Alya." Toby said, now confused as to why Marinette would lie about that.
"She must have changed her mind, either way, she's Ladybug again." Jim said, just before he turned to face the phone screen again.
"Oh, this is going to be awesome!" Toby said, joining Jim in watching the live stream again, just as Chloe and her father got back behind the police blockade.
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Back in Paris, Ladybug was glad she was able to save Chloé's life; even if she made her day to day life a living nightmare; and had one problem down. Next problem: The police.
"We're clear to attack!" Roger said as he directed his forces with a megaphone, unable to do the attack himself due to his arm.
"Wait, no! Don't attack, you know that will only make it worse!" Ladybug warned as Chat Noir stood beside her, appalled that Roger would attack Stoneheart while he still had a hostage. Besides, didn't they know that would only make him stronger?
"Well, I have a new plan, unlike you, so move aside and let the pros do their thing. You've already failed once." Roger said without remorse, while his words hit Ladybug right in the heart. Ok. So maybe that was fair. They were professionals, and who would actually be trusting two kids who showed up in onesies to fight threats to the city? Plus she had already messed up big time so it wasn't unfounded. Maybe this just wasn't her thing.
"He's right, you know." Ladybug said as she turned to Chat Noir, feeling anything but confident now.
"If I had captured Stone Heart's akuma the first time around, none of this would have happened! I knew I wasn't the right one for this job." She said, as her eyes started to well up with tears, causing her to raise her hands to her face to hide them, while Chat Noir looked at her in disbelief.
'Hold up. No way is this girl not the right one for the job. It was their first time! He had messed up too.No way am I going to let anyone tell her otherwise, even if that person is herself.' Chat Noir thought to himself as he stepped closer to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"No. He's wrong because, without you, she wouldn't be here," he said before gesturing to Chloe as she and her dad were still hugging behind the blockade.
"And because without us, they won't make it. We'll prove that to them. Trust me on this, ok?" Chat Noir said as he turned her to face him, and held both of her shoulders to ground her as he looked into her eyes, searching for the brave and stunning girl he knew was in there. He may have only met her yesterday, but he knew what he saw.
"Ok." Ladybug said with a smile, fueled by his words. He was so confident! How did he do it? Well, she couldn't let him down. She couldn't let Paris down! She had to at least try. But just as Ladybug steeled herself for the fight ahead, Stoneheart suddenly started to roar once more, but it was interrupted when he started coughing. His hacking went on for a few agonizing seconds before he coughed up thousands of akuma into the air. After that, Stoneheart fell backwards onto the lower deck of the Eiffel Tower, frozen as he lay there, as the swarm of akumas formed into a face that began to speak.
"People of Paris, listen carefully. I am Hawkmoth." The voice from the swarm said, causing nearly everyone watching; whether they were present for it, or watching on the news; to tremble.
"Hawkmoth?" Ladybug and Chat Noir said at the same time concluding that he must have been the one to release the akuma in the first place.
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Meanwhile back in Arcadia, Jim and Toby were also witnessing what was happening, through the live stream, but were taking in the new information in different ways.
"Hawkmoth? What kind of lame name is that?" Toby asked out loud, not really wanting a reply, while it brought a smile to Jim's face.
"Eh, it was his choice, but at least everyone knows the one who is causing chaos with the akumas." Jim said as his smile fades, as they continue to watch the live stream.
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Back over in Paris, everyone waited on bated breath for the mysterious man to continue his spiel.
"Ladybug, Chat Noir, give me the ladybug earrings and the cat ring now. You've done enough damage to these innocent people." Hawkmoth proclaims while the many citizens and families watching his announcement on the news started to feel afraid of what was to come.
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Meanwhile, in Arcadia, both Jim and Toby were not believing that this guy who announced his presence with a cloud of evil butterflies was trying to reverse the roles of who were the heroes and who were the villains
"Can you believe this guy? Like he's fooling anyone." Toby said, not believing that this guy was trying to play the good guy.
"Yeah, he's trying to play the hero, while introducing himself with a large cloud of the black butterflies that caused this chaos. Does he think that they are idiots?" Jim as they continue to watch the live stream.
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Back in Paris, those in the vicinity of Hawkmoth's speech were taken out of their nervousness when someone started to slow clap sarcastically at the 'villain's' speech, making everyone try to discern where the slow clap that followed his speech was coming from, only to see it was coming from Ladybug as she walked towards the tower with a roll of her eyes.
"Nice try, Hawkmoth, but we know who the bad guy is. Let's not reverse the roles here." Ladybug said as she walked up to the base of the tower, feeling all sorts of confidence as she soon stopped walking and looked up at the swarm of akumas with a glare.
"Without you, none of these innocent victims would be transformed into villains." She continues to say, while everyone else could see that she was right. Without this Hawkmoth guy, none of this would have happened.
"Hawkmoth, no matter how long it takes, we will find you and you will hand us your miraculous!" Ladybug proclaimed as she accusingly pointed at the swarm before running to the Eiffel Tower, pulling out her yo-yo in the process. She then quickly wrapped her yo-yo around two lampposts and used the tension in the yo-yo wire to shoot herself into the air, level with the swarm as her yo-yo freed itself from the lampposts.
"Time to de-evilize!" Ladybug said as she swung her yo-yo and began to make quick work of the akuma cloud, zipping her yoyo in and out, taking large chunks of the swarm into her yo-yo, as Hawkmoth yells out in anguish as if capturing the akumas was physically hurting him. But soon, Ladybug caught all of the akumas and landed on the Eiffel Tower, taking her place facing the city from the tower as they stared at her in awe as she turned to face them.
"Let me make this promise to you. No matter who wants to harm you, Ladybug and Chat Noir will do everything in our power to keep you safe." She said before punctuating her promise by releasing all of the cleansed butterflies in a massive white storm. All around Paris, everyone cheered at the new hero's proclamation, while Chat Noir was the only one not celebrating.
"Wow. Whoever she is beneath that mask, I love that girl." Chat Noir said, with amazement, as he watched the scene unfold, awe written across his face.
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Meanwhile, in Arcadia, both Jim and Toby raised their fists into the air in triumph and started to celebrate as well.
"THAT'S MY SISTER!!! WHOO!!" Jim hollers out, while Toby had gotten up from his seat and started dancing.
"It's official, Marinette is the best superhero EVER!!!" Toby shouts out as he dances in celebration.
"I would have to say that Marinette is going to continue being Ladybug!! There is no way that she wouldn't be after this!!" Jim said excitedly for his sister, while Toby sat back down next to him.
"No duh, Jimbo. Now let's continue watching, I want to know what happens next!" Toby said as they both continued to watch the live stream.
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Back in Paris, as everyone was celebrating Ladybug's proclamation, there was a certain villain that was not, as he stands in his lair like the coward he is.
"Ugh. That's the problem with superheroes, they're too... heroic!" Hawkmoth angrily said, stating the obvious to no one in particular, before deciding to give the currently frozen Stoneheart more instructions, as well as twisting certain facts to suit his needs.
"Stoneheart, they're trying to take your loved one away from you! You must snatch their Miraculous so that they will be powerless against you!" The 'villain' said, allowing Stoneheart to no longer be frozen in place.
"Ok, Hawkmoth!" Stoneheart said before standing up and getting ready to run, with Mylene still firm in his grasp.
"Help me!" Mylene shouts out, just as Ladybug and Chat Noir land on the platform, and right in front of Stoneheart, who faces the two of them with rage.
"You'll never take Mylene from me!" Stoneheart said, making his declaration before turning away from them, jumping away and climbing the Eiffel Tower, knocking the two heroes down from their feet.
"Come to me, my stone beings." The akuma said before climbing up the side of the tower, while Ladybug and Chat Noir got back to their feet, only to feel the platform beneath them shake, making Chat Noir peek over the edge to see Stoneheart's army was beginning to climb up.
"We're surrounded! What do we do now? We can't attack him." Chat Noir said as he turned back to face Ladybug. He felt he didn't quite have the skillset for this solution, and Ladybug did defeat Stoneheart the day before, so it would make sense for her to have a plan.
"Yes, but we know where the akuma is." Ladybug said as she turned to face Stoneheart as he climbed up to the top, while Chat Noir followed her gaze as they assessed the situation.
"In his clenched fist. The one he's holding Mylene with, so..." Chat Noir said, giving Ladybug an opening to explain her oncoming plan.
"So we know he's in love with her," Ladybug said out loud, and then gasped in realization.
"That's it!" She said, finally having a plan as she turned to face Chat Noir again.
"We don't separate Stoneheart and Mylene, we bring them closer together! They are made for one another! It's just that they don't know it yet." Ladybug said, explaining her plan, while being very expressive with her limbs while she talked, making her seem a bit erratic, but she seemed to know what she was talking about thus far. As soon as she finished talking, she pulled out her yo-yo and leapt onto the railing of the observation deck, using her yo-yo to swing higher up the Eiffel Tower, leaving behind a very confused Chat Noir.
"Uhh, I'm not really following you, but I guess I'd better trust you. Something tells me that this is how it's going to be from now out." Chat Noir said, not knowing how true that statement would become in the very near future, as he made his move to follow Ladybug. Together they scaled the tower making their way to where Stoneheart was, as he was fending off news choppers and then moved past him, reaching the top of the tower before he did.
"Help! I'm scared of heights!" Mylene calls out from her place in Stone Heart's fist, while Ladybug has perched herself on one of the antennas at the top of the tower.
"Everything's gonna be alright!" Ladybug said, calling back. But that made Stoneheart angry, causing him to roar, shaking off the helicopters as his stone army reached Chat Noir's position. One of them tried to grab him, but he tumbled away, and pulled out his baton, to defend himself, extending it in the process.
"How are you planning to get them closer than they already are?!" Chat Noir shouts up to Ladybug, while she remains on her perch as she looks down at him.
"By using our powers! Lucky Charm! ..." Ladybug said, before standing up from her perched position, and calling on her powers, which gave her a...
"A parachute? What am I supposed to do with this?" She asked out loud, just before Chat Noir went flying from where he was before, and towards a pair of Stonbeings. But thankfully he caught himself from falling into their clutches by garbing onto one of the curved arcs at the base of the antennas and swinging up onto the top of the arc, away from the Stonebeings arm reach
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Chat Noir calls up towards Ladybug as she puts the parachute on, hoping she'd figure it out.
"We'll find out soon enough." Ladybug said as she pulled out her yo-yo before tossing it into the air. And then swings it in a circle as she looks down at Stoneheart and Mylene. She then threw her yoyo, where it went down and around Stoneheart, and his fist held Mylene, catching it again.
"His hand! Get ready." She said to Chat Noir before she pulled her yo-yo string tight and forced Mylene and Stoneheart into a pseudo kiss. Stoneheart was so stunned he forgot his hold of Mylene and his akumatized object, which began to plummet back towards the ground, like Mylene was, only she was yelling in fear. She managed to catch Stone Heart's finger and held on precariously as Chat Noir leaps off of the top of the tower towards the akumatized object. He then made like a baseball player doing a game in midair and batted the akuma stained paper to Ladybug, who caught it with her yo-yo to bring it towards her, as he jams his baton into a crevice of the Eiffel Tower to stop himself from hitting the ground.
"Homerun!" Ladybug said just before she crushed the paper with her yo-yo string, releasing the dark butterfly and letting it flutter free.
"No more evildoing for you little akuma." She said as she used her pointer finger to slide down the middle of her yo-yo to open it up to reveal a sparkling pool of cleansing energy. She then let it drop before she started to swing it in a circle behind her, intent on capturing the akuma.
"De-evilize-" She said, about to do her duty, when she saw that Ivan's monstrous transformation wore off and he along with Mylene started to fall from the height and towards the ground. As Ladybug watched in shock, she knew she needed to make a decision. She chose to save them first. If she couldn't deal with the akuma this time, she could do it again if it got away from her.
"Chat Noir! You take care of Ivan!" Ladybug said right before she jumped, holding the straps of the parachute she had put on.
"Cataclysm!" Chat Noir said, just before he uses his baton to launch him to a beam of the Eiffel Tower, and places his hand onto it, corroding the tower in a way that it created a length of metal that acted like the baton that was still wedged below him. Chat Noir then slides along the length of metal and grabs Ivan as he goes past. Meanwhile, Ladybug and Mylene fell past them a bit, before Ladybug reached Mylene and sent her yoyo up to catch the akuma as she did so.
"Gotcha!" Ladybug said as her yo-yo came back to her and she released the parachute with Mylene safe in her grasp. Chat Noir watched from his spot; hanging off of the length of metal; with a proud smile.
'I knew she could do it.' Chat Noir thought as Ladybug and Mylene landed on the ground below the tower without incident, where the spotted heroine took off the parachute, and opened her yoyo once more, letting the now white butterfly flutter free.
"Bye, bye little butterfly. Miraculous Ladybug!" Ladybug said as the little white butterfly fluttered away, and after she threw the parachute into the air. Soon, millions of little magic ladybugs swept over the city returning everything and everyone to what they once were. Buildings were righted, minions were detransformed, and onlookers were in awe.
"Woah, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Chat Noir said as helped Ivan over to where the girls were standing, as everyone watched the magic ladybugs do their work.
"Yeah! It's beautiful! And amazing! It's, uh... miraculous!" Ladybug gasped, amazed that this was one of her powers.
Meanwhile, in Hawkmoth's lair, the 'villain' himself was not taking the defeat very well but tried to look at the possible positive outcomes of this... setback.
"This is just the beginning, Ladybug. You and Chat Noir may have won this battle, but I will win the war!" The 'villain' monologues as he angrily clenches his fists; cane in his left hand; in frustration.
"I will get your Miraculous, I will get the absolute power, and my secret dream will come true!" Hawkmoth said, sounding like a five-year-old when saying so, as the lair's large window closed, leaving him in total darkness.
Back at the Eiffel Tower, once the Ladybugs had disappeared and the shock had worn off, the police got to work taking down the barriers they had set up and went on their way to perform duties not involving superpowered villains, while Ivan and Mylene stood with Ladybug, who had one last thing to fix before calling it a day.
"I think you two have things to talk about, hmm?" Ladybug said as she put a hand on each of the civilian's shoulders.
"Oh! I, uh..." Ivan tried to say, but looked away, embarrassed. But thankfully, Ladybug was able to help out
"Maybe it would help if you read the lyrics to Ivan's song." Ladybug said as she handed Mylene the no longer akumatized paper and went to join Chat to watch as Mylene uncrumpled the paper and read what was written, making her blush.
"Wow! It's really beautiful. It's a shame you can't hear them when you scream, I mean when you sing!" Mylene said with her blush becoming redder as she thought that it was amazing that Ivan felt the same way about her that she did for him.
"It was scary, wasn't it? Is that why you left?" Ivan said as he looked away for a moment before turning back in earnest.
"I'm sorry. I'll be gentle." He said, intent on making it up to her. But luckily for him, he didn't need to do much as Mylene smiled up at him before she threw herself into a hug and he blushed in return as Ladybug and Chat Noir watched the exchange from a few steps away.
"Aw they are so made for each other," Ladybug said, as she smiled, fawning over the newly made couple.
"Just like us two." Chat Noir said as he went to put his hand on his shoulder only for her to grab it when his ring started beeping.
"Uh oh, you see that?" Ladybug said, showing him that he was running out of time, as his ring was blinking and beeping, making him lean out towards her before she let go of his hand.
"Time for us to split. See you soon Chat Noir." She said as she walked away, while Chat Noir stood up straight and waved as she swung into the distance.
"Can't wait, M'Lady." Chat Noir said with a bow in her direction, before heading off from the Eiffel Tower himself.
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Meanwhile, in Arcadia, the live stream had ended and both Jim and Toby were blown away by what had just happened.
"That was incredible!" Jim said as he leaned back into his chair, taking in all that information they had learned.
"You said it! Who knew that Paris was going to become a full-on battlefield now!" Toby said, as he mimicked Jim, and looked over at him.
"At least Marinette can fix the damage with her Miraculous Cure. That is something that is going to be used often." Jim said, while Toby only nods in agreement.
"Can I stay over again tonight? I've got to be here when you call Marinette at 9 pm. I need to geek out!" Toby said, much to Jim's amusement.
"Yep. Mom's going to be working late at the hospital tonight, so it'll be nice to have some company. But first..." Jim said, pointing to the pile of homework on the table.
"We've got work to do." He said, much to Toby's displeasure.
"Uuuuggghh, Ms Janeth gives us so much work, but why!!" Toby groans out as they go back to work.
"No idea dude." Jim said before they began their work once more.
(Time skip)
Soon after everything had quieted down, all the students returned to school, to resume their lessons, and to which Marinette met up with Alya, glad to see she was okay, but not happy.
"So by the time I biked to the Eiffel Tower, it was all over! I'm way bummed." Alya said as the two of them walked to the bottom of the steps to the school's front entrance.
"Don't worry, Alya. You'll get your scoop eventually." Marinette said, trying to cheer up her friend. And thankfully, it worked.
"You're right! Next target: "Ladybug! An Exclusive Interview"." Alya said, making an imaginary headline with her hand in the air, much to Marinette's joy to see her happy.
"Ooo! Sounds exciting." Marinette said, egging on her new friend while feeling happy that she had a goal to work to.
"Oh wait, even better, finding out who's really under that mask." Alya said, as they began to climb the stairs to the front door, while Marinette tiredly smiled at her as she walked past.
"Uh, huh. Good luck with that one." Marinette said as the two girls climbed up the steps, while Adrien's limo pulled up on the curb... with Adrien inside while his father was video calling him on a monitor built into the back of the shotgun headset, looking very angry.
"You disobeyed me, Adrien. Take a look at that school." Gabriel said, while Adrien sadly glanced at the school to his right.
"Yes, father." Adrien sadly said. He was so dejected. He had only managed one day before it all came crashing down on him.
"You will never, I say never go back there again." His 'father' sternly said before Adrien decided to stand up for himself.
"Father-" Adrien began, trying to make his case before Gabriel interrupted him.
"Without your bodyguard." The fashion mogul said, much to Adrien's surprise and joy.
"He will drop you off and pick you up every day. Nathalie has offered to organize your new schedule. You'll be continuing your music, Chinese, fencing classes and your photoshoots." Gabriel said, but Adrien wasn't paying attention, as he was looking over at Nathalie, who must have convinced his father to allow him to go to school. He could only smile brightly as his eyes watered with tears of joy.
"Thank you, Nathalie! Thank you, Father!" Adrien said, turning to thank them respectively before he rushed out of the car and up the steps before he could change his mind. Even so, he must be dreaming! Was it really real? This was quite possibly the best day of his life!
Meanwhile, in the classroom, Marinette and Alya had just entered the classroom, as they chatted on their way to their seats, before going to their seats, but were stopped by Marinette, who had an idea.
"No, wait." Marinette said before she hopped up the steps to her old seat and gestured for Alya to go first. They then sat down triumphantly with a fistbump before lovely Chloe and her sidekick came in, immediately noticing that they were in 'their seats'.
"Uh, you're in the wrong seat. Go on, get lost!" Chloé said, expecting them to compile to her whim. But things were about to change.
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing." Marinette said, not even bothering to look at her while Alya smiled at the familiar words...
"What is that supposed to mean?" Chloé asked, not understanding why Marinette was saying this when she should have been bending to her will.
"It means I'm not putting up with your crap anymore Chloe, and neither is anyone else around here." Marinette said as she stood up from her seat, on a roll, telling Chloé to back off.
"So take your attitude and go on, get lost!" She said, pointing away from her and towards her previous seat, making the class laugh as an angry Chloe and Sabrina took the seats at the front before Marinette sat back down into her seat with a triumphant smile.
"Good job," Alya praised, making Marinette smile brighter. Yeah, she was pretty cool, huh?
'Wait until Jim and Toby hear about this!' Marinette thought excitedly but was soon brought back when Adrien walked into the classroom and smiled at Nino who returned the gesture. He then waved to Marinette who was now in the seat behind him. She, unlike Nino, was not fond of the greeting and looked away from him in an effort to ignore him.
'Maybe we'll be friends eventually.' Adrien sadly thought as he went into his seat next to Nino, who noticed how Marinette was still acting with him and decided to help him out.
"Yo, dude. You wanna make friends, right? You should talk to Marinette, you know, about the chewing gum thing." Nino said as he leaned on his elbows while he spoke to his new friend.
"But what should I say to her?"Adrien asked, wanting to do whatever it took to make things right with Marinette.
"Just be yourself." Nino said while finger gunning him, making Adrien smile. He'd think about that. The rest of their classes were fairly interesting, but his thoughts kept coming back to what he might say. He'd probably just wing it and hope for the best. With Nino backing him up, he really felt like he could do it.
(Time Skip)
Soon enough, lunch had arrived, and Marinette's phone started to buzz in her backpack making Marinette immediately pull it out and look at who it was, with a smile.
"Uh, who's calling you?" Alya asked as she peers over Marinette's shoulder to see who was calling her.
"Just some people that I'm close to." Marinette said with a sly smile, before turning to face her new friend.
"I'm sorry, Alya, I got to take this. It's important." She said, feeling sorry that she was leaving her new friend alone.
"It's cool. I'll see you next class?" Alya asked, which made Marinette smile and hug her.
"Promise. I'll see you later." Marinette said as she pulled away and walked towards the stairs. But as she was walking down them, Tikki pokes her head out of Marinette's purse, curious as to who was calling her owner.
"Who is calling you Marinette?" Tikki asked just as Marinette got to the bottom of the stairs, before looking down at the adorable red kwami.
"My brothers." The girl said before she accepted the call, allowing the screen to show an excited Toby and Jim, making her smile bright.
"I'm guessing you guys saw the news? How did I do?" Marinette said, which confused Tikki, but allowed Toby to start rambling.
"YOU WERE AMAZING!! WE TOLD YOU YOU WERE A GREAT HERO!!" Toby cries out in excitement, as Marinette found a bench to sit on, and took out her lunch.
"You were, awesome Ladybug." Jim said, making Marinette smile, while Tikki's eyes widened in shock, as Marinette pulled out a sandwich her mom had made for her.
"Thanks, you guys." Marinette said with a smile, right before Tikki flew in front of her face and the screen with wide, frantic eyes.
"You told them you are Ladybug!? Why would you do that?!" Tikki worriedly asked Marinette, which made her smile fade a bit, and put her sandwich down.
"Jim, Toby and I don't keep anything from each other. Plus I trust them with my life, they as well know when I'm lying, and they live in the USA. They don't have to worry about Hawkmoth knowing that they know." Marinette said, defending her choices, to which Tikki could see the appeal of these two boys knowing Marinette was Ladybug.
"I guess you make a good point. They won't tell anyone, right?" Tikki asked, to which Marinette nodded.
"They won't tell another soul unless I tell them they can. I promise." Marinette said, not noticing the confusion on Jim and Toby's faces.
"Okay then, it's okay for them to know." Tikki said, bringing a smile to Marinette's face.
"Thank you so much!" Marinette said while Jim and Toby had had enough of wondering who she was talking to.
"Um, sis, who are you talking to? Does someone else know your Ladybug? Plus, why can't we see them if you are facing the screen?" Jim asked, which brought a frown to Marinette's lips.
"I'm talking to my kwami Tikki, and what do you mean you can't see her? She's floating in front of the screen and in front of me." Marinette said, confused about why the boys couldn't see Tikki.
"Well, we can't see her if that's the case." Toby said, causing Marinette to face her kwami again in confusion.
"What's going on, Tikki? Why can't they see you?" Marinette asked, trying to find a logical answer to this.
"Kwami's can't be filmed or photographed, so they can't see me through the phone." Tikki said, clearing up any confusion.
"Oh, that explains it." Marinette said before turning back to the phone.
"So kwami's don't show up on camera, so you guys can't see her. Sorry boys." Marinette said, while the boys now understood why they couldn't see the kwami.
"Got it. But anyway, while we are glad that you changed your mind, and became Ladybug, what exactly made you change your mind?" Jim asked, to which made Marinette roll her eyes with a fond smile while Tikki flew back into her purse.
"I was wondering when you would ask. Do you guys want the long answer or the short answer?" Marinette asked before she took a bite of her sandwich. Considering she knew them like the back of her hand, she knew they were going to ask for...
"The long answer, please. And don't spare the details we didn't see on the news." Toby said, excitedly, wanting to know more, as Marinette was about to take another bite of her sandwich.
"Alright, so this morning after breakfast, I had gotten ready for school, and took the Miraculous with me to give to Alya, and I had met her on the front steps, where she showed me her new blog, the Ladyblog." Marinette said, after swallowing her bite full of sandwich, telling the boys the events that had happened before Ivan's second akumatization.
"It's a good blog so far. We can't wait for more content." Jim said, bringing Marinette to smile again, before taking another bite of her lunch.
"I'll be sure to tell Alya. Anyway, after that, we went inside, where our classmates were comforting/questioning/informing Ivan about yesterday, and Chloé decided to be a bossy blonde cow, and say to Ivan, 'Once a monster, always a monster', which caused Ivan to leave and hole up in the locker room to cool down, while Alya stood up to Chloé while I went to comfort Ivan. I managed to help him think of ways to confess to Mylene; the girl I helped Stoneheart kiss during the battle, and he settled on writing her a song. After he left all giddy, I met up with Alya and slipped the Miraculous into her bag. But when we got to the classroom, I saw a guy I didn't recognize at the time, putting a piece of chewed gum on my seat. Turns out it was Adrien Agreste, Gabriel Agreste's son, and apparently the guy that Chloé kicked me out of my old seat for." Marinette said, continuing the story while finishing off her sandwich, as well as venting about what happened.
"Wait, that blonde guy in those magazines you showed us during the summer?" Toby asked, hoping that Marinette wasn't going to be going to school with another blonde jerk, while Marinette pulled out an apple from her lunch bag.
"Unfortunately. Anyway, I just ignored him and placed a napkin over the gum before sitting down, and class started. I don't know what happened with Ivan and Mylene, but before we could get through roll call, Ivan got akumatized and crashed through the classroom door, grabbing Mylene and Chloé before busting through the wall facing the street. Alya went after him and left her bag behind, so I followed after her to give it to her. Meanwhile, Chat Noir had arrived at the scene and didn't last long since he got captured, by one of Stoneheart's minions but before that, one of them threw a car toward Alya, and Chat Noir managed to stop it from hurting her, but she did get trapped by it. I just stood there in shock, until something clicked, making me realize that I couldn't sit by and do nothing, and I took the earrings out of Alya's bag and transformed into Ladybug." Marinette said, which answered most of the boy's questions in the process and before she took a bite of her apple.
"So that's why you become Ladybug. I knew you couldn't sit back and watch." Jim said, proud of her for choosing to help, as she finished her first apple bite.
"Thanks, bro. So after I transformed, I freed Alya, then went after the Stone Army and freed Chat Noir, then we went to the Eiffel Tower where the rest of the battle happened, which you guys saw on the news app." Marinette explained while the boys nodded, and she took another bite out of the apple.
"Great job, by the way, you guys were awesome!" Toby said, making Marinette smile.
"Thank you. Afterwards, I came back and met up with Alya, who hadn't been able to get anything for the battle, but we went to class, I decided I had enough of Chloé's bull crap and sat in my original seat with Alya next to me, and FINALLY stood up to her!!! And it felt so good!!! So liberating!! And afterwards class went like it normally did, up until lunch." Marinette said, excitedly which brought excited/shocked looks on their faces, while she was about to finish off her apple.
"Good on you, sis! Looks like this year is looking bright for you. I wish we could say the same." Jim said, proud of Marinette's courage in standing up to her bully, while he couldn't do the same with Steve.
"Speaking of which, how was your guy's day? Did anything interesting happen? Other than what you guys saw on the news? Did you finally talk to Claire, Jim? Anyone catch your eye yet, Tobes?" Marinette asked, basically mimicking how Toby acted yesterday by asking questions, which brought smiles to their faces, as she finished off the apple and put the core into the sandwich wrapping to throw away later.
"Nothing out of the ordinary. You know nothing happens here in Arcadia. The Paris News was a reprieve from that. And no, no one has caught my eye this year." Toby said, answering most of Marinette's questions.
"And to answer your other question, no I have not talked to Claire... yet." Jim said, feeling embarrassed for his cowardness. That feeling only increased when Marinette shook her head in exasperation.
"Bro, how do you expect her to notice you if you don't talk to her? You need to suck it up and talk to her!! You've had a crush on her for so long, Papa has already got you guy's wedding all planned out." Marinette said, trying to get her lovesick brother to tell his crush how he feels and fast, considering that their dad was planning on setting them up on a date the next time they were in town.
"Oh god no!! I love Dad, but not when he goes overboard with his ideas of our love lives." Jim said while Toby was laughing his but off with their conversation.
"You mean YOUR love life. Thankfully, I don't have to go through the same, since I don't have a crush on someone." Marinette said, glad that she wasn't in her brother's shoes.
"You never know MariFairy, this might finally be the year you have a crush on someone." Toby manages to say after he calms down from his laughter, while Marinette rolled her eyes in exasperation. This was a topic the boys kept bringing up every year when school started, ever since Jim started crushing on Claire, and it looks like it wouldn't change this year.
"Hate to break it to you guys, but I've known all the guys in my class since kindergarten. They are like brothers to me, somewhat like you Toby. And I doubt that Chloé's guy friend/arm candy is going to catch my eye after what he did earlier. Once again, I'm not going to have to deal with what Jim's going through. Plus if I ever did get a crush, I would be a lot better than Jim is acting. I would actually talk to them like a normal person, and not ramble French when I'm about to talk to them, like you... Jim." Marinette said, with a pointed glare at her brother, whose cheeks turned bright red, before bursting into laughter.
"THAT WAS ONE TIME!!!" Jim said, trying to defend himself, while Toby just burst out in laughter again at the reminder. During the summer before the new school year, the three of them were out in the town, when they saw Claire with her friends Darcy and Mary, coming out of the movie theater, and both Toby and Marinette decided to help him. And by that, I mean they saw the girl before Jim did, and while he was talking to Marinette in French, they nudged him towards Claire. But when he saw her, he couldn't think of anything to say and ended up rambling in French in front of her before running off, leaving Toby and Marinette hunched over and laughing.
"If anything, that was your guy's fault." Jim said glaring at the two of them.
"Oh come on, at least she saw you for a few seconds. That's more progress than what you had made before." Marinette said, calming down from her laughter.
"Yeah, just you wait sis. Considering we are related, you won't be as cool about your future crush as you think you will be. Mark my words." Jim said, which made Marinette roll her eyes at them again.
"We'll see." Marinette said, just before the bell rang, causing her to look up at the wall where it was mounted.
"I gotta go. I'll talk to you guys tonight." She said as she started to pack up.
"No worries. Talk to you later, Mari." Toby said as he waves through the screen.
"Love you guys. Bye." Marinette said as she got her bag onto her back, and stood up from the bench.
"Bye, Marinette!" The both of them said before Marinette hangs up the call, and puts her phone back into her bag, right before Tikki pokes out of her purse.
"Your brothers seem like nice boys. You guys seem close." Tikki said as Marinette made her way to the steps to the upper levels.
"We are. Jim and I have the same dad, and different moms, but Toby is a close friend of ours. The summer of the year he moved in, Jim introduced me to him, and ever since then, the three of us have been thick as thieves." Marinette said, with a smile, when remembering the fond memories.
"So Toby is only a friend?" Tikki asked, slightly confused about the long-distance relationship while Marinette climbed the stairs.
"He's been Jim and I's best friend for so long, he's considered a part of the family. I'm just as close to him as I am with Jim, despite being on the other side of the world, and only able to video call each other till the summer, when I go and visit. But we make it work." Marinette said as she reached the top.
"I honestly can't wait for the summer, that way you guys can meet in person. Toby will be overjoyed to see how cute you are." She said, already imagining how Jim and Toby will react when they see Tikki, while the thought brought a smile to both hers and Tikki's faces as Marinette neared her next class.
"I can't wait either," Tikki said as Marinette reached the door, and walked in, finding Alya already there. With a smile, she sat down next to her new friend and waited for class to start.
"So, how was your call? Must have been good if it took all of lunch." Alya said, her curiosity growing more and more.
"It was." Marinette said, seeing that Alya wanted to know more, but she wasn't about to give it yet.
"So, mind telling me who these friends of yours are?" Alya asked, wondering what her new friend was up to.
"That's for me to know, and you to find out." Marinette said, just as Nino and Adrien walked in followed by the teacher and the second bell. As soon as Adrien sees her, he once again tries to wave hello to her, but once again, she ignores him. With a sigh, the model just sits down in the seat in front of her as the lesson starts.
(Time Skip)
When the last bell rang Adrien went outside to wait for his driver. It was raining just like Nathalie had mentioned it would this morning so he was prepared. It seemed that Marinette, however, was not as she was standing under the awning to wait out the storm. So he decided to take the opportunity and walked up to her.
"Hey." Adrien said, greeting her with a smile and hope in his voice
'Ok, good start.' The boy thought right before Marinette refused to look at him.
'Oh no, bad start. Next step, the truth.' Adrien thought just before he opened his umbrella and used it to keep him dry as he stepped out into the downpour.
"I just wanted you to know... that I was only trying to take the chewing gum off your seat. I swear." Adrien said, telling her what really happened, and was rewarded to see she was looking at him when he looked at her from his shoulder.
'Good progress. More truth.' Adrien thought before he continued telling his tale.
"I've never been to school before. I've never had friends. It's all sort of new to me." He said before he shrugged and turned to face her as he offered her his umbrella. Marinette looked at him, taken aback and as if seeing him for the first time, and in a way she was. Thunder grumbled in the background as she reached out to take it. She stood awkwardly until her luck caught up with her and the umbrella closed. This shocked them out of the moment and Adrien paused before laughing into the next. She peeked out from under the umbrella and started laughing as well. All too soon it was over.
"See you tomorrow." Adrien said with a smile, before walking down the stairs, as Marinette stood there still awkward until her bag dropped out of her hand.
"Uh-huh! See you to- to-mu- Woah. Why am I stammering?" Marinette said, surprised to find herself at a loss for words, almost like... her brother!
"Heyyyyyy. I think I might have an idea!" Tikki zipped out of her hiding spot as Marinette blushed and her eyes widened in realization.
"Oh god, the boys were right... This is the year." Marinette said as she tried to hide her face from her kwami, only for Tikki to fly over and snuggle into her cheek, making her smile. Unbeknownst to her and Tikki, the boy she had just been speaking with was now having a conversation with a kwami of his own, as Plagg pops his head out of Adrien's overshirt as he reaches the bottom of the steps.
"First day of school and we already have two love birds." The kwami said slyly, already knowing that sparks were flying between the two of them.
"Pff. Whatever. She's just a friend," Adrien said; much to this author's displeasure to write those four God forsaken words; before he gasped at the meaning of his words.
"A friend." Adrien said in realization before he blushed and risked a side glance at Marinette before reaching his limo. Once he was inside Adrien was driven away as Marinette watched with a smile, and with a forlorn sigh, she picked up her dropped backpack and walked down the stairs, making the short walk home, as they both looked forward to tomorrow. Meanwhile, on the street corner opposite the direction, Marinette was going in, the old man who gave the two their Miraculous, was standing underneath an umbrella with Wayzz floating next to him as they watched the events in front of them unfold.
"Excellent choice, Master." The little turtle kwami said to the sly smiling man, as he held the umbrella above them while looking over at the kwami.
"Those two are made for each other." The old man said as he stroked his beard in accomplishment, before looking back at Marinette with a fond smile as she went inside the bakery.
(Time Skip)
After dinner had passed and homework was finished, Marinette was once again in her pajamas and was ready to call Jim at 9:00 like she always did. She then sits down in her computer chair, with Tikki laying on a cushion near it, and opens up the video chat app just as the clock turns 9:00, she clicks on Jim's contact, dialing him up. Like last night, Marinette didn't have to wait long when Jim answered, but Toby wasn't with him this time.
"Hey bro. Are you coming out of Spanish?" Marinette asked, seeing as Jim and Toby didn't both take Spanish. Toby decided to take French that year, as a way to communicate with Marinette in French, as Jim did, plus for the chance to use it to flirt with girls he might be interested in later on.
"Yep, he's coming over right now." Jim said as he waved to Toby as he walked towards him.
"Okay, good, cause there is something I want you guys to know." Marinette said as Toby arrived and looked at the screen.
"Hey, Mari." Toby said while the two boys began their way to the bike racks to eat their lunches like yesterday. This time, on the menu was Chicken and Waffles, with a side salad and fresh baked cookies; a Lake-Dupain-Cheng family recipe.
"Hey Tobes, how was French?" Marinette asked, just as they both sat down and took out their lunches.
"It would be absolute torture without you and Jim being my tutors, but it's going good." Toby said as he got out his lunch, while Jim did the same.
"Okay, sis, what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Jim asked, wondering what was so important that Marinette wanted to say to both of them, as Marinette took a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before letting it out and looking straight at them while they dug into their lunches.
"Guys, it happened." Marinette said, which kind of confused the boys, since there were a lot of things that could mean, especially with Marinette.
"What happened?" Jim asked after he swallowed his mouthful of chicken.
"You have to be more specific, MariFairy. When it comes to you, that could mean several things." Toby said before he took another bite out of his waffles.
"Guys... it FINALLY happened." Marinette said, emphasizing the word 'finally', to try and get them to see what she was talking about. And thankfully, Jim did as it clicked in his brain, causing his eyes to widen, and to face the phone screen in shock.
"Really? It did? You're not pranking us, right?" Jim asked, honest to God hoping that this year was the year. To his joy, Marinette nodded with a smile, while Toby was still confused.
"What are you guys talking about?" Toby asked, confused as to what the siblings were referring to, while Jim turned to him with a smile.
"Tobes... remember this day, as the day that Marinette Dupain-Chang, our sister...FINALLY has a crush on someone!!" Jim excitedly said, causing Toby to catch on and smile brightly too.
"No way!! Seriously?!" Toby asked excitedly, hoping that it was true.
"Yep, I do. And you guys aren't going to believe who it is or how it happened." Marinette said, which caused the boys to eagerly calm down and continue with their lunches so Marinette could tell them.
"Then start talking. I want to know who managed to sneak their way into your heart." Jim said, wanting to know more while Toby hurriedly ate the rest of his lunch in anticipation, while Marinette smiled at them.
"Okay, so before you say anything about who I say it is... hear me out, okay?" Marinette asked, wanting no judgment until she finished telling the story. With a nod from both boys as they continued eating, Marinette took that as her sign to start.
"Alright, so the guy I'm crushing on is... Adrien." Marinette said, which caused Jim to inhale his food down the wrong pipe and start choking. He coughs to relieve the pressure in his throat, while Toby pats him on the back to help him as Marinette watches worriedly, while Tikki, who was startled by Jim's hacking; had floated beside Marinette, worry etched on her face as well.
"Are you okay?" Marinette asked, worried about Jim, while Toby turned to face the screen.
"I think he's just shocked that you are now crushing on Chloé's guy-friend. I thought you hated him. Now you have a crush on him? What happened?" Toby asked while Jim finally got control of his breathing again and faced the screen too.
"Mind explaining?" Jim asked, to which Marinette nodded with a smile as the boys finished off their chicken and waffles and moved on to the salads.
"Of course. So after school had ended, and nearly everyone had gone home, it had started raining all of a sudden. I was at the school entrance and had decided to wait out the rain so I could walk home when Adrien had walked to the entrance as well. At the time, I still hated him, and when he said 'hey' and waved at me, I just turned away. But then after he opened his umbrella and walked out from the awning above the entrance, he told me that he was trying to get the gum off of my seat, not put it on. That it was all just a big misunderstanding." Marinette said, telling the story, while Jim and Toby listened intently while quickly eating their salads to get to their dessert.
"He then told me that he's never been to a real school, or had any real friends before Chloé and that being in a school was all new to him. Apparently, he was homeschooled for a while, so today was his first day at a public school." Marinette continued, while Toby's eyes widened in surprise.
"He sounds like a weird kid. Why would he want to go to a public school? Homeschooling is so much more fun sounding." Toby said after he swallowed his bite of salad.
"It sounds like it wasn't that great for him. Anyway, after he had told me that, he offered me his umbrella. At first, I was wondering if I should take it, or if it was a prank, but then I looked into his eyes and as thunder rumbled in the background I could see he wasn't trying to be mean, and really wanted to make amends. So then I hesitantly took it, and I was taken aback and felt like I was seeing him for the first time. And in a way, I think I was. But then my luck caught up with me and the umbrella closed on the top of my head after I accidentally pressed the button on the handle." Marinette said, with a chuckle, to which Jim and Toby; who had finished their salads and started eating their cookies, laughed as well, considering that of course, it would happen to her.
"At first I was embarrassed, but then something amazing happened. He laughed. Not at me, but at the fact that the umbrella closed over my head. It was so infectious that when I peeked out from under the umbrella, I laughed as well. Then he had to go to his car, but I knew right there and then... I had him all wrong, and fell in love with him." Marinette said, finishing her story, just as the boys finished off their cookies and stared at her in shock, and tears of joy.
"Wow, that was beautiful, sis." Jim said while he wiped a stray tear with his finger.
"So it looks like both the Lake-Dupain-Cheng siblings have a crush! ABOUT TIME MARINETTE!!" Toby said as he wiped his mouth of crumbs, while both Marinette and Jim smiled.
"We're proud of you, sis. Hopefully, you do better than I do when it comes to talking to Adrien than I do with Claire." Jim said, causing Marinette to smile even brighter.
"Thanks, bro." Marinette said, just before the bell rang on Jim and Toby's end, signaling that lunch was over.
"Looks like we have to go. We'll talk to you later, Marinette." Toby said as they both packed up.
"No problem, I'm pretty beat anyway. See you guys tomorrow. Bye guys." Marinette said as she waved at them through the screen with a smile.
"Bye Mari." The boys said before Jim hangs up the call and puts his phone into his bag.
"I can't believe that this is the year Marinette finally has a crush on someone." Jim said as they walked to their next class.
"I know right? Now you have to deal with TWO lovesick Lake-Dupain-Cheng siblings! What has my life become?!" Toby said, playfully complaining about what was happening, as they neared gym class.
"Don't worry Tobes, it will be just fine." Jim said as they entered the locker room to get ready for the hell that is gym class with their warden, Coach Lawrence.
Meanwhile, in Paris, Marinette had turned off her computer, and pushed herself away from the screen, while Tikki floated in front of her
"I thought you guys only called once a day." Tikki said, wondering why Marinette had been talking to Jim and Toby again.
"We have a system that we made up a few years back. We call at 9 pm every night on our respective sides, and at noon during the day with the same principle. So when he called during lunch, it was 9 pm on his end and just now it was noon over on his end." Marinette said, explaining how the video call system worked.
"So you guys talk to each other twice a day over the phone? At least until the summer?" Tikki asked, understanding the system.
"Yep, and when the three of us are in the same area, things get a little wild. There is a reason why our group chat is called 'Arcadia Oak's Troublemakers'" Marinette said with a fond smile, as she reminisces on times with her brothers.
"Why is it called that?" Tikki asked, now curious as to what her new holder had been up to before she met her while Marinette glanced at the clock on her desk.
"That's a story for another time. Right now, it's bedtime." Marinette said, as she got out of her chair, and climbed into her loft bed with Tikki following. Once Marinette was under the covers, Tikki settled onto the shelf above her pillow. But Marinette wouldn't let her new friend sleep on such a hard, and cold surface.
"You can sleep on the bed if you want. I honestly don't mind." Marinette said, much to Tikki's surprise, since not many of her previous holders let her sleep near them on the first night. So with a bright smile, she settled on the pillow next to Marinette's head while they started to fall asleep.
"Good night, Tikki." Marinette quietly muttered as she nodded off.
"Good night, Marinette." Tikki sleepily replies as they both fall asleep, excited for what the next day would bring.
YOU ARE READING
Miraculous Hunters Book 1
FanficA/N: While I'm waiting for season five to drop so I can rewrite How to Train Your Miraculous, I might as well start some of my other works. Jim and Marinette are half siblings, and are seemingly normal teenagers. They go to school like everyone the...
