You're The Music That's Been Playing In My Head: Book 3

Destruction: Part 2

Marinette digs through a drawer momentarily before hesitantly approaching Monarch, handing him a key with a small ladybug charm attached.

"I didn't ask for a keychain, I asked for the guardian!" Monarch yells at the kwamiis and they explain.

"That's what we're doing!"

"Ladybug, Chat Noir, and (s/n) are always careful we don't know any of their addresses."

"So in case we got lost they came up with a scavenger hunt to help us find where Ladybug lives. The first clue was to follow the smell of croissants."

Monarch turns to us.

"Do you know where to find Ladybug?"

"No. She cut all contact with us after our identities were revealed as the original mouse and rooster miraculous holders. The only thing she left with us was that key in case something happened that prevented us from giving her the miraculous back," I explain and he narrows his eyes at us when Alya enters the room, soon dropping the tray of coffee and fruit.

"You! You must know where Ladybug is!" Monarch yells, pointing his cane at Alya when she pulls out her phone and starts livestreaming. 

"No, I don't. But now she's gonna know where you are. Mega scoop peeps! I'm live in Marinette Dupain-Cheng's room with Monarch. Now that you've got all the miraculous what do you think Ladybug is up to? Moving her secret hideout? Planning an attack? On your track?"

In response to her mocking him, Monarch snatches her phone and throws it to the ground, cracking the screen. Angrily he takes the key from Marinette and destroys the charm before shoving a tiny piece of paper in the kwamiis' faces.

"What is forty-two supposed to mean?"

Xuppu goes on a tangent explaining what numbers are only angering Monarch more.

"What about the key?"

"That's the key that opens the locker at the place you can slide around like crazy on top of a frozen pool!"

"Yes, the guardians would tell us about it all the time, they loved going there," The kwamiis gasped, realizing they gave away another clue.

Monarch disappears through Voyage to the ice rink while Alya gives us a confused look.

"So...What'd I miss?"

"It'll have to wait, we got Moth Balls to deal with," Marinette smirks before we transform, check with Chat Noir that he is on the move, and head to the Grevin Museum to get in position.

We wait with bated breath for Monarch to appear. When he did we watched quietly as he took a piece of paper from the bell on Chat Noir's statue as he read it out loud.

"Ah...Half...Wit. Forty-two halfwit street."

"Heard that was your address," Chat says, revealing he was the statue and grabbing his arm.

Ladybug's yoyo wizzes out and ties their arms together before Chat summons his Cataclysm, holding it just above Monarch's arm.

Using my ice powers I shoot his cane out of his hand and Ladybug uses her lucky charm to tie Monarch up and pull him to the ground.

"Heard you were looking for me."

He goes to unify kwamiis when I shoot ice at his mouth.

"Ah, ah, ah," I wag my finger at him. "Did you forget who you're tied up with?"

"No sudden movements or I'll Cataclysm you."

"Checkmate Monarch."

The kwamiis came flying out and hugged us excitedly asking if we were going home.

"Is this what you're looking for Monarch? My real address was here but I replaced it just in the nick of time."

His lips move in an attempt to speak.

"How'd I know you were looking for me? It just so happens I'm notified every time Phillipe posts a pic. I knew if you ever showed up at the rink that meant you were after me-"

"Ok, that's enough. The longer we sit here chit-chatting the higher the chance he has of escaping," I interrupt, crossing my arms.

"She's right M'lady. Besides, I think it's time we take back all the miraculous he stole from us."

"Remove the ice from his mouth," Ladybug instructs and I give her a look.

"Are you serious? That's just asking him to try something."

"Not with the threat of a Catclysm above him," She smirks at me.

With a sigh I wave my hand and the ice disappears as I mutter quietly "Bad decisions...They make great stories."

Monarch opens his mouth, naming off kwamiis and Chat warms him.

"Don't make me use this on you, who knows what it'll do to you."

Having had enough I reach down to grab the bee miraculous, at this rate it'll be better to paralyze him. That's when he tugs Chat Noir down making him cataclysm his arm, cracks spreading across his arm as he winces in pain.

"Why did you do that?!" Chat asks as we all stare in shock, giving him the chance he needs to escape.

"We had him. We almost had him...The kwamiis were gonna come home," LB sniffles, falling to her knees.

"I...Cataclysmed him...I Cataclysmed someone, I swore I never would again even if it was Monarch if he weren't transformed he would've died...He could still die...M'lady you've gotta fix this!" Chat speaks up, his voice quivering as his actions begin weighing down on him.

"I can't...Monarch ran away with my Lucky Charm...Without it, I can't fix anything. I'm sorry but there's nothing I can do."

Chat falls to his knees in distraught. Feeling our failure hit me as I well I pull the two in for a tight hug. Tonight just didn't seem to be our night. After we say our goodbyes Marinette and I head back home and explain what happened to Alya.

"After that, there was nothing left to do anyway so we split up," Marinette finished explaining and Alya pulled us in for a hug before speaking.

"So we've got a cataclysmed Monarch out there but I just gotta know how you got Monarch to leave your room when he had Ladybug and (s/n) right under his nose?! Also, what was that with the Yoyo keychain ice rink key?! I don't understand!"

Mari and I chuckle at her reaction before explaining things further.

"Ever since becoming guardians, we were afraid Monarch would capture one of the kwamiis and force them to talk. We were always taking a risk whenever we handed the miraculous out. What if they got lost or Monarch captured them? We had to figure out how to cover our tracks in case Monarch forced a kwamii to reveal anything that could lead him to us. The first step was figuring out how to warn us if he ever started looking for us and what better way to warn us than Monarch himself?"

"Wait a minute! You know I almost had a heart attack when I saw Monarch in your room!" Alya cuts in to voice her worries.

"I'm sorry Alya I never thought he'd show up in the middle of a sleepover," Marinette apologizes and we giggle at the ridiculousness.

"But you made the plan even more credible, your reaction was perfect. We wanted him out of the room as soon as possible which is where the keyring game came into play," We continued to explain how we went over the steps with Phillpe and Monique while set up for the trap was done.