Love Me Equally ⁀➷ Chat Noir

(📷) ch oo7 | visit of the butterfly

"You've got to be kidding me."

"I'm not!"

Alya sighed. "Why don't you go visit them again, then? Maybe, catch them red-handed, or something?"

I jerked my head up and down. "Right. But, what do you think of my theory?"

The brunette frowned, scratching her chin. "That Felix Fathom might either be Monarch's victim or his ally?"

I repeated the motion again.

"I dunno. Seems too legit for him to be a victim to be real."

"You don't make sense."

"I guess I don't, but neither do you."

"Alya, you know who this . . . Luka is?" I changed the topic to avoid it from escalating further. The girl was definitely not pleased, but she obliged.

"Marinette's ex. They're friends now."

"He's inviting me to the ice rink. . .and wants me to get the key?" That was what my phone read. His notification had abruptly popped up when I was scrolling through the news articles regarding Ladybug's defeat.

Apparently, Alya's interest perked. "Really? He probably means the key to the lockers. Luka and Marinette stored something there, I suppose. But, what are you gonna tell?"

I shrugged. I had no idea about this Luka bloke whatsoever. How was I supposed to behave around him? Keeping the cover up in front of Marinette's parents has been hard enough. If it weren't for Tikki, Chat and Alya, it would have been blown a long time ago. "What do you propose?"

"I guess you should. Marinette makes sure to visit him when he asks for her presence. Besides, he is-" Alya was interrupted by a loud crazy upstairs. I assumed Chat to have taken a hard landing.

"Maybe it's Noir Kitty. I'll check it out." I ignored the smirk that succeeded my statement, and opened the hatch to a completely unknown face - a man in purple suit, adorned by several jewels. "Eh?"

A gasp came from behind, indicating this man was no ally. As if on cue, several tiny creatures floated into view. They looked hauntingly similar to Tikki. "Are we sure we're at the right place?" the man asked the creatures - kwamis - who shuddered before nodding. One that looked like a monkey spoke up.

"Ladybug set up a treasure hunt to her address. 'Follow the smell of croissants' is the first clue."

The man, who I assumed to be the villain behind the evilisation of Tomoe Tsurugi the other day, turned to face me. "Tell me, girl, where does Ladybug live?"

Tikki hissed from behind me, but I had already learned the lesson to not reveal Ladybug's identity the hard way. I was not going into the den of the lion voluntarily this time. "Huh? I don't know. For all I know, she lives nowhere. Now that I think about it -" I scratched my chin. "-She mentioned that she manifests into thin air whenever there's a problem or an akuma attack, you know? I'm all empty."

Monarch clenched his fists and groaned an ugly sigh that scared the kwamis and made me instantly hate him. "Where's the clue?!" he shouted at the poor creatures. They backed away further, shuddering and eyes as wide as saucers. However, not once did they look at me. Except a crimson one that looked like a dragon. As if it was beyond ages of body-swapping incidents, it looked on.

I cleared my throat. Whether it was judging me or concerned about its guardian, I was currently Marinette, and Monarch had stopped by for a chat. "Fancy some tea?"

Monarch's blue eyes glowed in rage. "I'm here for a key to Ladybug's address!"

A plan striked my mind at the word. I did not give it further thought. There was no time. "A key!" I exclaimed, smacking my head. "Ladybug gave me a key. Do you mind waiting while I get it? Also, wait here," I added as Monarch started to invite himself over to my room. He looked rather displeased when I stated the reason for him to wait at the balcony. "It's hidden among . . . girl supplies."

"Right, but one wrong move to turn me in and -"

"You'll be my chauffeur, drive me to the court of law and be my executioner." I had dumbfounded the villain of the story, quite successfully, if I may add. Deciding that waiting on him to respond will waste my time, I dropped down the ladder, closing the hatch before jolting down to the floor.

"Mo-" Alya started, but I threw my finger up to her lips to silence her. Nodding silently, I jotted down, asking for the key to the locker at the ice rink, on a paper that I was using to design a cabin sketch.

Flashing the paper to her, I started climbing the ladder to my bed. The brunette shuffled through a cupboard, and withdrew a key with a red-black spotted keychain attached to it; Marinette was more organized than I gave her credit for.

With the key in my palm, and Alya hidden underneath the bed, I opened the hatch.

Monarch was waiting, not-so-patiently, as promised. The kwamis looked a little relieved at my appearance.

"Here." The key was snatched ruthlessly from my hand. He examined it, before narrowing his alienated eyes at me.

"What will I do with a keychain?"

I shrugged. "No idea."

He asked the same to the kwamis, and the monkey spoke up again. "M-maybe it leads to one of L-Ladybug's lockers?"

"Lockers in Paris? There's an insane amount of those storage units!" I gasped, in fake surprise. Monarch nodded, as if we were both set out for Ladybug's address as allies.

"Name one."

"Pardon?"

"Name one place where there are lockers."

My mind wandered to College Dupont, but my mouth spoke something else: "The swimming pools?"

"Voyage!"

And he was gone; my cue to leave. I looked down to see Alya gazing up. "What happened?" she urged, but I shook my head. Now was not the time to talk, but to act.

"It's time to move. Tikki, spots on!"

Hey guys!

It may seem like the canon episode part, but it'll change. So trust me!

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Thank you for reading!

Miyoko x