Miraculous Team ✔️

24

The sunlight was peeking through the curtains and landing delicately on a bluenette's face.

Marinette shifted, then sat up slowly from her spot on the couch and rubbed her eyes. Someone had covered her with a cozy blanket. She had the best nights sleep in a while, maybe because she felt safer in Marianne's house, where all they had to do is show Master Fu the ingredients and Paris will be saved. No more being a hero, no more Hawkmoth, no more lying or distractions. She wondered if she would miss the thrill of being Ladybug, then after a few seconds of thought, she shook her head.

If giving up my powers meant no more Hawkmoth to harm my beautiful city, it would be a thousand times worth it.

She got up and noticed that everyone was still fast asleep. It was 8am. There were eggs in the fridge and Marinette decided that she wanted omelets for breakfast. Marianne said they could take whatever they needed, so she probably wouldn't mind. Twenty minutes later, the sizzling and the tantalizing aroma from the kitchen woke up a particular black cat.

"Good morning, Plagg." Marinette smiled.

"What are you making?" Plagg asked, then lit up, "Oh! Omelets! Can I have some?"

Marinette nudged her head towards the counter. "The one on the left has cheese in it."

"Ohmygosh." Plagg quickly devoured the innocent omelet, and was very much attempted to finish the other plate too, until someone beat him to it.

"Morning Marinette." Alya said, digging into her breakfast, "Morning, Plaggie."

Plagg stared at her. If he had eyebrows, they would've been raised.

One by one, the others joined them in the kitchen, and Master Fu was given a joyful round of greetings when he finally came down the stairs.

"Thank goodness you are all in one piece." The old man chuckled. He asked promptly about their flight, then quickly got down to business. "Did you get all the ingredients?"

Nino fished out the paper bag and Alya took out her phone.

"Master Fu." Marinette said softly, "There's something you need to know..."

Master Fu turned to her. Adrien noticed the uneasy look on Marinette's face and quickly caught on.

"Ming died more than ten years ago." Adrien finished, "Mae wanted to tell you, but had no contact."

Master Fu gave a little gasp and placed a hand over his heart. He swore that he felt it stop for a second.

"I'm so sorry." Marinette said, biting her lip, "I didn't know how to break it to you..."

Master Fu patted her shoulder with his other hand. "Let's not talk about this now. We have more... important things at hand." His voice was heavy. Nevertheless, the heroes nodded.

Master Fu examined the items in Lew's bag like he was flipping through an old photo album, tasting the bittersweet nostalgia. "I'll can fix this up in an hour. There's enough for all kwamis."

"I hate transformations." Plagg muttered. Trixx proceeded to whack him over the head.

"How about the writings, Master Fu?" Alya asked, holding out her phone.

Master Fu squinted. "What writings?"

"We found it in Ming's notebooks. It was written in some kind of invisible ink and you can only see it if you shine a red light onto the page. It's pretty cool. Ming's son, Juliek, helped us find it. We can't read it, because only you-"

"Alya, I know." Master Fu cut her short, "But there's nothing on that page."

Alya quickly looked on the screen and gasped. "What?! But I checked. The writings were there!" She scrolled through the other photos she took. "They're all gone!"

"Same for me!" Nino exclaimed, looking up from his phone, "The characters are gone."

Chloe brought both her hands to the slides of her face. "But how..."

Master Fu sighed. "I'm afraid Ming must've used some kind of magic to keep people from finding and spreading the secret."

Pollen face palmed. "All that for nothing?"

Suddenly, Marianne came bolting from the living room. And when I say bolting, I meant Usain Blot bolting.

"My lord!" She cried, "You have to come and see this!"

They instantaneously followed Marianne to the living room. The small TV was on, giving them a live footage of the heroes greatest nightmares.

"That's our class!" Nino gasped.

The screen showed a giant cage, with the heroes' classmates in it. They were frightened, gripping the bars. The police were closing in.

Nadja was already reporting the news. "A new ladybug is here and she's terrorizing the people of Paris. As far as we can see, she is on Hawkmoth's side. We are currently on the scene. Ladybug has captured the students who belong in our heroes' class. The police are on their way and we assure you to stay indoors and keep calm. We haven't seen our superheroes in days but we will still be able-"

Suddenly, someone knocked Nadja out of the screen and grabbed the camera, aiming it at her own face. It was the "new Ladybug". Marinette felt her stomach drop. Ladybug looked older, with the same color hair.

"Chat Noir." She started, glaring at Adrien through the screen. He flinched. "You have half an hour to hand over your Miraculous, or you can say goodbye to your classmates forever." And then the camera was smashed onto the ground and the TV cut straight to a diapers commercial.

"I think I'm gonna throw up." Adrien said weakly, staggering backwards. Suddenly, he felt light headed again, like the first night in Hong Kong. The room spun and he couldn't think straight. He felt someone hold his arm and lead him to a nearby seat. Adrien buried his face in his hands, trying to pull himself together. He didn't have the time to sit around.

"Adrien." It was Marinette's voice. "Just breathe. You're okay... you're okay, minou."

Adrien allowed himself to relax, focusing on his breathing patterns. "Thanks, Mari." He whispered.

"What do we do?" Chloe asked.

The clock was ticking.

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I forgot to mention that the name "Lew" was inspired by my favorite dancer, Sean Lew. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you did, it would mean the world to me if you gave it a vote <3. If you see any mistakes (cause I'm blind), please let me know. Thanks for reading!

Bug out!