Keep the Mask, It Goes With Your Costume

~Chapter Two: The Fight~

After saying "spots on" Marinette transformed into the famed superhero without any problem, which was a huge relief. And as Ladybug swung across Paris to find her partner, everything seemed to be perfectly normal. Within minutes Ladybug found herself in front of the Lourve Museum, witnessing a battle between Cat Noir and the supervillain, who called herself 'Damager.'

Cat Noir was barely holding up when Ladybug arrived at the scene, he was pinned against the glass on the Lourve about 4 stories high by damager, as she was nearing toward him to take off his ring. Without any hesitation, Ladybug swung into action and became part of the fight. She threw her yoyo at the akuma in attempt to knock the wand-like-object out of her hand, but instead Damager caught the yoyo in her other hand, and continued nearing toward Cat Noir. Ladybug used this to her advantage and swung right up the akuma, landing on the Lourve window hard enough to crush the glass of the area, causing Cat Noir to go in with it, and causing Damager to lose her hold on him. This gave Ladybug just enough time to reel in her yoyo and throw it out again, but this time grabbing right onto Damager's wand, and pulling it back in with ease.

"No more evil doing for you little Akuma." Ladybug said, as she broke the stick and caught the purple butterfly, purifying it inside her yoyo and letting it out into the air. Of course, this caused Lila, former damager, to lose her levitation ability and begin plummeting toward the ground. Luckily, Cat Noir managed to slide down and catch her so she didn't fall to her death. Ladybug then slid down the Lourve after him onto the ground, where, of course, there was a crowd of people watching and cheering. But Ladybug wasn't satisfied with all this praise, as a matter of fact, she was worried. Not worried because people were cheering for her, but worried because something still felt off.

"That was much easier than I thought it would be..." Ladybug said suspiciously and with skepticism to her partner, as she heard the crowd cheering from a few feet away.

"What do you mean m'lady? " Cat Noir asked in concern. He dropped Lila on the ground without even speaking to her, and walked over the Ladybug.

Ladybug nodded toward the crowd of people, gesturing for them to leave as she spoke to Cat Noir, and all of them walked away but one, who looked very worried.

"I dont know it's just, I got a really weird feeling about this akuma when it first broke out." Ladybug said to Cat Noir as the crowd walked away. "Like......like it was going to be really difficult or something, but it wasn't. In fact, that was one of the easiest akumas we've defeated in a while! But....something still doesn't feel right......" Ladybug took a moment of silence before gasping when she realized, "I forgot to use my lucky charm! I can't fix the damage now!" She looked absolutely terrified as the said this, which surprised Cat Noir. For all he knew there wasn't anything important that would need to be fixed. So he did his best to reassure his partner, blissfully unaware that this one mistake by Ladybug may end up harming him more than anyone else.

"It's not a big deal, there really wasn't much damage involved with this akuma anyway. It won't take them more than a week to fix the window up there" Cat Noir said, gesturing toward the glass Ladybug smashed minuets before. "Besides, all that Damager attacked before here was the school, and nothing really happened...... " Cat Noir's voice trailed off as he remembered saving Marinette, and realized he needed to go check on her to keep his promise. "I have to go. Don't even bother taking care of Lila, I'm sure she'll manage on her own." And with that Cat Noir was gone.

Ladybug was pretty confused why Cat Noir left so abruptly, but she shrugged it off then saw a single fan that didn't leave the crowd earlier, and noticed she looked scared. Considering this person was actually her best friend, Ladybug asked why she was upset.

"It's Marinette..." she said quietly "I heard that the akuma attacked her at school earlier, and no one has seen her since."

Ladybugs eyes widened and she quickly realized why Cat Noir was in such a rush, he was going to go check on her, or rather, her civilian self. Before even saying anything to Alya, Ladybug raced back to the Eiffel tower, desperately hoping she would manage to get there before her partner would.

As Ladybug swung at top speed, she was scolding herself inside for not using her lucky charm. Even though there wasn't much external damage to take care of, her earrings were still cracked and she still had no idea what may happen because of that. Although it hadn't affected anything so far, she didn't know what to expect.

Even if she used her lucky charm now, it would do nothing. The lucky charm only repairs the damage of the akuma battle, and since the battle was over, using her lucky charm would be pointless, unless it was a replacement miraculous....that would be nice.

She arrived at the Eiffel tower just moments before she saw Cat Noir making his way over. She walked around to the opposite side so he wouldn't see her at first when he landed. Without even thinking about it she attempted to detransform and show Cat Noir she was safe so he could leave and she could go see Master Fu. But, there was one tiny problem.

"Spots off." She said, but nothing happened, absolutely nothing. "Tikki, Spots off!" She tried again, making her voice more clear, but still nothing. "Oh no!" She whispered to herself. This must be it, this must be the outcome of her damaged miraculous!!! This was really bad. But before she had the opportunity to freak out, she heard a certain Cat call her name.

"Marinette!" Cat Noir yelled as he landed on the spot he had dropped Marinette off at. But no reply. "Marinette!" He called again. He was surprised to see that instead of Marinette, Ladybug walked around from the other side of the Eiffel tower.

"M'lady?" He said, a bit surprised and a tiny bit confused, but he didn't have time to ask questions. "Have you seen Marinette?" The hero said to her, seeming a bit distraught, "I left her here, and she's gone now." He took a deep breath in and looked at the ground. This wouldn't the first time he left Marinette alone in danger, and he was NOT going to let her be hurt, not on his watch. "I don't know where she went, I hope she's not lost." He said, looking very concerned for his friend, now even his partner could see he was worried. So Ladybug, who was Marinette, decided to just reassure him as best she could.

"I'm sure she just went home, no big deal. I can...uh, check by her house if you would like, it's on my way."

"That would be great, thanks Ladybug, let me know when you find her just to be sure," he said with a wave, and the Cat boy left her there alone.

The young girl's eyes filled up as she watched her partner vault away in the afternoon sun, with the horrible nightmare in her mind, that she could be struck like this forever. Her life would be ruined! She wouldn't be able to live at home, she wouldn't be able to go to school, she would have to give up all of her friends, and she would have to live under a horrible secret that no one would ever understand! But, of course there was no way that was the case. That'd be crazy...like, really bad crazy. Of course it couldn't be THAT bad....right? Well, she'd find out soon enough.