The Peacock's Revenge

~Chapter Two: The Evidence~

The evidence was enough for Nathlie. She knew that Gabriel never sold any illegal materials, therefore knew that it was Ladybug who reported him and lied about his crime, and therefore knew that Gabriel was aware of her identity, and that she was aware of his. All these clues singled out one person, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. With that, Nathalie knew that the young girl's disappearance and then sudden reappearance again after the defeat of Hawkmoth must have something to do with the miraculous.

Nathalie had at this point spent over a month trying to decipher the guardian grimoire, even the translated version was so long-winded and difficult to fully understand. Plus, although her suspicions of Marinette being Ladybug weren't ~fully~ confirmed yet, the way Marinette spoke with hesitance to Adrien was a dead giveaway that she was hiding something from him, something important and secretive. Nathlie could tell that the important, secretive thing was her alter-ego, Ladybug.

With this new evidence that almost confirmed her theory, Nathalie began searching the grimoire relentlessly for an explanation of why Ladybug decided to remove her civilian self from the world for such a long time. She believed that finding out the answer to that would be all she needed to devise and begin her plan to steal the butterfly miraculous from Marinette.

Nathalie was beginning her work to find an explanation for Marinette's disappearance, but she quickly remembered that Marinette was currently in her house! She didn't want any risk of Marinette somehow coming in and seeing her secret work, so the best solution was to just send Marinette away to eliminate that risk.

So, walking upstairs and abruptly opening the door to Adrien's room, Nathlie found the two of them giggling with their textbooks open. That is, they were giggling, but both stopped and froze when Nathalie opened the door.

Not wanting Marinette to be uncomfortable, Adrien spoke, "Is everything okay Nathalie? Do you need something?"

"uhm, yes, actually. Adrien, I do not mind you hanging out with your friends, but I must ensure you stay focused on your studies above everything." He said nothing, so Nathalie turned to Marinette, "Marinette, if you could please come only at times when Adrien is finished his homework, that would be very appreciated."

Neither of them understood where this was coming from, but Marinette didn't wanna be difficult about it.

"Uh, sure! I'll see you later Adrien," she said as she stood up and they briefly embraced one another. As Marinette stood, Nathalie couldn't help but be distracted by the crack she saw in Marinette's left earring, and, without even thinking about it, she remarked, "Oh no Marinette it looks like your earring is cracked! What happened?"

Marinette froze and got defensive, covering her ear with her hand for a moment just by reflex. She was not expecting to be asked about it, and the fact that Nathalie asked made it suspicious. Marinette had decided she was going to continue wearing her earrings even though she couldn't transform anymore, so that she could still have Tikki around. Plus, she felt they were safer on her then just lying around in her room, and decided to wear them everywhere just for extra caution.  "Oh! It's nothing, no big deal. I was attacked by an akuma while ago but don't worry it's fine."

Upon saying this, they both stared at each other for just a moment with skepticism in their eyes, like they were silently judging one another and knew what the other was thinking. But it only lasted half a second before Nathalie nodded with a smile, and Marinette walked out the door.

Adrien was confused why Nathalie made this decision so abruptly, he and Marinette had been doing homework together for weeks and she never cared until now. Before he could ask, Nathalie was already out the door and back in her office, flipping through the grimoire for anything on "broken miraculous." In a moment she found it, maybe the only clear and understandable statement in the entire book read:

.....when a miraculous is cracked the owner may continue to transform one more time upon breaking, and the holder will remain under its power until miraculous is removed, upon removal the miraculous will not transform again until it has fully healed itself. Amount of time varies depending on the size of crack.....

"of course." Nathalie said aloud quietly as she read the words, it all made sense now. The day Marinette disappeared was the same day Adrien came home talking about how she had been attacked by an akuma, and just now Marinette claimed the miraculous had been cracked from that same akuma.

She knew for sure now, Marinette Dupain-Cheng was Ladybug, and had the butterfly miraculous, along with every other miraculous.