Marinette stirred under her warm covers, sighing heavily. She sat up and groaned. Last night was horrible. She'd barely gotten any sleep; she was too busy worrying about Simulacrum.

Plagg yawned beside her, snuggling a piece of cheese. Tikki woke up, feeling sleepy. She annoyingly glanced at Plagg.

"Wake up," Tikki said into his ear.

Plagg smiled, holding the cheese closer. "Just two more minutes, Cheese King," he mumbled drowsily. "I'll return your cheese eventually."

Tikki huffed, crossing her arms. "Your master is akumatized and you can't even bother to wake up?"

Plagg opened one eye and groaned. He sat up. "Listen here, Tikki! If we're gonna be roomies then you're gonna have to respect the fact that I like to sleep!"

Marinette quickly intervened. "Come on, you two! We don't need to be arguing right now. Let's all be nice to each other."

"Maybe I wouldn't be so cranky if Plagg hadn't kept me up all night with that nasty Camembert," Tikki whispered.

Plagg gasped. "And what's so bad about that?"

"Let's see. It's stinky, you always complain about wanting it, and-"

"ENOUGH!" Marinette exclaimed. "If we want to save Adrien, you two HAVE to get along. No more fighting."

Tikki sighed, feeling ashamed. "Sorry Marinette..."

"I guess I'm kinda sorry too," Plagg mumbled.

"Good," Marinette smiled. "Now I have to get to school. Do you think you two can handle being in the same space as each other?"

"Well, if we can stay in a room together, what can't we do?" Tikki replied enthusiastically.

*

"This is not what I had in mind," Tikki mumbled, looking around the fabric surrounding her. Plagg sat beside her, huffing and crossing his arms.

"Gross, I smell cookies," Plagg complained. "Where's the Camembert when you need it?"

"You ate it all. Remember?" Tikki responded.

"Oh yeah," Plagg replied softly. "So now what do we do?"

"What we normally do while our masters are at school," Tikki replied.

"Sit and do nothing? No thanks."

"How about we try to get to know more about each other?" Tikki suggested.

"What's there to know? We've known each other for centuries," Plagg sighed.

"And yet we can never get along," Tikki replied sullenly. "Well, we haven't talked in a while. We're rarely in the same place at once. How about we tell each other what we like about our current Miraculous holders?"

Plagg shrugged. "Eh, sure. Why not? Although, I'd much rather prefer eating Camembert, but I guess a conversation will do."

*

Marinette rushed into her classroom, a few minutes late. A fiasco with two magical creatures really put a damper on her schedule. Not like she isn't ever late, though. This behavior is normal for a crime fighting superhero.

She glanced at Adrien's seat and, just as expected, he wasn't there. Nino faced Marinette as she slid into her seat behind him.

"Where's my man Adrien?" Nino asked.

"Oh, uh... I don't know," Marinette replied sheepishly. "He was probably held up by his father or something."

"I hope he's okay," Alya chimed in. "He looked sad yesterday."

Nino gasped. "What if the bad dude Hawkmoth akumatized him with his butterflies!?"

Marinette waved her hand in the air and scoffed. Her mission at the moment was to keep everyone calm and if they suspected Adrien was akumatized, things would go downhill.

"I doubt it," Marinette laughed nervously.

Nino raised an eyebrow and exchanged a look with Alya. Luckily, before they could say anything more, Ms. Bustier began talking.

"Let's begin roll call," she announced. "Adrien Agreste?"

Silence filled the classroom. It was so quiet that Marinette could hear a pin drop.

"Huh, must be held up," Ms. Bustier murmured, scribbling on her paper.

Chloe then stood up and placed her hands on her hips. She cleared her throat. "Ms. Bustier. I can surely fetch Adrien for you. Our families are very good friends."

"Thank you, Chloe, but that won't be necessary," Ms. Bustier smiled. "We'll just mark him absent."

Marinette's teeth chattered as she inspected her classmates. Any one of them were in danger. She gulped. Even herself.

Finally, the bell ringed, signaling the end of class, and Marinette quickly left the classroom. She felt bad for leaving Alya and Nino behind with few answers, but she needed to avoid questioning.

Marinette hurried down the hallway. She was about to enter her next class when a dark figure at the end of the hall caught her eye. She turned her head only to find an empty hallway.

Knowing the figure could possibly be Simulacrum, she took a few steps toward the spot where the figure was.

"Adrien?" Marinette called out. "I know you're here."

Silence.

Suddenly, a hand touched Marinette's shoulder and she jumped up in shock. Her head turned quickly.

"Woah, calm down girl," Alya said cautiously.

Marinette breathed a sigh of relief. "Alya. You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"Why were you calling for Adrien?" Alya asked. She narrowed her eyes. "What's going on?"

Marinette was about to open her mouth to speak when she was suddenly shoved into the wall. She crashed against it, her body shooting with pain. She slid down the wall and crumpled to the floor.

Alya gasped and screamed. "Marinette!"

Marinette weakly looked up at her friend who was cowering away in fear from a tall figure

"You monster," Alya whispered to the attacker.

Marinette knew it had to be Simulacrum. Her heart heaved as she prepared to look upon his face.

But it wasn't him.

Standing above Marinette was a man with a reptilian appearance. She gasped as she inspected his features. He had black, stringy hair and yellow glowing eyes. His outfit was covered in snake-like skin. He grinned evilly at Marinette.

"I'm the Viper!" he hissed. "And you are my first victim." He bared his sharp fangs at Marinette and inched towards her.

Alya them came to the rescue and shoved the man out of the way. He slammed against the wall with a grunt.

"You little brat!" he growled furiously at Alya. "You're going to pay for that!"

Marinette got to her feet. She needed to transform into Ladybug and save Alya. She began running away when Viper swooped in front of her, blocking her path.

"I'm not letting you get away. I can smell your fear," he grinned. "And those earrings of yours."

Marinette's veins ran cold as she stared into his eyes. She backed away slowly. He could smell her Miraculous? This was a whole new feat.

"And now you're my lunch," Viper hissed, grabbing Marinette by the shoulders. She screamed at the top of her lungs. Never had she felt so afraid.

Suddenly, Viper was pushed to the side with a great amount of force. He slammed into the wall, creating a large crater. Marinette watched in shock. Alya had that much strength?

But that possibility was ruled out when she saw Alya standing far behind Marinette. She could've never pushed Viper out of the way.

Marinette's eyes looked up at her rescuer. Her heart froze. Staring down at her with chilling, but familiar, green eyes was Simulacrum.