The gaming tournament was canceled. It was "too dangerous" to continue with all the high running emotions that would spawn from it, causing potential akumas that the schools did not want to be responsible for. This was a huge downer in Fracios Dupont, but to get by, a lot of the students had decided to form a friendly gaming after school club which Max got to be the president of. So things were somewhat ok.

Alix was in a grumpy mood today. For a fundraising event that was being put towards their graduation celebration, the class was going to be selling pamphlets to tourists at the Louvre. Alix's brother and father both worked at the Louvre... and this had Alix in particular... unwelcoming mood. Apparently, her brother, Jalil, was too "nerdy" for her taste and her dad was a real bore. She didn't want to be associated with them. They'd ruin her punk rock vibe.

Marinette and Alya had snuck off with Alix somewhere. Marinette would NEVER ordinarily hang out with Alix, but her temper had been so out of control that morning, she was afraid the pink haired girl would get akumatized if she didn't stick around to keep her calm. Alix knew the Louvre like the back of her hand. Everything, actually, she had memorized.

Alix was currently rambling about some nonsense that neither Marinette nor Alya understood whatsoever. It was clear that she was peeved with something. And like icing on that disaster volcano cake, Alix received a call.... From her father.

"Hold on, I'm getting a call," Alix said, pulling her phone from her pocket. Marinette was sure Alix nearly exploded when she saw her dad's icon. She answered it with aggravation. "What do you want?"

"Could you come down to the Egyptian entry hall? We have some advertisements for the documentary presentations happening today that we'd like help from your class with," Marinette heard Alix's dad say.

"Really? But Julil will be down there!"

"He works in the Egyptian department, Alix, what do you expect?"

"I don't want my classmates to see him! He's so-"

"Enough, Alix. This is for your fundraiser. Hurry on now." He hung up. Alix made some more bitter remarks, clenching her phone so hard it might break.

"I hate the Egyptian department," Alix seethed. She dragged Alya and Marinette down with her till they found a grand entrance to a spacious part of the museum. Up ahead was a wall with a giant image of a tomb where a mummy would be placed. Above it read "Pharaohs" in large golden print. Along the walls of the hall sat several Egyptian black cat sculptures that read Sekhmet–the lioness goddess–in little gold plates beneath the platforms in which they stood upon.

When they neared the tomb portrait the hall spread out. It was rather empty at the moment, as the museum had only opened twenty or so minutes ago. Marinette thought the place was beautiful. A massive stone plate depicted gods sending offerings to the goddess, Iris, to their right. Along the wall next to the stones was an Egyptian scroll containing hundreds of tiny hieroglyphics. Little podiums about the entrance contained small Egyptian artifacts, while closer to the back, larger findings were placed, some in glass tombs such as a Pharaoh's staff placed in the center. Around each corner of the room, massive statues rose high above, barely having enough room to fit under the ceiling. The statues were that of the gods Seth, Orsis, Isis and Horus.

"Alix!" someone exclaimed, shoving Marinette aside to get to the pink haired girl. Marinette toppled over, not expecting the sudden shove.

"Julil!" Alix grit her teeth. It was her older brother, frantic and chaotic in nature. "Have respect!" She helped Marinette to her feet.

"What?" Julil raised a brow.

"You just shoved my friend over!" Alix exclaimed.

"Ohhhhhh," Julil's blue eyes landed on Marinette, "I'm sorry, I didn't see you."

"Yet you deliberately chose to push her?"

"I didn't see her!"

"I'm fine, thanks for asking," Marinette said meekly.

"Ah, you're in Alix's class, aren't you?" Julil remarked, eyeing Marinette and Alya who was sitting grumpily in her wheelchair. "I'm Julil! Her older brother!" He stuck out a hand for Marinette to shake, and when she did so, she found he was very sweaty. His messy dark red hair was pulled back in pins, making it look rather like a mullet that didn't match his geekly face. "Julil Kubdel, that is. Though I guess you knew my last name already- OH! DAD!" He shoved through all three girls, causing Marinette to fall again as he raced down the corridor to where a new figure approached–Alix's dad. He had just walked down the stairs from the left of the room, which would lead to more Egyptian exhibits on the floor above. There were more statues along the wall in honor of Sekhmet.

"Wow," Alya said as Marinette got back on her feet, "rude guy."

"He's nothing but chaos and distraction. Completely unaware of his surroundings and only thinking of himself!" Alix groaned, "ADHD runs in our family but boy, it hit him like a truck."

"Ah, yeah..."

"He's obsessed with Egyptian mythology," Alix groaned. "Like... he might actually believe in it religiously with how much he talks about it."

"Sheesh," Alya grimaced.

"Hey!" Julil was running back to them, "I got the pamphlets!" He waved some papers over his head. He slid to a halt in front of the girls, this time managing to not knock Marinette over. Alix's father approached them much more civilly.

"Thanks for helping out, Alix. I know you hate being here," her father said kindly. Alix seemed much more relaxed with him, though Marinette could still feel her irritation radiating from her like a heater in winter.

"Yeah yeah, whatever," Alix groaned. Marinette looked over to the scroll laid out across one of the walls curiously. Julil immediately noticed this.

"Oh! That's Tutankhamun the first and Nephertiti's scroll!" Julil said. Next thing she knew, Marinette was being dragged over to the hieroglyphs by the enthusiastic Julil. He pointed to the left of the scroll where a picture of two people stood. "That's Tutankhamun, and his princess Nephertiti!"

"Uhhh.... Cool..." Marinette said awkwardly.

"There's one hundred mummies beside them," Julil stated, pointing to the images of mummies surrounding the picture. "Nephertiti died several years before Tutankhamun, and the sun god, Ra, took her as his own goddess!"

"Oh... how... neat?"

"This is really cool, actually! Tutankhamun wanted to bring her back to life, so decided to offer Ra a new wife!" Julil explained, pointing to a picture of a woman being carried by two men who lifted her up to the heavens where Ra and Nephertiti were painted. "This illustrated the ritual for the process in which he devised! No one has really ever deciphered these hieroglyphics fully, but I have! I have!"

"Oh, really?" Marinette smiled awkwardly.

"Julil," Alix said with a warning tone as she appeared behind her brother, "we're not here for a tour."

"Oh, but this isn't on the Egyptian tour!" Julil explained, "this is what my own studies have led me to! The museum doesn't even know the truth behind this scroll!"

"Yeah, but it's only a legend," Alix rolled her eyes.

"No, it's not!" Julil said happily, "there's enough evidence to-"

"A LEGEND, Julil," Alix said, nearly crumpling up the pamphlets in her hands.

"I know it's real!" Julil argued, "I can prove it!"

"Oh really? How?" Alix growled.

"Well if I could have Tutankhamun's scepter-" Julil went for the scepter which was placed behind them in a glass tomb. Julil's dad immediately intervened, grabbing Julil by the wrist.

"That's enough, Julil," his dad scorned. "Don't even think of touching that scepter! I'd lose my job on the spot!"

"But- but the hieroglyphics read out a spell used by this scepter and-"

"You really think it's real?!" Julil's dad exclaimed. Alix smirked. "This scepter is an artifact, implacable! Not a toy! You need to get your head out of this fantasy and live in the real world, Julil! Starting with paying attention to the real people surrounding you!"

"Oh..." Julil slumped. "I thought you would be-"

"I run the Egyptian department at the Louvre," Julil's dad said, "I'm no Kemetism priest!"

With that, Julil's father took Julil away, making sure Alix had all the pamphlets she needed before disappearing around the corridor stairs with her older brother in tow.

"He's problematic," Alix shrugged.

"Does he really believe it?" Marinette asked.

"I think so, honestly. He has all this evidence to prove that those Egyptian gods really existed and that magic is real and yadda yadda yadda."

"That's bizarre," Alya stated.

"Oh yeah, it got worse when Ladybug, Chat Noir and Carapace showed up. They practically are solid proof to him that magic is real," Alix said. "I mean, I suppose he's right. How else would you explain those superpowers? And the akumas? It's definitely magic. But that doesn't mean those gods from mythology are real."

"You don't wonder how they got their powers?" Alya asked.

"I'm sure there's a logical reason. But Julil is some crack case," Alix sighed, handing them some pamphlets. By now, there were people entering the exhibit as it had opened. "He thinks Ladybug's powers were given to her by Amun, the creator god in Egyptian mythology. That's the only reason he can think of for her having those creation and restoration powers. He wants to say Chat Noir's abilities were granted by Seth, but then he can't explain why Ladybug and Chat Noir would work together if the literal god of evil made a superhero. I mean... he'd be evil."

Marinette's heart did a flip. That was weird. Chat Noir and evilness? What would make anyone think that? His powers were rather dark, and there was that suspicious third power Plagg was blocking from him. Was Chat Noir supposed to be bad? And was Plagg preventing it? No. Egyptian gods were not real, and these miraculous were Chinese anyway!

"He thinks Carapace got his powers from Bastet too. These superheroes showing up have made him go nutty with it. It basically sealed his belief in Kemetism," Alix explained.

"That's strange..." Marinette said.

"What about Hawk Moth?"

"Also Seth," Alix shrugged. "Whatever, I only know about Egyptian mythology because of him and my dad, but it's not really interesting to me." She began to approach some of the visitors and handed out some pamphlets for the Egyptian documentary tour.

"This is so weird..." Alya said.

"Julil or Julil's theories?"

"...Both."

"Yeah..."

Marinette and Alya split up to cover more ground in dishing out the fliers. Tikki was squirming in her purse a lot, Marinette could feel it. It was more than usual, which began to bring Marinette some concern. Tikki's squirming didn't seize, and by now, Marinette was sure she was trying to get her attention. And so, Marinette found one of the museum bathrooms and hid herself in a stall to let Tikki out.

"Are you ok?" Marinette asked. Tikki flew out, looking very perplexed.

"No, I'm sensing something."

"Like what?"

"Another kwami somewhere around here," Tikki exclaimed.

"Uh... what if it's the kwami of any of the other superheroes? They could be here as civilians... for whatever reason."

"No, no, it's not them."

"What, do you have, like, a kwami radar or something?"

"In a way?"

"Then what's stopping us from finding Hawkmoth with your kwami detector head?" Marinette asked.

"Cause Nooroo and Dusuu have yet to be close enough for me to sense them at all."

"And how do you know it's not like- Plagg or something?"

"Oh, I can sense Plagg alright, but he's in his natural or larger form. I can feel him stronger than the others."

"Others?"

"Oh, Wayzz and Trixx are around here somewhere too," Tikki informed. "If a kwami didn't want me to detect them though, they can choose to do that and they'd be invisible to-"

"-your kwami detector."

"Fine. Yes. That. Whatever," Tikki grumbled.

"So.... who is this mystery kwami you're detecting? Did the guardian send out another one of you?"

"That's the thing, I don't know. I don't recognize them. It's like it's... not from the Chinese miracle box and that's why I'm so uncomfortable," Tikki admitted. "If it's a French kwami, I'd be surprised because they're all supposed to be gone. But still, there's a small chance they're French but more likely... there's a miraculous in the Louvre, hidden as an artifact. And its kwami has been trapped here for who knows how long!"

"That's terrible..."

"Maybe Plagg is looking for it and that's why he's full sized right now... if he was smart..." Tikki muttered.

"Have you seen Plagg?"

"He was at the entrance when we came here but I haven't seen him since," Tikki shrugged.

"So he's just... out and about... in public..."

"Hey, he was the other day when he went to find the two of us, and no one suspected a thing," Tikki smirked.

"What did you two talk about?"

"Private," Tikki hushed.

"Aw, but I-"

Someone came crashing through the door of the bathroom screaming. While the door was open, Marinette could hear sounds of screaming from outside before the door swung shut and the sound was muffled. The person slid under the door of Marinette's stall to hide, then caught sight of Marinette. It was Alix.

"Alix?!"

"Oh- hi Marinette! We're gonna die!" Alix said, scooting herself so that she could stand up. "Hurry, get on the toilet, he's coming!"

"What?!" Marinette exclaimed. Alix forced her up on the toilet. Just as the two of them got up and crouched on the rim, someone threw open the door of the women's restroom again. Marinette was now thankful Alix had gotten her to hide her feet, as this person was most definitely not carrying good intentions with them. Tikki was hidden in Marinette's shirt.

Alix clasped a hand over Marinette's mouth to keep her from screaming. Alix anxiously licked over her lip ring, squeezing her eyes shut where a few tears seeped out. Whoever was in the bathroom was now proceeding to throw open every single bathroom door. Marinette almost shrieked, as they were right next to the stall they hid in. Just as the mystery person was about to break open their stall door, a flash of green surrounded them and the girls found themselves, and their stall, protected by Carapace's Shell-ter force field.

An angry cry of anguish escaped the attackers lips as they slammed their fists against the forcefield angrily. It was a male... it was... Julil.

"What's happening?" Marinette squeaked out.

"He's been akumatized," Alix said, a tear finally escaping her eye as she whispered.

"Alix!" the akumatized Julil roared. His voice was deeper and distorted, but it was still that frantic mythology nerd Marinette had dealt with earlier.

"Leave her alone!" Carapace's voice came from the entrance.

"Bastet was a fool to choose you!" the akuma bellowed.

"Who the fuck is Bastet?!" Carapace exclaimed, getting Julil to go after him and leave Marinette and Alix alone. Carpace lured him out of the bathroom with his ranchy remarks, pissing off Julil enough to want to attack him instead of Alix.

"Alix what's going on?!" Marinette asked as soon as the two were gone.

"Julil got akumatized because of my dad and I!" Alix exclaimed. "But Marinette," she said, putting a hand on Marinette's shoulder, "I've never seen an akuma this powerful."

"What do you mean?!"

"He has the power of the Egyptian gods! I can't imagine how anyone could beat him!"

"But Hawkmoth can't just give someone godly power! Right?!" Marinette was subtly trying to ask Tikki this. Tikki stayed still. That gave Marinette a sinking feeling in her gut. "He can... he has... Julil has... god power..."

"It's warfare out there by now, I'm sure of it! I wasn't aware any of the heroes were here until Carapace... ya know..." Alix began to hyperventilate. "Oh we're sitting ducks here! How do we even get out of the force-field?!"

"I... don't know..." Marinette said as the realization struck her. Marinette couldn't transform into Ladybug in front of Alix. And even if Alix weren't there, how would she get out of the force-field?

"Kids?!" someone new came in. It sounded like... Plagg? And Marinette would ordinarily have doubted this but Tikki's sudden movement basically confirmed it was, indeed, Plagg.

"We're here!" Alix called for help. Marinette heard Plagg summon his cataclysm and the force-field shattered and disappeared. Alix threw open the bathroom door and escaped, Marinette in tow. Only to find... Plagg wasn't there. "Huh? Who was it that-"

"It must have been Chat Noir!" Marinette lied. "Hurry, let's get out of here!"

"Right!" Alix nodded. She could run faster than Marinette, it was obvious. But still, she kept Marinette with her, assuring herself she'd get both of them to safety. Marinette needed an excuse to slip away so that she could transform.

"Alix we should-"

Alix rounded a corner and was suddenly caught in a bubble. Much like the bubbles from the bubbler, huge bubbles were spread out across the central level of the Louvre. Alix was now stuck in one. She'd run right into it.

"Alix?!" Marinette exclaimed in panic. Alix was running still but... extremely slow. It was as though she were in slow motion. "Alix, I'm gonna go get help!" Marinette said and ran for a staff room. She broke through the door, shut it, and without hesitation, transformed before Tikki could get a single word out.

Escaping the staff room, Ladybug swung up to the main lobby area where tickets would be sold. She couldn't find the akuma there, but his little time bubbles were spread out everywhere.

"Sekhmet, give me your strength!" she heard someone yell. She didn't have time to react before she was thrown to the ground. She'd been looking below for the akuma. She never considered he was positioned above her.

Ladybug found herself crashing against the tile floor. From above, the villain of this chapter came swooping down, almost like he could fly, and pinned her where she was. His head was that of a golden lioness with glowing blue eyes. Gold jewelry decorated his body, from his neck to his waist and wrists, even his ankles! It would be impossible to find where his akuma was hidden.

"Anubis, give me access to the afterlife!" As he said this, his head transformed from a lion's to a jackal, always expressionless. It even looked to be made of gold, like it was a mask. "You're going to enjoy your coffin!" he snarled. His mouth didn't even open when he spoke.

The akuma picked her up like a rag-doll and threw Ladybug down the stairs to the Egyptian exhibit. She barely got herself gathered when a sudden mummy-like coffin formed around her, encasing her in a tomb. So that was his power. Alix was right.

She was fighting a god.

"Wait, no! Help!" Ladybug cried, trying to open the coffin from the inside. It was sealed shut. "No, no, no, no, no!"

She slammed her fist against the roof, kicked at it even, anything to try and get it to open. Nothing. She had nothing.

She tried to think. Her Lucky Charm wouldn't be useful in this situation. And the miraculous ladybug's wouldn't get rid of the coffin... would they? She had a third power. One that Ladybug had never deliberately tried to use before. Well, now was a better time than ever, right?

"I need good luck!" she exclaimed. The power didn't have a name, per-say. Good-luck was a perk that came with Ladybug, nothing she'd ever tried to use before. "Good luck!" she shouted, pressing against the coffin. And her wish was granted. Miraculously, the sealant of the coffin was loose by nature, and suddenly, the lid popped free. "Success! Woo!" Ladybug whooped as she jumped from the box. The akumatized villain was gone, but that gave her the time to figure out a plan.

"Ah, there you are," came a voice. Ladybug fell out of the coffin, jumping in surprise. It was just Plagg, stooping behind the coffin laying astray on the floor.

"Plagg?!" she said in surprise.

"In the flesh!" Plagg clasped his hands together giddily.

"Where's Chat Noir?!" Ladybug asked.

"Uhh..." his eyes darted away.

"Where's Chat Noir?" Ladybug said more sternly this time.

"He's refusing to put his ring on..."

"What?!" Ladybug shouted. "Why?! Doesn't he see we need him out here?!"

"I know! I know! He's just... scared..."

"We all are, that's why I need him!" Ladybug said, "Er- WE need him. Not just... me..."

"I'll tell him you said that but he's being a prick right now. Little snot."

"Ugh!" Ladybug groaned. "Where's Carapace, does he know you're here?!"

"Yes! He was the one who told me to go get you and Alix out of the bathroom- well- he didn't know the whole Ladybug situation going on but whatever, it's resolved now," Plagg answered. "But don't worry about Chat Noir, you've got me for now!"

"You need to find him and get him out here," Ladybug said sternly. "Please." Her voice cracked a little in her desperation. "If he doesn't want to transform, fine. But he can't be at the Louvre! He's in danger without you!"

"But you can fix whatever happens with-"

"Plagg, please! Don't let him get hurt!" Ladybug insisted.

"Alright. I'll tell him you sent me," Plagg said and gave her a wink. "Maybe I can convince him to get his butt out here."

"He's grounded if he doesn't."

"Bahaha! What are you, his mom?"

"Sure."

"Alright, I'm going. Oh, and one more thing."

"Hm?"

"The akuma calls himself Pharaoh," Plagg said. "And if he gives himself the face of the god, Seth, run. I don't care what the situation is, get out of there."

A/N
I studied so much Egyptian mythology just for you guys. Appreciate me I want to feel good.

-Peter