"Do you like the quiet?" Marc asked Nathaniel after standing beside him for a while in silence, observing the dance below which now seemed muffled to the ears.

"Yeah," Nathaniel nodded. He couldn't look at Marc, keeping his eyes glued to the students under the second floor.

"You seem ruffled up?"

"I just had an interesting conversation with Marinette," Nathaniel admitted.

"Oh, yeah... she's your girlfriend, right?"

"Huh? No- erm- yeah, she is."

"How long?" Marc asked.

"Uh..." Nathaniel racked his brain for answers. When did the fake relationship start? He couldn't even remember Marinette's alibi for it.

"You remember... right?" Marc asked peculiarly after Nathaniel took so long to come up with nothing.

"Just three, no, four months," Nathaniel said.

"Cool," Marc said. Nathaniel felt like he'd done something wrong.

"I um... uh..." Nathaniel couldn't even speak. He was still thinking about what Marinette had said to him and how he was specifically NOT supposed to think of it that night. But he was still consumed by himself and now there was the distraction of a boy who hadn't even dressed up formally for the dance. His blue "zombie boy" shirt nearly glowed in neon light, reflecting the dance lights and glitter below.

"Does Juleka look alright to you?" Marc suddenly asked, a tone completely different from the one he'd been using before.

"Huh? I dunno, where is she?" Nathaniel asked. Marc pointed to the corner of the gym where Juleka sat on the steps by herself. She looked downright miserable.

"Isn't she here with Rose?" Marc asked.

"Urm... well, they're friends," Nathaniel clarified. Marc hesitated to respond.

"I saw them come in together but Juleka looked a little sick... maybe we should check in on her. You're her friend, right?"

"Sort of? We sit near each other in class and talk sometimes but..."

"But what?"

"I uh..." he couldn't just say his parents would kill him over being friends with someone like Juleka. In fact, he shouldn't even be friends with Marc for that very same reason, yet here he was, talking to him. "I dunno. She's shy. I'm also... shy."

"Introverts are the best kinds of people. Come on, let's go see if she's alright," Marc insisted, stepping away from the railing.

"She probably doesn't want attention-" Nathaniel was already being tugged along by Marc down the stairs. Marc was an introvert just like Nathaniel was, but he also was impulsive and didn't think too deeply about things before jumping into them. He would be the type to irrationally buy concert tickets because they were on sale, completely not thinking about the fact that he didn't like crowds and loud music. He would be the one to agree to join some after school social club, only to get there and panic because of the social part of it. He was also the one to go see if someone was ok without considering anything that could be triggered by simply asking to help someone who desperately wanted to be alone.

Nonetheless, Nathaniel was now at the exiting steps of the gym with Marc where Juleka sat, leaned up against the wall. Marc was right, something was definitely wrong. She looked like a downright mess.

"Juleka?" Marc squatted down in front of her. She furrowed her eyebrows, muttering something along the lines of 'leave me alone' while glaring at the wall next to her. Nathaniel wanted so desperately to flee but was anchored down by Marc holding him hostage.

"Marc, we-"

"Come on, let's get you out of here," Marc said to Juleka, now helping her to her feet. Perhaps they both had telekinetic powers, because there was some amount of understanding going on between the two of them that required no words for Juleka to agree to him. Juleka leaned herself up against Marc, absolutely distraught and somber, accompanied by that sickly look Marc had mentioned earlier.

The next thing he knew, Nathaniel was with the two outside of the school, sitting on the front steps. Marc sat himself down next to Juleka, and (having grabbed his bag quickly on the way out) handed her some tissues to blow her nose into. She'd been crying before, but now that she was outside, it worsened. Nathaniel sat next to Marc, feeling terribly awkward.

"You're not... asking me what's wrong?" Juleka asked after getting her nose cleaned enough to talk without sounding like an ogre. Her eyes were still water, and her black makeup was now smearing.

"I figured you would talk about it if you felt comfortable. Sometimes asking is invasive and makes everything feel worse, you know?" Marc said gently. Nathaniel softly brought his gaze to him, and though he could only see the back of Marc's head as he tried to comfort Juleka, he could feel how warm and kind his eyes must have been in concern for the girl.

"Y-yeah," Juleka nodded somberly. "It's... complicated."

"You don't have to talk about it."

"I feel bad that you had to take me out here. I mean, this is basically going to be the only dance for the rest of our highschool lives. Wouldn't you want to be inside?"

"Not particularly," Marc admitted. "I'm not really friends with anyone there. Except for Nathaniel and you, but you're both out here now."

"Oh," Juleka said. She rubbed the tissues against her nose, looking disgusted with the state she was in. "It's Rose," she finally said.

"You guys came together, right?"

"Yeah. Well, I thought we did," Juleka's head sank. "Something weird happened during the Halloween party at Chloe's house... hotel... thing. It's stupid. But I guess I had a different impression than she did."

"What happened?" Marc asked softly.

"Marc..." Nathaniel whispered, trying to urge him away from the subject. He remembered the Halloween party and how flustered Juleka and Rose were after they got picked for seven minutes in heaven. He had a feeling he knew exactly what happened.

"Well, I..." Juleka shied away from Marc, "it's stupid. You wouldn't understand."

"Maybe you're right but, it wouldn't hurt to try, right? And even if I don't understand, I'm here for you. I know we aren't exactly close but I've always enjoyed our talks and, well, I want to help you. Whatever it is you're going through."

"She kissed me," Juleka said. "And I thought... nevermind, it's dumb."

"No it's not," Marc insisted. "Whatever you're feeling isn't dumb."

"I guess she thought that was the purpose of the game, and that we were supposed to do that. Like it was a dare, and nothing more. But I know for sure no one else did that, so I thought... she liked... me," Juleka finally admitted. "For the longest time I thought she had, and I was sure the Halloween party confirmed it. But things just went back to normal after that, like it didn't happen."

"Do you think that maybe she's confused?" Marc asked.

"No. She keeps going on about this Prince Ali guy and her big stupid crush on him. I feel so gross but there's nothing I can do about it. I can't force her into anything, I can't force her to feel the same way," Juleka sniffled. She looked up at Mark with her big watery eyes, hazel in color. "Has that happened to you?"

"Yeah," Marc said. "I'm afraid history keeps repeating itself for me. But-" he lifted his wrist to show off his pride colored bracelet of the mlm flag to her- "I don't beat myself up over it. I'm happier now than I was before. And Juleka, it's ok to feel what you feel."

"You're lesbian?" Nathaniel blurted out and instantly regretted it. Juleka shied away again, biting her lip uncomfortably.

"Um, did uh... did Rose say something to you to upset you tonight?" Marc said, covering up for Nathaniel.

"No. She doesn't know any of this is going on. She just keeps... talking about Prince Ali non stop basically, and I think she has a crush on one of the guys in the grade below us because she keeps going to dance with him," Juleka mumbled. "She's hardly even hanging out with me. I know we're just friends but still, we came to the dance together. I thought she'd want to stick around me more but I guess I assumed wrong."

"Are we having a gay crisis out here?" said a voice none of them recognized. Marc and Nathaniel looked back to see an unfamiliar girl who'd just exited the school. "I uh... couldn't help but overhear some of the conversation..."

The girl stepped forward so she was on the other side of Juleka, opposite of mark. She had dark curly black hair with purple dyed under it, near the tips around her neck. She wasn't necessarily tall, but her physique made her appear so. She had african skin and a gorgeous face that looked slightly amused but also respectable. She sat herself down on the steps.

"Let me tell you, girls are tough, girlie," she said with a heavy sigh. "I'm Lenore, by the way. Sabrina invited me to the dance, I think she's from your class because I remember seeing you guys at the Halloween party."

Juleka scooted away from the girl.

"Oh, I don't mean to make you uncomfortable," Lenore assured, "I'm pansexual, you know. Took me a hot sec to figure that out but ya know, it eventually cleared itself out. What's with you? Girl problems?"

"It was a private conversation, actually," Marc said defensively.

"Hey, from one homo to another, I just want to offer my humble advice! Especially in the discovery of attraction to women," Lenore declared.

Juleka tensed up. Marc, noticing this, decided to stop Lenore from pushing it forward. "I think this was a private conversation."

"And girl, just so you know, I love your look. And if you're interested in finding a girl, I'll have you know that Sabrina is actually bisexual!"

"Leyla- whatever your name is- this isn't helping," Nathaniel finally spoke up. "I know you mean well, but please, this is a different issue."

"Oh, I didn't realize you were here," said Lenore, "aren't you straight? That Mary girl- no uh... Marinette girl is your partner, right? She's alone out there you know. I was hanging with Sabrina when Alya came over and mentioned that and so I offered to come find you."

"Marinette's fine, ok?" Nathaniel said. "Please Lenore, stay out of it."

"Oh- sorry," Lenore's eyes fell. "I guess I'm bad at leaving the room. Well, redhead boy, Alya's looking for you so you should head inside. I'm sorry for butting in."

"It's alright," Juleka mumbled. This seemed to humble Lenore.

"Thank you," she said, stepping back up the stairs.

"I guess I'll head back inside then," Nathaniel said awkwardly, and before Marc could get a word in to him, he was already heading back with Lenore.

"Nathaniel," Marc called for him. Nathaniel hurried toward the door. "Wait, Juleka!" his voice sounded frantic and panicked, so Nathaniel turned around to check on him. Perhaps Juleka was running off or something.

No. It was worse than that.

A black gooey aura consumed Juleka as she was quickly akumatized by a little black moth, transforming her body and replacing it with something inhuman.

A doll. She was a human-sized glass clown doll. Her body was made entirely of glass, probably as a result of how fragile she must have felt that night and nights recent. Her head was crowned with a small brown jester's hat with little beads hanging down from the tips. She wore a jester-like clown inspired dress that puffed out at the shoulders, patterns of eyes curving around the sleeves and bottom of her skirt. The skirt itself was held by a hoopskirt, ending above her knees. The maroon dress was accented in brighter pinks and a few yellows. Her legs were long and curved at the calves which were exaggerated in length, making her more dollike.

Nathaniel could hardly process seeing someone get akumatized right in front of him for a second time. Why did it have to be his friends who became victims of Hawkmoth? Was there something he should've done to prevent this.

"Juleka, fight it. Fight him! You don't have to become an akuma victim!" Marc sprung to his feet.

"My name is Reflekta. I made this choice," she said darkly. Her lips didn't even move when she spoke. She really was a glass doll. She robotically turned her head to look down on Marc (for now she was taller than him) and elegantly raised her glass hand which was long and nimble. Upon the back of her hand was a tiny little mirror and when Marc caught his reflection in it, his body tore itself apart, evaporating in flashy pink light like a dazzling burst of stars, replacing him with a glass clown doll version of himself.

"Marc!" Nathaniel exclaimed, feeling his heart practically rip from his chest.

"What did you do to me?" Marc asked, his glass lips also not moving when he spoke.

"If everyone is fragile, everyone will know how it feels to break. I have been broken, you'll never understand how that feels," Reflekta declared, placing her glass fingertips on his chest which was now covered in colorful buttons to bring out the clownish look of his 'makeover'. She pushed him, causing him to rock back on the steps. "Until now. I can make everyone in this damned city splinter into a million pieces."

"Marc!" Nathaniel sprung forward, practically diving for the steps to catch his friend before he shattered into a million pieces.

"Oh, Nathaniel," Reflekta sneered, raising her hand which contained the mirror so that he may see his reflection in it, "I forgot you were here."

Knowing what happened to Marc, Nathaniel shut his eyes, tucking his head down and bracing himself for the transformation. But nothing happened. He was still a human of flesh, blood, and bone. He hadn't looked in her mirror. He was safe.

"Nathaniel, run!" Marc demanded.

"Juleka, you can't do this!" Nathaniel exclaimed. "Marc was trying to help you! You don't want to hurt him!"

"You both are mocking me!" Reflekta shrieked, her voice sounding like the cracking of a window. "Besides, he looks better like that, don't you think?"

Nathaniel opened eyes, glancing over Marc's expressionless doll face, painted in blacks and blues around his eyes. His hair almost looked like frayed yarn. Sewed to his head was a small party hat, puffy around the rip and tip. Yet his face was undoubtedly Marc's. Though his eyes didn't move, and Nathaniel couldn't be sure if he was looking at him or Reflekta, Nathaniel felt embarrassed to look so closely at his face. Would Marc remember this? Probably.

"I honestly prefer people who still look like people!" came a voice. A female superhero leapt down from the roof of the school, landing on her stilt-like bouncy 'kangaroo legs', right behind Reflekta who now angrily swerved to look. Nathaniel recognized the hero to be Aljara, the locust hero. He'd seen her on the news a few times, but never in person. She rarely took part in akuma fights, with the exception of dealing with Timebreaker.

"Who are you?" Reflekta sneered.

"Aljara!" Aljara exclaimed proudly.

"You're too bold and boastful," said Reflekta, raising her mirrored hand so that Aljara would see her reflection, "I can fix that narcissism."

"Wait, don't look at-" Nathaniel tried to stop it but it was too late. Aljara caught her reflection and in the same manner as Marc, was horrifically ripped apart and reshaped into a doll version of herself, dressed in navy blue and standing on a set of stilts instead of her bouncy jumpy ones.

"Well crap," Aljara cursed, her face now permanently expressionless. On her jester's hat–split in half with a color of navy blue on one side and pale white-ish blue on the other-were two jingling bells, mimicking the bells on the ends of her shoes. Her hair was tucked into the hat, and her eyelashes were long and exaggerated. Her dress, also split in half navy and half light blue, was rather like a medieval pardoner's attire, puffy and collared.

"Your powers don't work anymore, do they?" Reflekta cackled, lightly stepping up to Aljara.

"We'll see about that. Devastation!" She exclaimed, her face unmoving. Around her glass hand a destructive aura flickered to life, much like a copy of Chat Noir's cataclysm.

"Oh?" Reflekta flinched, hesitating on her next step. Aljara towered over her on her stilts, but was much too high up to bend over and use her power on Reflekta without toppling over, so the akuma victim figured she was safe from it. She turned her head like the ticking needle of a clock till she could see Nathaniel and Marc, not moving her shoulders so that her head was at an unnatural angle. "Why don't you play with me instead?"

"Nathaniel, just leave me. She's already done the worst she can do to me, just get out of here!" Marc insisted.

"She's going to try and break you again!" Nathaniel hissed. Reflekta began to laugh coldly.

"Aw, is that what you think?" Reflekta turned her body to face them. "No, I'm going to make all of you shatter!"

"Hey!" Aljara stepped over her, wobbling on her stilts, "you don't know what you're doing right now. You're just emotional, that's all!"

"And what do you know of emotion, mysterious hero? Who are you?" Reflekta cocked her expressionless face creepily up at Aljara.

"I am Aljara, the locust hero of affliction!" Aljara declared. She no longer wore a mask, due to now being a doll, but Nathaniel still had no idea who she was. "And though you have stripped me of my mask and ripped my flesh and bone from my soul, this hardened glass shell you've bestowed upon me will be my new vessel in victory against your evil!"

"Sounds like she's reciting some comic she's memorized," Marc whispered.

"You two, get out of here! I'll take care of her!" Aljara said to Nathaniel and Marc.

"Yes, let's," Marc said, urging Nathaniel to move. Nathaniel grabbed Marc and attempted to run up the steps with him, only to find that Marc, not used to his new clunky body, couldn't exactly run safely. Nathaniel opted to throw Marc under his arm and run with him like he was a football/rugby ball, for his doll-likeness was incredibly light, possibly even hollow.

"Nathaniel!" Reflekta shrieked, "you didn't even try to help me! And now you run away!? Why?! Because I scare you?! Do I scare you?!!"

BOOM!

Aljara used her devastation power on the ground, somehow managing to slip close enough to the school's front steps to touch it, and the whole ground became disheveled. Nathaniel barely kept his balance, clutching Marc's body more carefully now. He looked back at Reflekta and the feminine hero, worried that one of them had shattered from it. However, both girls emerged from the haze of upturned cement dust, seemingly unscathed.

"You can't break me!" Reflekta shouted angrily. "The more people I turn to glass the stronger my body becomes so that I will never break again!"

"It seems you can't break me either, villain!" Aljara said triumphantly.

"Is that so? Your face says otherwise!" Reflekta said vainly. Aljara gently tapped her glass face with her hardened fingers, finding a large crack had spawned from her jaw, streaking all the way across her face to her forehead over her opposite eye.

"It'll only become a scar," Aljara assured herself. "You, however, are extremely outmatched in this war!"

"That's right!" Called the voice of Queen Bee as she gracefully leapt down from the roof of the school. "And I'm unbreakable!"

"Come on, let's get out of here!" Marc said in a sharp whisper.

"Y-yeah-" Nathaniel fumbled around the cracks of the pavement and began to run to the road. Reflekta must not have liked this, because she suddenly was shrieking and hollering at him. "It'll be ok, just tune her out-" he said to himself.

Marc's body went limp.

"Marc?" Nathaniel stopped in his tracks, hoisting Marc up so he could see his glossy face. Marc didn't respond. "Marc?! Marc what's going on-"

Marc's body flew like a limp ragdoll from his arms, pulled by the invisible puppet strings connected to Reflekta's hand. She caught hold of him at the top of the stairs. Next to her, Queen Bee was panicked, for she too had become a human-sized glass clown doll.

"I finally have control. I get to write the story. I get to break things. I get to choose who does what," Reflekta said, moving her fingers around in the sky which, in turn, made Marc's lifeless-looking body dance around on the steps below her.

"Let him go, please!" Nathaniel said, fearing she'd toss him and let him fall to the hard pavement where he could possibly die, should he shatter.

"You can have him if you stay in the school," Reflekta said, commanding Nathaniel to return to her. "Now come on, Nathaniel. March."

With great fear of her manipulation, Nathaniel returned to the top of the steps where, yet again, she tried to turn him into a doll. He kept his eyes on the ground, hoping that for some reason she'd just hand Marc over and he could get out of there.

"Venom!" Queen Bee sang, summoning her intoxicating power. She quickly moved to strike Reflekta in the back, but the doll must have had eyes on the back of her head, for she quickly was able to react. Grabbing the wrist of the which contained the venomous spinning top, Reflekta swerved Queen Bee around effortlessly, driving the tip of the weaponized toy to Nathaniel's chest. Pricked and stung by the venom, Nathaniel was now paralyzed while standing.

"Hey!" Queen Bee shrieked in annoyance mixed with some fear.

Queen Bee yanked away from Reflekta, tripping down a few steps but managing to catch herself. Just like the others, she wasn't used to the new body. Her hair was now longer and brighter than before, divided into two pigtails at the top of her head and reaching her calves. Her long eyelashes highlighted her blank, bright blue eyes and spotted makeup around her face. Unlike the others, her new clothes exposed more of the glass body underneath, revealing just how the joints could move while staying attached by wires and orbs. When she spoke her mouth popped open like a ventriloquist's puppet, but still, unnaturally. Her yellow striped dress started below the shoulders and ended in a flowery skirt just above her knees. Despite her elegance, she was clumsy.

"You know, I'm not fond of my new look," Queen Bee said irritably.

"You should be thanking me. You look a thousand times better," Reflekta retaliated.

Marc now sprung back to life. "Nathaniel?!"

"Don't worry kid, he'll be ok," Queen Bee said.

"Exactly!" said the voice of Chat Noir, arising from behind Aljara, "once we get Ladybug here-"

"She'll join my doll collection!" Reflekta said, raising her hand to Chat Noir where he saw his reflection. Both Aljara and Queen Bee tried to quickly warn him but it all happened much too fast. His body was ripped apart, reshaped and replaced into something entirely new. Just like the others, he was a doll.

He had a pointed black hat with two tips, like a party hat with bells. His collar was tall, long like his now thin and exaggerated neck. He had poofy sleeves decorated in some twenty or so noisy bells each. His pants were also very puffed out, covered in black and neon green checkers. His black shoes, just like the rest of his clothes, had bells. He was going to be a noisy son of a bitch.

"What in the- hey!" Chat Noir nearly toppled over.

"I'll take care of these two," Queen Bee exclaimed, racing over to Nathaniel and Marc, "you two need to keep her from going inside the school. We can't let her make victims of everyone at the dance!"

"You can't get away from me!" Reflekta shrieked, summoning puppet strings to her fingers and recoiling Queen Bee to her side.

"Let me go!" Queen Bee screamed, trying to rip the strings from her body.

"Your miraculous is your hairpiece, correct?" Reflekta sneered, her fingers lacing into Queen Bee's long silky hair.

"No, please! No! Don't!" Queen Bee began to scream. It was all the more horrifying that her mouth hardly moved. Reflekta plucked her hair piece out of her hair. There was a flash of golden light, but nothing about Queen Bee's appearance changed.

"Who said this was fair!? You're not playing by the rules!" Chat Noir kicked at Reflekta's back, causing her to fall over Queen Bee and crash into the ground. She didn't crack or break, but she was now defenseless... ish.

Pollen, the kwami of the bee, now formed over Reflekta's jangling body. She looked absolutely furious. Reflekta, despite being unable to show any emotion, looked absolutely terrified of the godly being. Pollen began screeching some tasteful words and dragging Reflekta about the stairs, trying to snatch back her miraculous, but also causing distraction. It was enough time for Marc to hobble away, dragging Nathaniel's frozen body with him to safety. It was also enough time for Queen Bee, Chat Noir, and Aljara to configure a loose plan.

"Aljara, Queen Bee, you guys keep Reflekta out of the school. I'm going to get everyone evacuated while we wait for Rena, Carapace, and Ladybug to get here," Chat Noir instructed. "Keep her at the steps if you can. Aljara, I'm not sure what abilities you possess but if they're anything like mine... be careful not to break. I already see that crack on your face is growing. It'll just be a scar after this, hopefully, but still."

"I'll be alright, we can do this," Aljara assured.

"I don't know how you fight but we better adapt to each other fast," Queen Bee snorted. Pollen suddenly flew over them, dropping her miraculous into Queen Bee's hands.

"Hurry, you three don't have much time," Pollen said as Queen Bee rushed to put the hairpiece in. Pollen spared a worried glance at Chat Noir. "Young boy, I know you just heeded this warning to Aljara but it is more relevant to you; don't use ruination. It may destroy you while in this state."

"I won't," Chat Noir said.

"Please," Pollen said with the same sternness, "I can't watch Plagg lose another kitten."

And just like that, she disappeared as Queen Bee transformed. Chat was slightly taken aback but had to quickly dismiss it to make room for the threat at bay.

"Go Chat Noir! Hurry!"