Warning: Slight gore cause Tikki goes absolutely feral

Volpina rolled around on the ground for a while, clutching her chest in pain. Her whimpers and frustrated grunts made it sound like she was trying to keep her heart from ripping out of her chest and bursting. Her skin had paled and her body, when still, quivered. Despite being on the ground and at a disadvantage, no one could touch her. When Ladybug moved Volpina would manipulate the illusions around Chat Noir which, to the boy, made them more petrifying to him. Ladybug wondered if they were even seeing the same thing. It was clear though. Taking a step forward, Volpina would worsen Chat Noir's torment. Based on the sheer petrifaction plastered to his face, Ladybug was scared he might actually hurt himself to try and get out.

Queen Bee couldn't get close to Volpina either. Being the one whole transferred the venom into Volpina's throat, she was practically directly next to her. But Volpina, even with her heart trying to fail her, was clever. She was scaring Queen Bee the best she could, but eventually, Queen Bee had enough of it and went for the dive, attempting to strip her of her necklace.

She certainly wasn't prepared for Volpina to roll over and stab her through the hand with her violin bow. The bow must have been super durable, because it cut right through Queen Bee's hand and anchored it to the floor. Queen Bee's screams echoed through the tunnels of the metro, and then all was silent.

"Back off!" Volpina growled, kicking Queen Bee in the face. She fell back, ripping at her hand which was still skewered.

"Bitch! Your atrocious monster! You're a psycho!" Queen Bee wailed.

"Oh no, I apologize for stabbing you with my bow!" Volpina said sarcastically, "how rude of me. Hold on, I'll right my wrongs as soon as I heal myself from the poison you spat down my throat. It might take a while, hopefully I don't die first. Maybe Ladybug should use her miraculous ladybugs to heal the both of us so we can get this all over with!" Volpina shot Ladybug a nasty glare.

"You'll have to free Chat Noir from these nightmare illusions first!" Ladybug snarled.

"As you wish," Volpina sneered. The illusion of prison bars around Chat Noir faded out. Immediately Chat Noir screamed and gasped, collapsing onto his knees and hiding his head.

"What did you do?!"

"I removed the illusions! Just like you asked!" Volpina said with bitter sweetness.

"Chat Noir! What's happening?!" Ladybug crouched next to him. He shoved her aside and shrunk to the floor. "Chaton?"

"Don't call me that," Chat Noir muttered, his voice deep and choked up.

"Chat-"

"Don't bother with him, he'll need some recovery time. Now use your miraculous ladybugs before I trap both of you in a nightmare."

"Fine." Ladybug said, spinning her yoyo at her side. Volpina yanked her bow out of Queen Bee's hand, earning another sharp cry from her. Ladybug tried to ignore the suffering as she tossed her yoyo in the air and summoned her power of restoration. All damage done to the station was repaired, Queen Bee's hand was as good as new, and Volpina didn't look like she was about to throw up her kidneys.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Volpina said, getting to her feet. When Queen Bee tried to do the same, she forcefully shoved her back to the floor without looking at her. "Now, here's the story; Hawkmoth and I have this deal. I get the fox miraculous, but he gets the ladybug and black cat. As you can see, I've gotten what I want, so now... well, you know how this goes."

"You're not taking our miraculous," Ladybug growled.

"Maybe I'll take the bee as a compromise," Volpina threatened, grabbing Queen Bee by her hair and yanking her up on her knees. Queen Bee howled and tried pulling her hair out of Volpina's grasp.

"No!" Ladybug faltered, hesitating to even move. Volpina had them all in a chokehold.

"You got what you want, why don't you just go?" Queen Bee said with frustration and pain.

"My tasks are not fulfilled," Volpina said and then laughed, "your time for your transformation is running out. Ha! How funny. Your kwamis really did give you training wheels!"

"It's for our safety!" Queen Bee defended.

"What about the safety of parisians? What about the safety of those who die during your battles, never resurrected? Do you actually care about them?" Volpina asked snidely. "A little part of me wants to see you fall too."

"You have no idea what Hawkmoth will do to the world if he gets our miraculous," Ladybug said with demeanor.

"Oh, that's true. But the thing is, I don't care." Volpina whipped out her bow, releasing Queen Bee so that she could play a tune on her violin. She played the music of Erich Zann, which chilled the very air itself. Each distorted note and double string played by her single bow thickened the strange aura in the air, and when no illusions sprung out, Ladybug became afraid. Volpina played her violin, and yet nothing happened. She sharply struck her bow against the A string and began to play more vigorously, still playing double strings, her hair flying wildly with her vicious moments which eventually melted into something more calm but just as chilling. No one dared move or speak. The three all had their eyes studying the entire room, looking for any sign of an illusion. Nothing happened.

It almost seemed like the notes were at random, sometimes in scales but mostly jumping every which way to the highest on the little E string to the low G string. It felt like the strings were about to snap. But nothing happened. Ladybug's heart rate spiked, now gluing her eyes to Volpina as she performed an arpeggio. There was a sickening smile on her face that shot nails into Ladybug's hands and feet, keeping her imobile. Chat Noir was still curled on the ground, not bothering to look up.

Queen Bee was the first to try to move, but Volpina easily swayed away from her. Queen Bee regathered her spinning top, ready to use her venom, even though her transformation would surely wear off soon. Ladybug was concerned for her own transformation as well. She could hear the subtle beep beep of her earrings faintly, telling her she only had a few minutes left. She kept her eyes on Volpina, studying her, figuring out what she was trying to do. Perhaps she was creating auditory hallucinations, or disguising another train coming in she would hope to throw Queen Bee into.

Chat Noir finally pulled himself together, keeping his hands over his ears. He too studied Volpina with a sour look on her face and noticed, finally, that when Queen Bee got close to hitting Volpina, her body flickered.

"Ladybug, she's-" Chat Noir turned to tell Ladybug but when he did, he saw Volpina standing directly behind her, hunched over her shoulder. Ladybug was completely frozen, her eyes wide and her lip quivering. Volpina slipped her foxy hands over Ladybug's ears and ripped out her earrings.

"Boo!" Volpina shouted. She began to cackle like a little girl who just pulled a prank on her siblings or parents. Ladybug screamed as a flash of light overcame her body.

Sorry for the crunchy image quality

Thinking quickly, Chat Noir ripped off his jacket and threw it on her, just before the light went out. Ladybug covered her head with it and crawled away as fast as she could, blind.

"How has this not happened sooner?" Volpina asked, admiring the ladybug earrings in her fingers. Tikki manifested right next to Chat Noir in her full form. She didn't say anything, but her rage held a thousand words. Fuming with burning anger, Tikki viciously went to attack Volpina. An iridescent opaque wall formed between Volpina and Tikki, a wall which Tikki couldn't get through even with her ability to travel through physical objects.

"You wench!" Tikki growled, "you can't wear that, even if you tried! You and I are so far from being a match I wouldn't give you even a second in those earrings!"

"I wasn't planning to wear them," Volpina smiled. She tapped on the clear wall. "Like this? I came up with the idea myself."

"What is this?" Tikki said, trying to push her fist through the barrier.

"Well, it looks like an object, does it not? Well, I'll give you a hint; it's alive."

"Dusuu-"

"Bingo!" Volpina giggled again, "surprise surprise! He's awakened from his eternal slumber!"

"You know nothing of what you're dealing with. Dusuu will destroy you and Hawkmoth in a heartbeat," Tikki said, "if he was awake, I would know."

"You're so far from the truth it's actually a little sad," Volpina said. The wall became less transparent, finally revealing itself to be a giant hand shielding Volpina from Tikki. "My deal with Hawkmoth, after our previous deal, was he would wait to use me until Dusuu was awake. With Dusuu awake, I would have protection from kwamis trying to get their miraculous back. I may be a match for Trixx, so that took care of him, but I was going to need a defense against you and Plagg."

"Dusuu would never."

"Oh yes he would," Volpina giggled again, "especially with Nooroo as motivation. I learned all about them. Hawkmoth is rather stupid. I was the one who had to do all this planning, I figured everything out. I studied the miraculous. I knew how to weaken you, I knew how to manipulate the heroes, and I knew exactly how to get Dusuu to comply. He can't have a welder with his jewel still broken, so I found the only leverage Hawkmoth and I had. Nooroo's freedom."

"He's not that stupid!" Tikki rammed her fist against the opaque hand, now revealed to be a sentimonster. Sentimonsters were what Dusuu created. His miraculous had the ability to create a living being or "monster" from an amuk, a peacock feather. He really was alike to Nooroo who could give power through an akuma, a moth.

"He's blind!" Volpina said, whipping out her bow again, preparing to play her violin, "and so are you."

"Enough! Cataclysm!" Chat Noir said, summoning destruction to her hand and leaping at the sentimonster.

"Chat Noir no-" Tikki tried to stop him but his hand was already on the sentimonster. Corruption began to spread across the sentimonster, dark and sickly. The fingers twitched and the hand began to convulse, throwing itself every which way and ramming into Volpina, knocking her onto the border of the platform, her head dangling over the tracks.

"What's happening to it?!" Chat Noir said, stepping away in fear of what he'd done. The hand thrashed out, harming itself on the floor and prying at the ceiling.

"A cataclysm on a sentimonster doesn't kill them," Tikki said, ushering him away from the scene, "it severs the tie between them and their creator. Whatever you've done just now, Dusuu now has no control over that thing. It may be in so much pain it will try to kill itself, or maybe, it will go after you," she became frustrated with him, as if scolding a child, "if Dusuu was playing two sides, he has no hope now. He could have been planning to betray Volpina-"

"Why would he do that in the first place?!" Chat Noir said, now standing next to Ladybug who was pressed against the wall. He could see her civilian clothes, her pale, ungloved hand, and the end of her shoulder length hair which was undone and messy. Just slightly. "He- he- Volpina has the ladybug miraculous because of him! Ladybug is now in danger and we-"

"Hush boy," Tikki scorned, "ignore the sentimonster for now, we need to get the earrings back from Volpina."

"Where is she?" Queen Bee chirped up, recovering herself off the floor. Low and behold, where Volpina had been dangling over the tracks, she was now gone. All that was left was the feral sentimonster, under no control.

"Shit," Chat Noir hissed.

"Dusuu," Tikki whispered under her breath, "if you've awakened from your coma, and this is your doing, please, release your monster." After a few seconds, the hand vanished, like water retreating into a drain. A little feather took its place, delicately on the floor. Tikki approached it and picked it up. It was an amuk. Tikki used her magic to purify it, reverting it to a normal feather.

"What's going to happen?" Queen Bee asked in anxiousness.

"Dusuu has returned," Tikki said with a weak smile, "but at a great cost. Hawkmoth now has more power, and we've lost the fox and ladybug miraculous. He cannot help us from where he is, especially if he is being threatened with Nooroo's safety, or perhaps both of their freedom. He's not one to break a promise, even with bad people.'' She turned to the two heroes, "first things first, get M- Ladybug to safety. Queen Bee, I trust you to take care of her. Chat Noir, you're going to help me get the ladybug earrings back."

"What about the fox?" Chat Noir asked.

"If we have the opportunity, you can try. But that does not matter as much to me."

Chat Noir furrowed his brow in confliction, "ok.."

"I've got ladybug, you guys better hurry before she gets to Hawkmoth," Queen Bee said. Tikki nodded and grabbed Chat Noir by the wrist.

"Don't look upon her face, she'll have her mask on soon enough," Tikki warned. Queen Bee signaled her understanding. Tikki took Chat Noir and very violently he was being thrown through the air, faster than any human could dream of traveling, surrounded by pink and red light until he recovered his feet on the ground in front of the Arc De Triomphe. At the top, where normally tourists would be to see the city at night (it had the best view of the Eiffel Tower after all), stood Volpina. She was a tiny speck in the red fiery sky.

"I don't like the idea of leaving Ladybug alone," Chat Noir admitted, staring up at Volpina.

"She doesn't have a miraculous, Volpina has no reason to hurt her anymore. Besides, you can trust Queen Bee."

"Yeah, I know," Chat Noir said, not wanting to admit she knew her under the mask, and that she was his most trusted childhood friend. Chloe may be snide and rude sometimes, a little snobbish really, but she knew when respect and dignity was needed, and she didn't dare step over those boundaries. She idolized Ladybug, even before she became a hero herself. Chloe would never put Ladybug in harm's way, or even uncover her face, despite strong temptation.

"She's not using illusions anymore. She may have figured out how to control Trixx, but that doesn't give her unlimited power... Still... she's akumatized, she still has Hawkmoth's gifts," Tikki thought out loud.

"Alright then, I'll keep my guard up," Chat Noir said, pulling out his staff to get up on the Arc. However, before he had the chance to jump up there, the Arc De Triomphe (pardon my language) fucking exploded.

"That's the power of clout, sucker!!!" A voice cried from the smoke pluming into the dusty air. A clad purple figure soared over the sky like a tiger leaping up a tree. Volpina spun through the air without control, headed straight for a building over the roundabout. She crashed into the stone wall, breaking through and disappearing. The figure was followed by Carapace, and suddenly, things began to make more sense.

"That's Rena Rouge!" Chat Noir said. He leapt up with his staff to meet her on the roof of the same building Volpina had crashed into. Perhaps a little over enthusiastic, he instantly hugged her for a brief moment.

"Hahah, what's up cat boy?" she said with a laugh.

"You- you-"

"I went to the sanctuary and Roaar paired herself with me. I'm Tigre Rouge now!" Tigre Rouge said with excitement. Carapace landed with them on the roof, followed by Tikki.

"What's- why is Ladybug's kwami out?" Carapace asked, nearly falling on his face.

"Volpina has my miraculous. Now you better hurry and do your jobs," Tikki said. She wasn't too pleased with Rena Tigre. Perhaps she took it as an act of defiance, or maybe she was upset with Roaar. It was hard to tell who her anger was directed at. Tikki was a very angry kwami.

"Right, don't let her escape," Tigre said.

"Shell-ter!" Carapace said, forming a forcefield around them and the room below the roof they stood on, trapping Volpina in the corner of the building they were on. The heroes swung below through a window, meeting Volpina inside. It was a spacious, empty room. Maybe it was being rented out. It could have been an art studio.

"Who the hell are you?" Volpina said, eyeing Tigre Rouge.

"Tigre Rouge!" Tigre declared, "you might remember me as Rena Rouge. You have something that's mine, and I promised a couple friends I'd get it back."

"So you got an upgrade? From the third ring, I presume. You're not all that powerful now that you've used the one power you've got. Volpina went to grab her bow but found it had snapped in half. She cursed and tossed it aside.

"You have nothing protecting you now," Tikki said with wide burning eyes.

Tikki sprung forward at Volpina, ripping her mask off her face. She looked exactly like Lila Rossi, and now, the hard truth of betrayal washed over Chat Noir. He was reminded that this was another one of his classmates. The difference was she deliberately wanted to do this.

"I would ordinarily refrain from using my powers, because last time I did that I created sentient knives that could fly around a hotel. It probably hurt a few people, maybe even killed them. But with you? I'd have no regrets at all!" Tikki said, summoning a pink light around her fingertips.

"Tikki! Please, don't!" Chat Noir said, "it's not-"

"Worth it? Oh please Chat Noir, she has one of the most powerful objects in the universe on her. I can't let her get away with it!"

"You guys talk too much," Volpina said, ripping at Tikki's hair and squirming away from her.

"Where're the earrings?" Tikki demanded, ignoring Chat Noir's request and creating a sword with her power. It was long and curved like a katana, but more European at its handle. She put it behind Volpina's throat, drawing their faces close intimidatingly.

"Your idiot tiger friend knocked it out of my hands with her explosion. It's probably somewhere on the street," Volpina growled, daring to head butt Tikki and wriggled away again. Tikki head her sword menacingly, preparing to skewer Volpina if she had to. Unfortunately, her magic had consequence. Each time she went to strike Volpina with the sword, a blade would form along the wall of the empty room. It wasn't long before the empty room was now decorated with sword blades.

"Wow, it's a murder room now," Carapace muttered.

"No shit. We have to stop her," Chat Noir said.

"You have the jewels on you!" Tikki said, grabbing Volpina by the throat and throwing her at one of the bladed walls like a lip rag doll. In terror of what could be undoable, Carapace lept between Volpina and the wall, catching her before she hit the blades. His back got pricked by some of the sword tips, so he summoned his power of shield to increase his durability and strength, keeping Volpina in one place and saving her life at the same time.

"What did you just try to do?!" Carapace said protectively. Volpina looked absolutely confused, scared, and sick.

"You protected her! How dare you! I'm going to get my jewels back, even if I have to torture that information out of her!" Tikki said with a rage matching that of Fraay's. It scared the heroes.

"Tikki! Stop!" Chat Noir shouted, now horrified of Tikki. "You're acting like... Fraay."

"DON'T COMPARE ME TO HER!" Tikki roared, drawing her blade and preparing to lash out at Volpina. Volpina looked as though she'd given up. Chat Noir quickly stepped in front of the attack, just as Carapace had, bringing his baton above his head to deflect her blade.

"You're going to kill her!" Rena Tigre exclaimed, "she's given up already just STOP IT!"

"Wielders of the fox are masters of lies. Her specialty is acting. Don't believe a thing you see or hear from her, ever!" Tikki said, slashing the sword again. She nicked Chat Noir on the cheek and a little bit of blood came out.

Chat Noir knew there was a reason kwami's couldn't be heroes. They were too powerful, and their magic had consequences on mortals. He remembered Plagg was also willing to kill Pharaoh, and when Chat Noir decided to stop him and protect Ladybug himself by taking on his transformation, his will had been altered. Plagg affected him enough to unlock ruination, and give him the ability to use cataclysm twice. He understood why heroes were limited in what they could do. It was for good reason. Too much power might corrupt a person.

But what about kwamis? No matter what Volpina could have said or done, Tikki wasn't going to stop trying to torture or kill her. That was abundantly clear. She could have been telling the truth when she said she dropped the earrings, but Tikki wouldn't believe her. Why would she? Kwamis were created for the protection of the earth, but that didn't make them pure angels. Kwamis were morally gray, Chat Noir finally saw what that meant.

Volpina muttered a small "thank you" to Carapace and Chat Noir, practically collapsing onto him. Tikki slashed her sword at Chat Noir again who barely was able to deflect it.

"Enough!" Carapace said. "You're going to hurt Chat Noir! Let's just take the fox miraculous and search for the earrings while we still can!"

"I don't care about the fox!" Tikki said sharply, "WHERE ARE MY EARRINGS!"

"I don't know! I dropped them!" Volpina said, shivering.

"Take down the force field carapace, I'll go search the streets," Rena Tigre said. Carapace obliged.

"You just removed our only way of trapping her!" Tikki scorned.

"I've got her in my arms!" Carapace said.

"I know they're not out there!" Tikki said.

"I don't know what happened to them!" Volpina said, tearing up.

"They're inside your violin," Chat Noir said calmly. Volpina slightly nodded. Chat Noir, wary of Tikki, walked to Volpina's instrument where it lay on the floor. He picked it up by its handle and smashed it against the wall. Two earrings fell out of it. Chat Noir picked them up. "There, Tikki. We have the ladybug miraculous back. You don't need to hurt Volpina."

"She could be tricking you. Those could be illusions," Tikki argued.

"You're blind in anger. Just trust us when we say, everything is ok," Chat Noir said, though he didn't really feel like it was he who was speaking.

"I don't care, Plagg- Chat Noir," Tikki knit her brows. Her gaze darkened. "Hand them to me."

"I want to give them to Ladybug myself," Chat Noir said.

"Absolutely not. I'm sick of your nonsense."

"Guys, can someone grab the necklace? If I let go she'll-" Carapace tried to interject.

"My nonsense? Everything I've done has been to help you and ladybug! I care about her too, you know!"

"You're a stupid cat who follows the orders anyone gives you. I didn't trust you the second I saw you, before Plagg even touched you. Something's off about you, Chat Noir. I don't know what it is, but trust me, it won't be any good when either of us find out."

"Guys-" Carapace tried again.

"Give me the earrings, Chat Noir!"

"No!"

"You're thinking about taking them, aren't you?!"

"What? No!"

"Please-" Carapace was muffled by Volpina's hand. She finally got out of his grasp so he grabbed onto her ankle. She kicked at his face, but with his shield still active, it did nothing to harm him.

"Shit-" Chat Noir tried to move to help but Tikki aggressively grabbed him.

"Give me my miraculous, Chat Noir," she said, raising her sword to his chin.

"She's going to get away with the necklace!" Chat Noir said. Carapace was still pleading for help.

"Give them to me first," Tikki said. Chat Noir finally did, and she let him go. "Good kitty."

Volpina had gotten away from Carapace, and with the force field down, she had the freedom to leave. With a certain cockiness about her, she sat in the window, grinning wildly back at them.

"You'll be seeing me again soon. Ciao!" she said and jumped out into the world, gone for good.

"Look what you've done!" Tikki fumed.

"You were the one who stopped me! There's still hope, we can-"

"This is ridiculous!" Tikki said, storming outside. "At least we got the ladybug back."

"But we lost Trixx," Carapace reminded.

"That's fine."

"What? How is that fine?!" Carapace argued. Outside, Volpina was nowhere to be seen.

"It's just Trixx, he'll get away from her."

"Dusuu and Nooroo have been trapped for twenty-"

"You don't need to remind me!" Tikki barked, "now, I'm going to return to Ladybug, and you two are going to return Roaar to the sanctuary, got it?"

"Why?!"

"Because we all know that's Alya Cesaire! Her identity is known by you, it's dangerous."

"She's the reason we got Volpina cornered!" Carapace defended.

"She's the reason Volpina exists!" Tikki snapped. "Not another word. I'm leaving."

"Can you at least repair everything that's been damaged?" Chat Noir asked humbly.

"Of course," Tikki said, finally softening for a split moment. She flew to the Triomphe and summoned her miraculous ladybugs. Once everything was repaired, she did not spare any of the heroes another glance before running off.

"She's..." Carapace drifted.

"Terrifying." Chat Noir finished.