Unaware of The Collector watching them, Ladybug and Chat Noir had arrived at the Agreste Mansion and entered Gabriel's atelier through a conveniently open window. But they were surprised by the many broken pieces of furniture and statues littering the trashed area that greeted them on arrival.

"Whoa, what happened here? Looks like somebody had a little tantrum." Ladybug exclaimed, shocked by the state of the room while Chat Noir started walking around in seeming aimlessness. His unusual state only seemed to worsen when he spotted the painting of him and his family lying on the floor just inches away from his feet, causing Chat Noir to sigh at the sight with heartache.

"Chat..." the spotted heroine began when she saw Chat Noir's melancholy, placing a comforting hand on her partner's shoulder and causing him to turn and face her in response. "Are you sure you're okay, kitty?" Ladybug asked, hoping that he was going to be in the right mindset for why they had come to the mansion in the first place.

"Yeah. Let's keep going." Chat Noir replied, looking back at the floor before Ladybug gasped in realization and took her hand off of his shoulder.

"He's got a son! Let's go check his room; make sure nothing's happened to him." Ladybug quickly decided, followed by her running out of the room with Chat Noir tailing behind her. But when she and Chat Noir entered the front hall, they were greeted by the sight of The Collector at the top of the main stairs.

"What the..." Chat Noir muttered to himself in shock after he and Ladybug skidded to a stop at the foot of the stairs simultaneously. "Who are you?! Where's Gabriel Agreste?" the hero in black growled at the intruder, pulling out his staff and triggering both heroes to stand at the ready for an attack.

"There is no more Gabriel Agreste. There is only...the Collector!" The Collector proclaimed from his perch before he threw his sketchbook at the heroes, trying to trap either one inside of it.

Thankfully for them, they jumped back and managed to dodge the hit, which led the sketchbook to trap the mansion's front door instead. After the door had vanished, the book boomeranged back the way it came and hurtled towards Ladybug and Chat Noir once more. Thinking fast, Ladybug knocked Chat Noir to the floor just before the sketchbook came at them and returned to The Collector.

"You won't be able to escape!" the akumatized fashion designer yelled at the heroes as they got up from the floor and leapt towards the open doorway, throwing his book at them once more.

While the flying book continued to chase Ladybug and Chat Noir around the room, The Collector had tried to attack them on his own as well, making Chat Noir fling him to the side before his book came back to him. Seeing the turn of events, both heroes vaulted up and away from it using their weapons and landed on the upper level of the house, soon running along the balcony area to avoid being captured by the book. About halfway across the balcony, Ladybug and Chat Noir jumped back down into the foyer and were met with The Collector once again before he caught his book again. After the akuma had his weapon again, the two heroes tried to get away and soon found themselves entering the large dining room next to the foyer, only to be quickly cornered by their foe. With limited options left, Chat Noir decided to take the offensive approach and got ready to throw his staff at The Collector as he stood on the other side of the room.

"Wait!" Ladybug shouted to Chat Noir, hoping to stop him from doing something stupid. But she was too late and Chat Noir threw his staff towards The Collector anyway, only for the akuma to use his book as a shield and trap the weapon inside his sketchbook, leaving the superheroes in shock.

"Nice piece, wouldn't you agree?" The Collector taunted the heroes as Chat Noir's staff appeared on the open book's pages, followed by him throwing the book at them again.

Left without a weapon, Chat Noir had to think fast and throw one of the dining table chairs at the Collector to prevent himself from getting captured. Thankfully it had worked and the chair was trapped inside his sketchbook as well, allowing Ladybug and Chat Noir the opening they needed to run back into the main hall. As they did, they didn't catch The Collector retrieving his book and then erasing the trapped chair from the book's pages, making it vanish completely. But that didn't matter to them much at the moment as they hid behind the side of the main staircase, hoping to get enough time to catch their breath and come up with a plan.

"The akuma's gotta be in that book!" Ladybug exclaimed after they hid themselves away, kneeling close to the ground to avoid detection.

"Yeah, but if we touch it, we'll disappear!" Chat Noir remarked, bringing up that little detail they needed to remember. However, that didn't stop Ladybug from calling on her...

"Lucky Charm!" Ladybug shouted, summoning her powers and receiving a set of bike pedals. "A pedal?" the heroine in red muttered to herself in confusion after the object landed in her hands. But seeing as it would help save the day, she rolled with it and looked around to try and figure out what to do with the pedal.

"I have no idea what to do with this." Ladybug reported, coming up empty on how to use the strange object. "We need to stall him." the spotted heroine decided, hoping that she could come up with the solution during the fight. Unfortunately, their break was interrupted when The Collector threw his sketchbook at the staircase and made it disappear, revealing the heroes to him once again.

"Ladybug and Chat Noir, you shall be the masterpieces in my new book of inspiration." The Collector proclaimed before throwing his book at them again, continuing the fight.

Once again, Ladybug and Chat Noir were left with the option of trying to avoid getting touched with The Collector's book, leaping and/or swinging around the room to avoid getting captured. But after having enough of being on the defense, Chat Noir tried going on the offensive and tried to attack The Collector, leading to the akuma calling back his book to try and capture the feline. But no matter how many times he tried to do so, Chat Noir nimbly avoided the book's touch and slinked around his akumatized father with ease. Deciding to try a different approach, The Collector flipped his book into his left hand and caused Chat Noir to try and grab it, unknowingly falling for the trap the akuma had set.

With Chat Noir now in front of him, the akuma tried swiping at the feline hero with his book, soon cornering him against a decorative pillar. But just seconds before The Collector could touch Chat Noir with his book, Ladybug threw her yo-yo at him and quickly wrapped it onto his arm, stopping him before she pulled his arm back. The force behind the pull was enough to drag the akuma away from Chat Noir and make him lose his grip on his sketchbook, causing the book to start flying around the room again. As it did, The Collector tried to punch at Ladybug in the time it took the book to return to him, forcing her to jump back away from him and duck as the book flew back to its master.

Seeing the opportunity as Ladybug tried to attack him, The Collector then tried to touch Ladybug but failed to do so when Chat Noir joined the fight again and distracted him. Giving Ladybug the chance to evade the akuma's attempt, Chat Noir also managed to kick the sketchbook away from The Collector's hand, sending it up into the air. However, The Collector kicked Chat Noir away from him and jumped up to reach for his book, leading Ladybug to use her yo-yo to grab ahold of his ankle and pull him down to the floor. But while on the floor, the akuma managed to grab his book and used it to free himself by trapping Ladybug's yo-yo inside, making her shriek at the loss of the balance her yo-yo string gave her.

"My collection's growing!" the akumatized fashion mogul purred in delight as he rose to his feet, showing off Ladybug's yo-yo as it appeared within his book's pages.

"No!" Ladybug cried in disbelief, only to have to avoid The Collector throwing his book at her again. The fight continued from there, leading The Collector to continue chasing Ladybug and Chat Noir and forcing them to jump up to the second floor.

"So that must mean...Gabriel Agreste can't possibly be Hawkmoth, since he's been akumatized!" Chat Noir exclaimed as he and Ladybug crouched behind the balcony railing, realizing that this little incident proved that his father was innocent.

"You call Agreste turning into The Collector good news?!" Ladybug nearly shrieked as she gawked at her partner, appalled by his happiness at this akumatization.

But they didn't have time to dwell on it anymore when The Collector made the railing in front of them disappear, forcing them to run away into Adrien's room. Upon entering the room, Ladybug and Chat Noir quickly barricade the entrance by using the furniture in Adrien's room, hoping to prevent The Collector from entering. However, as soon as they had finished, Ladybug took one look around the room and soon realized...

"Gabriel Agreste's son isn't at home?" Ladybug worriedly observed, standing in the middle of the room.

"Maybe The Collector's already captured him." Chat Noir supplied, hoping to avoid his identity being found out for who knows how many times that day and unintentionally causing Ladybug to gasp in shock at the thought.

"You think he'd take it out on his son?" Ladybug fretted, hoping that it wasn't the case.

"Uh..." Chat Noir began, only to be interrupted by the sound of the bedroom door opening beyond the barricade behind him.

"You cannot escape from me." The Collector threatened with an evil laugh, followed by him making the objects blocking his way disappear. But as he did, it finally gave Ladybug the time she needed to think of a plan.

"What if he has no pages left in his book?" Ladybug wondered out loud, soon looking around the room and spotting certain objects that helped her finally figure out a plan.

But as she figured out what to do, The Collector had managed to free himself from the barricaded entrance, soon entering the room and beginning the chase again. However, Chat Noir had kept up to the top of the skate ramp surrounding the entryway while Ladybug hid behind the TV out of the Collector's sight. Unfortunately for her, it didn't work and he saw her attempt to hide from him.

"But before I immortalize you, allow me to seize your Miraculous for Hawkmoth." The Collector sinisterly requested the spotted heroine, unaware of her edging to the other side of her hiding place and look around to see Chat Noir now standing on the upper-level balcony.

"Chat Noir, I need ammunition!" Ladybug called out to her partner, resulting in The Collector trapping the TV within his book and chasing Ladybug around the room.

"You need what?" Chat Noir questioned, not getting what she meant when she said 'ammunition'.

"We're gonna complete his collection!" Ladybug explained as she grabbed a magazine, rolled it up and threw it at the wall of discs behind Chat Noir while flipping off of the wall and landing on the floor during the chase. The magazine then caused a few of the discs to fall to the ground, to which Chat Noir finally caught onto her plan.

"Very smart M'Lady, quite ingenious." Chat Noir complemented, impressed with her idea.

"Less talking, more doing!" Ladybug yelled to Chat Noir as she continued to jump away from The Collector, soon leaping up onto the upper-level balcony with the akuma following behind her.

As she kept running from The Collector, Ladybug managed to detach Chat Noir's tail from his suit as she ran past him and jumped down from the balcony to land next to the Foosball table. Meanwhile, Chat Noir had given her a chance to do so by continuing to fight The Collector on the upper level, soon throwing him onto the rock-climbing wall and then tumbling to the ground. With his opponent out of the way for a little bit, Chat Noir had the chance to do his part of the plan and call on his...

"Cataclysm!" Chat Noir shouted, summoning his powers and using them on the bookshelf, the discs all dropping down to his feet.

Down on the ground level, Ladybug had used the time it took for The Collector to recover as well and got to work attaching the pedal and Chat Noir's tail to the Foosball table, creating a makeshift catapult. Once it was ready, Ladybug moved the contraption into position in front of the recovering akuma and just under where Chat Noir was on the balcony above.

"Ready, Chat Noir?" Ladybug called up to her partner, getting ready to start firing at The Collector when he sent down the discs.

"I'm always ready for you, M'Lady!" Chat Noir replied in a flirty tone, prompting Ladybug to start cranking the makeshift device.

From there, Chat Noir immediately started throwing numerous discs into the catapult, letting Ladybug fire them right at The Collector as he approached Ladybug. As he did, he unknowingly fell for Ladybug's trap and started capturing the flying discs with his book, thus neutralizing the pages inside the closer he got to her.

"Come on! Come on!" Ladybug pleaded out loud as she kept sending discs at The Collector, hoping that he would run out of pages soon.

"No more ammo!" Chat Noir yelled, looking down at the empty floor with worry while The Collector finally closed in on Ladybug.

Not wasting any more time, he trapped the Foosball table inside his book and then approached a now cowering Ladybug as she tried backing away from the akuma coming towards her. But thankfully for her, when The Collector touched her with the book, it didn't trap her and caused him to look and see that the pages of his notebook were now filled up.

"It's already full!?" The Collector exclaimed in surprise, followed by him trying to remove one of the discs from his notebook to clear some space for his soon-to-be victim. With the opening presented to her, Ladybug then kicked the notebook out of his hand and sent it towards Chat Noir. "My book! No!" the akumatized fashion designer shouted in anguish as the feline caught the book before throwing it back to Ladybug, who then ripped the book into two and forced the akuma to fly out from it.

"Miraculous Ladybug!" Ladybug cried out as she threw the bike pedal Lucky Charm into the air, summoning the magic cure to turn everything back to normal.

Alongside the mansion's restoration, Chat Noir's staff and Ladybug's yo-yo had been returned to them too, which had pleased them immensely if Chat Noir happily kissing his weapon was any giveaway. But Ladybug only took note of it and only fondly smiled at his antics as she prepared to cleanse the akuma.

"No more evildoing for you, little akuma!" Ladybug proclaimed as she opened her yo-yo to reveal the sparkling pool of cleansing energy inside, spinning it around in preparation.

"Time to de-evilize!" she shouted before she threw her yo-yo toward the akuma, catching it in her yo-yo. "Gotcha!" Ladybug cheered when the yo-yo was back in her hand. A second later, she opened her yo-yo once again, setting the white butterfly free.

"Bye, bye little butterfly," Ladybug said as the butterfly flew out the open bedroom window, turning around just in time to see The Collector turn back into Gabriel. With the threat now taken care of, Ladybug walked over to her partner, unaware of his intensely focused gaze on the previously akumatized fashion designer.

"Pound..." the spotted heroine cheered, raising her fist to Chat Noir for their usual post-battle ritual. But she was completely ignored by her feline companion when he rushed over towards Gabriel.

"Are you okay, sir?" Chat Noir asked, kneeling next to Gabriel as he soothed a headache before realizing who was in the room with him.

"Chat Noir, Ladybug, what happened to me?" Gabriel questioned the heroes, playing it off like he was a normal akumatized victim to avoid suspicion.

"You were akumatized by Hawkmoth. But don't worry, it's over now!" Chat Noir explained to him, relieved that his father was safe.

"Thank you. Thank you, both of you!" Gabriel said, turning up the act to an 11 as he stomached the need to thank his enemies for 'saving' him. But his false gratitude was quickly replaced by worry when he realized that his son was nowhere to be seen. "Adrien...where is my son?" the fashion designer fretted as he rose to his feet, his worry clear as day to the heroes and making Chat Noir panic to come up with a plausible excuse for his absence.

"He...must be hiding?" Chat Noir nervously guessed, hoping that it would be enough of a satisfying answer.

"Chat Noir is right, otherwise your son would have reappeared right here." Ladybug agreed, unknowingly making the feline's heartbeat lower to a more natural pace due to her unintentional help.

"Nothing must happen to him. He's too precious to me." Gabriel stated as he put his hands on Chat Noir's shoulders, who could only smile at the amount of care his father had displayed for him. But the sweet moment was interrupted by the beeping of Ladybug's earrings, making her notice that the last two spots were about to wear off.

"We're about to transform back. Goodbye, Mr. Agreste." Ladybug farewelled, warning Chat Noir of their limited time before she started making her way to the window.

"Don't worry yourself, sir. I'm sure your son is safe and sound." Chat Noir assured Gabriel as he gently removed the older man's hands from his shoulder and ran to the window, vaulting off after Ladybug while thinking that everything was now fine with Gabriel. But due to their hasty departure, they failed to witness Gabriel smiling evilly to himself when he was finally alone.

"See you very soon!" Gabriel sinisterly purred, a malicious glint appearing in his eyes before he walked out of the room.

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After Ladybug and Chat Noir had parted ways, the spotted heroine made her way back to Master Fu's massage shop, intending to tell him the truth about how she got the Spellbook. And while Tikki and Wayzz were playing on the gramophone that kept the Miracle Box hidden, Marinette did exactly that while explaining what had happened just minutes before.

"So, since Gabriel Agreste was akumatized, he can't possibly be Hawkmoth!" Marinette exclaimed as she sat on her knees across from Master Fu, finishing off her recount of what had happened during The Collector's akumatization.

"Indeed. I'd say it's safe to say that he isn't who we are looking for." Master Fu agreed, now put at ease with the information. "But... how did you find out that Gabriel Agreste was the owner of the Spellbook?" the guardian questioned, having that one little detail nagging in the back of his mind.

"At first, I thought the book belonged to Gabriel Agreste's son, Adrien, since he had it with him at school before it was stolen by the person me and Tikki got it back from." Marinette explained while Tikki flew back to her side, finally admitting to how she got the book in the first place. "But when you said that whoever had possession of the Spellbook could be Hawkmoth, I panicked since..." the designer trailed off, not knowing how to finish her sentence in a way that didn't sound like she didn't trust the old master.

"You are close with Adrien." Master Fu supplied, making Marinette nod in agreement to his guess. "I see. You were afraid in case the one you love turned out to be Hawkmoth." the guardian observed, a sly smirk appearing on his face and leaving Marinette shocked.

"Wha... Uh, no, uh, how did you know that? I mean, I don't love him at all." Marinette denied with a nervous laugh, unsettled by the giggling master's 'dead on the mark' observation before realizing that her fibbing was doing nothing to help her at that moment. "Oh, all right, yes, Adrien is amazing. I couldn't stand the thought of him being a supervillain." the pigtailed girl admitted, a frown now present on her face as she hunched in on herself in slight embarrassment.

"You know, Marinette, if we want to be stronger than Hawkmoth, we must trust each other." Master Fu said, pulling Marinette out of her sulking and directing her attention back to him.

"I know." Marinette grumbled. "But now, Adrien will never be able to come back to school because I can never give him that book back. I'll never see him again!" Marinette wailed in despair before falling to the floor, whimpering and sobbing at the terrifying thought.

"There isn't a single problem that can't be solved, Marinette." Master Fu assured his pupil, rising to his feet and standing over her as he spoke.

After hearing Master Fu's words, Marinette picked herself up and dried her tears as she watched the guardian walk over to his corner table and place the Spellbook on top of it. From there, he also pulled out his phone from his pocket while Marinette walked over to him and started taking pictures of the contents of the Spellbook's pages.

"These modern inventions are quite incredible. I do believe we'll be able to use the information within these pages to its fullest degree." the old man happily remarked as he kept on taking pictures while Marinette and their kwami's watched, eager to get started in studying the pages afterwards.

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After a while, Master Fu had taken pictures of all the pages of the Miraculous Spellbook and copied the information within it. But he couldn't seem to find a way to get the information on the enchanted pages of the book photographed as well, leading to the pictures of those pages showing up completely blank to even the kwamis. After deciding to figure out that problem for another day, Master Fu gave the book back to Marinette so that she could finally give it back to Mr. Agreste. This led to her standing in the Agreste Mansion's foyer... right in front of Gabriel himself as she tried to explain the "incident" of her coming to possess the spellbook, Nathalie standing just behind her boss.

"So, when Adrien put the book down and walked away, I wanted to take a peek." Marinette explained, taking the blame for what Lila had done while her hands and arms were flung around the air during her talking due to her nerves. "You see, I thought it was a portfolio with lots of pictures of him 'cause he's so cute. Uh, but you already knew that." the red-tipped-haired girl added, only to see Gabriel's unamused glare at her and end up nervously giggling in response.

"Anyway... when he came back, I was scared he'd see me staring at his book so I hid it in my backpack and I know it was a dumb thing to do." Marinette continued, finishing her explanation. "I really am sorry." she apologized.

"I see. So, you're one of his admirers?" Gabriel finally spoke, unintentionally hitting the nail right on the head with his assumption.

"Admirers? Yeah. That's the word." Marinette replied, followed by her finally giving the Miraculous book back to Gabriel, who passed it to Nathalie for safekeeping. "You won't say anything to him, will you?" the designer meekly asked, to which Gabriel responded with a shake of his head and eased some of her worries.

"Are you going to let Adrien come back to school?" Marinette questioned, hoping that the answer would be a 'yes' with the return of the book.

"Well, considering he didn't lose my book as it was borrowed by you... yes, I will." Gabriel decided, leaving Marinette so relieved that she couldn't help the joy-filled laugh spewing past her lips.

"Thank you!!" Marinette cheered, grabbing her bag before Nathalie walked over to guide her out the door. But just after she crossed the threshold, the lingering question in the back of her mind had rushed to the surface of her thoughts, begging to be answered. "Hmm, can I ask you a question? The pigtailed girl asked as she turned back around to face her idol, leaving Gabriel nodding in permission.

"I flipped through the book and it looked awesome. Those illustrations of legendary heroes are super...inspiring." Marinette remarked, letting herself gush at the images within the book. "But I couldn't help but wonder where you got it from." the red-tipped-haired girl admitted, revealing her question to the fashion mogul.

"I found it while I was on a trip overseas with my wife. I've never seen another copy of it." Gabriel simply explained and left it at that.

"Well then, you're very lucky to own it." Marinette replied, followed by her waving 'goodbye' before finally leaving the estate, the gates closing behind her.

"It was really brave what you just did for Adrien." Tikki praised her holder, poking her head from Marinette's purse now that they were alone.

"Thanks, Tikki. But all that matters to me is for Adrien to be allowed out of the house again." Marinette said, a soft smile gracing her face as she slowly walked away from the Agreste mansion, heading back home after such a long day.

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Shortly after Marinette had left the mansion, Gabriel had called for Adrien to join him in his atelier to discuss things going forward. This had resulted in the blonde standing a few feet behind Gabriel as he returned the Spellbook to its shelf.

"I'm sorry I became so furious over a book." Gabriel apologized as he closed the safe back up, pulling the painting over it to keep it hidden from view once more.

"In hindsight, I shouldn't have taken it without your permission. I was just curious." Adrien replied, realizing his fault in the matter too. "If you don't mind me asking..." he began, only to stop short in the hopes of not overreaching into his father's matters with his question.

"Go on." Gabriel said whilst not turning to face his son, allowing Adrien to ask his question and get it out in the open.

"Other than the book being your main source of inspiration... why were you so angry that I took it?" Adrien asked, wanting to know the deeper reason for his father's ire towards him losing the book.

"That book... was the very last gift your mother gave to me before...before she disappeared." Gabriel answered, explaining his earlier anger-filled actions to Adrien. "All I have left of her is this book...and you." he softly added, finally turning to face Adrien after he spoke.

"But I know I can't keep the book or you locked up in this house forever." Gabriel finished, now fully facing his son as Adrien started to connect the dots of what his father was insinuating.

"Does that mean you'll let me go back to school, then?" Adrien questioned as Gabriel walked up to him, the fashion mogul nodding his head as he placed his hands on his son's shoulders. "Thank you, Father!" the boy happily exclaimed as he hugged his father in gratitude, followed by Gabriel returning it a second later. It looked like Adrien's luck was now turning for the better.

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Well after her visit to the Agreste Mansion, Marinette had arrived back home and went to work on the homework she had received before classes ended that day. In doing so, she cleared the remainder of her night after dinner with her parents to have the time to have her usual video call with her brothers. So after she changed into her pajamas, Marinette glided into her desk chair and opened up her computer to await the telltale sign of Jim calling her. Thankfully, she didn't need to wait long for the screen to show said sign and quickly clicked it to allow Jim and Toby to appear on the screen.

"Hey guys." Marinette greeted the two boys, only having seconds to take note of their shocked/worried stares at her.

"TWO AKUMAS IN ONE DAY! AGAIN!!!" Jim exclaimed, throwing his free hand into the air as he ranted. "HAS HAWKMOTH GONE LOCO?" the Trollhunter asked out loud, lowering his hand to rest it on his side before letting Marinette have the floor again.

"Nice to see you too, Jim." Marinette replied, a fond eye roll and soft chuckle accompanying her response to her brother's reaction. "But yeah, I'm honestly wondering about that myself." she admitted, placing a hand to her forehead to soothe a small headache coming on as she thought about her crazy day.

"This is the second time you've had to deal with two akumas on the same. We're honestly getting worried that Hawkmoth is getting too despite for our liking." Toby admitted as he and Jim pulled their lunches from their bags. The menu that day was a repeat of simple PB&J sandwiches, veggie sticks and chocolate chip cookies, all due to Jim being too tired that morning from yesterday's training to do something more adventurous.

"I don't blame you. Even I'm getting worried too." Marinette responded, voicing her like-minded concerns about her current predicament.

"In any case, care to share what happened?" Jim asked before biting into his sandwich, hoping to finally know the more nitty-gritty details of the back-to-back akumas of the day.

"Will do. But I got to warn you... it's pretty intense. Especially with Volpina." Marinette warned the two boys, deciding not to outright say that she didn't want to explain some details of what happened.

"Then you better spill the beans!" Toby exclaimed, following Jim's example and biting into his sandwich too. "And don't skimp on the details!" the rounded boy added, his mouth full of food and drawing a laugh from Marinette at his atrocious manners.

But despite the little laugh she had, Marinette made use of their remaining call time to explain what had happened that day. She obviously started with the events leading up to Volpina, including mentioning Lila and the little charade she had played. Needless to say, the boys weren't too happy with Lila or with how Marinette had handled things at the start. But they were even more appalled when they heard Volpina had been actively trying to kill their sister during their fight, triggering some of their protective instincts towards Marinette.

However, their ire had been settled a bit by the time Marinette got to the part of the Spellbook and the whole debacle with The Collector. Upon hearing of what the Spellbook could offer her and Chat Noir, both Jim and Toby were glad to hear that Marinette and her partner now had an advantage over Hawkmoth. After explaining the enchanted pages dilemma, Marinette asked Jim if Blinky would be interested in finding a spell to allow them to read what was on the pages, to which he was all too eager to help.

But when reaching the part of Gabriel Agreste being akumatized into The Collector, it had left a very mixed reaction from both Jim and Toby. On one hand, they were surprised to hear how badly the fashion designer had reacted to the book being taken and lost. On the other hand, Jim had found the whole retelling a little more illuminating on Adrien's private life than he expected... leaving him unsettled by said information.

"And that's about all of it. Any questions?" Marinette asked, having finished her retelling while the boys had reached the end of their lunches.

"Several... actually." Jim replied, finishing off the last of his cookies before continuing. "First one... do you really think having a crush on Adrien is worth it if it's caused so much trouble?" the Trollhunter asked, now finding Adrien even less worthy of his sister's time thanks to this incident.

"Not this again! Jim, how many times do I have to tell you that I can't control who I fall for!" Marinette whined, already fed up with Jim's constant disapproval of her dating Adrien... even when they were not dating yet!

"That may be true... but you can certainly control who you fall out of love with." Jim pointed out, making Marinette huff at him in annoyance before lifting her hand to her head to soothe another oncoming headache.

"Dude..." Toby began after finishing his lunch, deciding to step in and try to resolve this escalating argument before it started. "I know that you're not a big fan of Adrien. But it's Marifairy's choice to be into him, and we have to respect that." the geology nerd said, his reasoning making Jim sigh in both exasperation and contemplation.

"Are you saying this because it's the right thing, or because you don't want to lose our bet?" Jim asked, a questioning eyebrow raised at Toby as he spoke.

"I really really really REALLY want to win our bet..." Toby admitted, clasping his hands in front of him as he confessed his reasons for defending Marinette's choice. "And it's the right thing." he finished, which sealed the deal in getting Jim to relent.

"Ugh, fine... I'll try not to go on about this with you, Marinette." Jim said, deciding to try and let the matter go... for now.

"Thanks, Jimbo!" Marinette cheered, happy that they wouldn't be arguing about this anymore.

"In any case, I don't have to worry too much about him if he's back to being homeschooled. So it's in my best interest to not stress about it." Jim happily remarked, blissfully leaning back against the bike railing he and Toby were sitting next to while a wince appeared on Marinette's face.

"Um, actually..." Marinette began, immediately pulling Jim out of his relaxed state.

"What did you do!?" Jim quickly questioned, knowing full well what that certain expression usually meant.

"I wasn't about to be the person to prevent Adrien from going back to school. So Master Fu copied the pages of the book and I..." Marinette regaled before trailing off towards the end of her confession. But that was all Jim needed to connect the dots she left behind.

"You gave his dad the book back!? Just so Adrien could go back to school?!" Jim yelled in shock, sitting up straight as Marinette nodded in confirmation. "That's..." he began, yet again ready to criticize the boy his sister was crushing before he had to stop himself.

"Very... nice of you, sis." Jim tensely finished, deciding to keep his promise even if it killed him at that moment. "I sure hope he's groveling at your feet for what you did for him." the Trolllhunter added, only for Marinette to look away to the ground and give away her answer yet again.

"HE DOESN'T KNOW!?!?!" Jim shouted, eyes bulging at his sister with the news.

"I'm with Jim on this one, Mari. Why doesn't he know?" Toby asked, shocked that Marinette repeated 'The Scarf Incident' and didn't tell Adrien what she did for him.

"Mainly because I asked his father to not say anything." Marinette replied, shrugging her shoulders. "And I also didn't want him to feel like he owed me for helping him out. Him being my friend is more than enough reason for me to do that." the designer explained, leaving both boys speechless with her admission.

"Ugh, you are making it very hard to not break my earlier promise! Why do you have to have such a heart of gold?" Jim rhetorically questioned his sister, honestly blown away by how much kindness she showed daily.

"It was just the right thing to do. You know I would have done the same for you guys too." Marinette answered, not thinking too much of her brother's remark.

"True. But seriously, Adrien has no idea what he's missing." Toby added, making Marinette's cheeks turn red at the compliment.

"Thanks, boys. That means a lot." Marinette thanked them, only for the lunch bell on the boy's end to ring. "Looks like the fun's over." the pigtailed girl pointed out, making the boys groan at their predicament.

"And much too soon for our liking." Toby whined, followed by him and Jim starting to pack up their bags.

"In any case, we better get to class before we miss the final bell." Jim said, hoping to avoid being late again as he and Toby rose to their feet, the Trollhutner still holding his phone in his hand.

"Fair enough. See you guys tomorrow." Marinette farewelled, waving to them.

"Bye, sis!" Jim and Toby replied, waving back to her as well before they hung up the call.

With that part of her nightly routine taken care of, Marinette turned off her computer and headed to bed. As she slipped under the covers and happily drifted off to sleep, she was also excited for what would come the next day, and couldn't wait to wake up the next morning.

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(Time Skip)

The next day at Collège Françoise Dupont, the students were ecstatic by the sight of Adrien's car pulling up on the front curb, immediately revealing that he had returned. Just as Adrien stepped out of his car, everyone ran up to greet him, Nino being the first to share a hug with his best bud. However, he was pulled aside by Chloé before she leapt into Adrien's arms, overjoyed to see him and taking a selfie of them after she was lowered to the ground. Following the heiress's greeting, the crowd of remaining students also surrounded him, glad to have Adrien back with them.

But while Adrien was being greeted by the masses, he was unaware of Marinette watching from behind the school's front doorway with Alya by her side. When she saw that Adrien had indeed returned, she couldn't help the sigh that escaped her and leaned back against the wall in relief.

"Looks like someone is happy to see Adrien back at school." Alya happily remarked as she gently grasped her best friend's shoulders, a soft smile gracing her face.

"That I am, Alya! That I am!" Marinette cheered, followed by her hopping up into the air with a whoop of joy.

"Okay girl, calm down!" Alya said with a chuckle, smiling as she gently pulled Marinette back to the ground. "Now we better get to class before we are late." the reporter added, bringing Marinette's glee-filled attention back to her.

"Alright, you have a point. Let's head on up." Marinette agreed before the two girls made their way up to their homeroom class.

It didn't take them long to arrive at their classroom door, considering they were previously standing by the stairs leading up to where their classroom was. But after they walked inside, they soon saw that no one else except for Ms. Bustier was in the room. However, they weren't surprised since they knew that they were all still greeting Adrien at the front of the school and simply made their way to their desks, their footsteps alerting their teacher.

"Ah, hello girls!" Ms Bustier greeted them, turning her attention away from the whiteboard to greet them.

"Hello, Ms!" the girls replied, climbing up the stairs to their joint desk.

"Oh, Marinette! Before you sit down, could you come here please?" Ms Bustier questioned, surprising the pigtailed girl

"Sure, Ms." Marinette responded with a nod, placing her bag into her seat before walking up to her teacher's desk and standing in front of it. "So, what is it you wanted to speak to me about, miss?" the designer questioned, a slight tinge of nervousness lacing her voice.

"I was wondering if you would be keen on showing Lila around the school at some point?" Miss Bustier explained, surprising Marinette with her teacher's request.

"But... wasn't her first day, yesterday?" Alya spoke up, herself confused by Miss Bustier's request as well.

"Yes, it was." Miss Bustier confirmed. "However, I don't know if you've heard that she had been akumatized that same day too." the teacher revealed, leaving Alya shocked.

"Oh my gosh! That's horrible!" Alya gasped out, which left Marinette feeling guilty for her part in the new girl's akumatization.

"Indeed. Which is why I thought that it would be good for Lila to have someone to help her feel safer here." Miss Bustier continued, followed by her clasping her hands together before she finally said... "And I thought of no one better than our very own class representative to be the one to do so."

"That's a great idea, miss!!" Alya cheered, oblivious to Marinette's wide-eye staring at their teacher.

"Thank you, Alya." Ms. Bustier thanked, only to turn her attention back to Marinette. "So, what do you say?" the teacher asked, bringing Marinette out of her shock and back to the matter at hand

"Uh..." Marinette began, not sure of how to respond.

On one hand, she was still a little wary of Lila and her actions from the previous day, especially her actions as Volpina. But on the other hand, she was just as much to blame for what had happened and she knew it too. And in true Marinette fashion, her guilt had won over her decision.

"I don't mind showing Lila around, miss." the designer finally answered, making a smile appear on Ms. Bustier's face.

"Wonderful! I'll let her know that you'll be meeting up with her at lunch." Ms. Bustier announced with a smile, happy that Marinette had agreed.

"Sounds great. I can't wait." Marinette replied as she went back up to her seat, sliding next to a baffled Alya while Ms Bustier went back to writing on the board.

"Gurl, are you okay?" Alya questioned her bestie, drawing the pigtailed girl's attention to her.

"Yes. Why?" Marinette asked, an intrigued eyebrow raised at Alya.

"It's just... you weren't exactly Lila's biggest fan yesterday. And now you are willing to be her guide around the school? It's a little unusual." Alya pointed out in a quiet voice, hoping to not worry Ms. Bustier about the information since she asked Marinette to show Lila around. "So, what's going on?" the reporter once again inquired.

"Nothing's going on, Alya. I just want Lila to feel welcome after what she went through." Marinette replied, purposely excluding the part where she felt guilty about the day before. "No one deserves to be akumatized, let alone on their first day of school." the red-tipped-haired girl stated, which seemed to settle Alya's worries.

"Okay. But you'll tell me if something is wrong, right?" Alya asked, responding with Marinette pulling her in for a side hug.

"You'd be the first to know." Marinette announced, bringing a smile to Alya's face. "After Jim and Toby of course." the designer added with a sly smirk, causing an appalled expression to replace Alya's smile

"Oh, you little sneak!" Alya exclaimed before she started tickling Marinette, leading the two girls to loudly laugh as it 'escalated'.

"Alright, I yield! I YIELD!!!" Marinette shrieked in her laughter, having enough of the tickling assault and unintentionally drawing their teacher's attention.

"Girls?" Ms Bustier called to the two girls, making both Alya and Marinette turn to face her. "If you'd please settle down before class starts?" the red-haired woman requested, a playful glare and smirk appearing on her face.

"Sorry miss." Both girls apologized, quickly settling down in time to watch as their classmates started coming in for the start of their lesson.

"You were joking, right?" Alya quietly whispered to Marinette, once again drawing her attention to turn and face Alya once again. "You'd tell me first of something going on?" the bespeckled girl asked, a little worried that Marinette was serious before.

"Of course, I would." Marinette assured, earning a sigh of relief from Alya before she turned to face the board. 'As much as I can, anyway.' the designer thought to herself as she copied her best friend, the lesson finally starting when everyone; Adrien included, were in their seats and ready to learn.

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On the other side of town within the Agreste Mansion, Gabriel and Nathalie were in the fashion mogul's atelier while he looked through the pages of the Miraculous book on his computer monitor. At the sight of the digital version of the Spellbook, however, Nathalie was left in slight confusion since she didn't know that her boss had it to begin with.

"Sir, if you already had a copy of the book, why'd you go through all that trouble?" Nathalie asked, genuinely curious about Gabriel's actions while watching him turn to face the portrait of his wife.

"I did what I had to do to keep my secret." Gabriel simply replied after he reached the portrait, followed by running his fingers along the surface of the canvas in search of the hidden buttons within.

Upon finding them, Gabriel pressed them and activated the code that opened the secret floor hatch below him, taking him right to his lair. After arriving in the secret area beneath his own home, Gabriel took out the jewelry box continuing his Miraculous and opened it, allowing an orb of purple light to appear and transform back into Nooroo.

"Happy to see me again?" Gabriel greeted the newly corporeal kwami floating in front of him, a smug smirk playing at the edges of his lips.

"At your service, Master." Nooroo sadly replied, bowing his head to his holder. Not even a second after Nooroo had greeted his captor, Gabriel walked to the center of his lair and pinned his Miraculous back onto his suit's undershirt.

"Nooroo, dark wings rise!" Gabriel proclaimed, causing Nooroo to be absorbed back into the Miraculous and transform Gabriel into Hawkmoth once more. With his transformation complete, the resident supervillain directed his gaze towards the open lair window and looked out at the city with a glare.

"Ladybug, Chat Noir — you almost managed to find out who I am. But now I am more above suspicion than I've ever been." Hawkmoth stated out loud, glad that his plan had worked in keeping his illicit activities under wraps for now. "As of today, nothing will prevent me from getting your Miraculous, and making my greatest wish come true!" the city's supervillain exclaimed, opening his arms wide as he made his announcement.

"All I need to do now is wait for my next prey." Hawkmoth concluded, followed by a deep cackle as he continued to glare out at the city, eager to make good on his threat.

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After the school day had ended, everyone had gone back home. Following Ms. Bustier's request for Marinette to show Lila around the school, the designer had done so during lunch and the two of them seemed to hit off pretty well. But that was pushed to the back of Marinette's mind as she transformed into Ladybug and made her way to meet up with Chat Noir at their usual patrol spot. Thankfully for Ladybug, she didn't have to wait for her partner to arrive as she spotted Chat Noir heading towards the Eiffel Tower just after landing on the monument herself.

"Hey, kitty!" Ladybug greeted her partner after he landed in front of her on the highest platform of the Eiffel Tower.

"Hello, M'Lady! I hope that you've had a good day." Chat Noir replied, giving her a bow as he greeted her like the gentle cat he was.

"It was pretty good. How about yours?" Ladybug fired back, their usual banter starting up once more now that they were alone without the worry of cameras catching them.

"Same here." Chat Noir said, followed by his face growing to accommodate a look of thoughtfulness. "But I think we need to talk about yesterday." the feline added, reminding Ladybug of the promise she made to him yesterday.

"Yeah, we do." Ladybug admitted, walking to the edge of the platform they were on and sitting down on it, looking out at the city as she waited for Chat Noir to continue.

"So, now that we aren't being chased by an akuma... care to explain how you ended up thinking Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth?" Chat Noir asked as he followed her example and sat next to her on the edge of the platform.

"I will after you tell me why you were acting so strange about it. You worried me yesterday." Ladybug countered, hoping to find out the root of why Chat Noir was acting strange the previous day.

"Fair enough. I guess my head wasn't really in the right mindset yesterday." Chat Noir remarked, looking back and realizing why Ladybug was asking such a personal question.

"So... care to tell me?" Ladybug questioned.

"It's... complicated." Chat Noir admitted, not quite used to talking about his home life but was willing to give it a shot so that the girl he loved would be at ease. "I can't explain much since it ties to my civilian life. But our earlier situation had hit a little too close to home for me." the hero in black began, starting to explain his home life's previous state as generically as possible.

"I lost my mom a while ago... leaving me alone with my dad. He wasn't the most affectionate person in the world, which put a strain on our relationship before my mom left." Chat Noir explained, treading the waters with how deep he could go with this type of explanation. But he seemed to have done a good job if Ladybug's concerned-filled features were anything to go off of.

"Chat... I'm so sorry." Ladybug apologized, placing a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him.

"It's okay. He's recently been more open with me and we've been getting better at talking to each other." Chat Noir assured her, a small smile appearing on his face due to her concern. "But from what I had heard, Adrien and his father have had a similar situation to mine and it..." the feline trailed off, not knowing how to explain this part.

"Stirred up some lingering feelings?" Ladybug supplied, causing Chat Noir to nod and prompting her to pull him into a tight hug. "I'm sorry, kitty. I didn't realize..." the heroine in red began, surprised by what she had learned of her normally outgoing partner and also glad to see a more sensitive side to him.

"Hey, it's okay. No harm done, right?" Chat Noir replied as he hugged her back, appreciating the support Ladybug was giving him before he pulled away from the hug. "But now that I opened up to you, care to share your story?" the hero in black asked, hoping to redirect the topic to Ladybug's reasons for suspecting Gabriel Agreste in the first place.

"It's only right." Ladybug said, feeling like she needed to be open now that he had been with her. "So, the main reason why I thought Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth was mainly because of a theory Master Fu had." the heroine in red revealed, which seemed to leave Chat Noir quite surprised.

"Wait... what?" Chat Noir exclaimed, finding her explanation the last thing he expected to hear.

"Want me to explain?" Ladybug questioned, an amused smile gracing her lips due to his reaction.

"Yes, please!" Chat Noir said, wanting to know the details of this revelation.

From that point on, their conversation dove deep into Ladybug's interaction with Master Fu the previous day, including how Volpina had been akumatized as well. Considering Lila's ties to the book, Ladybug felt like she had to explain how she ended up looking like a real Miraculous Holder in her time as an akuma. Upon hearing of the part about Lila stealing the book; and subsequently realizing that he didn't lose it at all, Chat Noir had to suppress his shock/slight anger at the information before Ladybug kept going.

When asked how she came into possession of the book that started the whole of yesterday's mess, Ladybug also revealed that Marinette was the one who got the Spellbook off of Lila. She also went the extra mile and said that 'Marinette' had flagged her down after Volpina had been taken care of and gave it to her after she had a look through it, hoping to keep her identity a secret for that much longer. But while Chat was left in awe of Marinette's part in this, Ladybug took to skipping over it to explain what Master Fu had told her after she gave the book to him.

The explanation had finally allowed the feline to see why their mentor had Ladybug thinking Gabriel Agreste was their enemy... and he couldn't blame her for doing so after her retelling. Needless to say, despite the mess the Spellbook had caused and the reveal of how significant it was to their cause, it stunned Chat Noir and further intrigued than what Plagg had already told him of it.

"And that's how I ended up thinking Gabriel was Hawkmoth." Ladybug concluded, finishing her retelling of the events leading up to their encounter with The Collector and her earlier theory. "But it obviously ended up being false, so we're back to square one on the suspect list." the spotted heroine sighed, slumping over in defeat at their situation.

"Hey, we'll figure out who Hawkmoth is at some stage." Chat Noir announced, placing a comforting hand on Ladybug's shoulder as he spoke. "But we'll do it together." the feline added, making a smile appear on Ladybug's lips.

"Thanks, Kitty. I don't know what I would do without you." Ladybug praised, glad to have such an understanding and supportive partner in Chat Noir.

"You're welcome, M'Lady. But I do have one last question." Chat Noir said, hoping to have the last lingering thought in the back of his mind since their resolve.

"Go on." Ladybug said, encouraging him to continue.

"From what I heard, Adrien was let back into school. But if Master Fu has the book, why did Gabriel let his son go back to school?" Chat Noir inquired, now curious as to how his father had gotten the book back when the obvious choice for Master Fu to have made was to keep the book instead.

"Oh, that." Ladybug said, seeming not keen on revealing that detail before she continued. "Remember when I said that Marinette had gotten the book off of Lila and gave it to me after Volpina was freed?" Ladybug asked her partner, causing Chat Noir to nod and prompt her to continue telling him what happened.

"Well, when she found out what had happened, she flagged me down and asked for the book back so she could return it to Gabriel Agreste." Ladybug explained, Chat Noir listening with rapt attention. "So after Master Fu copied down the pages, I gave it to her so that she could give it back to its rightful owner, settling the matter once and for all." the red heroine finished, leaving Chat Noir in surprise with the new information.

"Really? She returned the book to him?" Chat Noir asked, causing Ladybug to nod 'yes' in response. "Does Adrien know?" the hero in black inquired, even though he already knew the answer.

"No, he doesn't." Ladybug replied, leaving Chat Noir needing to fake being shocked at her confession.

"Why not?" Chat Noir questioned, wanting some kind of answer as to why his classmate would not want him to know.

"Probably because she is his friend and it was the right thing. Plus, the added part of her not wanting him to feel like he owes her anything." Ladybug pointed out, thinking it was such an obvious answer.

"Yeah. But... don't you think he should know?" Chat Noir asked, finding the fact of him being left in the dark about this a little disturbing, even if Marinette had her reasons for keeping quiet.

"Maybe..." Ladybug replied, seeing Chat Noir's point. "But it was Marinette's choice. So we should respect it." she added, hoping it would be enough of an answer to satisfy her partner.

"Touche." Chat Noir replied, his gaze quickly wandering to the ground below the tower as his thoughts swirled around his head.

"In any case, we better get started on our patrol." Ladybug decided, hoping to drop the matter and focus on their duty to the city. "I'll take the west, and you take the east." the spotted heroine said, taking out her yo-yo as she spoke.

"Sounds good." Chat Noir agreed in what seemed like a distracted tone, not watching Ladybug as she got ready to leave. But before she got ready to throw her yo-yo out into the city, she saw that her partner hadn't moved yet.

"Chat, are you coming?" Ladybug asked, pulling Chat Noir's attention back to her.

"Yeah... I'm coming." Chat Noir replied, assuring Ladybug that he would be helping out. "But you go on ahead. I'll catch up." he added, wanting to take a moment to think before heading out.

"O...kay. I'll see you out there." Ladybug said, finding Chat Noir's behavior strange before she swung off the monument, leaving Chat Noir by himself.

"Yeah... see you out there." Chat Noir muttered as he turned to gaze over in the direction of the Dupain-Cheng Bakery, his thoughts solely on the girl who had helped him.

"She did that for me? And didn't even want any recognition for it?" Chat Noir breathed out, not believing his classmate/friend was so kind to do that for him that a happy smile appeared on his face. "Wow... Marinette is amazing!" the feline gushed, happiness flooding him at the new information he had received.

With that, he used his staff to leap off the Eiffel Tower with a joyful shout, heading down his designated patrol route. His mood even lasted well after he met back up with Ladybug before heading back home and falling asleep with a smile. And if Marinette had woken up to find a pink rose on the shelf above her bed, who's to say there was a connection to Adrien's gratitude for her help?