ᴄʜᴀᴘɪᴛʀᴇ ᴅɪx - ᴇʀᴇ
Chapter Ten - Era

Quick side note(s)
This tenth chapter will wrap up the entirety of Act One! After this chapter, we'll be in the second act! So be ready for new/returning-but-not-shown-till-now characters, the lore to deepen and so much more!

Note: I do not own the following characters
Rey Lopez/Snow Drift, Gilla, Emilie Agreste [next generation/mentioned], Charlotte Agreste [next generation/mentioned], Jacob Agreste [next gen/mentioned], and Henry Jones {Agreste} [next generation/mentioned] - Sci-Briana14

Bernadette "Betty" Fontaine/Crimson Spider/the masked killer, Professor (Poppy) Bourgeois [mentioned], Terrance Dupain-Cheng, the Primaries [group name, two members (unseen)/mentioned], Fluffy [pet character/mentioned], Albuslis "Albus" Monroe [mentioned], Ulliam "Liam" Monroe [mentioned], Betty/Crimson Spider murdering Gabriel Agreste/Hawkmoth [idea aspect], and Kawaii [the wolf kwami/mentioned] - GeekyCookie1

Jasmine Dupain-Cheng - Pokemon_Fan1789

Language checkpoint
"mon amour." - "my love."

"Tu es un homme intelligent. Tu penseras à quelque chose." - "You're a smart man. You'll think of something."

"ma chérie." - "sweetheart"

"Tu m'as sauvé la vie mais tu as pris mon coeur. S'il te plait, prends ces roses en gage de mon appréciation car mon coeur t'appartient maintenant, princesse." - "You saved my life, but took my heart. Please take these roses as a token of appreciation for my heart belongs to you, princess."

"Ton prince charmant." - "your Prince Charming"

"Quel imbécile." - "what an idiot."

"Bonnie nuit." - "good night."

Trigger Warnings
This chapter contains very graphic depictions of death and murder, so if you're uncomfortable with this topic, please reconsider before reading.

Thank you so much in advance.

~~~~~~~~

"Marinette! Mom made breakfast!"

"Five more minutes, Jas..."

As the fourteen-year-old watch her older sister fall back asleep and Tikki waking the girl to no avail, the girl sighed. "Ya know, I miss the days where saying Adrien would get her up, but now we're back at square one," the youngest mumbled as she reluctantly sighed.

"Terrance! Marinette won't wake up!" the girl called out, briefly glancing over to see her older sister still asleep. "I think she needs your special attention!" she added and it was here, Marinette jumped out of bed. "Wait! Never mind, she's awake," the girl called out as she could physically imagine Terrance frowning at a missed opportunity to scare their sister.

"Jasmine! I was up!" Marinette tiredly whined as she threw a pillow to her, only for her sister to catch with ease. "Sure you were, sis. I'm even certain Tikki could attest to this," Jasmine cheekily countered as the kwami nodded.

"Tikki!"

"But it's true," Tikki sassily countered as Marinette quietly groan, now sitting up as she sighed. "Ugh, what time is it, anyways?" Marinette tiredly mumbled, still in the process of waking up as Jasmine glance at her watch. "A quarter to eight," Jasmine casually said as Marinette dismissively nodded before her eyes widened.

"I'm going to be late again!"

Scrambling herself out of bed, Marinette heard Jasmine's laugh ringing as the girl close the hatch on her trap door. "I can't believe I was going to oversleep again!" Marinette exclaimed, mostly from panic and dismay as the girl ran to change out of her light pink tank-top and matching pajama pants.

Going straight to her closet, Marinette thought about switching up her own outfit, but she was in a hurry, so the same outfit would do. As she quickly changed into her school outfit and out of her pajamas, Marinette flattens the very dark gray blazer with rolled-up sleeves; the inside of the blazer is lined in white with light fuchsia polka dots, and it has black trimming.

Underneath, she wears a white t-shirt with black stitching and a flower design below the collar. The design itself has pink flowers and black leaves. She wears pink rolled-up jeans and light pink ballet flats with reddish brown soles.

She also sports black earrings that also serve as her Miraculous when Tikki inhabits them. She then grabs a light pink purse with a thin black strap over her right shoulder as she wears her Kwagatama necklace under her t-shirt.

"Okay, I think I'm ready," Marinette said at last as Tikki softly chuckled. "Close enough, Marinette," she softly said, the two sharing a hug before Tikki went inside her light pink purse. Opening the trap door, Marinette proceeded to climb down and once she was on the ground, she greeted her loving parents.

"Morning, Mamma! Morning, Poppa!"

Then, she went to start making her breakfast when Marinette heard a chuckle. "Here, me and Jas made you a plate," she heard a voice tell her as she looked at the tall male. "This is why you two are my favorite," Marinette cheekily said, grinning as she thanked her siblings for the plate.

"Me and Terrance are your only siblings!" Jasmine lightly countered back, but still, she earned a laugh out of Marinette and Terrance. "Still my favorite!" Marinette countered, earning a laugh from Jasmine and Terrance. As the family sat together eating breakfast, the five were chatting amongst themselves when the news came on.

"Breaking news! An anonymous source only going by the name of Lady Justice has revealed the renowned fashion designer Gabriel Agreste is known as the infamous two-year Parisian villain, Hawkmoth. As of now, there is no response from Gabriel Agreste himself, but updates will be made available as more information becomes known. As always, this is Nadja Chamack reporting live from...."

"Who would have thought someone like Gabriel Agreste could be Hawkmoth?" their mother softly said in disbelief as Jasmine and Terrance shot a knowing look at each other as Tom shook his head. "I don't know, but it's a shame that he's been the one behind the act this whole time," their father softly said.

"We did. We've been saying it's the fashion designer since forever now," Jasmine and Terrance pointed out, now looking at Marinette, who was actively trying to avoid their stares as she felt embarrassed and responsible as her siblings did, in fact, tell her, but the girl dismissed her siblings' idea of Gabriel being Hawkmoth after he had gotten akumatized.

She was so confident that Marinette even made a bet with her siblings, but that was now coming back to haunt her.

"I believe you owe us," Jasmine and Terrance cheekily added as Marinette gave in and chuckled. "Okay, what did I agree to?" Marinette softly asked. "You were going to buy us ice cream from André," Jasmine happily told her. "Me and Jas already went through the clues, so now after school ends for you and we get our gaps before our next class, we're all going to André because we all need a break from learning," Terrance swiftly added as he fist-bump Jasmine.

"You two really planned this out."

"Well, you know what they say. Revenge is often best served sweet," Jasmine teased as Marinette and Terrance only shook their heads. "That's not how the saying goes?" the girl asked in shock and disbelief as Marinette and Terrance chuckled. "Not really, little sis," the two older siblings gently pointed out as Jasmine huffed.

"Aw, man."

While everyone went back to Gabriel being Hawkmoth, Marinette realized the time and quickly went to finish up the last of her breakfast as she grabbed her purse. "Mar, I can wash your plate," Jasmine softly insisted, retrieving the plate from her older sister while Terrance looked up from the table.

"Do you need a ride?"

"From you? No thanks!" Marinette quickly answered with a laugh of her own. "You're a terrible driver," she added, to which Terrance gasped. "Excuse me! I'm a great driver! In fact, I am a safe driver!" he began as Jasmine couldn't stop laughing. "You know who's not a safe driver? Nora! The reckless driver is Nora and even Alya can attest to this!" he continued as Marinette playfully shook her head and smiled.

As Marinette made her round of goodbyes, she hugged her parents then made her way to her younger sister and older brother. "Bye, T! Bye, Jas!" Marinette cheerfully began. "Y'all have fun at your nerd school!" she teasingly added, now grabbing a miniature box of macaroons as she opened the front door.

"It's not nerd school!"

Shaking her head, Marinette only giggled as she started making her way to school. After five minutes of straight running [and relying on shortcuts], Marinette crossed the street and made her way inside the school's doors. Then as she ran straight to her first class of the day, Marinette opened the classroom door... only to trip over herself as she landed straight onto the ground.

While some students laugh [because her falling was always a good source of laughter], she was helped by a familiar face. "Here," the girl said, softly holding her hand out to Marinette as she smiled. "Thanks, Cleo," she softly said, allowing the girl dressed in a white long-sleeve T-shirt and gray pants to help her. As Cleo helped Marinette, the girl noticed her hair was now adorn with curls.

"Miss Dupain-Cheng, you're late."

Blushing from embarrassment, Marinette tried to come up with an excuse that only led to more laughter from the class.

"Miss Dupain-Cheng, this is your last warning. Show up late to my class again and you will receive detention. Now, go take a seat."

As Marinette went to sit beside Cleo, the girl arrived with her light pink purse. "Here, you dropped this," she whispered, handing the purse back to her as Marinette smiled.

"Thanks."

But as Miss Mendeleiev began teaching her Physics lesson, Marinette couldn't focus as she thought about the laughter ringing in her head, which grew louder and louder as the class went on. She must have looked in distress because Marinette felt a light nudge on her shoulder as she glanced over to see Cleo taking a quick pause on her notes to look at her.

"Hey, are you alright?" she heard Cleo quietly ask her in between the inner laughs. "You know, I thought being part of the Primaries meant people would finally stop laughing at me," Marinette solemnly whispered as Cleo frowned before she shook her head. "I think the significance of being apart of a popular group like the Primaries will take more than a few days, Rin," Cleo softly whispered.

"But hey. Allison and the girls chose you for a reason. I'm sure once the effects wear off, people will come to their senses and respect you," Cleo encouragingly said as Marinette reluctantly sighed. "You really think so?" Marinette skeptically asked as Cleo nodded, which made her feel better because the last thing she needed was to be akumatized by Hawk... Gabriel Agreste and lose her miraculous to him.

It felt weird to think that this whole time, Marinette was battling her own idol. She look up to Gabriel Agreste and there was a time she wanted to work with him! Now, she just frowned with disappointment at the thought. Then, she thought about Adrien and hope he didn't find out in the worst way possible.

"... complete pages 225-240 and expect a pop quiz on Monday over the material," she heard Miss Mendeleiev say as Marinette glance down at her own notes and saw she barely wrote anything! As the girl sighed in frustration, Marinette glanced up to see Cleo handed her notes over to her.

"I had a feeling you're going to need them," Cleo briefly teased as Marinette gave a small smile. "Also, don't worry. I took pictures of my notes, so you can keep the physical copy and just give it back to me when you're done. Just send me a text and we can figure out a system from there," Cleo followed up as Marinette nodded.

"Thanks, Cleo."

"You're welcome."

As the two began to head out of Miss Mendeleiev's classroom, Cleo and Marinette went their separate ways and as Marinette went to retrieve her next set of textbooks, the girl heard footsteps.

"Alya?"

"Marinette! Have you heard the news?" Alya asked as Marinette confusingly stared at her, shaking her head. "Heard what?" Marinette promptly asked as Alya pull out her phone. "Someone call Lady Justice discovered Adrien's dad is the Hawkmoth!" Alya exclaimed as Marinette's eyes widen.

"I was watching the news this morning with my family! The situation is so unfortunate," Marinette solemnly said as Alya nodded. "I know, but whoever Lady Justice is must be someone with strong journalism skills because she really went out of her way to prevent Gabriel Agreste from denying the evidence," Alya passionately explained just as the girl saw Adrien passing the halls as Marinette shot her a look.

"I mean it's also terrible that Adrien has to deal with his father being responsible for his manipulative behavior towards people's emotions in his ongoing quest to get the heroes' miraculouses," Alya sheepishly but sincerely added as Marinette shook her head before she sighed afterwards. "I just feel so terrible for him..." Marinette solemnly said, though her tone was more sympathetic than empathetic.

"What are you two talking about?"

"Oh, we were just talking about Lady Justice and how she discovered Gabriel Agreste is Hawkmoth and —" Alya quickly cut herself off as she look up to realize she was talking to the father's emerald-green and blonde-haired boy. "I... Um.." she awkwardly added, now looking at Marinette for additional assistance.

"I'm sure it's not true though, Adrien. Lady Justice could just be lying about her father to get attention," Marinette slowly stated, now feigning a lie. "Yeah! I'm going to set the record straight as there's no way my father can be Hawkmoth," Adrien firmly stated but as the boy spoke, Marinette and Alya were both quick to sense the aggravation and pain in his tone.

"Adrien, I don't think that's..." Marinette and Alya tried to say, but by that point, Adrien began to walk away from them as the two nervously looked at each other. "Adrien, hold on!" the two insisted, attempting to run after him. However when Adrien was no longer in their sights, Marinette and Alya knew what they had to do.

"We need to find Rey... now."

———————————

"They all think you're the son of a monster."

"No, that's not true," Adrien quietly whispered, but as he kept walking, he couldn't stop the stares that came in his direction. Each time he attempted to greet someone to get a piece of information on Lady Justice, students only back away from him or awkwardly glance in his direction.

"Well, well, well, it seems as though the Agreste Empire has finally fallen."

As Adrien turn to see a fair skinned male with light pink lips, blonde hair and dazzling grayish-blue eyes, he glanced down to see the male dressed in a light, sky-blue business suit with his hair brush to the left side of his face. Then glancing down at the male's own black, polished shoes, Adrien knew exactly who he was dealing with.

"Ugh. What do you want, Robert? Can't you see I have other important pressing matters than to deal with my own copycat?" Adrien sharply and bitterly started as Robert rolled his eyes.

"For the record, I am not your copycat. Secondly, I'm here to gloat the La Clare family will always be better than all of you Agreste members," Robert proudly stated as the boy gleefully smirked. As Adrien clenched his fist, he tried to stop as he didn't want to draw anymore attention to himself.

"Robert, I am not in the mood to deal with you. So, if you could just politely go, I would greatly appreciate that. Plus, you would be helping both of us in the long run," Adrien calmly said, though it became very clear his tone was now dancing on the edge of being purely aggressive. Then knowing Robert wouldn't listen, Adrien attempted to walk away from the situation, but naturally...

Robert had other plans.

"You know, it serves you right that everyone gets to see your father for who he really is. After all, the root of evil doesn't fall far from the tree. You and him are both liars and I wouldn't be surprised if—"

In a fit of blinding rage, Adrien's eyes faintly glow purple and as his ring glowed a faint purple light, Adrien punched Robert, causing the boy to land straight onto the lockers as his nose began to bleed. "I knew it! Just like your father!" Robert promptly counter as Adrien growled.

He definitely would have caused further damage to his copycat, but as Adrien heard faint gasps and whispers, his eyes returned back to normal.

"Adrien!"

Glancing over, Adrien saw Marinette and Alya looking at him with shock and as a crowd began to gather, he saw Nino and Rey joining the girls, the two looking at him in shock like the rest, but also in concern, which bothered the boy. "Dude... are you okay?" Nino gently asked, taking a step towards him.

"Adrien?"

When Adrien look at Rey, he could see the genuine concern and sadness in her eyes as she didn't view him with the shock or genuine level of fear. Regardless, seeing the girl look in him in that sense was enough to get Adrien to snap out of... whatever was going on with him. Still, the boy found himself overwhelmed with guilt and shame, so all he did was run, leaving Rey heartbroken.

"Adrien!"

Soon after running away from Rey and the others, Adrien sighed to himself, trying to catch his breath when he realized that he was on the verge of attacking a student. As he glanced at the dried blood, he quietly chuckled, realizing he liked the idea of installing fear in Robert, who has always tormented him for so long.

Maybe, he could install that same fear in everyone else...

Almost immediately, Adrien began to shake his head, now attempting to pull himself together. "I can't even tell which thoughts are mine and which thoughts are his now," Adrien solemnly said as he glanced at his cracked miraculous. "Maybe, I should have taken Plagg's advice more seriously for once instead of dismissing him," he mumbled, sighing afterwards.

"Well, that was certainly quite a scene."

Now clenching his fist, Adrien huffed in annoyance as the boy could not get a break at all! "Makoto," Adrien bitterly mumbled to himself, now turning to face the young boy with his white long-sleeved T-shirt, sliver earrings, a long gray scarf-like jacket with black lace-infused gloves, black pants and black buckled high-shoes.

"What a performance. Yes, surely Little Miss Perfect will come to you now after this," Makoto sarcastically started as Adrien rolled his eyes. "Her name is Rey and what is it that you want?" Adrien followed up, crossing his arms as Makoto lowly chuckled at his response, now fumbling with his white shark-tooth necklace.

"Oh, just to say that I'm superior to you in every way. I mean, especially now. You don't really expect Rey to fall in love with Paris's little Golden Boy when he's a real monster, do you? You're a joke and now everyone gets to see that," Makoto further continue as Adrien's face fell.

"You know, for once, Cleo actually did me a favor," Makoto threw in as he quietly smirk at Adrien's reaction. "What are you talking about?" Adrien puzzlingly followed up as he frowned. "Oh, Adrien. I don't know how to tell you this, but Cleo is Lady Justice," Mako followed up, now dropping his smirk to a sorrowful look as Adrien's eyes widened from his response.

"I know, but she told me so herself," Makoto slowly continued as Adrien skeptically look at him. "Oh? You don't believe me? Watch this for yourself and be the judge," he further added, tossing his phone to Adrien, who stared at the recorded video with Cleo. He was tempted to play the video, but then he shook his head, attempting to hand Makoto back his phone.

"No, I know you're wrong because even if Cleo was Lady Justice, she wouldn't make up lies about my family and refer to my father as Hawkmoth because she's—" Adrien had started, only to get cut off as Mako knowingly chuckled, rolled his eyes and played the video.

"Of course, I'm Lady Justice. I mean, who else would be the one to tell the press that Adrien's father is Hawkmoth?" Cleo started, now winking to the camera with a smirk, before she blinked a second later. "Oh? Adrien? That boy is rather stupid, but that's a given," she added, maintaining her chuckle.

"I mean, between you and me, he thinks we're both friends, but really I've been using him this entire time," she further added, now laughing as she shook her head. "Adrien might think I care about him, but he doesn't mean anything to me. That's why I had no problem doing this. Plus, his family was a good target and the story just wrote itself," she continued, now shaking her head.

As the video ended, Adrien's face fell as he watch Cleo's confession. He was so focused on the words that he failed to recognize the flaws of the video, which was good enough for Makoto, who "sympathetically" gave his rival a look as he retrieved his phone from the boy's hands.

"That's your so-called friend. I told you when we first met you would make a mistake in picking your friends and well, it seems as though I was right. I told you not to trust Cleo and sure enough, she continues to being the lying, filthy witch this high school has ever seen," he told Adrien, whose eyes fell.

"But, hey! With Rey seeing your real side, the school fearing you because of the way you treated Robert La Clare. Plus, with Cleo as Lady Justice, she not only lied about her so-called friendship with you and lying about your father, but make a mockery of you and your family as well!" Makoto sharply continued, which did leave to help Adrien's mood.

"You're really down on your luck, Agreste. Maybe, Robert was right. Evil doesn't fall far from its roots after all. You and your father might just be more similar than you think," Makoto concluded, quietly chuckling as he began to walk off, leaving Adrien by himself alone as the blonde recalled the video.

As Adrien fell to his knees, he thought how his morning has gone terribly wrong. He did not mean to snap at Robert, but he did. He did not mean to frighten his classmates, but he did. He did not mean to make Rey worry for him, but... he did. Everything that went so terribly wrong with this morning initially made him think Robert was to blame, yet as he looked back, Adrien realized Lady Justice — no, Cleo Monroe — was the one to blame for his misfortunes.

"When I see Cleo, I'm going to make her pay."

——————————

On the other side of Paris, a window sill opened as a light purple glow could be seen in the distance. In the dark, shadowy part of the room, a secluded older male resembling a moth gripped onto his cane with a evil smirk as a older woman look in his direction, this time no longer in the peacock outfit.

"Will my services be required today?" the older woman briefly ask as the man shook his head. "Not today, Nathalie. Just watch Rayan and make sure the security guards are on high alert for those news reporters," the man briefly told Nathalie as she nodded.

"Yes, Hawkmoth," she said and as Nathalie returned the peacock miraculous to him, she left. Now on his own, Hawkmoth could sense negative emotions and smiled at the thought of getting his revenge against the so-called "Lady Justice."

"Ah, the frustration and the fear of being a monster in front of his loved ones and his classmates. My son has the perfect emotions for my latest akuma and the perfect way to get my revenge," the mystery man spoke as Hawkmoth touched a pure, white butterfly which quickly became corrupt with dark, purple negative energy. "Go to him, my little akuma and infect his dark heart," Hawkmoth ordered as the akuma began to fly out of his lair.

"It's time to get what's coming to you, Lady Justice."

————————————

"Why are you holding back?"

Hiding in the men's bathroom, Adrien has tried — and failed — to keep himself calm as he tried to ignore the spirit currently occupying the mirror, who was persistent in trying to get him to snap. As he hid underneath the sink, Adrien found himself gripping onto his head, desperately blocking the negative thoughts that would simply not go away, no matter how much he tried.

"Adrien, you're not like your father and you're not like Chat Blanc. You'll never be like any of them. You're a kind, sweet and loyal person. Don't give into the despair and the temptation of taking your anger out on your enemies. Please."

Glancing down, Adrien saw his four-inch black and green-eyed black cat kwami, who was persistent in trying to deflect the negativity his wielder felt. But no matter how he tried, Adrien started to wonder why he was holding back.

"Maybe, I'm tired of living my life in a cage," Adrien slowly said, now glancing back at his cracked ring, which only seem to gain a deeper crack. "Maybe, I want to break out and cause some chaos for once," he added, now chuckling as the cracked ring began to glow and gain a light purple hue.

"Adrien—"

"Plagg, I renounce you."

Before Plagg could protest, he vanished from Adrien's view, leaving him to only deal in the voices plaguing his mind and the spirit of Chat Blanc. He thought blocking out the voices would help, but then Adrien wondered... why was he fighting back? He shook his head, not wanting to think in that sense.

However, when his reflection began to morph into a reverse version of his alter-ego, Chat Noir, Adrien saw the suit was white and his eyes... were light purple. A surge of fear instantly flowed through the boy as Adrien slipped over himself and fell, now glancing over to see the akuma coming in his direction.

Adrien tried to use his own breathing techniques but as the akuma grew closer, he came to regret renouncing Plagg. So all he could do is closed his eyes and ultimately hope for the best.

"Gotcha!"

Opening his eyes, Adrien saw Cleo leaping onto the akuma with an container, trapping the butterfly in the jar. "Oh, it's you," Adrien bitterly said and as he spoke, the akuma began to gravitate toward the jar in the hopes of leaving. "Adrien, I know you're upset but—" she slowly began, but he only laughed, now standing up.

"Upset? Ha! Upset is an understatement, Cleo! You lied to me! You used me and made it clear our friendship meant nothing to you!" Adrien angrily snapped as Cleo tighten her grip on the jar. "Adrien, if you just—" she slowly began once more, only to get cut off again as Adrien shook his head.

"No! You did all of those things to me and you expect me to listen to you? You didn't even stop there! No, you took things a step further. You made a mockery of me and my family for your own personal gain," Adrien further continued in a bitter manner, watching as Cleo was struggling to keep the jar — and the akuma — in place.

"Adrien, if that's what you think, then fine! At least, get mad at me after the heroes purify the akuma," Cleo countered, too annoyed to defend herself when she saw the akuma gravitating towards her. Then, she got the idea to attract the akuma to her, seeing how she could help Adrien out.

"Do you really think I would truly say our friendship meant nothing? Your friendship is everything to me!" she continued, keeping her eyes trained on the akuma as Adrien fell quiet. "Adrien, when we first met, I wanted nothing to do with you. I thought you were just another rich snob, but then I actually got to know you and for a while, I thought you were different," she said before sighing.

"But no. You're just like the others. Believing the lies. I'm sick of it," Cleo continued as she rolled up her sleeve to reveal two bracelets on her left wrist. "What are you doing?" Adrien slowly asked as she only stared at him, her eyes somewhat hollow. "Doing you a favor," Cleo bitterly answered and that's when her plan dawned on him.

When Adrien saw Cleo move her arm to the akuma's direction, which was now moving towards her, his eyes widened and it became clear that she was purposefully drawing the akuma to her... so he wouldn't have to face being a pawn to his father, Hawkmoth.

"Maybe, today should be the day I get akumatized for a change. I could have some fun getting revenge for once," she mumbled, her voice now getting wickedly low as if her anger was being enhanced by the presence of the akuma itself.

As he watched, Adrien was able to briefly ignore Chat Blanc and look past the lies that Makoto told him and it became clear the boy was wrong about her: Cleo did value her friendship with him... enough to take an akuma for him. "Wait!" Adrien exclaimed, his senses now coming back to him.

"Trust me. It's better this way," Cleo mumbled, then as she took a deep breath, the girl proceeded to thrust her arm to the akuma, which was now inches away from making contact with her.

As Adrien glanced down at his cracked miraculous and back at the akuma, he knew if the akuma got to Cleo, then he would never forgive himself for being responsible. Yet if the akuma got to him... Adrien could keep his friend safe, even if that meant Chat Blanc would have full control over him. In the end, Adrien decided he would risk that much to protect his friend, because Cleo cared enough about their friendship to spare him from being akumatized.

"Cleo, no!"

In pushing Cleo out of the way, the akuma touched Adrien's ring and though he could hear the girl's protests, her voice too faded out as an dark purple akuma outline form over his face.

"Chat Blanc, my son, I'm giving you the infinite power of destruction and together, you and I will seize the miraculouses of Miraculous Ladybug and Snow Drift to create a new world for ourselves and get our revenge on Lady Justice, who made a mockery of us and our reputation. Now obey!"

"... Adrien, please, you can fight him! Don't let your father win!" he heard Cleo plead to him, the sincerity in her tone as he gave a sad smile in her direction. "I'm sorry, but... I can't fight back. Not this time," he solemnly said. "At least, think about Rey!" she yelled in a panic, hoping to at least distract him.

"R... Rey?"

"Yeah! You love her! If you let your father have full control over you, he might make you hurt her and force you to harm your friends. Plus, he's not doing this to your benefit. He only wants to help himself, that's it," Cleo hastily spoke as Adrien's emerald-green eyes started to flicker.

"I... I...."

"No, son! She's lying to you! I'm doing this to bring your mother back! She just wants to manipulate you into thinking I'm the bad guy, but son, please, I would do anything to help get your mother back," Hawkmoth cunningly told his son, who was now torn from listening to him or his friend, Cleo.

"I... I... I don't know who to believe!"

As Adrien closed his eyes, he could feel his father and Cleo's voice clashing against each other, each one trying to convince him that their side was better, but in truth, the boy just wanted a escape from everything... But as the voices became faint, Adrien saw he was no longer hearing Cleo or his father.

Rather now he was face-to-face with the reverse version of his alter-ego, he saw the suit was white and his eyes... were light purple. Almost immediately, the feline spirit hadn't paid attention to him, but then he began to chuckle which made Adrien get goosebumps as he was understandably nervous.

"Tell me, what are you doing?"

Adrien tried to speak, but the words refused to come out. It was as if fear struck him in the very moment this spirit began talking to him.

"Why are you still holding back? Have you forgotten what they what said to you? What they did?"

As Adrien processed the spirit's words, his face began to fall. He could recall the looks, the side glances, the whispers of secrecy. In their eyes, he was the son of a supervillain, not the kind and sweet model/part-time superhero Chat Noir. No, things changed now between him and his peers. "They think I'm a monster," Adrien quietly whispered as the spirit villainously smirk in his direction.

"Then... Prove them right."

As the spirit vanished, Adrien was back to reality and as he glance at the cracked ring in his possession, he realized that there was no point in hiding. "Maybe, I was never meant to be Chat Noir. Maybe, the hero life was never for me," Adrien whispered, not caring if he had indirectly broken the rules of superhero secrecy by saying these things in front of a civilian [Cleo] as in this moment, he chose not to be a hero.

Simply put, he was done.

"Adrien—"

"We have a deal, father," Adrien sharply finished and as he spoke those words, he stared at Cleo, who was (presumably) yelling "no" as though that would change the outcome of his fate. As the purple goo formed over the boy, Adrien found he was inside the abyss of darkness within his mind but as a pair of purple eyes stared back at him, Adrien tried to scream... only for his voice to go unnoticed as he was soon overpowered...

"Adrien!"

When the purple goo disappeared, Adrien's skin became very pale as his catsuit became completely white, including the bell and the cat ears. His hair is also white, and his eyes are an light purple instead of their normal green. But while the boy looked like Adrien Agreste, the spirit smirked at this and soon, it became rather apparent that Adrien was no where to be found.

"I am back!"

"Now go get —" With a laugh, the boy shut down Hawkmoth, who was dumbfounded by the new reactions from his son as it felt out of character for him. "There's been a sudden change in plans. You see, I'm going to get the miraculouses for myself and I'm going to rule over Paris like the stars had foretold in my future before that pesky bug and her snow leopard sidekick ruined everything," he told Hawkmoth [and to an extent, Cleo], whose eyes widened.

"You're not my son..."

"No, I'm not. My name is Philippe Henri Allaire the third and I intend to finish what I started one-hundred-and-fifty years ago, even if I have to stay in this teenage boy's body to get there," he began, now chuckling as Hawkmoth tried to pull the akuma out of his son, to no avail. It was here Gabriel realized he made a mistake. "But you can just call me..." he continued before trailing off.

"Chat Blanc."

It was here that he and the girl whom Adrien referred to as Cleo were then greeted by a red-haired male, who Chat Blanc smirked. "My first target," he said, now eyeing him as his smirk only grew brighter.

"Cataclysm!"

————————————

Robert La Clare was a man — okay, a teenage boy — of many virtues and he was a man of many mistakes. He completely intended to find Adrien, call him a coward and get payback on his bloody nose. But of course, Robert finds a knock-off/reverse version of one of Paris' own miraculous trinity: Chat Noir — "Chat Blanc!" the akumatized villain corrected — himself.

"Cataclysm!"

As a ball of light purple energy formed in his palm, Robert felt his knees become stunt by fear and almost in a reflection of his own life, he wish for two things: firstly, to get his revenge on Adrien Agreste and secondly, to find a romantic partner. While the first one didn't happen [or at least, not yet], his second wish came to him in a rather unexpected and miraculous way.

"Look out!"

As Robert felt a slight tug, he was shoved onto the ground as Chat Blanc narrowly miss him, instead aiming at a row of lockers again. "You know, I just love a good chase," the akumatized villain lightly said, smirking as he summoned "Cataclysm" again.

"So, go ahead, run if you dare. I just love the smell of fear," the feline smugly continued as Robert knew he was talking about him. Once again, Robert found himself paralyzed by fear as he struggled to run to safety. For Chat Blanc, he smirked at the opportunity.

However before Chat Blanc could directly use his special power on him, he was struck by a broken glass jar as the akumatized villain slowly laughed, now wiping the blood from his arm while Robert fondly stared at the girl standing in front of him with a mix of awe and gratitude.

"You'll pay for that," Chat Blanc firmly said as the girl scoffed at his threat. "Then, come and catch us," she boldly challenged and as the akumatized villain used his Cataclysm again, the girl was able to use the remaining broken glass shards to create a loud noise [almost like an explosion] as a way of attracting any attention to him.

Then while Chat Blanc was distracted, the girl had grabbed his arm and the two started to run towards safety. When the two got to a formidable distance in the school while away from Chat Blanc, Robert was able to catch his breath while the girl was on high-alert of the akumatized villain.

As he did, Robert found himself staring at the girl, who was now wrapping and cleaning the wounds on her hands as she realized she was bleeding from holding onto the broken glass shards for too long.

"Are you okay?" the girl concernedly asked, now turning to face him as she gave a warm smile in his direction. As such, Robert instantly blushed by her response, becoming too speechless to even respond back. In that moment, hearts began to form on her and one thing became clear to him: Robert La Clare was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with this girl.

"Y... Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks...."

"Cleo, Cleo Monroe," she cheekily finished, now grinning in his direction. "Cleo... that's such a beautiful name," he sweetly complimented as the girl rubbed on her neck. "Uh... thanks," she began before looking at him. "You must be Robert La Clare," she added as she went back to finish up the last of her bandage wrapping on her injured hands.

"Yes, beautiful maiden. My name is, in fact, Robert La Clare."

"Cool. I knew—"

"My mother, Anaïs, is a renowned writer. My father, Edward, is a famous spokesperson and I have an estranged aunt on my mother's side who I haven't really seen in roughly several years now. But, my aunt's name slipped out of my mind. Huh," Robert added as he stopped his bow to her. It was here that a thought crossed Robert's mind as he stared at her once more.

"How come I've never seen you before?" Robert followed up as she cut the bandage and tied the wrapping before she shrugged. "We never shared any classes, so I imagine we just ended up passing each other in the hallways without noticing," Cleo dismissively explained, to which Robert got himself an idea.

"Hey, maybe once the heroes defeat Chat Blanc, we should compare our schedules and see what classes we're taking," he told her, suggesting an idea as she stared at him, as if trying to see his intentions. In the end, Cleo only shrugged. "Sure. I don't see why not," the girl said as Robert grinned.

"Yes!"

In that moment, his excitement got the attention of Chat Blanc, who smirked at the two from afar. Though Robert couldn't hear what the akumatized villain said, Cleo got a bit of an idea of what was said, especially when he held his hand. Once again, Robert found his hand was grabbed by Cleo and as Robert stared in her direction with a loving stare, the boy realized he didn't want her to ever let go.

"Well, it looks like we're going to run—"

As Cleo pulled him out of the way of Chat Blanc's cataclysm, the two watch as one half of the lockers instantly disintegrated while the other half of the lockers turn to nothing more than dust. "Again," Cleo irritatedly mumbled, but when the akumatized villain got closer, she switched her tone.

"Off we go!" the girl later exclaimed, now as he and Cleo started their run, only to stop when Chat Blanc jumped in front of the two, causing Robert to 'protectively' [in reality, he was merely holding her for the sake of protecting himself] hold onto Cleo, who was uncomfortable by the hug [but she wouldn't — or rather, couldn't— bring herself to say anything].

"Found you."

In that moment, Chat Blanc pulled out his staff, which was more of a specialized sword in the sense his weapon was also powered with the power of destruction, evident by the way his sword was glowing in the same light purple color.

"Any last words?"

————————————-

Incoming call. You have one incoming call.

"Hello?"

"Rey, it's me! Okay, so remember how we all split up to find Adrien? Well, I found him and I tried to talk him into calming down, but that didn't work out. So, I thought about attracting the akuma to me, but Adrien got in the way of that plan and well... He went rogue. Now, Adrien got akumatized as Chat Blanc, but it's not him! He has the body of Adrien Agreste, but the Adrien we all know is not there!"

"Cleo, you have to slow down. Also, you're not making any sense," Rey gently requested as she tried to process the information Cleo was telling her.

"Adrien's been possessed by this old guy named Philippe Henri Allaire the third! He must be one of the users of the cat miraculous, only he must have gone rouge and refer to himself as Chat Blanc because he started talking about using the miraculouses from Ladybug and Snow Drift to rule over Paris as he intended to do before he was stopped by the Ladybug and Snow Drift of his timeline — like, I'm talking about one-hundred-and-fifty-years ago."

"That means this Philippe guy must be from 1868 if it is currently 2018," Rey followed up.

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. The only problem is well, Robert came over for some reason... probably to pick on Adrien again and now, we're both trying to find a space to hide before Chat Blanc finds us. Well if you don't hear me from me, I'm either dead or I ended up turning to dust by the endless amount of cataclysms this guy can summon. Well, I gotta go! Robert's looking at me... again for some reason. Anyways, wish me luck and be safe out there."

"Cleo, wait!"

But as the call ended and Rey found herself staring at the phone, she wondered if she could have done something different to change the outcome. With a sigh, she frowned at her screen. "Hey, none of us could find Adrien. Did Cleo have any luck?" she heard Bernadette say as she was followed by Max, Nino, Makoto, Chloé, Alya and Marinette.

"No... Uh... I just realized that I need to get something from my locker!" Rey sheepishly exclaimed with Marinette also nodding. "That's ironic. Me too!" Marinette sheepishly chimed in and not long after, the two girls took off and ended up splitting in different directions.

As Rey look behind her left shoulder and saw she wasn't being followed, she ran to the women's bathroom and lock herself in one of the stalls as her snow leopard kwami came out of hiding, which was perfect because she had some questions. "Gilla, what do you know about Philippe?" Rey curiously asked as her kwami sighed.

"Philippe Henri Allaire the third was in a sense, the Hawkmoth, in this timeline. Back then in 1868, Philippe wanted to rule. He got tired of being overlooked, so he killed Lady Moth, who was working with the heroes from his era until Philippe killed her," Gilla began to which Rey's eyes widened.

"Anyways, Philippe's goal was to fuse his cat miraculous and Lady Moth's miraculous with the miraculouses of Ladybug and the Snow Drift of his time to create a new world where Philippe ruled over all of France. Needless to say, no one was pleased by this idea of his and when his Ladybug and Snow Drift turned against him to protect the city, he uh... he snapped and killed 'em both."

Rey could see the vulnerability in her kwami's eyes for the first time as Gilla was one who usually portrayed herself as headstrong and resilient. She never thought to think about how much her kwami truly went through... Forever enduring a cycle where she watched each user live [or die] then get a whole new user where she must go through the same process.

"Gilla..."

"You remind me of her, actually," Gilla softly said, now wiping her tears. "But now is not the right time for reflecting. Your boyfriend is in trouble and if we don't rid Adrien of Thi's soul, then Adrien will be permanently stuck as Chat Blanc," she firmly continued, now adopting her initial persona as Rey nodded.

"Wait, you think Adrien is my boyfriend?"

"Rey!"

"Okay, okay," Rey sheepishly said before she sighed. "Gilla, tails on!" she exclaimed and as Gilla went inside the white snowflake, her magic powered the miraculous as Rey was soon transformed into Snow Drift. As she left the stalls, Snow Drift was greeted by her leader and newly elected guardian-in-training, Miraculous Ladybug.

"Where's Chat Noir?"

"I... You know, I haven't heard from him and I still have yet to give him this cream," she said, holding the container as Snow Drift's eyes glittered with curiosity, which Ladybug had noticed. "This is a cream meant for repairing the seals in miraculouses. It's mainly to prevent a evil spirit in our miraculouses from coming out in the event the seal gets a bit too damaged," Ladybug further explained as Snow Drift nodded.

"Well, I'm sure he'll come eventually. I mean, it's not like him to randomly not show up and he would have said something," Ladybug softly said in an attempt to cheer up her partner, Snow Drift, who tried to smile but it faltered nonetheless. "Hey, Chat Noir is going to be okay. I promise," she sincerely added as Snow Drift nodded.

"I know. I just miss him, his witty remarks and his silly puns. He just always knew how to make my day," Snow Drift sincerely said as Ladybug softly chuckled. "You sound like you're falling for Chat hard," she lightly teased, causing Snow Drift to blush profoundly at the response.

"No way! Me and Chat are just friends!" Snow Drift protested, the blush still evident as Ladybug rolled her eyes. "Snowy, it's okay to like him. Besides, I'm sure Chat feels the same way about you," she gently said as Snow Drift slightly huffed.

"Maybe, but what if Kitty-Cat doesn't like the real me and rejects me? No, it's too risky. Besides, we're just better off as friends," Snow Drift swiftly countered, now sighing, to which Ladybug solemnly shook her head. "You'll be surprised..." Ladybug had quietly mumbled, wanting to give Snow Drift some advice when a loud noise caught the two's attention.

"That direction!"

When Snow Drift and Ladybug arrived at the direction of the sound, the two heroines were surprised by the boy's very pale skin as his catsuit was completely white, including the bell and the cat ears. More so, the boy's hair was white [than the blonde color], and his eyes were now light purple instead of their normal green. But while the boy looked like Chat Noir, it became rather apparent that their feline partner was no where to be found.

"Any last words?"

As Snow Drift and Ladybug witness the inverse Chat Noir approached Robert La Clare and Cleo Monroe, Ladybug immediately took action as she had no intention on losing a life.

"Here's a few words: not on my watch!"

As Ladybug swiftly swung her yo-yo towards his arm, she flung the inverse Chat Noir to the ground as Snow Drift guided Robert La Clare and Cleo Monroe to safety. When the two left, Snow Drift ran to Ladybug's side as Ladybug released her yo-yo on the inverse Chat Noir.

"Kitty?"

Snow Drift wasn't sure why she used her nickname for him as if that was going to end up changing the outcome. "Snowy, I don't think..." Ladybug quietly whispered, only to stop when she saw her partner shake her head. "He's still in there, Spots. I know it," the snow leopard heroine firmly whispered to her, determined that her Chat Noir was still in there... somewhere.

Yet as the akumatized feline laughed at the heroine's response, it became clear to Snow Drift that Ladybug was right. "He's not here," Snow Drift solemnly whispered, causing her own heart to sink as Snow Drift looked up to see his smirk. "No, I'm afraid not," he began, now chuckling, much to the dismay of Ladybug and Snow Drift.

"The name's Philippe Henri Allaire the third, but you ladies can simply call me..." he later continued, only to trail off as the two heroines cautiously eyed each other. "Chat Blanc," he finished as Snow Drift and Ladybug crossed their arms. "What happened to Adrien?" the two followed up as Chat Blanc merely chuckled, showing his ring, which was now on the verge of being permanently broken.

"When this ring breaks, I will be in full control and as for Adrien, he'll be lost... forever," Chat Blanc proudly finished as Snow Drift angrily clenched onto her trusty lasso, which grew ice spikes as a reflection of its user's anger. "Not if I have a say in this," Snow Drift firmly but coldly countered back.

"Snowy, let's think about—" Ladybug started, only to get cut off as Snow Drift shook her head. "I'm not losing Adrien, Spots. We need to find, grab and purify his akuma before that ring becomes permanently broken and we lose him for good," Snow Drift firmly stated but Ladybug could hear the fear in her tone.

"I'm going to act as a distraction for you and go against Chat Blanc. Spots, I need you to go summon Lucky Charm and find his akuma! We cannot let Philippe win!" Snow Drift firmly told her and it was the thought of losing someone that led Ladybug to ultimately comply.

As Ladybug nodded and she watch Snow Drift head off into battle, the bug heroine took a deep breath. "Okay, here goes nothing," she mumbled, then looked straight ahead at her teammate and Chat Blanc. "It's time we finished this," she said. "Lucky Charm!" she followed up, raising her yo-yo in the air.

Moments later, a bottle of hardened glue appear in her hands as Ladybug sighed at the item chosen for her own lucky charm. "Hardened glue? What am I supposed to do with this!" Ladybug exclaimed in disbelief, but mostly in annoyance as she wanted her lucky charm to physically be useful on the first go as she was tired of having to rely on her own wits to figure out the purpose of the lucky charm.

Then as Ladybug stared at her surroundings, her eyes landed on Snow Drift's ice lasso, the floor beneath Chat Blanc and her teammate's palm. "Snowy! Freeze the ground and get Chat Blanc to use his cataclysm!" Ladybug yelled as Snow Drift nodded. "On it!" she exclaimed as Snow Drift used her ice lasso to freeze the ground as Chat Blanc smirked at this.

"This is just too easy. Cataclysm!"

As Ladybug used the ice to her advantage, she was able to squeeze the glue onto the ice as Snow Drift used her ice lasso to pull Chat Blanc's cataclysm hand onto the ground. As Ladybug then placed the hardened glue bottom in his hand, Chat Blanc ended up using his power, but as it was a lucky charm, the bottle was unable to disintegrate. Rather, he merely caused the glue to get stuck onto him. "Snowy, now!" Ladybug exclaimed as her teammate nodded.

"Lucky Touch!"

As a positive burst of energy form in Snow Drift's palm, she touched the top of the ring with the damaged seal, causing the ring to repair. "No, no, no!" Chat Blanc exclaimed, but the damage was done. As the ring became repaired and the seal was permanently fixed, Chat Blanc could feel his control over Adrien slipping away.

As the akuma came out from the ring, this left Hawkmoth's latest victim defenseless as Ladybug caught the butterfly in her yo-yo.

"Gotcha!"

As soon as Ladybug caught the akuma and purified the akuma, she grinned. "Bye, bye little butterfly," she softly said before retrieving and tossing the hardened glue bottle lucky charm directly into the air.

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

As the hardened glue bottle soon dissolve into a energy of pure red and white light, any damage caused by Chat Blanc was fixed.

With the damages reversed and Paris [well, in this case, it was more of the high school: Collège Françoise Dupont] back to normal, the two heroes watch as Chat Blanc reverted back to Adrien Agreste.

"Pound it!"

As Ladybug and Snow Drift fist-bumped, both of their miraculouses began to beep with Ladybug's own earrings following a minute after. "Well, this has been fun but..." as the two heroes trailed off, the duo chuckled.

"I gotta bounce!"

——————————

While the rest of the school day went on without any more akumas, Adrien was able to clear up the tension between him and Cleo [much to Makoto's annoyance] and learn to his relief, she was not Lady Justice.

More so, the two were able to make up and once the girl apologized for not telling him sooner about his father being Hawkmoth, he was able to overlook this issue as her near-sacrifice led Adrien to believe Cleo was truly looking out for him. So as a result, Adrien ended up hugging her, their friendship now restored.

In the end, Adrien decided he was done finding out Lady Justice's secret identity. It just wasn't worth the stress, especially since that stress would be geared towards a pointless cause. Lady Justice did him a favor in exposing his father, who was going to face prison time for the charges stacked against him.

Makoto, on the other hand, did not have a wrapped up bow of forgiveness. Rather in an attempt to downplay his influence on Adrien's decision to believe Cleo as Lady Justice and his attempts of destroying what little of a reputation Cleo had left, the boy found a note in his locker.

I know your secret. If you mess with Cleo or even hurt her, I'll come for you and trust me, your miraculous will not help you... Pawāshāku. That's right. I know who you are and I have proof of your transformation and detransformation. So, it would be wise to heed my warning, because if not... everyone will know and something tells me Rey will like you a lot less, if she even likes you at all.

Here's what you're going to do. First, you're going to apologize to Cleo. A real, sincere apology — not the one you gave earlier. From there, you can either go befriend Cleo or simply put, you can leave her alone. This might surprise you, Mako, but Cleo has a lot going on in her life and she does not need you to add onto her life.

Regardless of what you choose, I will be watching you to ensure you're following the guidelines set on this note. If you, at any time, break these guidelines, then your secret becomes revealed to the public. No warning will be given to you either; this is your only one so listen well. Follow my rules, you'll be fine. If you break them... well, you'll have more than wooing Rey to worry about [which in the long run, won't even matter because Rey is NOT into you, so let it go!].

See you soon.

——————————

Several hours since school ended and after going out and upholding her end of the deal with Jasmine and Terrance, Marinette [now as Ladybug] went to start her patrolling job alongside Snow Drift and as the two fist-bumped, the arrival of Chat Noir took the girls by surprise, especially Snow Drift, who ran to hug him.

"Kitty!"

"Hi, Snowflake, it's me," Chat Noir warmly told Snow Drift upon pulling away from the hug, the two looking earnestly into each other's eyes. As Ladybug smiled supportively at the two, she felt the jar of cream in her pocket and found she could finally give it to the feline hero.

"Hey, Chat. You forgot to get this."

As Chat Noir turned to catch the cream, he smiled at Ladybug. "Thanks... What is it?" he softly said as Ladybug smiled back. "No problem and it's a cream Master Fu wants you to use in the event your ring gets cracked again," she said as Snow Drift grinned.

"Now that Kitty is here, let's go celebrate Spots!" Snow Drift happily cried out and before Ladybug could get a word in, she was pulled by Chat Noir.

"Ah!"

Upon getting ice cream from André, the three heroes went to the rooftop and lightly tip their ice creams together.

"To Spots on her well-deserved promotion!"

"To M'lady on the start of a new era!"

"To the end of Hawkmoth's reign and another successful purification on Hawkmoth's akuma," Ladybug happily finished, the three now toasting their sweet treats as the trio began to eat and watch over Paris. "You know... do you think that was our last akuma?" Snow Drift curiously asked as Ladybug blinked.

"You know... I don't really know," Ladybug openly admitted as she stared at her yo-yo, which was now staring back at her. "How does it feel knowing Gabriel Agreste is—" she continued, only to get cut off as Chat Noir tensely chuckle at the two. "Let's not focus on the fashion designer. Instead, let's focus on Ladybug," he insisted as the sudden urge in his tone led the two heroines to stare at him.

"Chat, are you okay?"

"I—"

Before Chat could finish, the three heard a bloodcurdling scream and as the heroes ate the last of their ice creams, the trio went to investigate the source of the sound. Upon arriving, the three were greeted by a woman running to them.

"Help! Please help!"

Staring at the dirty blonde-haired woman with her teary sea-green eyes, the woman ran to the trio. "Please! It's a emergency! I saw the killer attack Gabriel Agreste and she calls herself the Crimson Spider!" she later exclaimed in a panic. "Okay, ma'am, you need to be calm. What is your name?" Snow Drift and Chat Noir gently asked.

"M... My name? I... It's..." the woman seem to trail off before sighing, "My name is Juno Granger and I'm a botanical sciences professor at Collège Françoise Dupont. I run the greenhouse and I suspect one of my students to be behind Gabriel's killing, but I'm not sure," Juno continued as she took a deep breath.

"Okay, if this is true, you need to stay here. Me and my team will investigate the scene and—" Ladybug chimed in, only to get cut off by Juno, who laughed. "If this is true? You don't believe me. Well, this is the only shot we have at catching her and I'm not going to let her get away," Juno sharply said and before the heroes could stop her, she ran back to the alleyway.

"Wait!" the three called out, but it was far too late. When the trio heard a bloodcurdling scream and upon arriving at the scene, the heroes were morbidly disgusted by what was in their sights.

There, in front of their eyes lied Juno Granger with her throat slashed by a blade as she was gripping onto her vocal cords and a note gripped tightly on her blood stained hand and just a few inches away from the woman lies Gabriel Agreste. Here, Chat Noir could not bring himself to look and Snow Drift stayed behind to comfort him, seeing how he was just as disturbed by the murders as she was.

Reluctantly, Ladybug volunteered herself to look forward and to her horror, she saw the fashion designer's body brutally stabbed in the same manner of the body of ex-Captain Abbott. Around him, his clothes and hair were now soaked in his own pool of blood that followed him. Taking a step back, Ladybug then recalled the note in Juno's hand and as she grabbed the note, she unraveled the paper and gasped.

Juno was a con artist and Gabriel was a manipulator. As you can see, their deaths are well justified. This town and its people are full of secrets. Yet, I know all, including you and your team's secret identities.

I'll keep your secrets safe ... so long as you three are not interfering with my plans to keep/maintain the peace all of you have failed to do. If not... well, you and your team will have a lot more to worry about than all of your secret identities getting released to the public.

After all, when you play with fire, you get burned. Heed my warning and you three are safe. Disobey and well... you and your team know what to expect. Sincerely ~ the real hero of Paris, Crimson Spider

Awkwardly placing the paper back into Juno's hand, Ladybug made her way back to her team, trying to figure out how to break the news that none of them were safe. "Spots? What did you find?" Snow Drift gently asked. "I think it's best if we all lay low for some time," Ladybug cryptically answered as Chat Noir looked up.

"Lay low? M'lady—"

"Whoever Crimson Spider is, they know who we all are underneath the mask," Ladybug slowly said, now interrupting Chat Noir and Snow Drift, whose eyes widened. "Wait, I... I don't get this. If Crimson Spider knows who we are, then..." Chat Noir and Snow Drift started, only to trail off as Ladybug nodded.

"Our secret identities aren't safe... not anymore, at least."

——————————————

"Breaking news! It is now confirmed that the world renowned fashion designer and iconic figure, Gabriel Agreste, has just been found dead in an alleyway near his home, the Agreste mansion. Gabriel is now survived by his assistant Nathalie Sancoeur and his son, Adrien Agreste."

Staring at the news the next morning, Detective Hatt's face soured. He had reassured the police that the killer was captured and now... "This happens," he bitterly mumbled, irritated at the news.

"Furthermore, it is revealed 31-year-old Juno Granger has also been found to be dead by authorities in an alleyway near the Agreste mansion."

"Two deaths?"

"While Gabriel was revealed to be the infamous Hawkmoth by a source only identified as Lady Justice, he would have faced several criminal charges against him. It is also speculated that Gabriel Agreste was going to relocate to avoid getting arrested by the police, but as of now, the reason for his passport is unknown."

"You have got to be kidding me."

"Furthermore, Juno Granger, who serve as the botanical sciences professor at Collège Françoise Dupont would have been convicted of several criminal charges against her if she was still alive as the woman had misled the school about her intentions for...."

"Hey, you got a second?"

"If it's not good news, I don't..." Hatt started, only to stop as the man swerved his chair to scowl at one of his colleagues... only to stare into the beautiful set of dark amber eyes he has ever seen.

More so, as he stared at the dark-skinned woman who was wearing a light grey, black striped shirt with blue denim jeans and black high heels, Hatt could see her jet-black hair now curl, giving off the bouncy look. Furthermore, Jolene had a light beige jacket tied around her lower chest and a black leather handbag to complete her latest look.

"I know this is probably bad timing, but I brought you flowers," she timidly followed up, now holding a bouquet of various flowers. "That's so sweet, Jo, thank you," Hatt softly said, preparing to stand when Jolene invited herself into his office, now closing the door and using the lock before she placed the flowers on his desk.

As she sat down, Jolene proceeded to place her legs over his desk, to which Hatt had to internally keep his own composure under control if he had any hope of keeping his job, which with the latest update, was bound to be questionable. "Jolene," he began with a cough. "What brings you here? Particularly during my working hours?" he continued as Hatt saw the woman chuckle.

"Well... I need to acquire a taser."

"A taser? For what?" Hatt puzzling asked her before his eyes widened. "Oh, yeah. You're still—" he continued, only to get interrupted by Nadja on the screen.

"... Well, it seems as though our heroes are now being questioned as the masked killer, now calling themselves, Crimson Spider has established themselves as the real hero of Paris in this note left behind at the crime scene. More so, they seem to know the secret identities of our three heroes: Miraculous Ladybug, Chat Noir and Snow Drift. What will this mean for our heroes moving forward?"

"Crimson Spider? What kind of a name is that?" Jolene asked in disgust and disbelief as Hatt saw this opportunity as a moment to educate her. "Well, considering how crimson is—" Hatt passionately started, only to quickly stop himself when Jolene gave one of her cold, demeaning stares in his direction.

"This complicate things. If the media or someone were to catch Crimson in the act, then this could ruin everything and I have no intention of being sued by Ethan for all of this, so you need to fix this and fast," Jolene sharply ordered, now taking her legs off from his desk as she sternly glared in his direction.

"I would love to, but I can't. Chances are, I'll have to—"

"No. Ethan is not getting out. He charged me for too long and now, I'm getting my own payback. Plus, this is what he gets for trying to kill me," she sharply began as Jolene pull on his shirt.

"So, you're going to go back to his house, find some 'evidence' and frame him by saying the guy left his prison cell late at night and boom. You have yourself a cover story until you can get to the bottom of discovering the secret identity of Crimson Spider," Jolene sharply continued as Hatt stared at her in annoyance and awe, to which she released her grip on his shirt.

"Your plan will never work."

"This is Paris, Hatt. People will believe anything these days," Jolene smugly stated as Hatt merely shook his head, trying to figure out how he got involved in this woman's scheme.

One second, the detective fell deeply in love with her and now... now, the detective was here, in his station, trying to find a way to frame Ethan in a way that made logical sense without garnering attention by the press for the way he handled other cases in the past, back in his hometown... if anyone ever found out, that is.

Needless to say, Hatt wasn't entirely impressed by Jolene's latest plan and would have told her such... had she not smiled in his direction. "Elio, I know you won't disappoint me, mon amour," Jolene sweetly told him, now stroking his chin as she stood up. "Tu es un homme intelligent, Elio. Tu penseras à quelque chose," she continued, now pecking his cheek as she grabbed her handbag.

"Fix this problem for me, detective, and I promise to reward you greatly, mon amour."

As Jolene smiled warmly in his direction, she then proceeded to unlock the door and as she opened the door, she flashed one more smile before walking out of his office. When she was gone, Hatt sighed softly before glancing at the security cameras blinking back at him.

"Howard! Are the security cameras down!"

"Yeah! Me and my team are in the midst of fixing them!" Hatt heard Howard call out in the other side of the hallway. "The security cameras should be up soon!" he added as the detective sighed in relief, his panic now fading away.

Then, of course, his personal phone rang as Hatt found himself reluctantly answering the call, hoping that it was a mistake and that it was really his office phone with the mayor's sister on the other side of the line. At least then, Poppy would provide some entertainment to him.

But as such, wishful thinking was only but a illusion — a mere reminder that even people like him had to face their reality... even if that reality wasn't worth having.

"Hello?"

"Word on the street is your new name is Elio Hatt. Ha! Is that seriously what you go by now?"

Upon recognizing the voice, Elio sighed, now wishing Poppy had call instead. Right at this moment, he could use the entertainment. "Yes— Wait. What do you even want with me, Lucien? In case you forgot, I don't work for Serpentine anymore and I'm not in my hometown anymore, so if that's why you're calling, then feel free to hang up," he stated as a chuckle was heard.

"Oh, Elio. Did you forget? You can relocate yourself all you want, but at the end of the day, you still belong to Serpentine."

"She can't control me, because I made sure to discard the ring a long time ago, genius. I admit it's a nice try, but she can't make me do anything," Elio confidently whispered in an effort to ensure his call wasn't being overheard.

"She'll rearrange that, seeing how she plans on going to Paris now—"

"She's coming to Paris? Why! There's nothing for her. In fact, tell her to go somewhere else. I don't care where, just don't get her to come here," Elio furiously whisper, more so in a panic as Lucien chuckled once more.

"Too late. Serpentine has been convinced the raven miraculous is somewhere in Paris and she wants to get revenge on the specialized thief for taking what was essentially her birthright."

"Great..."

"So, if you want to get on her good side, I recommend you find the thief and the raven miraculous first. Otherwise, she's going to make you her little scapegoat and end up bewitching you or something above those lines. Oh! You also have till tonight to make this happen or you will end up facing the consequences of failing her. Goodbye now!"

"Wait—"

But as the line disconnected, Elio was left with the internal dread of knowing he went out of his way to escape Serpentine and her so-called serpents [she was a viper and he could never understand why the villainess simply felt the need to refer to herself or her henchmen as "serpents" as she had a specific type of snake miraculous but you know, to each their own, he supposed].

Then he began to wonder what would happen if Serpentine got to Jolene and— as the fear mounted up, Elio forced himself to calm down. "She won't get to Jo... as long as I do my job," he said, now reluctantly getting up. "Fine, you win, Serpentine," he added, now grabbing his keys.

"I'll go hunt down your raven."

—————————————

"Come on, work!"

As a man in his mid-twenties kick his car in frustration, he had glanced up at the sky, which only grew cloudy and gloomier by the day. "Great. Surely, it won't—" as the words came out, the skies chose that moment to start sprinkling and as he attempted to find his keys, the older man found he had left his keys... in the car.

So as he tried to open the driver's door, believing he left the doors unlocked, the man was quickly proven wrong. With his keys and his umbrella stuck in the car, he was forced to endure the weather as the man didn't necessarily think about carrying his jacket on him, which would have helped... a lot.

As the man saw people in the sidewalks with umbrellas, the rain was persistent but so was he. Determined to get his car fixed or even get a hold of a umbrella, the man had continuously ask for help as he was certain someone — at least one person — would be willing to give him a helping hand.

But with each rejection he got, his hopes grew dimmer and dimmer. In spite of this, he had hope someone would be kind enough to stop by. So when the man saw a red-haired woman wearing black sunglasses, a water-resistant dark blue raincoat, matching rain boots with a set of white turtleneck shirt, a dark brown leather belt, white striped pants and a black leather curved handbag.

"I'm sorry, mademoiselle, but I was just hoping—" he started, only to get interrupted as she laughed at his response. "Sorry, I don't associate myself with peasants," she sharply remark as the man clenched his fist in his pocket. "It's just a—" he started, insisting that helping him wouldn't take much time but the woman only brushed him aside as she was annoyed by this guy not being able to take a hint.

"What part of 'I don't associate with peasants' did you not understand?"

"I just—"

"Clearly, you need a reminder," she sharply stated and as the two glared at the puddle, they both got the same idea to splash the other. However, she was faster and he would have gotten splashed... had someone not stepped in to help out. In front of him stood a sixteen-year-old girl who spun her umbrella to deflect the splash onto her, which had
led to a very upset woman.

"My sunglasses!"

"Oh, no. Not your sunglasses," the girl sarcastically stated as the woman glared at her and to an extent, she was now looking at him. "Kindness is a thing. You should try it," the girl continued as the woman growled at her response. "All of you peasants are the same. When I have my way, you'll all be listening to me," she mumbled and before the two could say anything, the woman stormed off, her clothes now slightly wet from the effects of the umbrella splash.

Now alone, the rain started to pour harder and the girl was quick to hold the umbrella to cover them. "Thank you," he sincerely said as the girl nodded. "You're welcome. So, why are you still here standing outside of your car with no protection against the rain?" she followed up as the man sighed.

"I got myself locked out and I can't seem to get my car to start," he explained as the girl briefly nodded. "Ah, okay," she said. "Can you hold this please? I'm going to unlock the door and get your car started, so you can get it fixed at a mechanic shop I work in," she explained as he skeptically stared at her.

"Do you want the car fixed?"

"Yes..."

"Then, you can have umbrella duty."

So as the man found himself assigned to holding the umbrella, he silently watch as the girl used a extended clip to unlock the car as she slowly pulled the clip out. As she open the door, the girl saw two wires sticking out and upon connecting the two wires, a spark began to appear the car began to ignite, causing the man to grin.

"Yes!"

"There. You had a short fuse issue but that should be enough to get your car to Florian's to get your car checked out," she said as the man nodded. "Also, if you can, don't leave your keys in the car next time," the girl added, tossing his keys to him, to which the man caught with ease. "Try to see if the car will drive," she further added as the man nodded.

While he was able to start the car and ignite the engine... the car started to run. So in a move of gratitude, he offered the girl a ride to the mechanic shop and when she started to protest, the rain chose that moment to pour harder.

In response, the girl entered the front passenger seat as he proceeded to close the doors and drive to the place as recommended by the girl, who gave him directions to Florian's mechanic shop. Upon arriving, he unlocked the doors as he saw a dark-skinned man in his dark grey standard mechanic attire prepared to close up.

"I think I might just be too late but—"

Before he could finish, the girl was already out of his car with her umbrella in hand as she was trying to advocate for him to get his car fixed. As she did, two more workers came and they were trying to advocate against taking him in, as it was pouring and they wanted to go home for the day. In that moment, his phone began to ring, so he naturally answered.

"Hello?"

"Esteban, have you found a suitable wielder for the raven miraculous, yet?"

"No. My car broke down out of nowhere and now I'm here at this mechanic shop, trying to get my car fixed," he explained, now looking up to see the girl, who was persistent in the matter.

"Well, you need to find someone and fast! Aurelio is on the hunt for you."

"I still can't believe he took out part of his name to get Elio."

"Focus!"

"Okay, okay. I get what you're saying, but you know I don't like using a everyday act-of-kindness to determine a wielder! I would rather much prefer to use an actual moment of danger, where lives are at stake. That's how I can really tell who's worthy," Esteban pointed out as he could just hear the roll eye.

"Well, you're not in London, anymore and you don't exactly have Lady Rose to protect you. Besides, the Great Guardian here relies heavily on the act of kindness to find his own wielders, so..."

"I might not be in London, but I will — if you get the passport situation sorted out. Plus, when I return to London, I'm going to propose to the detective super-heroine and I can leave Serpentine and her serpents for good," Esteban firmly stated as a sigh was heard over the line.

"Esteban—"

"Furthermore, the Great Guardian here in Paris is old and won't know he actually made a mistake till it hits him right in the face! See, that is why I'm against the whole act-of-kindness to determine a miraculous wielder. You know never who is being sincere and who is deceiving," Esteban concluded as another sigh was heard.

"Look, this is all very true, but Aurelio is coming and he'll want the raven miraculous to be given to him, so he can hand the miraculous over to Serpentine. Whether you like it or not, you're just going to have to use the Great Guardian's method."

"But I don't—" Esteban started, now holding onto the box with grey encrypted symbols, a few being in Latin while the rest were in a language he couldn't quite understand.

All he knew was that when he seized the raven miraculous, Esteban was warned against the miraculous falling into the wrong hands or the world would be in danger, something above those lines. Anyways as Esteban was holding onto the box, the outside of the box began to glow in the presence of the teenage girl, much to his surprise as the miraculous was known to choose... well, older people.

"Hey, Arin, you're not going to believe this... but I think the miraculous chose someone to wield its powers."

"Well, I hope it's someone around our age group."

"... Try sixteen."

"Sixteen! You're telling me the miraculous chose a child to wield its powers? No, it's fine. We're better off discarding the miraculous gently. I am not trying to deal with the Avalonian god of darkness and despair when the miraculous cracks."

"Well, the miraculous chose her and hang on! Wait a minute!" Esteban sharply said as he shook his head. "Didn't you lecture me just a few minutes ago on how I needed to find someone and fast because Aurelio was the one looking for me?" Esteban followed up as he could a hesitant sigh.

"Yes, but—"

"Well, the miraculous chose her. For better or worse, a sixteen-year-old will handle the raven of darkness."

"We're better off discarding the miraculous, man. I don't trust the kwami as it is, let alone how it just suddenly chose to pick a literal child to take on the mantle of the Corbeau Noire. Besides, why can't Serpentine just have—"

"You and I both know very well why Serpentine can't have the raven miraculous, so don't ask. Besides, it's very critical we get the viper off from my trail and get rid of the miraculous before Aurelio finds out I gave the miraculous to someone else. If he does, he'll no doubt report back to Serpentine, who will come for both of us," Esteban firmly told Arin, who reluctantly sighed.

"Fine. Just let me know her name so in the event something happens to you, I can help her out. However, if the kwami starts acting weird, I'm taking the miraculous from her and I am burning the necklace of darkness, because there's just no way the kwami is simply capable of being trusted around someone else."

"Arin—"

"I'm serious, Esteban! They say some kwamis are capable of manipulating their users into doing their bidding. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm just saying. The raven of literal darkness seems to be completely capable of enforcing their agenda onto a user and given the girl's age, Gaagii is more than capable of getting the girl under his control."

"Arin, it's just a myth. Nothing more. Besides, Gaagii isn't like that. He's just... well, he's misunderstood."

"MISUNDERSTOOD! HE NEARLY BIT ME!"

"Okay, but you did—"

"Nope! Not hearing it! Look, I'm telling you, Gaagii, is nothing more than a monster. There is simply nothing about him that screams 'misunderstood.' Okay? Whatever he's telling you is a scam and he's trying to enforce his own agenda onto you. Plus, do you know recall the Kawaii incident? When the wolf kwami snapped, it was a nightmarish horror sight to see. These kwamis are nothing more than...."

As Esteban saw the girl and the owner [who he had presumed to be Florian] come to an agreement, the owner then proceeded to open the garage door as the few of the workers reluctantly went back inside the shop. "Hey, I think I'm getting let in, so I'll talk to you later, Arin. Bye now," he quickly said, hanging up as he hid the box into his pocket. By the time the girl came to his window, Esteban was ready as he rolled down his window.

"I convinced my boss to let you in. Also, I hope you're a good tipper because that's what I told Florian and the others to get your car fixed, so..." she later said as the girl trailed off.

"That's okay. I should have the tip covered."

With that, Esteban drove the car in and once he got told to park the car, he could hear a groan from two of the girl's workers who were unfortunate enough to stay. "We were so close, Cleo, and you just had to find someone!" one of the workers bitterly stated as his eyes were focused on the girl who was wearing a gray T-shirt, a blue denim jacket with two buttons on the left side, khaki jeans and black flats as her bag was now hanging up.

"The guy was in need of help, Clarissa. I couldn't just leave him stranded out there," the girl — Cleo, he had to remind himself — defensively stated as the fair-skinned blondie in her mechanic attire merely scoffed at her response. "He could have been someone else's problem, but thanks to you, he is now our problem," she bitterly continued as Cleo roll her eyes.

"Clarissa, give her a break. Everyone knows she's just trying to preserve the shambles of her namesake and she had to simply drag us along for the ride. I mean, she had Captain Abbott as her stepfather, who not manipulated all of Paris but he was a cheater as well," the male chimed in as he chuckled. "Who's to stop her if she fails miserably and ends up like him?" the fair-skinned brunette in his mechanic attire added as Clarissa chuckled at his response.

"Ugh. I'm nothing like him, Sebastien," Cleo sharply stated as Clarissa and Sebastien stared at each other before the two laughed. "Clarissa, Sebastien, knock it off!" he could hear Florian yell as the two workers glared at her. The two proceeded to whisper to her, then proceeded to throw a wrench in her direction [which she caught] as the two walked off, quietly laughing amongst themselves.

"I'm so sorry for the wait, sir. I —"

"You didn't deserve that," Esteban briefly said as the girl skeptically stared at him. "You were trying to be a good person and some people forget that kindness exists," he softly added. "You were just trying to help and I appreciate you being able to take me in and help me when no one else did, so thank you..." he said, clearly knowing her name from the conversations he overheard, but Esteban wanted to be polite.

"Cleo, Cleo Monroe."

"Esteban Gomez," Esteban promptly said, holding out his hand to her as she reluctantly shook his hand. As she made her way to the front of his car, she lift the top of his trunk and beckoned him to come over, which he did. It was also here that two of Cleo's other co-workers Clarissa and Sebastien arrived, now surveying his car.

"Ah, yes. The good ole' oil pump," Clarissa confidently stated. "Actually, I don't want to be rude but the issue is his engine transmission," Cleo gently pointed out. "No, it's the oil pump, I would know," Clarissa smartly remarked as the two girls stared at Sebastien, who was considered the "expert" in the mechanism of cars.

"No, I hate to admit it, but... Cleo's right. It is the engine transmission, Arisa," Sebastien briefly said as Cleo proudly grinned while Clarissa rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I was just testing her," Clarissa promptly stated. "Do I need to be tested at this point, considering I've been here for like five months now?" Cleo pointed out as Clarissa silently mumbled something underneath her breath.

"No, but... huh. You have an automatic engine transmission," Cleo curiously followed up as Esteban dismissively nodded. But when he saw Cleo getting pulled into a huddle with Clarissa and Sebastien, Esteban got curious and chose to eavesdrop in their own conversation.

"Well, he must be either be very rich or a foreigner, because most people drive manual vehicles," Sebastien whispered as Clarissa skeptically looked at him. "This guy has to be a foreigner. There's no way he's rich. I mean, have you looked at him?" Clarissa quietly whispered as Cleo stared at the two.

"Don't judge us," the two began upon catching her stare. "Someone chose to make us all work in the rain when we all could have left, so forgive us for trying to have some fun. Besides, we could probably even charge extra..." Clarissa and Sebastien followed up as Cleo shook her head. "Unbelievable," she mumbled, staring at the two in pure disbelief.

"It's a simple fix, but it'll cost you 2784 euros, assuming you have the right currency on hand," Clarissa and Sebastian proudly stated as Cleo rolled her eyes, now stepping in between the two and wanting to set the record straight.

"No, it'll actually cost you 1392 euros or 1527.65 in US dollars, if you don't have euros, as we're replacing the automatic engine transmission on your medium-sized vehicle," Cleo briefly pointed out as Clarissa and Sebastien glared at her, the two clearly annoyed that she felt the need to follow the rules.

So as Cleo roped Clarissa and Sebastien into helping her, the three set out to replace his old automatic engine transmission with a new one. In the midst of the three working on his car, Esteban was greeted by the owner of the mechanic shop, who chose to strike up a conversation with him while his car went under inspection.

"So, I suspect everything is going well?"

Taking his attention away from the three and looking back at the dark-skinned man in his dark grey standard mechanic attire, Esteban nodded. "Of course! I really appreciate you taking a look in my car despite the unfortunate weather. I understand I might have ruin some plans in the process," he briefly stated, attempting to apologize to the owner afterwards when Esteban was stopped by the owner.

"Nonsense. You're doing my crew a favor and besides, we weren't going to have any type of business anyways. I was going to close up after they were done fixing your car, but I would actually thank teapot for advocating for you. She was really persistent in getting your car checked out," the owner casually explained.

"Teapot?"

"My crew are each given different names. Teapot is what we call Cleo, Rose is what we call Clarissa and Anchor is what we call Sebastien. There are more, but it was going to be a relatively slow day, so most of my workers just took the day off."

"Huh, well thank you...."

"Florian, Florian Cadieux and you are....?" the man followed with a charismatic smile as
Esteban smiled. "Esteban Gomez," he said, the two now shaking hands just as the three stepped back from his hood. "Done!" the three exclaimed, now giving each other a high-five. As Florian went to survey the fix himself, it was approved and soon after, Esteban was given a receipt.

As Esteban signed the receipt and paid the listed amount, he then left a tip for not only Florian but for the three workers in the shop as well [though he admittedly gave Cleo a higher amount for going above while Clarissa and Sebastien got a semi-decent tip, a bit more than he would have liked to give them].

While Clarissa and Sebastien were thrilled by their tips and quickly left before Esteban and their boss could change their mind, Cleo took the liberty of helping Florian close up the shop. So as Esteban patiently waited, his phone rang again and he was quick to step out and respond.

"Hello?"

"Aurelio is like five minutes away from you! Please tell me you got rid of the necklace in time!"

"Almost."

"A... Almost! Esteban—"

"There's not much you can do when you're getting your car fixed, Arin!" Esteban quietly whispered, now glancing over the sidewalk to see if Aurelio was near. "Besides, my car just got fixed and they're closing up. I'll get rid of the miraculous by the time he comes, I promise," Esteban quickly explained, now hearing footsteps.

"You better. I'm sticking my neck out for you and anyone who crosses Serpentine ends up dead, so do not mess this up."

As the line disconnected, Cleo and Florian arrived just in time, to which he managed to give the two their well-earned tips. However when Florian close the shop and the three left the entrance, the owner locked the door. Afterwards, he wave to Florian, who smiled and went in his own direction, now leaving Esteban with Cleo, who was also prepared to leave.

"Wait. I uh actually have something else to give you, but you must promise to keep this from falling into the wrong hands," Esteban firmly but cryptically told Cleo, who looked at him in confusion, but nodded nonetheless. "Okay. I promise to keep whatever you're about to give me from falling into the wrong hands," she said.

"Good."

Holding the teenage girl by her own word, Esteban then took out the black box with the engraved symbols — some in Latin but mostly in a language that he could not make out, which bothered him — from his pocket. "This box is very valuable and under the wrong hands, this box can cause more harm than good. I am entrusting you to protect what is inside and keep this box from falling into the hands of Serpentine, who will do anything to get this back," Esteban firmly explained, now placing the box in her hands.

"Serpentine?"

"Yes. She is not meant to be trusted and neither are her serpents. She is capable of mind control and with this box, she'll want to forge the remaining ones into creating a portal to bring unspeakable evils into our world," Esteban continued, now closing the box with her hands.

"All of that for a box?"

"Trust me. The inside of the box is what truly matters, but do not open the box in front of others. You need to be alone and whatever you find, you must keep its existence and your discovery a secret from everyone. No one is to know about it, because if Serpentine finds out about the box being here, she'll stop at nothing to kill you."

"I got the hint, thanks."

Then as he heard footsteps, Esteban then took a deep breath as he looked at her. "You were chosen for a reason, Monroe. Protect, defend and most importantly, don't let me down. Now go," he concluded as she began to open her mouth, only to give out a quick "thanks" for the tip and the box before heading off.

When she left, Esteban attempted to get in his car to drive off to meet Arin, but he was stopped as a police car pulled into the street. "Oh, great," he mumbled, already knowing who to expect.

"Esteban, long time no see."

With an umbrella over his head, Esteban looked up to see tall, muscular brown-skinned male with hazel brown eyes as his dark blackish-blue hair wearing a light beige trench coat over his new white T-shirt with the Parisian police logo, black and white checkered pants and black loafers to complete his look.

"Aurelio, still trying to be a detective?"

"The name's Elio. Detective Elio Hatt, to be exact," Aurelio — or rather, Elio — sharply corrected as Esteban rolled his eyes. "You can change your name all you want, but that won't hide what you did. Running to a new town won't fix things either," Esteban points out as Elio glared at him.

"Funny. Aren't you doing the same thing?"

"No. I'm keeping my name and I legally left Serpentine and her loyal serpents," Esteban briefly corrected as Elio skeptically looked at him. "Anyways, I was just leaving, so... I will—" Esteban quickly started, only to get interrupted as Elio cleared his throat. "Este, you know why I'm here," he started as Esteban sighed.

"I know and you should know that I don't have what you're looking for."

"What?"

"You heard me," Esteban flatly stated as Elio's eyes widened. "What did you do with the raven miraculous? You know if I can't find it, Serpentine is going to go after me!" Elio whisper in a panicked state as Esteban only shrugged. "That sounds like a you problem then, huh?" Esteban mockingly followed up as Elio quietly growled.

"Where is it?"

"I don't know."

"Liar!"

"Oh? What are you going to do? Arrest me and throw me into a prison cell like you did to Ethan?" Esteban started with a low chuckle. "You know, I didn't think you would be the one to throw innocent people into prison, but then again, you've done worse. I just can't wait to see what your colleagues end up digging up on you, Detective. Ha! What a joke you are," Esteban added, now laughing.

"You'll regret this," Elio darkly warned as Esteban rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure," Esteban sarcastically shot back, not taking the 'detective' seriously as he unlock the doors to his
car by using his car keys. "Trust me. Serpentine remembers those who cross her," Elio sharply continued as Esteban entered his car, closed the driver's door and proceeded to lock the door, his umbrella now safely closed.

"Hmm, you don't say? Send her my regards."

As Esteban drove off, he may [or may not] have intentionally look for a large puddle as he proceeded to slap the 'detective', who [he assumed] was now furious at him for the way he [Esteban] treated Elio and for talking poorly about Serpentine, who [if all things went according to plan] would officially be his former boss.

He should have cared, but Esteban thought nothing of it as he drove off, leaving Elio to get wet once again as he heard the detective growl.

"You will pay for this, Esteban!"

——————————

"I'm here!"

As Cleo burst through the door, she placed the envelope on top of her landlord's desk as she took a step back, now nervously fidgeting with the cuffs of her denim blue jacket as her landlord quietly counted, causing Cleo to hold her breath as she was afraid of being under... again.

"Cleo, you're on time with your payment for this month. I'm genuinely surprised," she sincerely said as the girl brightly smiled, now sighing in relief as she was safe. Though, she only got lucky this month because of Esteban's tip, which was extremely generous as half of what was given to her was the boost to push her over the edge as she had just enough to secure a timely payment; a win of itself.

"Oh okay, awesome."

Of course... next month would be another story, but Cleo was trying to figure out a way to secure the amount needed to keep her and her mother from being homeless. She had hope the paid internship with the Parisian's police department would be enough to help as she would have the best of both worlds.

She and Bernadette had applied together at the start of the semester and after edging Rey on, Cleo got Rey to apply a few days later... so by now or roughly in the next few days to come, the results would come in, which made her nervous.

While Cleo had no doubt Bernadette and Rey would get in, she was more or less worried about her chances. Cleo had a strong mentorship with Roger Raincomprix as Sabrina's dad wrote a fantastic letter of recommendation, so that much didn't concern her. No, it was her stepfather's actions that made her a toss up.

While Rey and Bernadette had great reputations, Cleo had a questionable one, thanks in part to her stepfather for failing to keep his life together. Lance had looked great until the allegations piled on top and although catching her stepfather in the act seemed to be great in theory, it raised questions on why she hadn't act sooner.

Cleo was hoping her mother wouldn't have negative or unwanted allegations against her as she really wanted this internship. Her goal was apply for a internship in London for her senior year to shadow the prestigious and fashionable, Lady Rose. If she could get her idol to be impressed with her work, Cleo hoped to actually get a full-time gig for the famous Lady Rose.

But in the event her detective dreams truly went to dust or fell apart, Cleo had her eyes set on being an inventor like her father, Joshua Monroe. She always hoped he would come to visit her, but she knew her father was a busy man, so she's been saving up over the years to buy a plane ticket to go travel to New York City to go see him and perhaps even meet his [hopefully, better] family.

She hoped and hoped she would have enough by then to cover any expenses that the trip might cost her. Her mother always insisted that her father wanted nothing to do with her [hence why her father got a wife, a dog and three kids to forget about what a screwup she was — at least, that's what her mother always told her], but Cleo felt her mother was wrong in that aspect.

Her father did care... he was just busy living his life as the CEO of Monroe Industries in a multimillion dollar innovative tower rooftop, caring to his new wife Diane, who was a successful writer within the romance genre while his three kids [Albuslis - a renowned fencer in his school, Natalie - a incoming ballerina and Ulliam - a up-and-rising star as a beloved soccer player] were all on the path of being successful. Plus, not to mention, their pet Fluffy won several dog shows!

Why would her father reach out to her when his kids [not to mention, the dog] were all so great? She had nothing to offer him. Her mother viewed her as a failure, so why did she think her father would view her any differently?

After all, Cleo could recall sending him a picture from an article for being one of the two high school students accepted into the prestigious Parisian Institute of Technology and Robotics, but two years has now passed since that faithful moment. Two years now and she hasn't heard anything back from him...

"... Cleo."

Hearing her name snapped the girl out of her thoughts as Cleo sheepishly rubbed her shoulders. "Sorry, I didn't quite catch that," she timidly admitted as her landlord shook her head. "I was saying these flowers came in for you," her landlord pointed out as she gestured to a vase filled with seven red roses.

"Roses?"

As Cleo held the glass vase, she saw the swan outline holding the roses as she suddenly felt unworthy of the presumably beautiful but still expensive gift. It was like touching the glass somehow made her feel impure.

"Yeah, some red head came in earlier looking for you. I don't know why he was looking for you but you weren't here, so he left the roses here instead," her landlord said and as those words were spoken, her face fell. "Oh," she reluctantly said as everything added up in her head.

In that moment, she knew who gifted her the roses which now made her uncomfortable as she didn't exactly recall giving Robert her own address. Suddenly, the roses were less appealing and in fact, only served as a reminder that she might have made a mistake in being nice to Robert...

"Quite the charmer, that La Clare. He just kept going on and on about how amazing you were. It seems like Robert was going through a sea of compliments, but if you ask me, I think you and Bernadette are rather cute," the landlord continued as Cleo blushed, her eyes widening from the landlord's response, so the girl quickly made up an excuse and left, not wanting to dive into... that conversation.

Upon arriving in the apartment she shared with her mother, Cleo placed the flowers on the table and reluctantly sighed. "I know I should be thrilled by this, but I just don't see this working out," she mumbled to herself, now closing the door behind her as she stare mindlessly at the seven red roses. More so, she was bother by the color and the amount.

Red roses are a symbol of love and passion. Seven red roses meant... I'm infatuated by you.

Two years ago she went unnoticed by him, only to unexpectedly save his life and now he was so... so... ugh! She couldn't even think of a way to describe Robert, but Cleo knew he was going to be trouble for her and upon staring at the roses, this was just the start of a path she had no intention of pursuing.

Robert was... well, Robert, but...

"Ma chérie, tu es si belle."

... He wasn't anything compared to Bernadette.

As the thought crossed her mind, Cleo forced herself to dismiss the words altogether. It was just a stupid idea. After all, she and Betty were just friends! Why would she view the Spider in that sense? More so, why would someone like Bernadette [who she viewed as talented, confident and witty] ever be into someone like... well, her?

After all, Cleo knew she was some geek who spent too much time in her youth learning to make inventions and threw herself into the world of mysteries/true crime in between her shooting lessons. If she wasn't doing any of those things, then she grew flowers and attempted to be a gardener.

Granted, she did technically catch her stepfather [with Betty and later on, Max's help] and with Betty's aid, she did discover Hawkmoth's secret identity but those two things didn't count because it was just luck. She got lucky with those things, that was all to it.

She wasn't... she wasn't—

"Emmy!"

Snapping out of her thoughts, Cleo ran to the attic — okay, technically the attic was her room — as she saw Bernadette waving to her. She reluctantly sighed, now unlocking the window. "Betty, you really need to stop doing this," she insisted, but the girl only laugh at her response.

"Please, I'm safe and besides, your mother isn't here."

"She's not here... but how did you know?"

"You look less stress. If she was here, you would act more stressed," Bernadette pointed out as Cleo blinked. "Okay, fair enough," she said, unable to disagree with her statement as Cleo then gave her an awkward smile. "Well, this has been fun, but you should get a move on... so I'll see you—" she started, only to get cut off.

"Wait! Look, if this is about me going against our initial plan in revealing Hawkmoth's identity to the world... I'm—"

"Don't apologize, there's no point. You were going to do whatever felt right to you in the moment and that happened to be your choice. I never held you on a promise and even if I did, you would have done the same thing, so really, I can't say I'm upset because I saw this coming," Cleo briefly explained, keeping her tone neutral.

"Well, I brought flowers in the event you were upset."

"Flowers?"

On the spot, Bernadette developed a somewhat shy smile. "Well, Max and I were talking and he thought the best way I could make up to you was to bring you some flowers as an apology gift. I uh... I might have gotten a bit carried away along the way," she softly told her and as Cleo lift the window up, Bernadette was able to climb safely inside her room.

As Cleo closed the window, she turn to see Bernadette standing with the flowers as she then bowed. "For you, ma chérie," Bernadette softly said as Cleo stared at the bouquet of flowers. "Sorry, I tried to get a vase in time but—" Bernadette started as Cleo chuckle softly. "No worries," Cleo insisted, trying to figure out why she was more excited about Betty giving her flowers than opposed to Robert.

"Here, this should work," Cleo later added, upon returning with a typical vase she stored in the kitchen. With the vase now filled with water, Bernadette then set the flowers inside as she place the vase of flowers on her nightstand. With the flowers secured, the two proudly grinned. "Thanks," the two said in sync, now awkwardly chuckling as the girls cleared their throat.

"Thank you again for the flowers," Cleo shyly stated as Bernadette softly smiled. "Does this mean I'm forgiven?" Bernadette cheekily ask as Cleo chuckled. "I was never upset, just disappointed, but sure. You're forgiven," she lightly answered as Bernadette sighed in relief. "Yes. I was afraid I had lost our friendship," Bernadette truthfully admitted as Cleo raised an eyebrow.

"Our friendship?"

"Yeah. I mean.... I'm slowly getting acquainted with Mireille, Auroré and I might start talking to Rey at some point, but the relationship between us is what I'm truly scared to lose because... well, if we're being honest here, I care about you, Cleo. You mean a lot to me and I value our time together."

"Aww, Spider! I care about you too! You mean a lot to me and I deeply value the bond you and me have. I really appreciate the time we spend together," Cleo sincerely said, now pulling Bernadette into a hug, but she started to panic about invading the girl's personal space, so Cleo quickly attempts to pull away but Bernadette [to her surprise] reciprocated the hug.

When the two pulled away from the hug, a moment of awkward silence now graced the room and in an effort to stop that, Cleo once again cleared her throat as she wasn't used to the lack of sound from being with Bernadette.

"So... what exactly did you want to do again?"

"Oh! I wanted to investigate Lance's stuff just to see if we had missed something about him," Bernadette casually explained as Cleo nodded, now recalling the conversation she had with her. "I don't think we missed anything, but I mean, you're more than welcome to check," Cleo softly said, leading Bernadette to her stepfather's room. As the two came across Lance's room, Cleo surveyed the room.

"You know you don't—"

She always dreaded the room, but Cleo knew the answers she needed lied in here... and in her mother's room [though she wasn't quite ready to explore that room yet as she did not know what she would find]. "No, I need to go in here. Besides, it's just a room," Cleo insisted as Bernadette chuckle, now holding out her hand to her. "Ready?" she playfully asked as Cleo softly smiled.

"Ready."

————————————

Entering Lance's room with Cleo, Bernadette was genuinely surprised by his room not reeking of straight alcohol and smoke. As she walk around with Cleo, one of the first things Bernadette was the note she wrote with the girl. "No way! He still kept it?" she asked upon picking up the note.

You reap what you sow ~ Cleo (and Spider)

"Ah, good times," Bernadette fondly said, noticing Cleo's playful eye roll. However when Cleo pick up a crumbled picture, she went towards the girl's side. "What did you end up finding?" Bernadette curiously inquired as Cleo mutely handed the picture to her, much to her surprise.

The photo depicted the married couple behind an altar as Jolene had blonde highlights in her (then) dyed auburn hair, wearing a long, flowing white fluttering wedding gown while Lance worn a navy blue tuxedo, his reddish brown hair neatly combed to the left side of his head.

"Wait, Jolene had blonde highlights?" Bernadette asked in disbelief, which seemed to help out Cleo as she laughed.

"Yeah, she and Lance got married when I was thirteen and she had an obsession with blonde highlights," the girl explained as Bernadette was now staring at thirteen-year-old Cleo, who was in a simple white dress and black flats, adoring a smile as she held her basket of flowers.

However, what caught Bernadette's attention was the mark on Cleo's face and as Cleo went to grab her stepfather's dagger, she aligned the dagger with the length of the cut, which made a perfect fit. Cleo then ran back to grab the note as Bernadette closed the dagger, not wanting the girl to get hurt.

"That night..."

"Yeah?"

"The night of his death... he uh was different. He was more aggressive than usual and he had a... a...."

"A crazed look in his eyes," Bernadette simply finished, not thinking nothing of it until she saw Cleo's cautionary look. "Yeah, but how did you know that?" Cleo slowly asked as Bernadette was on the verge of panic, but reminded herself that if she could fool her cousin into thinking she was cover in paint, then she could fool Cleo.

"Oh, well, I just meant the other night at city hall. Just before he ran off, Lance had a sort of crazed look in his eyes as if he was reeling from his downfall. I figured maybe that was the word you were looking for," Bernadette calmly explained to her as Cleo reluctantly looked away from her.

"Oh."

Granted, Bernadette saw the skepticism in Cleo's eyes, but if the girl had intended to ask her more, she never did. So, Bernadette assumed she was safe... for now. Still, she needed to act like she knew nothing of the night of Lance's death if she had wanted to convince Cleo that she did nothing.

"But what happened on the night of Lance's death?"

"Before he died, he was trying to get me to leave because we ended up at the Bourgeois Hotel. I, for some reason, didn't want to leave and I had no desire to go with him, so I attempted to free myself from his grip. That night, I thought there was something off about him."

"How so?"

"He just kept going on and on about these things. He wanted revenge and he just kept saying he wanted to 'finally end this.' I've been trying to forget the whole night, but he mentioned that he wanted me to reap what I sow and I just realized that night... I got lucky."

"Lucky?"

"Betty... He wanted to kill me," Cleo confessed. "He had every intention to kill me that night. I think that's why I was more scared of him than usual, because a part of me had knew that if I didn't leave... there's a chance I wouldn't be here," she continued as she sighed afterwards.

"Anyways, I was able to run away from him at some point and I had somehow made my way to Celestia and Professor Bourgeois. After that... I don't know what happened. They said I black out from the stress of the situation and I suppose that must be true, because I woke up the next day at the Bourgeois Hotel with no recollection of how I got there."

"Cleo..."

"When I woke up, the foot brace was off and I learn he died on the news, so you know, I just wonder how the situation might have turned out if I never saw that opportunity to escape. Would he had lived if he had succeeded in killing me? Would he pin the death onto Crimson Spider? Would he had still died at the hands of the masked killer in spite of killing me? Would I have a chance to live or would there have truly been two deaths that night?" she continued, now rubbing her shoulders.

"I know I shouldn't be thinking about these things, but... even though, I'm not the one who physically killed him, I still feel like his blood is on my hands. I mean, in some way, I did kill him. I drove him to act the way he did and maybe if I did something different, he might still be alive somehow," Cleo finished as Bernadette shook her head.

"Cleo, Lance would have died and you would have lived, no matter what happened that night. Besides, you did nothing wrong and you shouldn't feel guilty about his murder," Bernadette softly explained as Cleo sighed. "I know, but—" she started, only Bernadette had cut her off.

"Cleo, look. People like Lance, they don't deserve a second chance to live, let alone be free. The heroes were stupid to let Lance walk freely after everything he did, but that's beside the point. The real point is his heart, like so many others, was corrupt and dark when Lance spoke so much about being a man of honor. Even if he did live, it wouldn't have been for long, because unlike the heroes, Crimson Spider does everything in her power to protect Paris from corruption."

"Wait... I'm sorry, but could you write it down? I already forgot," Cleo casually asked as Bernadette shrugged. "Sure," Bernadette dismissively said as she wrote down the last part she said using one of Lance's unused note pads and his black pen. When she was done, Bernadette signed off and gave the written note pad to Cleo, who smiled.

"Thanks. I just really wanted to make sure I truly understood the last part in the event I forgot," Cleo followed up as Bernadette chuckled. "Well, you do tend to be forgetful on a few occasions," she teased as Cleo softly rolled her eyes. "It's only when I'm super busy and it's not intentional, I swear," Cleo points out as Bernadette chuckle at her response.

"Sure. Anyhow, when was the last time you got some sleep?"

"Um—"

"Cleo, go get some rest. I'll keep investigating and let you know what I find," Bernadette insisted, finding an opportunity to explore Jolene's room without Cleo getting involved or knowing about her intentions.

"But—"

"No. Go get some rest," Bernadette sternly order as Cleo open her mouth to protest, she gave the girl a firm look. "Fine. I'm going to go get some rest," Cleo reluctantly stated at last, much to Bernadette's relief. "But when you're done, wake me up, so we can talk. I want to know what you found," Cleo insisted as Bernadette nodded.

"Of course," Bernadette cheekily said, waving to the girl with a smile. Once she saw Cleo was out of sight, she then made her way to Jolene's room.

"Okay, witch. I know you're hiding something," Bernadette mumbled to herself, though she gradually grew annoyed as she kept seeing images of Jolene being hung up. There were a few pictures where she saw a few of Jolene's husbands but nowhere did she see any pictures of the woman with Cleo, causing her to scoff.

In the midst of searching through Jolene's boxes, Bernadette found a crumbled piece of paper. As she unfolded the paper, she smirked.

Termination notice
Date - 15/03/2018
Time - 18:05

Dear Mrs. Monroe-Abbott, we regret to inform you of your swift termination with the Parisian police force due to your lack of work ethic. Furthermore, we have reason to suspect you may potentially have withheld information about the alleged incident in Chantilly prior to the start of your employment.

In addition, the circumstances surrounding your husband, Captain Lance Abbott, make you a risk and we can no longer decide to keep you within our ranks as you have not given us a reason to do so.

For these reasons, you have been dismissed from the Parisian police force and any titles you have earned are now revoked. You also no longer have any privileges or benefits bestowed upon your time as a police officer, but we appreciate your time in working for us. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact the department at...

Taking pictures of the termination notice letter, Bernadette then crumbled the paper up and placed the notice back in the spot Jolene originally had it. Then as she kept looking, Bernadette found a blood-stain handkerchief, which caught her eye as she chose to grab the item in hopes of getting information from the DNA left over. Bernadette could have kept going, but she didn't want to risk getting caught by Cleo, so she left the room, now determined to continue her search at another time.

Upon making her way downstairs, Bernadette saw Cleo asleep on the couch and smiled softly at the sight, relieved to know she actually listened. So as she scribbled a note, she placed a blanket over the girl and on her way out of the apartment, Bernadette spotted the seven red roses on the table with a note attached.

Tu m'as sauvé la vie mais tu as pris mon coeur. S'il te plait, prends ces roses en gage de mon appréciation car mon coeur t'appartient maintenant, princesse. ~ Ton prince charmant, Robert

"Quel imbécile," Bernadette bluntly mumbled, knowing there was no way Robert stood a chance. Still, it was cute of him to try. It would make his downfall that much sweeter for her as she made a mental note to set the record straight with Robert, hoping the boy would take the hint... for his sake.

So as she left the apartment, Bernadette's phone began to ring. Upon seeing her cousin as the one calling her, she smiled.

"Maxie!"

"Betta! Ready to get play some video games and lose?"

"Oh, please. You can't even get past my records," Bernadette teasingly said as she heard laughter on the other side on the phone. "I'm getting close," she heard Max say as she laughed. "Not quite," Bernadette cheekily added.

"Hey!"

————————————

"Thanks for tonight, Adrien. I had fun."

"Me too, Rey."

"Well, good night."

As Adrien watch Rey leave, he then went to stop her. "Wait, I uh — I actually got this for you," he shyly admitted, revealing a singular pink rose. "Aw, that's so sweet of you," she softly said, but rather than hand the rose to her, Adrien placed the rose in Rey's hair as she smiled.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," Adrien softly said, gently placing a kiss on Rey's cheek, much to her surprise as she lightly blushed. "We should do this again," he added as she smiled. "A second date?" Rey shyly asked as he nodded. Smiling brightly as she blushed, the girl smiled.

"Only if I get to choose what we're doing next," Rey followed up as Adrien lightly laugh at her response. "Of course," he insisted as she smiled. "Then, I'll let you know what I have in mind for a second date," Rey softly said as Adrien smiled in return, now excited to know her ideas. "Perfect," he fondly said, unable to stop looking at her in a love like manner.

"Bonnie nuit, Adrien."

"Bonnie nuit, Rey."

As Rey departed from Adrien, the girl happily waved to him and as she enter her home, Adrien waved back, the two chuckling as she then closed the door. Now alone, Adrien smiled, wishing the night never ended as he went back to his limousine, where Adrien was then driven back home.

Upon arriving home, Adrien was instantly greeted by his older brother, who was now dressed in a light blue matching pajama set. "Adrien! How did the date with Juliet go?" he cheekily asked as Adrien playfully rolled his eyes.

"You read the book one time and now, you have it stuck in your head that Rey is Juliet and I'm Romeo," Adrien briefly stated, partially annoyed by the reference but his older brother only smiled in a smug way.

"So, the date went well?"

"Yes, Rayan, the date went well," Adrien cheekily admitted as he was unable to stay in an annoyed mood with his brother, who was genuinely interested in his life. It's a lot more than what he could say for his father, who hardly [if ever] cared at all. So while Rayan did come across as annoying at times, Adrien knew he meant well, so he could deal with his responses.

"So... when are you two being official?" Rayan cheekily asked as Adrien instantly blush at his question. "Rayan!" Adrien immediately exclaimed, now blushing harder as Rayan rolled his eyes. "Come on, don't look at me like that," Rayan countered as Adrien stared at him.

"We went on one date."

"One date turns into two. Two dates turn into twenty. Twenty dates turn into a marriage proposal. A marriage is then in effect and turns into three kids. You'll want to adopt, so you and Rey will end up together with four kids, three of whom you'll probably name—" Rayan smugly began as Adrien stared at him.

"Rayan."

"... Emilie, Charlotte and Jacob. The last one, Henry, will be the one who you'll adopt and become an—" Rayan further persisted as Adrien glared at him. "Rayan," Adrien continued in a much more stern tone as Rayan only smirked.

"... Agreste."

"Rayan!"

"You know I'm right!" Rayan smugly but proudly exclaimed, now running as Adrien was now chasing him. As the two boys ran around the Agreste mansion, a chuckle could be heard as Nathalie smiled at the sight of Adrien and Rayan being playful together. It was definitely a brighter sight than opposed to when Gabriel was around.

Staring at her deactivated ring, she smirked at the sight, knowing she was in control as the host was dead. As Nathalie slipped through the painting of Emilie, she covered the main entrance to the lair as she found the moth brooch and the peacock fan, a grin now forming over her.

"M... Mistress?"

As Nathalie looked up to see a light purple butterfly kwami timidly staring back at her, she warmly smiled in his direction, hoping to ease him in. "Yes, Nooroo?" she inquired as she lift the moth brooch and analyzed the exterior appearance for cracks, which she was relieved to find none.

"W... Where is G... Gab—"

"Gabriel? Your master's gone. Let's just say he got tired of the view," Nathalie answered as Nooroo's eyes widened. "Y... You d... don't—" the kwami began, only to stop when he saw the second kwami [a dark blue peacock kwami] give a nod. "Crimson Spider got to him first and now, he's dead. Good riddance. He was just a hindrance to us," Nathalie finished, glancing over to see the fear in Nooroo's eyes and genuine curiosity in Duusu's eyes.

"But hey! You both have me now and trust me," Nathalie excitedly began, now pausing as she sinisterly twirled the brooch in her hand, no longer focusing on the kwamis. "Do I have some fun things planned for us," she continued, a mischievous gleam in her eyes as she stared at the peacock fan, which Nathalie notice a crack was evident.

"First though, we need to get this problem fixed, then the real fun can begin," Nathalie firmly began, now holding onto the peacock brooch as the kwamis stared at each other before looking back at her. "What do you intent to do with our miraculouses?" the dark blue peacock kwami asked as she chuckled.

"Gabriel wanted to use your miraculouses to achieve world domination, but I just want to bring back an old friend. When this is achieved, I'll free you and Duusu from being willed to this place. You will both be free to roam around or choose your next user. But this will only happen when the goal is achieved."

While Nooroo appeared hopeful at the idea of experiencing freedom once more, Duusu knew better as he saw the look in so many of his users before her. He knew somewhere down the line, Nathalie would intend to go back on her word, but when that happened, he would be ready. For now, he would let Nathalie think she was in control as she gave the two a smile.

"Do we have a deal?"

"Can we t... trust her?" Nooroo meekly ask as Duusu stared at the butterfly kwami and back at the woman with their miraculouses. With the opportunity lying in the wake of  Gabriel's death, Duusu found he could now use Nooroo's naivety and Nathalie's (more or less) kind approach to leverage the odds in his favor.

Gabriel made the mistake of using Nooroo as a scapegoat and Duusu intended to return the favor. After all, humans were bound to eventually die, but kwamis? All kwamis lived on forever. It was time for change — real, actual change — to occur and since the so-call Great Guardian intended to leave him and Nooroo here to rot, so be it, Duusu would go after him next.

It was time for the kwamis to strike back, but until then, Duusu would have to convince Nathalie, she was the only formidable, powerful force to exist in the never ending fight to claim the miraculouses of the three heroes. In the meantime, Duusu had to buy some time...

"Of course, we can trust her, Nooroo," Duusu cheekily stated, purposely out-loud as he was now approaching Nathalie. "She's using our miraculouses for a honorable purpose, so let's help her," he added as Nooroo nodded, choosing to believe him. "O... Okay," the butterfly kwami timidly said as Nooroo went to join Duusu, now standing behind him as Duusu bravely faced Nathalie.

"We have a deal."

————————————

"Master, why do you look so down? Snow Drift and I defeated the spirit of Chat Blanc and Hawkmoth is no longer a formidable threat. Paris is officially safe now," Ladybug insisted after a few hours spent on training. However when she saw his face, the hero had wanted to know the reason behind his frown.

"No, Ladybug. I fear the danger has only begun and with an assassin knowing the secret identities of you and your team, things will only get more challenging from here on out," he told her as Ladybug cautiously stared at him.

"What do you mean?"

"For every villainous defeat, there is another person willing to tackle the power vacuum of their predecessor," Master Fu slowly began. "Paris might be safe now, but as the next Hawkmoth rises into power, more villains will follow suit," he continued as the heroine  blinked.

"More villains?"

"Gabriel believed there were three miraculouses meant to wield absolute power, which  you and your team have. For the longest time, the other Great Guardians and I thought this to be true but there are more miraculouses when fused with the three that can lead to severe consequences," Master Fu further continued as Ladybug began to follow him, the two now looking through the pages of an ancient book together with former holders of the miraculouses. 

As Master Fu flipped through the pages, Ladybug caught glimpses of former holders of the ladybug, the cat and the snow leopard miraculouses among the various miraculous holders shown in the book.

"Most miraculouses were crafted by the mages, who all existed before our time. These mages made the miraculouses to help the world, but some made the miraculouses with the intent to destroy," he started to explain when the two were then interrupted by the presence of a light green, turtle kwami.

"Wayzz, what is the matter?" Master Fu and Ladybug concernedly asked as Wayzz look at the two. "The raven miraculous — it's been activated! Gaagii, I can feel his energy," he answered as Ladybug saw the Great Guardian's face fall. "This can't be good," she heard Master Fu mumble, much to her dismay.

"Master, why can't this be good?"

"The raven miraculous is one of the few miraculouses crafted by a mage who some say was possessed by a celestial being unlike our own. It was at this celestial's request the raven miraculous was born and with its existence came about a endless search for its powers."

"Powers?"

"The raven miraculous is known for its ability to manipulate shadows and teleportation but in truth, the power lies in the kwami itself as Gaagii has a link to this celestial being. When combined with the three miraculouses, the kwami is capable of creating a portal to bring this celestial being to our world. As such, the raven can never be trusted as evil has only plagued the miraculous since its creation but more so..."

"More so, what?"

"When there is a raven, the viper will follow," Master Fu briefly answered, much to the heroine's confusion. "The viper? I thought there was only one snake miraculous. How can there possibly be a second one?" Ladybug pointed out as the Great Guardian only shook his head.

"Oh, Marinette, there is so much you have yet to learn. Each miraculous is capable of a variant of sorts, but most do not have one. In this case, there is the general snake yet the second one is specifically known, hence the existence of the viper miraculous," Master Fu briefly explained before sighing.

"No matter. With the raven miraculous being activated, Serpentine's arrival will only be about more trouble in the days to come..."

"Serpentine?"

"Serpentine is... was one of my former students. She was brilliant, but she wasn't one to be pure of heart. More so, she had her eyes set on the raven miraculous, which she had intended to use to bring as legends go, a celestial being capable of plaguing a world with despair and darkness," Master Fu began.

"When I discovered her plan to resurrect the celestial being from his prison and create a mind-controlled army by manipulating the chemicals in her plants, I disowned her. In response, my ex-student kept the viper miraculous from the miracle box and took off. I thought that would be the last time I would see ever her, but if she's here, then she'll no doubt want revenge against me and take the miracle box for herself."

"Master Fu, my team and I won't let Serpentine near you or the miracle box. If she even attempts to hurt you or grab the miracle box, we'll be ready," Ladybug confidently told him as he gave her a small smile. "Thank you, but the road ahead will be a wary one you and your team will have to walk. She'll work her way up slowly, but when a viper strikes, she'll be ready for the kill. Do not underestimate her, or you and your team will pay the cost heavily," Master Fu firmly stated as Ladybug nodded.

"Master Fu, Snow Drift, Chat Noir and I can handle anything," Ladybug firmly stated as she stood up. "Serpentine won't stand a chance against us," the heroine confidently told him, now looking at the full moon ahead. Together, her team took down akumas, amok, and the spirt of Chat Blanc. At this point, nothing would knock down her, Chat Noir or Snow Drift.

"We will make sure of it."

———————————

"You said the raven miraculous wasn't here."

"I... I know, b... but —"

"But what, Aurelio? Tell me why you said my birthright wasn't here when I can sense its presence."

As the detective struggled to speak upon staring at the red-haired woman with her deep emerald-green eyes in her light green viper-themed costume, his inability to respond to her quickly got on the woman's nerves as she scoffed.

"Forget it. You're still just as pathetic as you were when you left me, believing you could be get past what we had together and your loyalty to being a serpent," the woman said, now smirking smugly as he forced himself to look away. It was then that the woman saw the flowers with a note on his desk as the two were in his office.

"Oh, I see. So, I've been replaced by some woman named Jolene. Huh," she began, now smirking at the name. "I wonder if I should strike a visit with her," she continued as his eyes widened. "No, no, no, no! You stay away from her! Jolene has an assassin tracking her down as it is and she doesn't need more problems in her life," he firmly stated, now in his own element as the detective confidently stood up. 

"Oh? An assassin, huh? Sounds like we have something in common already," she began as the detective's face fell. "Tell me, does this assassin have a name?" she continued as the detective refused to answer. "No matter. I'll find out soon enough. In the meantime, let me fix you," she said and before he could protest or run, the woman had him corner.

As a bright pink flower bloomed in her hand, she crushed the contents of the flower and upon blowing the dust to the detective, her eyes began to glow a bright, lime green color as the dust made its way to Elio, whose eyes briefly turned pink before returning back to normal.

"Tell me. Who do you love?" she inquired as the detective blink. "I love you, Serpentine, no one else," he promptly answered, as though it was obvious. "Good. Now discard the flowers and the next time you see this Jolene, end the relationship with her. Your real lover is back and she has no intent on letting you go," she continued, now smirking as the detective nodded.

"Yes, Serpentine."

With a smirk, Serpentine teleported out of the detective's office as she was on top of the police department's rooftop. As she surveyed the city, she began to chuckle at the sight of returning back to her old roots. "My old home. I'll finally get to see my beloved sister, her husband and my nephew. This should be fun," she said, now chuckling once more as she later sighed.

"You thought you could hide my birthright from me, Esteban, but you couldn't plan on everything. I will reclaim what is mine, you thief," she continued. "When I find you and the one who has the necklace of darkness, I'm going to kill the traitorous thief, then I'm going after the one who has my heirloom, retrieve my miraculous back and put the plan in motion," she further added, now looking at the full moon as she closed her palm in a furious act of rage.

"Look out, Paris. You haven't seen nothing yet."