(Author's note: This story has been previously posted on AO3 under the name "The Miraculous Okapi". Also, I have not seen any episodes beyond season 2. Please keep that in mind when writing comments-no spoilers please.)

Tracking An Akuma

Chapter 1: How Did We Miss That?

By Emilou

"Where did she go?"

"More importantly, where is Mr. Damocles?" Ladybug replied, not answering Cat Noir's question.

Standing on top of the school, they searched for the latest akumatized victim, Final Grade, and her target, the school principal.

Students wandered the courtyard aimlessly, some staring in shocked disbelief at a paper in their hands, others crying pitifully in the corner. Final Grade had the power to "fail" anyone by stamping a big read "F" on their foreheads and throwing them into a dark, empty depression.

As far as akumas went, Ladybug felt this one was pretty tame, almost sad. More like a cry for help rather than someone who wanted to hurt anyone. That or Hawkmoth was losing his touch. Despite her school being the target—yet again—Ladybug didn't know the identity of the villain. Whoever they were, Mr. Damocles ticked them off, so it really could be anyone in the student body.

"Attention, students. Please report to the auditorium. There is a surprise assembly," a deep, shakey voice echoed through the PA system.

The zombie-like students shambled to the auditorium. Those who were lucky enough to escape the stamp followed skittishly, though some comforted friends in their forced funk.

A banshee-like wail came from the thick of the crowd, the source being Chloe. "This stamp is going to make me break out, I just know it. I'll never be able to show my face in public! Boo hoo hoo."

Ladybug bit her lip to prevent herself from laughing. At least the school's drama queen wasn't blaming others for her misfortune, for once. Which went to show just how deep Chloe's depression was.

Don't worry, Chloe. Your perfect complexion will return. Too bad my Miraculous can't do something about your attitude.

"They must be in the principal's office with the microphone," Cat Noir guessed, flipping off the roof with his extending pole.

Ladybug followed.

Busting into the principal's office, the duo prepared to fight, but the room was empty.

"How did they leave so quickly?" Cat Noir asked, scratching his head.

"They weren't here, at least not recently," Ladybug explained, showing how the microphone button was taped to stay on and a cell phone lay next to it. "Final Grade could be anywhere."

"Not anywhere," a sultry voice called from the doorway. "Right behind you."

The pair turned just in time to see Final Grade slam the door. Ladybug raced to open it, but it remained still no matter how she pulled. Looking at the knob, she saw a red "F".

"Ugh, how could her powers affect inanimate objects?"

Cat Noir crouched near the door. "Is the door sad? Oh, you poor, poor door." He rubbed it sympathetically.

"Cat Noir, use your Cataclysm," Ladybug ordered. She worried about the students in the auditorium. Alya. Nino. Rose, Julika, and Adrien.

Oh, no. She couldn't bear the thought of seeing Adrien with that horrible "F" on his forehead. Just thinking of him depressed made her depressed. If that happened, she would do anything within her powers to cheer him up. Her imagination went wild, thinking of the possibilities on how to make him smile again. Her cheeks warmed at a few; she waved them away. There was no time to daydream.

"I couldn't destroy this door. It's so sad," Cat Noir protested, his voice walking the joking side.

"Just do it."

"Wait a minute. If I use my Cataclysm now, I'll change back, and you won't have back-up for a few minutes," Cat Noir explained. "Let's find another way."

"What other way?"

A black, clawed hand pointed to a vent near the ceiling. "That should take us right to the auditorium. We can sneak up on her, just like in the spy movies."

Ladybug thought about crawling through the vents—the dirty, dusty, rat-invested, spider-clogged vents (Okay, maybe not rats, but she had heard of bats sometimes getting in there)—and grimaced.

"I don't know. . ."

"Let's try. For the sake of the door," Cat Noir persuaded with a sappy expression.

Ladybug rolled her eyes. "Okay."

"You first, My Lady," he said, holding out his hands to give her a boost.

"Uh. . .perhaps you should go first," Ladybug suggested. "After all, you can see better in the dark."

"Good point."

As Cat Noir squeezed in, Ladybug smiled to herself. And you'll crawl into all the spider webs before me. She couldn't think of anything more embarrassing than spazzing out in a vent.

To her surprise, the vents were fairly clean. No cobwebs or animal dropping, just some dust bunnies.

"Enjoying the view back there," Cat Noir flirted.

Ladybug smirked as she shoved her partner's shoe, nearly causing him to fall on his face. "The view has much to be desired."

"But I've been working my tail off to look this good."

"You need to work more on those jokes. They're still not funny," she bantered. "Hurry up. Who knows what Final Grade is doing with her hostage."

"Relax. What is she going to do? Fail him?" Cat Noir asked sardonically. "This akuma is in the bag."

Ladybug was about to say something about cats and bags but stopped since it would have been hypocritical of her after what she said moments ago.

Just then, she passed a small grate in the vents which viewed into the school auditorium. On stage, Final Grade had Mr. Damocles tied, supine, with an "F" stamp hovering above him; this one was fifty times larger than the hand one, enough to flatten the poor principal.

"You were saying," Ladybug said when Cat Noir joined her.

"My fellow students, today wil be the end of Mr. Damocles' reign of terror. No more will we have to put up with his insufferable rules and grading system," Final Grade announced. "He will be failed, once and for all."

Mr. Damocles didn't struggle. He merely sobbed, "Just get it over with. I don't care anymore."

That didn't sound like Mr. Damocles. Ladybug was sure a big, red "F" was stamped on his forehead although she couldn't see it.

"I don't think that stamp is for making him depressed," Ladybug muttered.

"It'll certainly make him de-pressed," Cat Noir joked. When he saw his partner's disapproval, his ears drooped shamefully. "Sorry. Bad timing."

"This vent is too small. Is there an exit up ahead?" Ladybug asked, all business.

"There's bound to be one backstage. We'll get the drop on her there."

"Hurry."

Crawling as fast as they could, they found a larger vent. They could hear Final Grade still ranting about the "evils" of the school system.

"Down with the pedagogy!" Final Grade screeched, her hands raised to put an end to Mr. Damocles.

Fearful they were too late, Ladybug pushed Cat Noir out the vent, hoping he would land on his feet as she threw her yo-yo over the stage lights and down to wrap around the handle of the giant stamp. As the stamp lowered like a guillotine, it pulled the spotted superhero out of the vent. With her weight behind the crude pulley, it stopped centimeters above the principal's nose.

"Ladybug!"

So much for the element of surprise, Ladybug grumbled to herself.

"Give me your Miraculous, and I'll let him go," Final Grade bargained, smiling wickedly.

"Never." Ladybug's feet slipped on the waxed, wooden stage, the giant stamp fighting her yo-yo. She couldn't hold it forever. "Cat Noir, destroy the stamp."

"On it." Cat Noir summoned his Miraculous' power, his glove glowing.

As he rushed the object, Final Grade moved quickly, slipping in front of him and slamming her stamp onto his forehead.

"Cat Noir!"

Immediately, Cat Noir skidded to a halt, his body slumped and defeated. "I'm a horrible superhero. All I do is destroy," he moaned.

"Looks like you're failing, Ladybug," Final Grade sneered. "Why don't you give in and give up your Miraculous? Better to give up than to fail."

Gritting her teeth, Ladybug pulled harder on the yo-yo, barely lifting the stamp. "Nothing in this world will make me give up."

"Oh, I'm sure the weight of failure will change that," the villainess scoffed, sauntering toward the heroin with stamp raised.

Frantic, Ladybug had a plan, but it would only work if she could lift the giant stamp a little more. As if aware of her thoughts, the yo-yo retracted the string, hefting the weight bit by bit. With enough leeway, she jumped back, swinging underneath the stamp and slamming into Mr. Damocles. Both of them slid out of the way just as the rubber seal pounded the stage, cracking several boards.

Final Grade growled at her failed attempt. "You may have saved one life, but you can't be everywhere." With a gesture, the large stamp shot toward the next victim: Cat Noir. "Let's see if Kitty has nine lives."

With Cat Noir under the influence of the akuma's power, he wouldn't react to save himself. Racing their doom, Ladybug leaped to his side and grabbed his hand, raising it. Just as the stamp came crashing onto their heads, the Cataclym destroyed it.

"Oh, Ladybug is holding my hand. I should be excited, but it probably means nothing," Cat Noir groaned.

Stupid akuma. Ladybug preferred Cat Noir as he was, bad jokes and all.

Then she heard the familiar beeping noise of a Miraculous loosing energy.

"Oh, no. I'm going to change back soon," Cat Noir sighed. "Then Ladybug and everyone will see my identity. I'm such a loser."

Ladybug vanquished a desire to slap him with the hopes of breaking the spell. Just like in the American movies. Snap out of it, Cat Noir.

"Time for my ace," she said, tossing her yo-yo for her Lucky Charm. A skateboard dropped into her hands. "Oh, come on. Give me something easy," she shouted, not seeing anything that could help her.

"Yes, Hawkmoth. It'll only be a matter of time to get Cat Noir's ring," Final Grade said to the always absent villain. "I won't fail you."

Knowing she had to keep out of reach from the mind-altering stamp, Ladybug backed away, only to trip over the prone body of Cat Noir.

"No, no, no." Ladybug panicked, unable to untangle herself from her mopey partner.

"It's time to be graded on your performance," Final Grade laughed, reaching out with her stamp.

Rolling onto her stomach, Ladybug saw just how she could use the skateboard. She simply rolled it toward Final Grade, who stepped on it, lost her balance and plopped onto her butt. The stamp bounced out of her grip.

Half-crawling, half-trying-to-stand-up, Ladybug snatched the stamp and broke it apart. "Not what I expected, but it worked," she said with relief before capturing the darkened butterfly and cleansing it. As the now white insect flew away, she released her Lucky Charm to repair the damage.

Cat Noir sat up, stiff as a board, looking like a cat that had been abruptly woken from a nap. "Am I crying?" he asked, looking uncertain and offended.

"Like a baby," Ladybug teased. She sighed with relief. It was good to have him back.

"Not cool. Yet, I feel so cleansed," Cat Noir said with surprise. "I don't remember anything after being stamped. What happened?"

"I'll tell you later. You're about to be unmasked."

With a salute, Cat Noir streaked out of the auditorium, his belt waving a hasty good-bye.

"What's going on here?"

The girl who used to be Final Grade sat on the stage, looking around, aghast. And no wonder; the whole school's attention was on her, including Mr. Damocles.

Ladybug recognized the girl as an upper classman who was preparing for college. In fact, she was the student body secretary, the president of several school clubs, and participated in many service projects and after school activities. She had perfect grades, perfect attendance, and a perfect college application.

And if the gossip was true, she had been accused of cheating on the SATs, which meant an immediate suspension as well as an investigation. However, when hearing the news, Marinette hadn't believed it.

"I'm afraid you were akumatized, but everyone is okay," Ladybug explained, helping the girl up.

"Oh, of all the days for it to happen…," the girl moaned. "This has been the worst day ever. I don't know if I can…I can break the news to my mother."

The beeping in her ear was like a clock ticking, but she couldn't leave just yet. She wasn't a hero only during an akuma attack.

"Mr. Damocles, sir, this young lady seems to be having a bad day. Could you enlighten me?" she asked, pretending to know nothing.

"I'll say," the principal said, frowning. "We may tolerate a lot during an akuma attack, but the school has a no cheating policy."

The girl's eyes rained, sobs bubbling.

"I don't condone cheating either, but perhaps you could review the evidence against her one more time?" Ladybug requested. "After all, she doesn't seem the type."

A boy, another upper classmen, came forward, his head down. "It was me, Mr. Damocles. I was cheating on the SATs."

"What?" the principal shouted.

"I was afraid of getting caught, so I slipped the test I bought online into Lulu's bag." The boy turned to the girl. "I'm so sorry. I didn't think they'd look through your bag."

With the problem resolved, Ladybug ran off, unable to stay any longer to see what else would happen. More than likely, she'd hear about it through the grape vine.

Dodging into the restroom, she cupped Tikki as the Kwami collapsed.

"Great job, Marinette."

"Great that I barely made it out by the skin of my teeth," Marinette joked. "Now to pretend that I've been crying my eyes out this entire time."

After popping the Kwami into her purse, she rubbed her eyes and sprinkled water on her face. Exiting, she nearly ran into Alya.

"There ya are, girl. You missed everything," the upbeat girl declared. "But that's okay. I didn't get stamped so I was able to record everything for the Ladyblog. It was so awesome."

Marinette gave a pseudo-sniff.

"Get to class everyone. The akuma threat is over," a teacher called over the crowds, ushering the loiterers.

"What's the point? The day's almost over," Alya protested with a roll of her eyes. "They might as well cancel the rest of the week with how many akuma attacks we've had. It's almost as if Hawkmoth is targeting the students."

Alya's words made Marinette rock back. "Targeting the students?"

"Yeah, it's so obvious. Hey, maybe Hawkmoth goes to school here. I mean, in that projection, he sounded old, but that could've been faked. Anyway, tons of students have been akumatized, more than half of them are from this school or related to the students. That can't be a coincidence."

A shiver ran through Marinette's spine. Was this true? Was her school Hawkmoth's hunting grounds?

Marinette stared at her tablet where she composed a list. Alya was right; almost all the people had a connection to the school. How did she not see it before?

"What does this mean?" Marinette asked Tikki, hoping for guidance.

"Beats me," Tikki answered, shrugging. "It could mean a lot of things. Maybe Hawkmoth can find more unsettled souls at your school."

"I guess emotions can run rather high. I just wished there was some sort of pattern. If there was, we could find Hawkmoth."

"Or his next victim."

"I'd rather find Hawkmoth so there aren't any more victims. But it's a start."

She went over the list again, looking for patterns. First, she crossed off all names that weren't associated with the school, then of parents or siblings of the students. Then teachers. After that, she read the list, realizing that most of her class had been akumatized at one time.

"Why is he targeting my class? Where's the connection?"

"It might be a coincidence. At this point in the investigation, a wrong guess could be harmful."

Marinette tossed her tablet pen onto the desk. "Then this list is useless."

"Wait. Is there anyone in your class that hasn't been akumatized?"

With renewed purpose, Marinette glanced over the list again.

"Adrien!" she gasped. "Oh, no. He could be Hawkmoth's next target." A mixture of emotions coursed through her. Fear for the blond angel that graced her class. Horror at the thought of him being consumed by the dark butterfly's power. Anger that Hawkmoth could stoop so low as to hurt the love of her life.

Her cheeks burned with embarrassment, grateful she hadn't spoken any of this out loud. Although, by Tikki's expression, she might as well have.

"I'm not going to let Adrien be akumatized," Marinette shouted, slamming her hand on the desk so hard, Tikki tumbled through the air. "Not on my watch."

"If Adrien is the next target, you can keep an eye out for an akuma. If you know which direction it's coming from, you'll get a better idea where. . .what are you doing?"

Marinette hadn't been listening, instead had stuffed a duffle-bag full of items. "I'm planning a stakeout, of course. Adrien is unprotected right now. I need to be there for him. I hope I'm not too late."

"But he could be anywhere with his after-school activities and modeling. . .Oh, right. Look who I'm talking to," Tikki teased.

Marinette gave a fake laugh. "No one in the world is more prepared than I to protect Adrien."

"Or stalk him."

"Laugh all you want. This little bug doesn't care." She tossed the duffle-bag out the ceiling window. "Oh, I should probably give Cat Noir a call. He should know this information."

"And that you're stalking Adrien," Tikki giggled.

"I'm not stalking him," Marinette grumbled. "I'll just tell Cat about the connection with my school. He'll make the connection as well, and that'll mean Adrien will have two bodyguards."

"Uh. . .I don't know if Cat Noir will come to the same conclusion," Tikki commented.

"Give him more credit than that," Marinette insisted. "Tikki, spots on."

As the Kwami merged with the earrings, she wondered if Marinette would recall that there were actually two people in her class that hadn't been akumatized. She forgot to count herself.

That night, Cat Noir climbed through the tall window in the dark. Once he released Plagg and stood as Adrien, he turned on the lights.

Much like his animal alter-ego, he liked to roam the streets at night. For one, it gave him a chance to think, get away from the stress of being Adrien Agreste, his father's son, and the model. For another, he could release a lot of pent-up energy either by running and jumping all over buildings in an adrenaline rush or stopping the occasional house or car break-in.

At the end of each romp, he'd check his messages from Ladybug.

Plagg hated the late night patrols. He complained how the Miraculous wasn't made to be a simple watch-guard. More likely, the Kwami wanted to spend his evenings eating and lounging.

This night, Adrien returned with a bombshell from Ladybug.

"I can't believe I didn't see the connection between akumas and my school." He sank onto the couch, grabbing a notebook and pen.

Plagg tumbled onto Adrien's head. "I'm so weak. Weak with hunger."

Adrien brushed him away. "You're fine. I didn't even use my Cataclysm."

"I'm still drained. I need food. Stinky, stinky food," Plagg pleaded.

"Fine." Adrien retrieved a chunk of cheese only to shut his companion up.

As Plagg devoured the Camembert with embarrassing moans and smacking, Adrien wrote up the list. He saw the pattern right away.

"My class? My whole class has been akumatized." He glared at the page as if the paper were at fault. He counted the names, realizing two were missing. His own, of course. And…

"Marinette." The half-Chinese girl's face flashed in his thoughts. "It's hard to imagine Marinette ever becoming akumatized. She's too…helpful and cheerful and nice."

"And your other classmates aren't?" Plagged asked, shoving the last bite into his mouth even though his stomach looked like it would burst.

"Sure, but everyone has their bad days," Adrien replied. "Even my father…"

"So, what are you going to do about it? The easy way would be to make this girl have such a bad day, Hawkmoth would definitely target her. Then you could find Hawkmoth." Plagg rolled onto his back, patting his tummy in ecstasy.

"That's horrible. I couldn't do that to Marinette." Adrien frowned at the Kwami. Sometimes Plagg could be so obtuse.

Even though they had only met that school year, Adrien already saw so much in Marinette that he admired. Her creativity, her courage to stand up for others, how she's always there for her friends. Even showing compassion for Chloe.

If she was next on Hawkmoth's radar, he couldn't let her down.

"I guess there's no other solution," Adrien said with resolve. "I'll just have to follow her everywhere she goes."

Plagg roared with laughter. "Yeah, good luck with that. You'll be totally discreet with your fans following."