Song Of Hope: Hello! So for those of you that don't know me my name is Song of Hope and I write a lot of fanfiction! Mostly Ninjago, MFB, some Sailor Moon, a couple of Ouran stories and then there's other fandoms where I started fics and never posted them. Recently, I have been dragged into Ladybug via seeing so much about it online. And also into original story writing, but that's only gonna be a small part of this! Honestly the only reason why I'm using characters from my story is because I don't feel like making more characters just for the purpose of a one-shot. This is mostly just an idea I had as well a celebratory story for getting a job!

I might be posting more in this fandom because currently I'm in love with it and absolutely adore the Ladybug love story and the complicated emotions behind the characters. Most of all, I love how it points out a dark truth that even the best of us can succumb to our darker emotions. I just hope they handle the reveal well! Oh well, this is gonna just be a one shot, but if anyone wants me to add more chapters to this adventure I will! It takes place right after the infamous reveal of Episode 8! Also keep in mind that while I do know a little about French school schedules and grades, I don't know how they label the different classes, study periods, or anything about testing out of classes, but if anyone wants to correct me feel free!

While this is intended to be framed as a singular episode of Miraculous, please understand that since this does not have the time limits I wrote whatever the hell I wanted so it's long. Consider it a TV special if you'd like. Read & Review!

Mrs. Bustier was writing on her chalkboard as the class mostly paid attention. And by mostly it was everyone except for Chloe, who was zoned out and not properly paying attention.

"Alright class," said Mrs. Bustier as she turned around with a smile, "we're going to do a literature project for the next month, in four different parts. I want you to pick a personal set of three protagonists from books you're fond of and explore what makes them a protagonist. What are the qualities that they possess? More importantly, are they a hero, a villain, or in between? Not every protagonist is a hero or a villain, or has an on track moral compass. Sometimes they do questionable things for the right reasons and that's what we call gray morality. If you do run into that, please expand upon it and tell me why they think these actions are right! Some stories are told entirely from a villain or general dark person's perspective. You'll have one week to read, or for most of you reread, each book and take notes on them and the protagonist and write up a summary on their development as a person at the end of the week. The last week will be spent finding correlations between them and learning what draws you to them. There's always a reason behind why we like the characters we do, and there will be repeating traits that you'll start to notice. This final part will be a presentation and everyone will have to come up and talk for at least five minutes. To help this out we're going to be meeting in the library for the next month during each of our classes. This is a solo project and while you can get a little help from friends, I will be paying attention to make sure that everyone does there own work. While I have no proof," she glanced towards Chloe and Sabrina, "I have been getting reports of cheating from other students. This will not be tolerated. Everyone will do their own work on this project. This isn't just about a grade, it's about learning something new about yourself."

"Seems like a cool project," said Alya as she raised her hand. "Mrs. Bustier, what kind of material are we limited to?"

"It can be any books that we have in our own school library that are fictional," she exclaimed. "Comics are not allowed however. It must be in a written format." A groan erupted from many students in the class. "I know, you like your comics. Comics can have great protagonists and can be interesting to study in depth, but unfortunately our library doesn't have any. You'll just have to pick books from the shelves of our school library, and you can't pick the same author more than once. Any other questions?" She looked around and saw no one raising their hands. "None? Alright then, pick up your sacks and let's go to the library."

"This seems like a cool project," said Marinette with a smile as she grabbed her bag and started walking to the library with Alya. "We don't go to the library as a class much, and this seems like it could be a really fun project to work on."

"I'm not much of a reader," said Alya. "I'm more of a chronicler, but I think I can find stuff that's my pace. I'll probably start off with a classic action packed story, like Majesta but in novel form."

"I think I wanna start with that American series Percy Jackson," Marinette replied. "Or at least one of the Rick Riordan books, since I'm pretty familiar with them. I feel like I can relate to the characters a lot, especially characters like Annabeth. She's pretty cool."

"Oh, I've heard great stuff about that series," Alya replied with a smile, "but I haven't gotten a chance to read it. Every time I consider picking up a new book or story, something incredible happens with Chat Noir and Ladybug! Plus from what I hear some stuff gets lost in translation but that's gonna happen with literally everything that's not originally French."

"True." Marinette smiled. "This is going to be a lot of fun though!"

"I'll bet," Alya agreed. "I might just do one of the Sherlock books. A master detective? Sign me up! Maybe his deductive reasoning skills will rub off on me and it'll help me figure out who Ladybug is!"

"I doubt it," said Marinette with a laugh. "You can always dream though!" She opened up the door and walked in, setting her stuff down at a reading table and gave Alya a small wave as she started to walk off. "I'm gonna go check the shelves for my books first."

"Okay then," said Alya as she started to set her stuff down. "I'll stay here and guard your stuff."

"Thanks Alya!" Marinette turned away fully and started looking through the shelves.

"No problem," she said with a smile as Adrien and Nino came up behind her.

"Hey Alya," said Nino. "You guys sitting here?"

"Yeah!" She smiled getting an idea. "Hey Adrien, Nino and I are gonna look through the shelves. Mind guarding our stuff for us? Marinette's stuff is here too."

"No problem," he said with a smile as he sat down. "I can wait to get my stuff."

"Thanks!" She gave him a wave and dragged Nino off.

"What's going on Alya," he asked with a frown as she watched from behind the shelves. "You're acting weird."

"I do this all the time," she said assuringly. "I set up opportunities for Marinette to talk to Adrien and she usually messes them up, but recently she's been doing way better! The other day she managed to have a real conversation with him! Can you believe it? Although she did call a cab a type of food but that's another story."

"So you're trying to help her out," he confirmed. "Man, maybe I should help out with Adrien. I mean he's completely oblivious to her crush on him."

"Absolutely not," she said as she turned around sharply, crossing her arms into an X. "I may not have directly told you that Marinette likes him, but if she knows you know she'll kill me, even if it's pretty much obvious to the rest of the class aside from him."

"Fair enough," he said with a shrug as he looked at Adrien. "But how long do you think we'll have to wait?"

"Not long."

Marinette was checking the shelves where the fantasy books were kept.

"Come on," she said to herself as she ran her fingers back and forth, "R, R, R, R, dang it! It looks like I'll have to go a section over to get the books." She started to walk through the break between the sections, only to get hit with a cart full of books that started to slide off and hit Marinette. A horrified young girl with unruly brown hair, green eyes, and a not entirely shapely figure gasped in horror as she saw Marinette hit the ground.

"Oh my gosh," she said quickly as she went over to her, getting the books off, "are you alright? I'm really super sorry, I didn't mean to hit you with the cart!"

"It's alright," said Marinette with a groan and a smile, "you didn't mean to. I can't think of anyone who would intentionally hit someone with a cart full of books." She started to get up, picking up the books to place them on the cart. "I don't think I've seen you before. Did you just move here?"

"No," replied the girl with a shake of her head as she helped Marinette collect the books up. "I've lived in Paris all my life actually. Gone to the same school district too. You probably just haven't met me before because we've always been in different classes. At least I'm guessing!"

"Well," said Marinette as she stood up and put the books down on the cart before extending a hand, "nice to meet you. I'm-"

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng," replied the other girl as she placed the books on the cart. "I know. You won that fashion competition and you're the class rep for your class. I'm Angelique Lachapelle from class 3-C, one of the library aides during all my free periods. It's nice to meet you! Well, meet you properly and not just hear about you from other people's conversations." She shook Marinette's hand. "Are you here for the project Mrs. Bustier is doing? I hear it's a long one."

"Yeah but it seems fun," Marinette replied. "I was gonna do one of the Rick Riordan books but I can't seem to find any of them."

"Oh," said Angelique as she started tearing up the pile, tossing around a few books, "I know I had it in here somewhere! Aha!" She smiled as she picked it up. "Someone just turned in the first book of the Percy Jackson series this morning. Is this the one you wanted?"

"Yes," said Marinette with a bright smile as she took it. "Thanks a lot Angelique!" She looked back down and noticed another book with a beige cover that had no bar code on it. "Hey, I think someone ripped the barcode off of this book." She started to pick it up, but Angelique squealed and snatched it out of her hands.

"It's not a library book," she said quickly as she tucked the book close to her chest. "This is a personal thing that I've been working on a lot and I really really don't wanna loose it and have anyone steal my ideas or for anyone to take it and throw it away cause it's hand written or for someone like Chloe to find it and make fun of it so I keep it on me and just please don't ask any questions!"

"Are you… working on a story," Marinette asked slowly. "Wow, that seems really cool! I know you said not to ask you questions but what's it about?"

"It'd take a while to explain," said Angelique meekly, "but the basis is a regular teenage girl gets caught up in destiny's path and meets three strangers from another world with magical powers and goes on adventures with them to defeat a bad guy with a dark past who destroyed their universe in hopes to save everyone. Saying it out loud… it feels kinda dumb."

"It's not dumb," she promised. "Actually that sounds really cool! And you came up with that yourself?"

"Uh huh," she nodded, her cheeks turning red. "I've been working on it since I was in primary school actually. My aunt made me that book herself for me to write my story ideas in. I want to be published one day and be known all around the world. French novelists aren't really well known except for Alexandre Dumas, but I want to change that! I also want to change how people see good and evil. It's not to easy to just make it a whole black and white situation and people forget that, but ultimately, I do want to show that true goodness will conquer over evil and extend a graceful hand to the people in between who just need a chance to recover."

"Well I haven't read any of your work," said Marinette, "but I bet if you put your mind to it then you can write it out. You have a great starting concept, I bet if you just hammer that out you'll get a really good story!"

"That means a lot to me," said Angelique with a smile. "You should probably get started on your project. I hear Mrs. Bustier can get really mad at lateness."

"Like you wouldn't believe," agreed Marinette. "It was nice to talk to you though. We should talk more often!" She started to walk away.

"Thanks Marinette," she replied with a wave before working on putting some of the books back from the cart. "Marinette's just as nice as everyone says she is. I wish I was in her class."

Marinette smiled as she went to her table, sitting down by her stuff before making a startled noise when she noticed the boy sitting by her and waving.

"Hey there," said Adrien. "It's okay if I sit here right? Alya said it was cool as long as I watched everyone's stuff."

"Of course she did," said Marinette with an annoyed noise. "Yeah it's totally fine! But shouldn't you be getting your own book?"

"I actually already have one in mind," he replied as he went into his bag and pulled out a book, "so I don't need to go look for one. It's a series called The Ranger's Apprentice by John Flanagan. I really like the main character Will so far but I'm only a few chapters in."

"Oh cool," she replied. "What's it about?"

"It's about an orphan who basically gets adopted by this renaissance version of a spy and gets trained to take down evil," he replied. "I haven't finished it yet but I thought it would be a good book to start with for this project. I kinda relate to him."

"That's interesting," said Marinette. "I like fantasy a lot so I decided to start the Percy Jackson books. I've heard a lot of really good things about this series and the writer so I'm finally jumping into it. I always love these stories where a kid that seems normal ends up with magic powers, whether born into them or suddenly receiving them."

"That does sound pretty cool," Adrien agreed. "I used to imagine stuff like that happening to me all the time as a kid, especially since I didn't have any friends growing up. Well, aside from Chloe. She was always really nice to me growing up. I never knew how nasty she could be until I came here."

"Not surprised," said Marinette. "You're a pretty person. I uh, I mean a pretty kind hearted person! Cause like you're so nice!"

"Thanks," he said with a sheepish smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I just wish she could be nicer. At least she was good at it when she tried."

"I wish she had that kind of drive all the time," said Marinette with a laugh as Angelique came back around and sat at the librarian's desk to help the class check out books. Marinette gave her a wave and she smiled and waved back before helping Max with his items.

"You know her," asked Adrien.

"Not really," she answered, turning back to him. "I talked to her earlier. That's Angelique from class 3-C so she is in our grade. She's just the library aide for this period. She seems nice though, I wonder why I haven't seen her around much before."

"Well I don't spend much time in the library," said Adrien. "My father usually wants me home right after practices and we rarely just come in here and hang out. At least, that's the case for me and Nino."

"That's true," Marinette agreed. "Me and Alya usually hang out at my place or in the park. I actually ended up talking to Angelique because she hit me with her book cart on accident."

"She what?" He looked over her, a little concerned. "You're alright, aren't you?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine," she assured with a wave of her hand. "I'm so clumsy things like this don't even hurt anymore. Although the books hitting my head did kinda sting a bit." Adrien paused for a moment, bewilderment on his face before he started laughing. "What? Did I say something stupid?"

"Not really," he said as he calmed his laughter. "It's just amazing that you can describe getting hit on the head with books as a little sting. You must have a pretty high pain tolerance."

"You have no idea," she replied with a laugh.

"This is going so well," said Alya excitedly as she watched. "She's having an actual in depth conversation with him!"

"It is pretty great," said Nino. "Maybe now Adrien can get to know Marinette better. She's always running off. It seems like he never gets a chance to know Marinette for who she really is."

"Let's leave them alone," said Alya, "and go actually find our books for our reports. Come on," she started pushing him, "I'm gonna go find the Sherlock book with Irene Adler. She was the best adversary Sherlock ever face and he never out maneuvered her!"

"Well okay," said Nino. "Guess I'll look for something too."

"I'm sorry Chloe," said Sabrina from another part of the library as she held up her book, "but I can't do your project for you this time. If I would I could but this isn't like when we read a book together in class! Mrs. Bustier wants us to do individual projects and that's 6 books between the two of us! I can't read 6 different books in three weeks! I may like to read but I'm a really slow reader, and then one of us will end up getting a bad grade. If I come home with anything less than a 15 my mother will be furious!"

"Ugh," Chloe groaned out, "fine! I'll just go ask the library gremlin for help then! Maybe she can find me a quick read that I can tolerate. You're so cruel to me Sabrina!" She stormed off to the front of the library, somehow not noticing the conversation between Adrien and Marinette as she went straight up to the desk, where Angelique was writing in her book. She put it down the moment she realized Chloe was coming and gave her the best customer service smile she could muster.

"Can I help you," she asked. "Do you have a book to check out or a question?"

"Yeah, just give me a book that fits my project requirements library gremlin," she ordered. "I want it to be a really fast read, got it?"

"Well I can suggest something," Angelique offered, "but I don't have any books I can just hand over to you here and now. I could give a couple of suggestions. You seem like a girl power person so what about the House of Night series? The first book is a fast read and fits your criteria, and nothing inappropriate for school happens in the first few books! It's checked out right now but it's due tomorrow."

"I can't wait until tomorrow," she snapped. "You need to give me a book and give it to me now!" She noticed the book Angelique had been writing in and started to reach for it. "I'll just take this one!"

"No," shouted Angelique as she grabbed it and tried to pull it away from Chloe. That started to get the attention of the other students, including Marinette, who was looking worried. "This one isn't a library book! This is mine!"

"I need something for my project," Chloe argued as she tore it away from Angelique. "Besides, how bad could it be?" Angelique whimpered as Chloe started flipping through the pages. Marinette stood up and glared, holding out her hand towards Angelique.

"Give Angelique her book back," she said as Alya pulled out her phone to record it. "It's not yours to read through!"

"I'm gonna record this for proof," said Alya. "I have a feeling this is gonna get real nasty real fast since Chloe's involved. Nino, you go get Mrs. Bustier. I think she's in the back helping Ivan."

"Got it," said Nino with a nod as he ran off.

"Oh my God," said Chloe with a laugh. "You know the library gremlin's name and you're defending her? Come on Marinette, I know you're not pretty, but you don't need to be associating yourself with witch nosed girls."

"Chloe that's a horrible thing to say," said Adrien as he stood up with Marinette. "Give her the book back! You don't know how personal that could be to her!"

"Fine," she said with a shrug. "Not like it's any good anyway. It's just notes and I thought I saw a fairy girl with purple hair. I mean how tacky can you get with purple hair. Oh, then there's the green haired guy that she calls "part sea serpent". And look at this!" She held it up to show a sketch of a fluffy haired tall man with lion ears and fangs. "Is this guy like a cat or a teddy bear of something? I can't believe how ridiculous these designs are! What is this guy?" She looked back down at it. "Oh, part Nemean Lion? Who's ever even heard of one of those anyway!" She tossed it behind her as Angelique fumbled with it before catching it. "Whatever that whole thing was, it was terrible!"

"I knew it," she whimpered as she held the book close and stood up from the desk chair, "my ideas are all garbage!" She teared up and ran out of the library.

"Ah," said Hawk Moth in a sigh as his window opened up and the butterflies started to fly around him, "a shy, lonely girl's precious dreams shattered by a cruel person. That's just like Chloe Bourgeois to do, and her torture of those around never ceases to bring me a perfect victim. That heartbreak and destruction is a perfect environment for my Akuma to grow in." He held out his hand, waiting for a butterfly to land in it before placing his other hand over it and filling it with dark energy. With a push of his hand it started to fly right out of the window. "Fly away my little Akuma, and darken her heart!"

"What was that Chloe," asked Adrien. "I know you're not the nicest but that? That was beyond cruel!"

"She was rude to me," Chloe answered in turn, crossing her arms over her chest. "She should've suggested a book we had."

"She didn't do anything to you," Marinette shot back. "You know, you can pretend all you like that you're in the right when you act like this but that was just straight up nasty!" She started pointing at Chloe accusingly, her face getting red with anger. "You don't even know her Chloe! She's not even in our class! You think that you can go through life treating people you barely know like trash but the truth is all you are is being a nasty person who's going to drive away every friend in her life! You don't deserve any of the people that do treat you kindly because all you do is treat everyone else like insects in return! Well Chloe, that doesn't make you better than anyone else! It doesn't make you prettier, or more deserving of anything! All you are is one! Giant! Nasty! Bully!" The whole class stared at her in surprise at first before Chloe gasped.

"How DARE you talk to me like that," she said as she stalked towards Marinette, poking her in the chest in hopes of pushing the other girl back. "You can't talk to me like that! My daddy's the mayor, and all you are is the daughter of a baker! You're nothing compared to me!"

"Chloe enough," said Adrien as he got in between them. "You need to go apologize to Angelique. You shouldn't have treated her that way!"

"I won't apologize for being right," Chloe said firmly with a small "hmpf".

"I don't have time for this," said Marinette. "I'm going to try and find Angelique and comfort her. She didn't deserve anything you said to her. All she wanted was to write a story. Why do you have to be so cruel and try to ruin that dream?" She started to walk out of the library, leaving her stuff behind.

"What's going on," said Mrs. Bustier as she came with Nino.

"Thank goodness you're here," said Chloe as she pulled out her victim voice, throwing her arm over her forehead as if she had just been traumatized. "Marinette yelled at me and said I was worthless and horrible before running out!"

"That's a big fat lie," accused Alya as she stepped out from behind the shelf. "I caught the whole thing on video, including up until Marinette left. Chloe stole the library assistant's book, which had some personal stuff on it, and then she made fun of her for what she'd written and drawn and kept calling her a library gremlin." She wiggled her phone. "It's all on video."

"And even if it wasn't," said Adrien as he stepped forward, "I'd back up Marinette and say that Chloe was in the wrong here. Chloe started picking on an innocent person. Marinette was just trying to help Angelique. She left to comfort her after the hurtful things Chloe said, but Marinette never said what Chloe just claimed."

"Can I see the video Alya," asked Mrs. Bustier as she held out her hand. Alya nodded and backed up the video for her as Mrs. Bustier watched it. She frowned as she watched and listened before handing the phone back to Alya. "Hm. Well Chloe, this shows you were clearly in the wrong." She looked up towards her. "This kind of unwarranted aggression means you'll be suspended for three days."

"What?! Suspended?!" For the first time in her life, Chloe looked fearful of an authority figure until she smirked. "Sorry Mrs. Bustier, but my daddy is the mayor and he won't stand for this!"

"I think he won't be on your side when he sees this video," said Alya with a wiggle of her phone as Sabrina snuck up behind her. "He can excuse a lot of things because there's no proof but this time we have undeniable proof. You're in big trouble."

"Whoops," said Sabrina as she pretended to trip and knock into Alya. They both yelped as Alya phone went flying, breaking on the ground.

"Looks like there's no proof anymore," said Chloe with a triumphant smirk. Alya grunted as she got up.

"That's what you think," she replied, standing up fully with a smirk as she crossed her arms over her chest. "See, after having Marinette accidentally delete a few of my videos and pictures, I had my phone set up so everything I take pictures of and record gets saved to the cloud. So yeah, I can just send it to the school and your daddy in an email when I get home."

"Chloe," said Adrien as he put a hand on her shoulder, "you need to accept your punishment. You did something wrong and now you have to face the consequences."

"I don't do consequences," she snapped at him. "Not in a long time!"

"I don't like this attitude Chloe," he said with a frown. "I don't think I want to talk to you right now. Mrs. Bustier, I'm going to go help Marinette find Angelique."

"You have my permission," said Mrs. Bustier. "If you don't make it to your next class I'll email your teacher about what you and Marinette are doing. When you find her and get her back to her classes then you can come back to me. I'll keep your stuff while you look. And you, Chloe, Sabrina, are both going to the Principle's Office!"

Marinette sighed as she kept looking around the school. Tikki came out of Marinette's jacket.

"Are you okay Marinette," she asked, a little worried. "I've never seen you snap at even Chloe like that before."

"Chloe went way to far this time," she replied as she went into the locker rooms and started searching. "I mean, it's one thing to do it to us. We grind her gears and such. It makes sense for her to be mean to us. But to insult Angelique like that and show off her private book on top of that? She's not even in our class! That was a new low for Chloe!"

"That's true," said Tikki. "I'm worried for her though. Everyone Chloe humiliates like that usually end up getting Akumatized. That was one of the worst things she's done to date that I can remember."

"I'm worried too," Marinette admitted. "That's why we have to find her. That and she needs some comfort. Chloe said some pretty awful things about her story and insulted her looks."

Adrien looked around the courtyard, hoping to find Marinette and Angelique.

"Dang it," he said, "We're never gonna find Angelique. Or Marinette."

"You seemed star struck when Marinette spoke to Chloe," noted Plagg as he came out of Adrien's jacket with a piece of camembert. "It was kind of funny but awesome."

"At first when Marinette went off on Chloe I was kind of horrified," he admitted. "I thought she was gonna get Akumatized right then and there because she was so angry. But then I realized while she was talking that Marinette was getting so angry not just on the behalf of someone, it was also someone she didn't even know well. She really felt so passionately for someone she barely knows who got hurt so badly emotionally. That kind of passion, there's just something… really nice about that. And she was so confident and strong to stand up to Chloe like that. It was pretty incredible."

"Sounds like someone's got a crush," Plagg teased as he tossed the slice up in the air before swallowing it whole.

"I do not," he insisted with a light blush. "But lately I've been getting to see Marinette more and more. Normally we don't talk much but we've been able to talk more lately and she's pretty awesome in ways I never noticed before. I mean at her party everyone else threw themselves in harms way for her and I don't think I've ever seen our class work together towards one goal so quickly. It's started to make me realize just how amazing she is."

"Sounds like you're getting closer and closer to her," said Plagg. "Are you sure you wanted to find Angelique and not Marinette?"

"Marinette will be fine," he said. "I remember when Nathaniel was Akumatized she was pretty capable of holding her own."

"I still think you should try getting closer to her," suggested Plagg. "I mean, she's pretty cool and I bet that she has a recipe for cheesy bread made with camembert!"

"You're always thinking with your stomach," said Adrien with a laugh.

"I still think you should get to know her better," said Plagg. "Marinette's a nice girl and you don't really have many other close friends that are girls aside from Chloe. Who knows, maybe she can give you tips on how to win over Ladybug."

"Huh," said Adrien. "I never thought about it like that. But that'd be taking advantage of a friendship."

"Then just do it to be closer and have more close friends than just Chloe and Nino." He reached into Adrien's jacket and grabbed another slice of camembert. "Ah, my favorite cheese!"

"Do you ever stop eating," Adrien asked as he spotted Marinette. "Hide Plagg." He opened up his jacket and let Plagg fly in before waving at Marinette. "Hey Marinette!"

"Oh no," she said softly as she held her jacket open. "Tikki hide!" The kwami nodded and hid in her jacket pocket before she turned to Adrien with a smile and a wave. "Hey Adrien. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be working on your project?"

"Well you should be too," he pointed out with a friendly smile, "but I came to help you find Angelique. She really didn't deserve the treatment Chloe gave her. Usually Chloe has a reason for going off on someone, even if she goes way too far, but this was weird."

"Maybe Chloe was jealous that she'd never had an original idea in her life," Marinette joked.

"That might be it," said Adrien. "I remember when we were little she always wanted to be a princess that needed to be rescued and I was always a knight. When I asked to do something different she cried for like 3 days because she didn't know what other kinds of imaginary games to play."

"Oh… Well I still don't feel bad for what I said to her," Marinette responded. "Just because you feel bad about yourself doesn't mean you get to lash out at others."

"Oh no I agree with you there," said Adrien. "Anyway we should go find Angelique."

"Right! Let's go!"

Angelique sobbed as she held her book close to her, curled up next to a mop bucket in the janitor's closet.

"I already know I'm not the prettiest," she sobbed, "but why does she hate my designs and my story? Why does everything I try to do turn into trash?! I can't sing, I can't act, I can't do sports, and the one thing I thought I was good at I stink at!" She opened up her book and started looking at her designs. "And to top it all off I don't have anyone I can even talk to about all this!" A butterfly came in underneath the door and went right to her book. Her expression went from sad to angry as the skin around her eyes darkened and a purple butterfly emblem appeared over her face like a mask.

"Authoress," came a voice in her head, "I will grant you the power to turn your stories and characters into a reality and to get your revenge on Chloe Bourgeois! All I ask is that in return you get me Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculouses! Do we have a deal?"

"Yes Hawk Moth," agreed Angelique, her voice turning raspy and malice filled as darkness covered her.

Adrien smiled as an idea came to him.

"Our homeroom classes are about to end," he said. "What if we just talk to the kids in Class 3-C and see if they know anywhere she might be hiding. If anyone knows where she is it's got to be them!"

"That's a great idea," said Marinette with a smile. "I think Mrs. Mendeleiev is 3-C's homeroom class, so we should head to the science labs."

"Good, now we have a plan of action," said Adrien as they started heading up there. Once the bell rang the students started leaving the science labs, but everyone they asked gave similar answers.

"Angelique Lachapelle," scoffed a jock guy. "I avoid her like the plague. She's so annoying and literally never stops talking if you strike up a conversation with her. You just can't get a word in."

"Oh her," said another girl with distaste in her voice. "She's… no other way to say it, she's just really weird. I don't really talk to her."

"She is so not one of my friends," asserted another girl. "She thinks she's better than us cause she tested out of some classes and now she spends science and geometry in the library. How pretentious can you get?"

"I don't talk to her all that much," said one of the guys sheepishly. "She's kinda rude. I don't think she means to be but she just says whatever's on her mind and doesn't get how it can be mean, especially if she thinks it's a compliment."

"Never in a million years would I hang with her," said another girl. "If she got told off by Chloe then she deserved it. Probably wouldn't shut up about some stupid show she likes to watch." Right after she finished her sentence she started walking off from the two of them. Adrien and Marinette looked back and forth at each other, unsure of what to say for a few moments.

"Wow," said Marinette, "I didn't know any one group could singularly dislike one person so much. She seemed so nice to me though."

"Well some of it could be misconceptions," reasoned Adrien, "but some of it is probably true in some way. No one's perfect."

"She still didn't deserve the treatment she got from Chloe though," she asserted. "We need to find her ass soon as possible before someone less friendly does."

"Agreed," said Adrien as he started walking. "I feel bad for her though. I mean, imagine having your entire class hate you. No one that we talked to seemed to be her friend."

"I can understand how she feels a bit," said Marinette as she walked with him. "I mean, not that I've ever been so… universally disliked, but it seems like they're treating her unfairly based off of a few things. All that what they said told me is she's smart, chatty, and isn't the best at reading social situations and says the wrong thing sometimes. I can think of a few people like that. It's really not fair to judge her on a few bad traits and a bad first impression."

"That's true," he agreed with a small laugh. "Imagine where we'd be if you'd judged me entirely on our first impression."

"Well what else was I supposed to think," she asked. "I mean, that's what it looked like! It looked like you were sticking gum on my chair!"

"I understand," he said. "I just wish I'd had the courage to say something there, but I didn't want to rat on Chloe. She was my only friend back then, but now I've got friends like you and Nino and Alya. It's nice, and it doesn't make me feel bad for backing up people who say Chloe's being nasty."

"That's sweet," she said with a small blush, "but we should really get back to finding Angelique before something bad happens to her. I mean, she's already missing her next class."

"At least Chloe's finally getting punished for her actions," said Adrien. "Alya caught the whole thing on video. Not even her dad can get her out of this one."

"I don't deserve this," Chloe whined as she and Sabrina sat in front of Mr. Damocles.

"This video Alya sent me begs to differ," said Mr. Damocles turned his computer monitor around so that they could see it. "Chloe this girl is just a library assistant you had no reason to take her personal belongings, and this time your father can't get you out of trouble."

"This is so not fair," Chloe kept whining, as if it would magically fix the situation if she acted sad about it. "I can't be suspended! My daddy will kill me!"

"Mr. Damocles," begged Sabrina, "be reasonable please! We can't do this suspension."

"You acted horribly and cruelly to someone who just wanted to help the library run smoother," he said firmly, clasping his hands together and placing them on his desk. "My punishment is final. You two are both suspended for three days. Sabrina, I know you didn't help in the mocking but from the email Mrs. Bustier has sent me you tried to help her cover it up and that makes you just as guilty. I'm sure your father will agree with me." The glass behind the principle shattered, making him jump up and startling the two students to the point where they screamed. Floating into the room from an open window was a long, white haired girl with a black mask on her face.

"Chloe Bourgeois," she said with a grin as she held up a notebook with a black cover and a matching black and gold pen, "you've done wrong to everyone in this school and you must be stopped! As the Authoress I will write your ending and it will be today!" She flipped to a page in her book and touched the pen against a character sketch before sending it out. A light was thrown from the page as it formed into a mid tall green haired boy dressed in ancient Mongolian attire. "Kozui, get Chloe Bourgeois and teach her a lesson she'll never forget!"

"With pleasure," he replied as he held up his hands. Chloe and Sabrina screamed as they looked like they were turning into green-scaled claws.

"Someone help me," she screamed as she ran out of the room.

"Wait for me Chloe," shouted Sabrina as she followed suit.

Adrien and Marinette looked up at Sabrina and Chloe as they came running out of the office.

"Are they running from their punishment," asked Adrien. "They look terrified."

"I think they're running from that guy," said Marinette as she pointed at Kozui. "Who is he? I've never met him before!"

"Maybe he's Akumatized," said Adrien. "You know, like, I think I've heard Chat Noir and Ladybug use that term for normal people who are turned into supervillains!"

"Oh, I think I've heard the term too," she said shyly. "I think we should leave and I'm gonna go this way!" She started to run off to the women's bathroom.

"I'm going this way then," said Adrien as he ran towards the men's bathrooms. He held his jacket open for Plagg. "Did you save some cheese?"

"Yeah," Plagg promised as he held up his hands to prove he wasn't eating any. "I left two slices!"

"Good, cause I have a feeling we're going to need it later." He extended his hand. "Plagg, Claws Out!"

Marinette looked around the bathroom to make sure it was empty before letting Tikki out of her jacket.

"I was sure if anyone was going to get Akumatized today it would've been Angelique," said Marinette, "but it looks like some other kid older than us got hit by an Akuma."

"It's possible," said Tikki. "Lots of people can have negative emotions at the same time. Honestly I'm glad that it wasn't Angelique. The more negative emotions you feel when you're Akumatized the more powerful you are. Angelique must've felt tons of different bad emotions in that moment, especially if her class didn't like her."

"That's good to know," said Marinette, "but we have to hurry. As much as I don't like Chloe that guy looked ready to seriously hurt her. Tikki, Spots On!" She transformed into Ladybug quickly and ran out of the bathroom, watching and Chloe ran down to the courtyard and straight towards her.

"Oh thank goodness Ladybug," she said as she threw her arms around Ladybug, "this creepy guy is trying to kill me!"

"Please save us," begged Sabrina as she hid behind Ladybug.

"Don't worry," Ladybug promised, "I'll get you both out of here."

"They aren't getting away," hissed out Kozui. "I have to teach them a lesson they'll never forget!"

"How's this for a lesson," asked Chat Noir as he kicked Kozui in the side, effectively knocking him over. He smirked and turned to Ladybug, giving her a bow. "Shall we get going milady?"

"Sounds like a good idea," agreed Ladybug as she grabbed one of Chloe's hands and started running. "We need to get them out of the school. It looks like this guy is after Chloe. Again. And Sabrina."

"Got it," said Chat Noir as he grabbed Sabrina and started running off with her.

"So what did you do this time Chloe," asked Ladybug as they ran out the front door.

"I never do anything wrong," she insisted. "Everyone loves me!"

"Well clearly you upset someone else," said Chat. "Otherwise we wouldn't be running for our lives."

"Come on," said Ladybug as she threw her yoyo, pulling Chloe to her, "I'm gonna take Chloe to her place. You get Sabrina home." She yanked on the yoyo and went swinging away with Chloe screaming.

"What if that guy goes after her," asked Sabrina in worry as she ran with Chat Noir.

"Don't worry," said Chat, "milady's got everything under control." From up above, Authoress chuckled as she watched Chloe and Sabrina escape.

"So Ladybug, Chat Noir, you were able to get them so soon," she said to herself. "There's no doubt about it, they must go to school here, or at least work at Collège Françoise Dupont. Now, back to me Kozui!" She ran the pen over the page, summoning Kozui back to her. A glowing ball of green light floated towards her and sank into the page. She flipped through her book and smirked as she came upon a certain page. "I think it's time that you faced my ultimate bit of revenge! Come on out Leo King!"

Ladybug paced around Chloe's apartment.

"So you were talking about your suspension when that guy attacked," she asked to confirm.

"Uh huh," Chloe nodded. "He was getting all scaly and disgusting, but I could've sworn I'd seen that exact person before. I just can't remember from where."

"Well you need to think hard," said Ladybug, "because I can't help you until I know who it is. It'll be hard to find the Akuma." She stepped out onto the balcony and contacted Chat Noir on video. "Chat, how are things with Sabrina?"

"They're fine," he said. "She's with her parents. She was a little too shaken up to talk to me about what happened, but from what I could tell the villain was really only after Chloe. I think Sabrina is safe."

"In that case come over to where I am," said Ladybug. "I'm at Chloe's place. It'll take both of us to protect her from whatever that Akuma was."

"There's the thing," said Chat Noir as he started leaving Sabrina's place, "that guy didn't look Akumatized at all. Aside from the green hair and scaly hands he looked like any normal person. Akumatized people all have a mask and don't look like themselves anymore. Ever think that maybe it's another Miraculous holder?"

"I highly doubt it," said Ladybug. "For one we have masks too. They don't exactly come off so it's not like it fell off of our victim's face. But you are right about the fact that he looked pretty normal." Chloe started screaming. "Gotta go!"

"Wait-" Before Chat Noir could say anything else, Ladybug hung up on him. She turned around and saw Chloe running under her bed as a dark skinned man terrorized her.

"Another Akuma victim?!" She ran in and threw her yoyo, catching his hand. "Talk! Who are you and why are you attacking Chloe?!"

"My name is Leo King," he growled out as he turned to her.

"That's such a normal name," said Ladybug. "Usually Akuma victims don't call themselves by their real names."

"I don't know what an Akuma is," said Leo with a growl as he yanked his arm back, throwing Ladybug off balance, "but I will destroy you!" She pulled her yoyo back off his arm and jumped up out of his reach as he tried to claw her up.

"You're gonna have to do better than that Kitty," she said with a laugh. Leo growled. His hair started getting longer and a pair of lion ears started to poke out from underneath his mop of hair. "Wait, Angelique's character?" She gasped. "So Angelique did get Akumatized! And she's bringing her characters to life?"

"Save me Ladybug," begged Chloe from underneath her bed. "I don't wanna be cat food!" A staff extended and rammed right into Leo, knocking him against a wall.

"I think that can be arranged," said Chat as he came into the room. "Looks like we've got two Akuma victims? Wait, why does this guy look familiar?"

"I think he's just the creation of the actual Akuma victim," said Ladybug. "You were right about them looking mostly like normal people." Leo disappeared in a flash of light as someone came up from behind them, clapping.

"Good job Ladybug," said Authoress, "you're completely right! These are my characters and they're here to take down the evil that is Chloe Bourgeois! Trust me, the world will be a far better place with her gone!"

"I'm not that bad of a person," Chloe insisted from under her bed. "I tried being nice once!"

"Oh yes," said Authoress with a laugh, "when you invited your whole class to that big party. You even invited a few people from my class, but you never invited me. I tried to help you at the library, and what did you do? You humiliated me in front of your entire class!" She held up her pen and book. "Now I'm going to write you a horrible ending worthy of the worst of the worst!"

"Angelique stop," said Ladybug as she stood in front of her, blocking off her path to Chloe. "This isn't the way to deal with a problem!"

"No one ever knew or remembered that name," she said. "My new name is Authoress and all will fear me!" She threw her pen across the page and out of a glowing light came a very tan woman with braided violet hair, matching eyes and golden wings. "Attack her Sialei!"

"As you wish," she said as she held out her hands. She closed her eyes and started glowing with golden light as the bed Chloe was hiding underneath floated upwards.
"Oh no," whimpered Chloe as she backed up against the wall.

"So if I use my powers on that thing I'm not actually hurting anyone," asked Chat Noir.

"Nope," said Ladybug. "I think it's safe to say that it'll be just fine."

"Alright then," he said as he held up his hand, grabbing pure darkness. "Cataclysm!" He ran forward and touched her forehead right when she opened up her eyes. Sialei screamed in pain before crumpling into dust. "Okay that felt a bit messed up."

"How could you," asked Authoress in horror. "She's been through enough and now you had to kill her?!"

"I didn't know she could feel pain," he insisted, hands up in the air. "I felt bad when I realized she did!"

"Use that," said Hawk Moth to her. "Use their empathy to capture their Miraculouses!"

"Well now you're going to have to deal with me!" She threw her pen out again as a glowing light came out. "Come on back Leo!"

"We need to get Chloe out of here," said Ladybug as she went towards Chloe while Leo formed. "Sorry about this." Without any actual regret she threw Chloe over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"This isn't very comfortable," Chloe complained as Marinette went to the balcony, throwing her yoyo and swinging across the way.

"Right behind you," said Chat as he extended his staff to follow her. One of his pads disappeared off of his ring. "Well looks like we need to get to our destination quick."

"Don't worry," she said, "I already have the perfect hiding place for Chloe."

"Hawk Moth," said Authoress as she flew up into the air, looking over the city for signs of Ladybug, "I think I might need more power to take them on."

"Oh my dear girl," he chuckled out as the butterfly appeared over her, "you're plenty powerful already. You've only discovered a small part of your powers. I'll leave you to discover them, but consider this. If you can make your characters out of thin air and have them be powerful, imagine how much more powerful they could be without you needing to make a body for them."

"I understand," she replied before the emblem disappeared. "I think I should head back to school!" She laughed as she zoomed back towards her school.

"She's very clever," chuckled Hawk Moth. "I don't think anyone's ever tried to contact me first and ask for more power. Perhaps even if she doesn't bring me the Miraculouses she could still lead me straight to their holders!"

"Can you please watch after her," asked Ladybug. She, Chat Noir, and Chloe were standing in the Dupain bakery, talking with Tom and Sabine.

"Of course we can," said Sabine. "Come now dear, you look terrible, like you've been running for your life."

"I have," she asserted with a glare.

"Chloe," said Ladybug in a warning tone of voice, "be nice. These people are helping hide you from Authoress. The least you can do is be kind to them back. They have no obligation to help you and could leave you to her if they wanted. But they aren't because they're amazing, kind people. So you need to extend the kindness that they show to you back to them."

"Fine," she conceded. "I'm sorry for being rude and all that." Chat Noir looked at his ring as it beeped, stuck on its final pad.

"Sorry for running off," he said, "but I need to go take care of something. Anywhere I can get some privacy?"

"Well there's Marinette's room," said Tom, "but I don't know if she'd want us letting a stranger up there, even Chat Noir."

"I'm sure it's fine," insisted Ladybug. "Besides, as long as he doesn't go through her stuff she'll probably be cool with it. This is an emergency."

"Alright," said Sabine, "but we will be telling her we let someone up there. It'd be rude to not tell her."

"Thanks," said Chat with a wave as he ran upstairs, heading up to Marinette's room. Just moments after shutting the door, his transformation disappeared as Plagg was ejected from his ring.

"That was close," said Plagg as he flew over to Adrien. "Who know what could've happened if Marinette's room wasn't up here?"

"Yeah, that's good," he said as he pulled out a slice of camembert and sat on her bed. "It is a nice room though. Wait…" He stood up and walked over to a board. "Her room is full… of pictures of me? Why would she do that?" Plagg looked around, a little surprised before snickering. Oh was his chosen in for a surprise.

"Adrien you're so dense," Plagg snickered out. "It's obvious that Marinette likes you."

"That's… this feels wrong," he said as he turned away from the pictures. "This is such a violation of privacy! How was I supposed to know that Marinette had a crush on me? I feel horrible for going in her room like this now!"

"You shouldn't," said Plagg as he took another bite. "Besides, Marinette hasn't exactly been subtle. She's always stuttering and getting red around you. I'm surprised you never figured it out before now."

"I thought she just still didn't like me much," Adrien admitted. "I mean, it did look like I stuck gum on her seat. Even if she knows I didn't I thought that we were finally getting past that."

"Or maybe you were super nice to her and it made her start to like her," suggested Plagg. "You're a pretty nice guy when you're Adrien and you're so respectful to her."

"I guess," he said with a sigh. "I still feel bad for violating her privacy like this since I didn't mean to."

"But now you know why Marinette acted the way she did," Plagg pointed out. "Besides, maybe you should try getting closer to Marinette. You don't really know anything about Ladybug as a person, you just know her personality a bit. You know Marinette better than you know ladybug."

"I don't wanna talk about this," said Adrien as he stood up. "Come on, we need to get back to Ladybug." He held out his fist. "Plagg, Claws Out!"

Ladybug was still taking with Sabine and Tom when Chat Noir came back down.

"Something wrong," she asked. "You look guilty or something. What, did you go through her stuff?"

"No," he swore, "I just, it's complicated okay? What's our plan of action Ladybug?"

"Well first we should leave the shop," she said as she walked out, waiting for Chat to follow her. "I think that the Akuma is hiding in the book she carries around. All we need to do is get the book and destroy it."

"And how do we get it from her," asked Chat Noir. "She floats. She could just fly out of our grasp."

"We use my yoyo to try and catch her," said Ladybug. "At least, that's the plan for now." She frowned, gently putting a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay? You really look out of it."

"I'm fine," he promised. "I just want to get that girl back to normal. I don't think I've ever seen such an angry villain before."

"I mean, she said Chloe embarrassed her in front of an entire class," said Ladybug, "but it's not like Chloe hasn't done that to just about everyone in her own class. Maybe that girl doesn't have any friends and that just made whatever Chloe said hurt even more."

"Poor girl," said Chat, looking towards the sky. "I can understand how she feels. It's pretty lonely, having no real friends." Ladybug gave him a worried look, reaching a hand out to him. She'd never seen him look so vulnerable before.

"Chat?" He shook his head and smiled at her.

"I'm fine milady," he said. "Come on, we should try and find Authoress."

"Oh you won't need to look for long," said Authoress as she floated up above. "I'm right here and I'm ready to take your Miraculouses!"

"Oh yeah," asked Ladybug with a smirk, "well you'll have to capture us first and we'll never let that happen!"

"I won't even have to lay a finger on you," Authoress declared as she threw her pen forward. "Attack my lovely characters!" Several people came forward, all of them looking human, and yet not human at the same time.

"She can control all these characters at the same time," said Ladybug in shock as she looked around. "Chat, do you think you can get rid of them all again?"

"In one move," he asked before contemplating the question as they were surrounded. "I could I guess, but I'd only have enough food on my to transform one more time. Not to mention even if they aren't real people, they still feel pain. I want to avoid doing that if I can."

"Then we'll consider it a last resort," said Ladybug as she grabbed his wrist. "For now, I think we need to get out of here! There's too many characters to fight right now!" She threw her yoyo and swung off with Chat Noir.

"I'll get you two," she replied with a smirk as she turned to two very specific characters. "Sialei, Kozui, I want you two to go after them."

"Yes Authoress," they replied as they started to follow them.

Ladybug didn't stop swinging until they were at the pyramid in front of the Louvre.

"She's one of the most powerful Akumatized people we've ever faced," said Ladybug as she paced around, trying to think. "These characters of her, they seem to have their own sense of agency. They still follow her orders but they're like their own people. Anytime there have been minions in the past they've just blindly followed the orders of their master. This is different and I'm not sure I like this."

"That is a little weird," agreed Chat. "Maybe her characters are like people to her. After all if you don't have friends you make them up. They're like imaginary friends, but she has the power to make them real."

"We need to stop her," said Marinette, "but how?"

"You won't be able to," said Sialei as she walked over towards Marinette. Unlike before, she had a mole on her forehead and hazel eyes.

"You're cornered," said Kozui as he came up from the other side. He looked a little different as well, with slightly darker skin and brown eyes.

"What should we do milady," asked Chat as he held up his staff.

"We have no choice," said Marinette. "We have to fight them!" She dodged an attack from Sialei, ducking down.

"I guess we have no choice," said Chat with a grunt as he started to fight Kozui. "Something about this guy seems different. Like he's off from his earlier appearance."

"It doesn't matter," said Ladybug as she avoided a kick from Sialei. "We have to fight them! Maybe they get tired like people and they'll return back to Authoress's book!"

"Help…. Me…" said Sialei in a different voice than before. Now her voice was filled with a lot of effort as she kept fighting Ladybug. "Please… Ladybug…"

"Huh?" She jumped back and looked over Sialei. "Help?"

"Shut up," Sialei grunted down at herself, her eyes turning more violet. "You're my body now!"

"What do you mean by that," asked Ladybug as she looked over Sialei. Sialei's head came up but this time when she spoke, Alya's voice and eyes were there.

"Save me!" Sialei shook her head and Alya's eyes and voice were gone. "Shut up! We must serve the Authoress!"

"Alya," gasped out Ladybug in horror. "Chat Noir, don't use your powers on them! I think that Authoress took over people's bodies! Sialei is Alya!"

"Then who's this guy," asked Chat as he pushed Kozui on the ground.

"Help me," he said with effort in Nino's voice. Chat gasped when he recognized it.

"Nino? No, this is just cruel! Why did she have to do this to Nino?"

"That's how she controls so many characters at a time," Ladybug reasoned. "It probably takes less energy to insert them into people than give them new bodies! Hurry, we have to knock them out! Maybe then they'll go back to normal!"

"Works for me," said Chat, "but I don't know if I can hurt someone who's begging for help."

"It hurts," said Ladybug as she grabbed Sialei's arm, "but we've gotta do it if we want to save these people!"

"Let go of me," shouted Sialei before wrenching her arm out of Ladybug's grasp. A pair of gold and green wings appeared from her back and let her fly up into the air.

"Sialei must be part fairy," said Ladybug. "That's why she can fly!" Sialei dove back down towards her, but Ladybug moved out of the way just in time for her to hit the ground instead.

"Esha fiashia na salanari eishi kra," said Kozui.

"What was that," asked Chat before he jumped out of the way of a tendril of water. "Okay so this guy has magic and can control water! What the heck?!"

"We have to figure out how to defeat them," said Marinette as she tossed up her yoyo. "Lucky Charm!" Out of the burst of heart came a mirror with a red back covered in black spots. "What am I supposed to do with this?"

"Well at least we can make sure we look fabulous before we go," joked Chat.

"Not helpful," Ladybug replied as she looked around. She noticed the pyramid, Chat's staff, Kozui's water, and a nearby building.

"I have an idea," she said as she started running, tucking the mirror under her arm before throwing her yoyo. "You need to keep them both distracted while I do it!"

"Got it," he said with a smirk as he held up his staff. "Come on guys, why go after Ladybug when you can have a sweet black cat like myself!"

"You think you're slick," grinned Kozui as he threw a tendril of water at Chat. "You think you're such hot stuff? Why don't you cool down?!"

"Sorry," said Chat as he jumped over the water and on the side of the pyramid, "but cats and water don't mix well."

"You'll be minced meat when we're through with you," said Sialei as she mumbled, throwing her arms forward as vines burst out of the ground, holding down Chat Noir by his ankles and wrists.

"Clever," he responded, "but I can get out of this easily if I need to." He yanked against the vines, breaking them and jumping up onto the side of the pyramid. "Is that all you can do guys?"

"I can do more than that," said Kozui as he threw up a wall of water to slam down on Chat Noir.

"Chat move," shouted Ladybug. Chat jumped out of the way as Ladybug perfectly angled the mirror to reflect the light off the side of the pyramid. When it did the light became more intense as it went through the water, making the two characters yelp and throw up their arms to try and regain their sight. "Hit them with your staff!"

"You've got it Ladybug," said Chat as he extended his staff, hitting them both fairly hard in the back of the head. They hit the ground rather hard, darkness leaving them like it would a regular Akumatized person. Ladybug jumped down from the top of the building towards them.

"I don't want to leave them here," she said as she looked around, "but we don't have any choice." Her earrings started to beep as a spot disappeared. "And I'm getting ready to transform back and we're nowhere near close to defeating Authoress."

"Look on the bright side," encouraged Chat, "this is gonna be GREAT practice for when we finally face Hawk Moth. I mean, her powers are pretty similar, but not exactly like them."

"You're right about that," said Ladybug. "With Hawk Moth's villains, none of them can regain any sense of control of themselves up until they're de-evilized. If she got Alya and Nino then the rest of the characters are probably people from m- I mean that specific class."

"Well then we use that to our advantage," said Chat. "If there's people in the class who are fans of us we just try and get them to fight back against it so we can make it a one on one battle between us and Authoress."

"Sounds like a plan," said Ladybug. "But first, I need to go and let my kwami eat something. Let's meet back at the Eiffel Tower."

"Alright then milady," said Chat as he ran off. Ladybug smiled at him before going to an alley and transforming back there.

"That was a good move," said Tikki while Marinette reached into her purse and pulled out a plastic baggy with cookies, handing one to Tikki to eat. "Authoress is really powerful, just like I said she'd be."

"Yeah I know," said Marinette in a worried tone. "I don't think we've ever faced such a powerful enemy. Chat already had to charge back up once, and now Authoress made it so he can't make the same move again without hurting an actual person."

"She's learning," said Tikki with a frown. "Most Akumatized people don't have more than one way to use their powers, but she can summon her characters and seemingly make them actual people and turn real people into her characters. How much pain and anger was she hiding all this time?"

"I don't know," Marinette replied. "I feel really bad for her though. Her class is never going to trust her ever again after this."

"Well you can always extend that hand of friendship to her," said Tikki as she finished off her cookie. "When this is all over, she's going to need one."

"Yeah," agreed Marinette, "but for now we have to focus on getting her back to normal. Tikki, Spots On!" She transformed back, throwing her yoyo to swing over to the Eiffel Tower. Thankfully, Chat Noir was already in the tower, grinning as he waited for her.

"So, any idea where Authoress is Ladybug," he asked with a plastered on grin, leaning on one of the support beams.

"I have one," she said, "and it's pretty simple." She walked towards the edge, looking out at Paris. "We should be able to see her from here and then we can go to her."

"Sounds good," said Chat Noir as he looked around. "So Ladybug, you know how you feel like I'm acting strange?"

"Well yeah," she replied. "Every since the bakery. Why?"

"I just found out something about a friend," he said. "It's obvious in hindsight but I feel kinda stupid for not noticing before. I'm afraid it'll make things awkward between us now. That's all. Just thought I'd get it off my chest. Hopefully I won't be too distracted by it if I say it out loud."

"Chat, you can handle any situation," she assured him as she turned around, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You're brave and quick on your feet. But something tells me that's not all that's bugging you. We've been partners for a while now. I'm getting good at reading you."

"Of course you are," he said with a small smile. "My kwami said something that struck a chord with me earlier. He said that I don't really know you very well as a person, just who you are as Ladybug. It got me to thinking, and he's right. I know you don't want us to know who the other is, and that's fair, but I also just don't know you. I don't know who you are as a person. I don't know what you like to eat, or your favorite color, or any of that stuff that partners and friends know and at times, it kills me. We don't really know each other and we should if we're going to work together like this. I was thinking that maybe when this is over, we could, I don't know, take some time to just talk? Get to know each other as people."

"I…" she looked down for a few moments. She had never seen Chat act so vulnerable in front of her. The fact that he was so open and honest made her feel a little strange. "I don't know… we can talk about it after we save Angelique and the rest of Paris. But you have a point. We don't really know each other."

"That's good enough for me," he said with a relieved smile. He looked back out and frowned. "I can't see Authoress from here but we should check on the Dupain-Chengs and make sure Chloe hasn't driven them insane."

"Good idea," Ladybug chuckled out as she started to call them. "Hello, this is Ladybug. I was just calling to make sure that what I brought wasn't driving you crazy."

"Hello Ladybug," came Authoress's voice. Ladybug froze, a look of horror on her face. "Hm, I wonder why your first thought was to hide Chloe Bourgeois in a bakery with Sabine and Tom Dupain-Cheng."

"Did you hurt them," she asked, making Chat look a little alert.

"Of course not," she replied. "Unlike Chloe, the Dupain-Chengs are all decent people. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to punish them! They've been tied up here while my characters look for Chloe. Oh, looks like they found her."

"Save me Ladybug please," begged Chloe. "I promise with all my heart I'll never be mean again if I survive this!"

"Angelique this is enough," said Ladybug. "Please, let the Dupain-Chengs go, and Chloe too! I know she hurt you but is this really what you want to do?!"

"Tell you what," she said, "meet me at the bakery and hand over your Miraculouses, and I'll let the Dupain-Chengs go. I might not be so generous with Chloe, but I might just let her go if you get here." She hung up.

"Authoress has my par-the Dupain Chengs," Ladybug corrected as she looked up at Chat Noir, her face full of worry. "They're in serious danger!"

"Then we have to time to loose," he responded. "Come on!"

Authoress stood outside the bakery, the Tom and Sabine unconscious and hanging from their own bakery sign. Next to Authoress was Chloe in a cage made of roots, whimpering inside it as she gripped the bars.

"Please let me go," she begged. "I'll be nicer I promise!"

"You had your chance," Authoress snapped. "Now you have to face the penalty for your cruelty!" She smirked as Chat Noir and Ladybug came on the scene. "Ah, so glad you two could make it." All of her characters started to surround them. "Here's the deal. Hand over your Miraculouses and I let these two go. Refuse and they'll be taken to the highest building in Paris and dropped. I'll give you five minutes to choose."

"And how are you gonna do that," asked Ladybug as she clutched her yoyo tightly."

"Why, by using my characters," she said with a chuckle as they stepped closer.

"I recognize that one," said Chat Noir as he noticed one with multicolored dreadlocks. "I think that's Mylene." He looked at another one with hair falling in his eyes. "And Nathaniel. Nathaniel you can fight this! This isn't you, you're a kind person who loves art! You're not someone who wants to hurt people!"

"Mylene, you can fight this," said Ladybug. "Are you going to let her bully you into doing what she wants?! You're stronger than that Mylene!" The two mentioned characters started to clutch their heads like they were in pain.

"Chat… Noir…"

"Lady… bug…"

"It's working," Ladybug exclaimed. She turned towards someone who she thought was Rose. "Rose, you're an amazing, creative kind hearted person! I know you can fight against this! I don't want to hurt anyone in any capacity! You know that this is wrong!"

"Ivan," said Chat Noir to another, "you can't let anyone else tell you to be someone else! You're your own person, not a character in the Authoress's story! Fight it, fight them!"

"Come on Juleka," said Ladybug to another one. "You know you don't want to do this! You're so strong and you can fight against this! You have the strength, use it!" They all started to struggle with their identities as characters and as people, started to flash back and forth between their character forms and their true selves.

"What are you doing," Authoress hissed out. "You can't get the characters to leave! They'll stay in there! All you're doing is making them fight!" An idea came to her. "That's it. If they can't stop struggling then neither will you!" She opened up her book, touching her pen to Leo's page. "I hope you like lions Ladybug!" She threw the glowing light towards Ladybug, only for Chat Noir to jump in the way, holding her tightly as the ball collided with him. When it did it sent them btoh skidding several feet back as Chat Noir groaned.

"Chat Noir," said Ladybug in horror as he pulled away and gripped his head tightly, flashing back and forth between Leo King and himself. "Fight it Chat Noir! I can't do this without you!"

"Lady… bug," he struggled out as he kept flashing back and forth, "you can do this… beat her!"

"I will," she promised as she looked up at Authoress. "This ends now! You've hurt people I care about and my partner! This won't stand!" She threw her yoyo up in the air again. "Lucky Charm!" The hearts dissipated as a compact fell into her hands.

"How is that any help," yelled Chloe. "Ladybug you need to save me!"

"Shut up," ordered Authoress. "No one wants to hear you talk you giant jerk!" Ladybug looked around for things to help her out, seeing the bars of the cage, a nearby window, and Authoress's book.

"Got it," she said with a smile. "Hey Authoress, I bet you won't be able to transform me into one of your characters!"

"Don't doubt me," she replied as she threw a glowing green ball of light at Ladybug. Thankfully, now that she was she was able to dodge it easily, jumping and flipping over each attempt to turn her. "Argh! Why won't you just stay still or run in one direction!"

"Guess I'm just too skilled and lucky," Ladybug replied as she threw the compact at Authoress. She moved to the side, letting it zoom past her head.

"You missed," she mocked.

"Guess again!" The compact hit a wall, bouncing off of it and hitting the bars of Chloe's cage before hitting Authoress's hands. She yelped from the pain, dropping her book and pen as Ladybug dove for the book.

"No," called out Authoress as Ladybug got up, ripping the book in half. She held her yoyo, opening it up like na ladybug's wings. "No more evildoing for you little Akuma!" She threw her yoyo to capture it. "Time to de-evilize!" She drew it back and opened up the yoyo, letting out the pure white butterfly. "Bye-bye little butterfly." She grabbed the compact she had made and threw it up in the air. "Miraculous Ladybug!" She smiled as the ladybugs flew all around, fixing all of the damage from the Akuma, including freeing Chloe as Authoress turned back into Angelique.

"I may not have been as close as I was before," said Hawk Moth, "but I learned so much from this." He laughed to himself. "So, Ladybug and Chat Noir go to my son's school? That has been most useful, so thank you for responding so quickly Ladybug and Chat Noir."

"Oh thank you Ladybug," she exclaimed as she threw arms around her. "I thought I was a goner for sure!"

"You need to keep your promise," said Ladybug as she pushed Chloe away. "Chloe, your meanness caused this whole situation. You really need to work on being nicer for more than the length of time of a party. I know it'll be hard at first but eventually it'll become second nature to you. I'll be watching. Now go see your father." She nodded and ran off. Ladybug looked towards Chat Noir, who was back to himself, but holding his head.

"My head is killing me," he groaned. She sighed in relief and hugged him tightly with relief, much to his surprise.

"You need to stop doing that," she said. "You always put yourself between me and harm. You worry me so much every time you do that." He smiled and hugged her back.

"I promise I'll try not to." Her earring beeped, making him smile as he pulled away. "I'll be waiting at the Eiffel Tower if you wanna talk." He started to run off.

"Okay." She smiled at him and turned to Angelique, grabbing her book and handing it to her. "I know Chloe said some pretty awful things, and I'm really sorry about that, but so far your story seems really cool! I'm sorry that Chloe had nothing nice to say about it." Angelique looked up at her with some small tears in her eyes.

"What if Chloe was right," she asked. "What if my ideas are terrible?"

"Then you don't listen," Ladybug answered, sitting next to her. "You keep on with your ideas. Just keep writing until you finish your story, and never let anyone else try and tell you that they're bad. Any idea seems weird out of context. But when you write that in context story, it'll be great. I'd love to see it published someday." Her earrings beeped again. "Try and make some friends to share the story with, alright?" She threw her yoyo and swung away, leaving Angelique smiling as she held her book close to her chest.

Marinette stood in another alley, watching Tikki eat.

"Should I go talk to Chat Noir," she asked. "I mean, he has a point, but what if I say something to give myself away?"

"It's impossible," said Tikki. "A Miraculous protects the identity of their holder. You can only give it away if you say something incredibly obvious or tell him your name. Besides, I think it's safe to say you should get to know him better. Just like you saw today, there's a lot about him that you don't know." She finished off her cookie. "There's no harm in it, aside from getting home a little late today."

"You're right," said Marinette. "Besides, I think there's more to Chat than I realized. I've never seen him so upset before. If this'll make him feel better then I should do it. Tikki, Spots On!"

Chat Noir sighed as he looked out over Paris.

"She isn't coming is she?" His ears lowered in disappointment.

"Who's not coming," asked a voice behind him. His ears perked up when he turned around and saw her, smiling brightly.

"You came Ladybug!" She smiled and went to stand next to him, looking over Paris.

"Of course I did," she replied. "You're right about one thing. We don't know each other very well and we should. So, let's talk. What's your favorite color?"

Chat Noir extended his staff to open his bedroom window for him before changing into Adrien again, taking out a wedge of cheese and handing it to Plagg.

"That was nice," he said with a smile as he sat down on his couch, a lovestruck expression on his face. "Who knew Ladybug liked the color pink? Or that she hates radishes?"

"I hate radishes," said Plagg as he kept eating. "But something's still bothering you, isn't it?"

"Yeah," he admitted. "I don't know what to do about Marinette. I mean, she's a really cool girl, but I don't feel that way about her. I don't want to break her heart."

"Adrien," said Plagg, "I'm gonna tell you flat out, you focus too much on Ladybug to know whether or not you like Marinette, and that's all the advice I can give. If you want anymore help, I'd suggest talking to your dad. I mean, he got married and had you so he has to have some experience in relationships. Kwamis don't really do that so I can't help you beyond what I've said."

"But will he make time for me," Adrien asked himself as he picked up his phone before sighing. He dialed his father number, and surprisingly he picked up.

"I heard there was another attack at your school," said Gabriel. "I think you may need to transfer schools. The amount of chaos at your school makes me uneasy."

"No Father," begged Adrien. "Please don't transfer me! That's not even why I called!"

"Well then, why did you call?"

"It's," he hesitated for a moment before sighing, "it's about crushes and relationships and all that. I'm in the dark Father. I don't know what to do."

"I see," he said, his voice soft and sympathetic. "I'll have Natalie cancel my plans for this evening."

"Wait, really?" Adrien visibly perked up at that.

"If my son needs me then of course. I'll be there shortly." He hung up. Adrien smiled brightly as he put his phone in his pocket.

"He's actually gonna come and talk to me about this," he said in astonishment. "I can't believe it. He's never canceled anything for me before."

"Well this is love we're talking about," Plagg pointed out. "He wants you to be happy."

"Point taken."

Not long later, Gabriel knocked on Adrien's door.

"Come in," he said, watching as his father came in with an expression he really hadn't seen before. It was almost sad and sympathetic. Regardless, Gabriel went to sit down next to Adrien, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Want to tell me all about it," he asked.

"I'm just really confused," Adrien started. "There's this one girl I really like who's courageous and witty and smart and so, so talented and amazing, but she's never looked my way. Well, not like that at least. I really like her, but it seems like she doesn't care about me that way. We're really good friends, but that's all I feel like we are."

"That's never easy," said Gabriel. "But if she can't see the amazing, wonderful son that you are, then maybe you need to think about moving on."

"That's just it though," he replied. "I don't think she knows me sometimes. And then there's this other girl. She's pretty awesome too. She's funny and she's kind and she's smart. She likes to design and makes these amazing outfits, and she's really cool too. Earlier today Chloe was just awful to this girl that she didn't even know, and Marinette defended her. Neither of them knew her but Marinette was ready to fight on the behalf someone she didn't know just because she knew what Chloe was doing wasn't right. It was so courageous and I never knew she had that kind of courage in her. I thought we were just friends but now I found out that she likes me and I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about that! I mean, I don't think I like her, but then a friend pointed out that maybe I just like that other girl so much that I haven't left room to even think about other people. Is that true?"

"It can be," said Gabriel, "but it could also just be you're confused about finding this out. It's always a strange feeling when you find out someone likes you." He chuckled. "I remember things like that happening when I was about your age. I think what you should do is try and talk to this girl you know likes you. Sometimes when you're so focused on something out of reach, you don't see the things that are right in front of you. Now, don't completely give up on the first girl. I'm sure you can get her to see how amazing you are. After all, you're my son. But I think you need to let in room for you to meet other people. You're young, you should get the chance to fall in love over and over until you meet the right one and not focus so much on one person."

"That's some really good advice," said Adrien as he hugged his father. "Thanks Father." Gabriel smiled and hugged his son back.

Song Of Hope: Yep that was really long! But I got the story I wanted out! Thanks for reading guys!