The clownster tasted defeat, and Marinette tasted the sweetness of victory. But everything else seemed wrong.

Yeah, Chat was acting smug as usual, but everyone one else around her, seemed strange.

It was like they all had some kind of...cloud of dust around them all.

No one seemed...aware? She had seen people act distant or strange after the shock of an akuma attack.

But that had been in the past. People were so used to it now. It was sad to think about sometimes.

To the point where she didn't know if the haze over everyone was a relief or something she should worry about.

It was something she would think about for sure.

She thought about it for a moment, but then she thought too much into it. Lately, overthinking had become her normal thinking. She almost feared what it would be like to "overthink" now.

Her eyes felt dry, staring at the blank slate faces of those around her.

Maybe it was because of all of the false happiness the clown had brought, and now everyone was back to reality. Or the fact that clowns were a common fear among people.

She decided to believe the second option and let it all be from shock.

"Ladybug!"

She turned her head to see her partner running over to her.

"I've been calling you!" He stopped in from of her with a furrowed brow.

"You okay?" He asked carefully.

"What? Yeah yeah I'm fine." She shook her head quickly.

"Sorry I was in a daze I guess"

How ironic, worrying about the shocked, dazed citizens had put her into a daze herself.

"Oh." He put his baton in its place on his suit, and ran a hand through his hair.

"Where were you?" She asked, wondering why he had ran over to her.

"Oh I got caught up by a few girls. I think they were like 14." He scratched the back of his neck.

She simply chuckled, mumbling "Casanova" under her breath.

Such a missed opportunity to say cat-sanova

It didn't go unnoticed by him, but he also didn't acknowledge it. He looked at her in such a way that felt as if he were in a movie. Watching this girl as if the wind around her was dancing against her skin.

She truly was beautiful.

He felt proud to be able to stand next to her. Proud to call her his partner. And if that was all he ever got to be, he knew that alone would be a blessing.

Though he planned on trying to win her over, again. Like he had many times before.

But he didn't want to give up. No part of him felt like he should. And now he knew even more about her. He knew the two sides of her.

The shy, quiet, but trustworthy and kind Marinette. And the bold, outstanding, courageous and caring Ladybug. It wasn't a clean divide either, they blended and bled into one another.

Like when you draw dots with a sharpie, and drip rubbing alcohol onto them, and their colors spread and it becomes hard to distinguish between them.

She wasn't just Marinette, and she wasn't just Ladybug.

She was her.

And it was wonderful.

"Chaton?" She waved her hand in front of his face.

He blinked in surprise, watching as she began to laugh.

"Now look who's in a daze." She teased.

He wasn't sure what he was saying until he said it. And he wasn't sure if his tongue was betraying him or not.

"I can't help it, you're beautiful."

She froze for a second, before she nervously glanced away, her lips tugging at a smile against her will.

Anyone would act that way with a complement.

Right?

So why the heck couldn't she say "thank you"?

"Umm." Was all that came from her suddenly chapped lips.

He was quick to change the subject. Since it was clear she was a bit uncomfortable.

"How's your leg?" He asked, glancing down at the ankle he remembered being....unpleasant to see.

"Oh it's good I guess. It's been really annoying lately, since my room is upstairs....and I have a latter to my bed..." She chuckled bitterly, remembering when she used to be so excited about her tall bed.

Sure, it left a good amount of floor space, but her leg didn't seem to care about how much carpet she could touch under her feet without a bed in the way.

"That's unfortunate." He shook his head, with a small smirk on his lips.

"But I can actually walk on it as Ladybug, I mean not well, and I can't put too much pressure, but I can move faster."

A faint beep rung in her ears, signaling that her earrings weren't gonna hold her in her costume much longer.

He gave a knowing glance, and saluted as she swung away.

******

The second she made it to her bed, her transformation gave out.

"I just wanna sleep." She flopped down onto her pillow, lazily watching as Tikki went to her desk drawer for her secret stash of cookies.

"I bet you do." Tikki smiled, sitting next to Marinette on her pillow, biting into her meal.

"I just don't get it Tikki." She sighed, turning her head.

"Don't get what?" Tikki tilted her head, swallowing the sweet chocolate.

"I don't know...I just had a weird feeling about today ya know? Everyone seemed to be acting strange... I don't know...." She covered her face with her arm.

"Maybe it had something to do with Hawkmoth not akumatizing as much." Tikki shrugged.

"Yeah maybe you're right."

People forgot how to act.

The two of them had a light conversation, but Tikki was quick to notice Marinette's eyelids lulling. It became increasingly harder for her to keep them open, and eventually, she dozed off to a quiet sleep.

*****

"Alya!!! Wait up!!!" Marinette called to her best friend, who was entering the school.

"I've been waiting!" Alya laughed, grabbing her friends arm and tugging her along.

"Nino!" Alya called, spotting him on the stairs to their classroom.

He looked up from his phone, pushing one side of his headphones from his ear.

"Hey gals." He waved, beckoning them over to sit next to him.

"Listen to this." He flipped the speakers in his headphone outwards, and they each pressed an ear to either side.

The beat was fast, some kind of remix of a familiar, but nostalgic old game theme song.

"I hate that I like that." Marinette laughed.

"I bet Adrien would to." Alya nudged her arm.

Just as marinette was about to tell Alya to hush, a loud ringing filled her ears.

She went cold for a moment, and her body froze.

She was staring at something but she couldn't even make out what it was. She knew what she was staring at, but her brain wasn't comprehending it.

Then she blinked, and it was over.

Just like that, and no one seemed to notice.

Strange. Of course, everyone did notice when a loud roaring thunder rolled through the air. The forecast hadn't called for it.

Apparently, Hawkmoth had.

"I gotta go to the bathroom." Marinette yelled, 'running' from her friends before they could protest.

She basically slung her body into the girls bathroom, the door shutting with a bang.

"Is anyone in here??" She called quickly, but not a sound.

She fumbled to open up her bag.

"Tikki we n-"

But she wasn't there. Tikki was gone.

"Tikki?!" She felt her heart rate increase, as she frantically dig through her bag as if Tikki were hiding somewhere in it.

"Tikki??!" She yelled, opening each stall door and glancing around.

Where could Tikki be???

She couldn't have fallen out, could she? No, even if she had, she can fly. She would've found Marinette.

Marinette felt a sinking feeling in her chest, and she instinctively placed her hands on her ears. But she didn't feel the slick, curved material of her miraculous.

She felt nothing but her old, fake diamond studs.

She ran over to the mirror, as another roll of thunder shook the ground, knocking her off balance. She gripped onto the edge of the sink and pulled herself up.

Her miraculous was gone.

Tikki was gone.

She panicked, leaning closer to the mirror as if her Miraculous just had some kind of weird glare, making it look unrecognizable.

But it simply just wasn't there.

"What...?" She whispered into the air.

The ground shook once more, the tiles cracking at her feet. She basically danced across the floor, as it opened up under her, but not a single piece fell beneath her. She swung open the door and hobbled from the bathroom.

She didn't know where she was going, but she was going.

Her feet took her outside, and she kept 'running'.

The cracking ground seemed to be chasing her, following her wherever she went.

People around her ran in front of her as they saw the cracks, trying to stay away from the damage behind them all. They all looked so terrified whenever they looked back. She was too. Her heart was beating in her throat as she tried to outrun the storm that was growing behind her, stretching across the city. She felt her lungs beginning to ache.

"Run!" She heard people yelling.

"She's gonna kill us all!!!" She heard a man scream.

The akuma.

She thought, glancing around her, but she was too worried about running on one and a half feet to really try and look too far.

The ground was opening up right behind her with each step she took. If she looked back now, she would lose her footing.

She wasn't paying attention, and her feet led her to a dead end, where a few people were were backed against the alley wall.

They were looking behind her.

For the first time since the floor moved, she felt the rain on her cheeks and she heard the thunder roaring louder than anything she had ever heard before.

She forced herself to skid to a stop, as she grew closer to the people backed against the wall.

They let out terrified shrieks as they closed their eyes. Some just stood in horror, others cried into their hands, or other people's chests.

They screamed about a girl, and pointed behind her.

The akuma

She turned around sharply, to find the ground, a concrete tsunami, about to crash on them all.

She woke up with a jump.