(Italics: Singing)

The day after Alya had shown the video of her participating in Side-by-Side with Nadja to Manon and Marinette, the Sunday after Prime Queen had arrived. And with that Sunday's arrival, came Marinette's first birthday as a Miraculous Holder!

Needless to say, she was super excited about what the day had to offer, especially since she had an inkling about one of those predetermined events. But she was waiting patiently in her room for the time to come, folding up some spare laundry while her parents worked in the bakery on a 'secret' project.

"Marinette, this is quite a special day for you!" Tikki squealed as she flew to Marinette's side, excited for her holder's birthday.

"Yes, Tikki! It sure is." Marinette agreed as she knelt next to her chaise, folding the last of the laundry before checking her phone. "Hmm, still no call..." the designer observed with a perturbed look before grabbing it and going up to her balcony, Tikki followed behind.

"There's a ritual we kwamis perform on a day like this." Tikki proclaimed after flying through the trapdoor, watching as Marinette placed her phone on her balcony side table before leaning over her balcony rail.

"Oh really? That's nice." Marinette replied distractedly as she looked over her balcony and at the street below, searching for something.

"But I don't know if you humans would like it. I wonder if you guys even give each other presents on your birthday." Tikki coyly announced, immediately catching Marinette's attention from her searching and directing her gaze onto her kwami.

"Oh really, Tikki? You got me a birthday present?" Marinette asked with a squeal of joy, surprised by Tikki's words as hopped up and down in place as she spoke.

"A kwami specialty." Tikki proclaimed, proud of herself while Marinette clasped her now fidgety hands together and pulled them to her chest.

"Oh, that's so awesome! What is it?" Marinette excitedly asked before lowering herself to her knees, responded by Tikki zipping over to her and doing a small dance in the air while humming. As the red kwami neared the end of the dance, Tikki rose higher into the air whilst rapidly spinning before splitting something into Marinette's hands after she stopped.

"Miraculous birthday, Marinette!" Tikki cheered as she lowered herself back to Marinette's eye level, a little bit of her spit dripping on her chin. But her cheery mood was taken down a few pegs when she saw Marinette looking at the spit-covered object with shock and slight disgust. "Oh no, you don't like it, do you?" the red kwami asked, crestfallen by Marinette's reaction to her gift.

"No, I love it! It's amazing!" Marinette quickly assured Tikki, hoping to salvage the kind gesture her kwami had given her. "But... what is it?" the pigtailed girl asked, still confused about what Tikki had gifted her.

"A Kwagatama. A great symbol of friendship among us kwamis." Tikki began, the spit covering the Yin-shaped charm evaporating to reveal the little red charm in Marinette's hands. "We take a hair from our Miraculous holder and join it to the hairs of all the former Miraculous holders. And with them, we grow a magic resin for a few months and-" the ladybug kwami explained, deep-diving into the backstory of the charm before she suddenly noticed Marinette focusing on her phone and not listening to her.

"I know you don't wanna tell me because you don't want to hurt my feelings, but it's obvious you don't like it." Tikki spoke in a disappointed tone as she turned away from her holder, pulling Marinette's attention from her phone and back to her sad kwami.

"I'm sorry, Tikki! I-I really do love your gift." Marinette apologized to her little friend, upset that her occupied thoughts had offended Tikki. "It's just that Alya should already have called me by now. We're supposed to be taking her little sister to the 'dentist' at four o'clock today." the red-tipped-haired girl explained as she rose to her feet, putting the Kwagatama into her side pocket as she grabbed her phone off of the side table.

"Do you humans always celebrate your birthday by going to the dentist?" a puzzled Tikki asked her holder, now curious about how many odd ways humans celebrated their birthdays.

"No, of course not, Tikki. It's a secret code! They're actually throwing me a surprise birthday party!" Marinette cheered, clearing up Tikki's previous confusion and replacing it with a perplexed look at the girl.

"But how can it be a surprise if you know about it?" Tikki questioned as she floated in front of Marinette, already familiar with the definition of the word 'surprise' and not seeing the point of such an event if one of the main requirements was not in use.

"Normally, it would be the case for the surprise not to be given away. But my classmates aren't exactly the sneakiest in these matters." Marinette explained, followed by her reminiscing on past occurrences of when her classmates had tried surprising each other with special events.

"What about the dentist?" Tikki asked, still focusing on that part of the conversation.

"It's a fake-out!" Marinette replied. "See, Alya's gonna pretend to take me to the dentist, but she'll really be taking me to my surprise party!" the designer elaborated, finally clearing up all the confusion around the concept of how a surprise party works.

"What if you're wrong?" Tikki inquired, pointing out that there was such a possibility.

"Impossible. All the signs are there, Tikki." Marinette proclaimed, eager to share her findings with her kwami. "To start, I recall catching Juleka holding a bicycle pump behind her back when I saw her on Friday in the locker rooms." the pigtailed girl began as she started going back down into her room, continuing her and Tikki's conversation as they came down from outside.

"Perhaps Juleka has a bicycle!" Tikki countered, flying back into Marinette's room after the girl climbed down from her loft bed and to the ground floor of the room.

"No, Tikki! Obviously, she was planning to use the pump to blow up balloons! A surprise birthday party always has balloons!" Marinette exclaimed, followed by her casually sitting on her chaise as she continued her explanation. "Also, that same day, I caught Nino listening to my favorite song!" the red-tipped-haired girl reported, remembering the shocked look Nino had given her that day when she snuck up on him and pulled his headphone off of his ear to confirm the song he was playing.

"Perhaps it's his favorite song, too!" Tikki lightly argued, flying down to Marinette's side and snapping the girl out of her reminiscing.

"Are you kidding? He hates it!" Marinette exclaimed after turning to face Tikki, knowing her childhood friend well enough to know his tastes in music. "He has no reason to listen to it unless... He's making a playlist for my surprise party! It's Elementary, my dear Tikki!" the designer declared, her excitement going through the roof the more she talked about her upcoming party before she caught the skeptical look Tikki was giving her.

"Okay, if you're so sure that you're right, then why was Alya having a secret convo with Adrien that day too, huh?" Marinette questioned her kwami, knowing that Tikki was aware of that incident too and couldn't deny how weird it had been to see Alya and Adrien whispering to each other before spotting her. "The fact that they switched the conversation to dentists when they saw me just proves that something was up! Which means... He's going to be there!" the pigtailed girl squealed, already imagining how amazing her birthday would be if her crush was there to celebrate with her.

"Or it means Alya is taking her sisters to see Adrien's dentist!" Tikki rebutted, still taking a logical approach to Marinette's findings and causing the girl to fall back off of her chaise in frustration.

"Fine, you know what? There's one no-fail way to find out if there's a surprise party in the making." Marinette announced after Tikki flew down to her, still clinging to her hopes of proving Tikki wrong before she rose to her feet and headed downstairs to the bakery.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Watch their faces." the red-tipped-haired girl whispered to Tikki after they arrived at the ground floor of the building, followed by Marinette flinging open the door connecting to the bakery. "Mom! Dad! Do you know anything about Alya planning a surprise party for my birthday?" Marinette asked her parents after opening the door, catching her parents in the middle of decorating a large cake before they froze in place when hearing her. Immediately, Tom grabbed the cake and hid it in a garbage bin behind him before sitting on it with the lid on top, all while Sabine leaned on the counter nearby.

"Uh, oh, uh... Party? Uh, what party? Uh, which Alya, again?" Tom stammered, showing off exactly where Marinette and Jim got their 'superb' lying skills from before Sabine threw a strawberry at him.

"You're overdoing it... we're talking about her best friend!" Sabine whispered aside from her husband, hoping to salvage any hopes of keeping Marinette's party a secret.

"Alya! Of course, Alya! We haven't seen her in years!" Tom exclaimed with a nervous laugh, clearly lying through his teeth while Sabine sighed in defeat. But that was all the confirmation Marinette needed to prove to Tikki that she was right.

"See? Parents always know when there's a surprise party in the works." Marinette said to a now convinced Tikki, just seconds before the doorbell rang behind them. "And now, on the other side of this door, check out who's coming to get me! Just in time for the party!" the designer happily cheered to her kwami as she twirled to the door, reaching for the doorknob to open it.

"It's-" Marinette began as she opened the door, only to come face to face with her... "Grandma?!" the pigtailed girl exclaimed when seeing the smiling silver-haired woman standing at the door, a motorcycle behind her while sunglasses covered her eyes.

"Mom?" Tom uttered in shock as he stuck his head around the corner, coming over after hearing his daughter announce the woman's arrival.

"Gina?" Sabine breathed out as she mimicked her husband and stuck her head around the corner, both parents watching as an excited Marinette laughed in delight and hugged her grandmother.

"Marinetta! You're so tall for your age!" Gina greeted her youngest grandchild, pushing up her sunglasses and speaking with an Italian accent. "Did you and Jim get my letters from Patagonia?" the silver-haired woman asked as she broke away from their hug and led them arm and arm into the bakery.

"Yes! And the ones from Australia, Bali, and Estonia, too!" Marinette happily replied, so excited to see her grandmother that she didn't notice her parents standing nearby and smiling at their reunion. "Did you really get chased by a bear?!" the red-tipped-haired girl questioned Gina in awe, causing her grandmother to laugh at her curiosity and interest in her adventures.

"Yes. But we wound up as good friends in the end." Gina assured Marinette, prompting the teenager to hug her grandmother with a smile while Tom snuck over to them.

"Mom. It's her birthday, remember?" Tom worriedly whispered to his mother, hoping that in all her adventures, she didn't forget about it.

"Why do you think I'm here?" Gina tensely questioned her son before breaking away from hers and Marinette's hug to give her granddaughter a package from inside her motorcycle helmet. "Happy birthday, my little fairy!" the elderly traveler cheered, Marinette excitedly taking the package from her grandmother's hands.

"My Inuit friend knitted it, especially for your tenth birthday!" Gina joyfully announced, only to find Tom leaning close to her again.

"Uh, she's fourteen." Tom whispered to her, startling Gina at the news.

"My. How time flies." Gina remarked in her surprise while Marinette opened the package, immediately finding the pretty shirt inside to be much too small for her. "That's okay. I'll ask my friend to make another one." the silver-haired adventurer bashfully said, waving off the blunder with her hand before reaching for the shirt.

"No, it's awesome! I can make this work. It's perfect, Grandma. Thank you." Marinette assured her grandmother, still appreciating the gesture regardless of the mix-up and knowing just what to do with the tiny shirt to use it properly.

"Ah, good!" Gina sighed in relief, glad that little issue was taken care of. "And your Nonna has also brought you your favorite candy!" the elderly traveler sang as she dug into her bag and took out a candy tin before placing it in Marinette's hand.

"Oh!" Marinette exclaimed, followed by a nervous laugh at the sight of the treat.

"You still love them, right?" Gina asked in a hopeful tone.

"Yes, yes of course..." Marinette nervously replied, not having the heart to tell her grandmother that she grew out of those particular candies ages ago.

"And that's not all, my fairy!" Gina announced, placing one of the two helmets she brought into the bakery with her onto Marinette's head. "We'll have a wonderful day, you and I! Just like the last time!" the silver-haired adventurer cheered, excited to spend time with her youngest grandchild for the time she was in the city while Marinette passed her new shirt to her mother.

"Well go to the merry-go-round and to the zoo, then-!" Gina rambled as she took Marinette's hand and began to lead her to the door, gently dragging a surprised Marinette behind her as she processed the outdated itinerary planned for her.

"Uh, mom?" Tom spoke up from behind the exiting females, stopping Gina in her tracks before she turned to face her boy. "Can I have a word, Mom? Uh, just the two of us." the bulky baker nervously asked, earning a heated glare from Gina as she fully turned around to face her son.

"What, Tom? Do you think that I don't know my Marinetta anymore because I'm always traveling?" Gina questioned her son, making the poor man even more nervous upon hearing the accusation.

"No, mom! It's just-" Tom tried to explain, hoping to quietly let his mom in on the surprise birthday party plan.

"You think she doesn't want to spend time with her Nonna, is that it?" Gina dramatically accused her son, turning away from him as she placed the back of her hand on her forehead.

"No! Of course, I want to spend time with you!" Marinette quickly replied, hoping to not hurt her grandmother's feelings by attempting to spend time with her. "Besides, it's not four o'clock yet." the designer remarked, pulling her phone out of her pocket to check the time before Gina resumed her normal demeanor and turned to her son.

"There. You see?" Gina said to Tom with a satisfied smirk, happy to have gotten her way. "Now let's go, Marinetta! We're going to have a ball!" the elderly traveler announced with a flourish of her hand, followed by her taking Marinette by the hand again and leading her out of the house for their day out.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Like Gina had promised, both she and Marinette spent the day all over Paris, taking part in the activities Gina had mentioned earlier. But it did have to wait until after Marinette convinced her grandmother to stop at the post office so that she could mail the completed 'Geode Beanie' to Toby. Once that was taken care of, their day out had begun. First was the merry-go-round near the center of the city, then to the zoo, and reached the halfway point when they reached the Pont des Arts where Gina was getting ice cream for her and Marinette.

But while Marinette was waiting on a bench a few feet away from André the Icecream man's cart, she pulled out her phone and checked on it for the fourth or fifth time during her time with her grandmother. Upon turning it on, Marinette was disappointed to find that it was a little bit past 4 pm and still no messages.

"It's four o'clock." Marinette sighed to herself before Tikki poked her head out from her jacket. "Maybe you were right, Tikki. I jumped to conclusions, and there was no surprise party." the pigtailed girl reflected aloud before spitting out another one of the candies Gina had given her into the wrapper, putting it in the tin alongside the others she had done the same with earlier.

"Why don't you tell your grandmother you don't like this candy?" Tikki asked her holder, watching as Marinette placed the cap back onto the tin before putting it back into her helmet.

"I don't want to hurt her feelings. Neither Jim nor I get to see her very often, so we make the most of the time we have with her when she visits." Marinette explained, looking over to see her grandmother and André laughing together before her phone rang, causing her to yelp in surprise and nearly drop her phone before answering it. "Alya!" the red-tipped-haired girl exclaimed when hearing who was on the other end, happy to hear from her best friend.

"Hey, girl! Sorry, I'm running late." Alya apologized, the sounds of chattering and clanging filling the background of her end of the call. "Can you meet me at the park? We'll, -" the reporter began, only to stop when something loud popped behind her.

"-jam straight from there to the uh, dentist!" Alya hurriedly continued what she was saying, hoping to avoid questions on what caused the sound. But the sound was all Marinette needed to figure out that her hunch was right

"Yes, uh, yes! Awesome! To the dentist! Totally! I'll be right there!" Marinette exclaimed as she jumped up from the bench in her excitement, hanging up her call and hopping around in excitement while Tikki flew back into her jacket. But while hopping around, Marinette had turned around and found herself face to face with Gina as she stood in front of her with their ice creams in hand. "Oh! Uh- I'm so sorry, Grandma. I have to go to the dentist with Alya-" the designer tried to explain, leaving Gina flabbergasted at Marinette's words.

"Surely you're not going to the dentist on your birthday! I still have to take you to see the trains at Gare de Lyon Station!" Gina exclaimed, hoping to talk her out of leaving to spend as much time as she could with her granddaughter.

"Well, in all honesty, I suspect that the dentist thing is a fake-out since I'm very certain Alya and my classmates are throwing me a surprise party. After seeing some weird things happen at school and- " Marinette elaborated, only for Gina to sigh in disappointment before her shoulders slumped in defeat.

"I get it, my fairy. Don't worry about me. Run along now and go meet your friend." Gina interrupted her granddaughter's rambling, obviously saddened by the news but not wanting to keep Marinette from having fun on her birthday.

"Are you sure?" Marinette asked, worried that her grandmother would take offense to her leaving so suddenly.

"Go on. I'll hold on to all of this and we'll catch up with each other later." Gina assured the girl, prompting Marinette to abruptly hug Gina tightly.

"Oh, thank you! You are the best grandma in the world!" Marinette cheered before running off, leaving a distraught Gina all alone on the bridge.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Gina had taken the time to process Marinette leaving to join up with Alya, she decided to go back to the bakery to continue her sulking. But by the time she was arriving back, Tom was putting the candles and finishing touches on the cake for Marinette's party.

"Tom, that's the motorcycle! They're coming back! Marinette can't see the cake!" Sabine exclaimed when she rushed into the bakery, leaving to open the door while Tom picked up the cake in a panic to look for where to hide the desert. This resulted in him stuffing it in the garbage again just as Gina walked through the door... all alone.

"Uh, where's Marinette?" Sabine asked in a concerned tone, watching as Gina walked to the stairs to the apartment and stopped when she heard Sabine's question.

"Tom was right. She's too old now to spend time with her Nonna..." Gina answered dejectedly before she slowly started climbing the stairs, leaving Sabine shocked.

"What? No, no! Tom never said that." Sabine worriedly exclaimed before Gina gave her a sad smile.

"That's sweet of you, Sabine. But it's not a big deal. That's life." Gina sadly reasoned before turning to go up the stairs. "I'll be up in the apartment if you need me." the silver-haired adventurer announced as she sadly went upstairs, leaving a concerned Sabine to walk up to Tom in the bakery as he stood gloomily over the trash can.

"You should go and speak to your mother, she's u-" Sabine started to suggest to her husband, only to turn her gaze to Tom and see the cake in the garbage. "Oh no!" she cried, Tom sharing the sentiment as he stared down at the ruined cake.

"I know, and it's almost time for the party!" Tom whined, slumping over in defeat.

"It's okay, I can help you! We can manage, and we'll take Gina to the party with us!" Sabine assured her husband, placing a comforting hand on Tom's arm. Thanks to his wife's sweet words, Tom smiled at Sabine before the two of them fist-bumped, quickly starting to fix the cake for their daughter's party.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While Sabine and Tom got to work fixing the cake, things over at the party were picked up upon the arrival of the guest of honor. As soon as Marinette met up with Alya at the Place des Vosges, the reporter wrapped a blindfold around her eyes and led the blind Marinette to her surprise party. When the blindfold was taken off, Marinette was delighted by the sight of all of her friends; Sabrina included, in attendance and was further delighted to see Adrien smiling and waving to her, too. From there, the party was in full swing.

But while Marinette was celebrating with her friends and receiving gifts, her grandmother Gina had taken to sitting on the chaise in Marinette's room, sulking about earlier events. While she didn't spend as much time as she wanted with either of her grandchildren, she had hoped that they hadn't grown out of spending time with her yet. But it seemed that her hopes were dashed away when Marinette went off to join up with Alya.

As Gina looked around sadly at her granddaughter's room, she grabbed the tin of Befana sweets she gave Marinette before her gaze landed on the too-small shirt she also gifted Marinette as it sat on the laundry pile. Seeing the shirt alongside the much larger ones, Gina sighed to herself as she opened the tin and went to eat one of the candies, only to discover that Marinette had not been eating them as she did. Upon seeing the uneaten candies, Gina sadly put the lid back on, feeling even worse than before.

Unknown to her, Gina's sadness was a blaring siren to Hawkmoth, who could sense the silver-haired adventurer's despair from across the city. Not wasting a second more, the resident supervillain headed into his lair and transformed into his evil alter ego, arriving in the center of his lair as the window opened up.

"What could be more powerful than a grandmother deserted by her own granddaughter? Perfect fodder for disappointment and misunderstanding!" Hawkmoth exclaimed as the butterflies surrounding him took flight. Letting one of them land in his open hand and transform it into an akuma. "Fly away, my little akuma and evilize her ailing heart!" the superpowered terrorist commanded his akuma, the parasite-ask insect flying out the window and out over Paris towards its target.

Fortunately for the akuma, it didn't have to fly very far to reach the Dupain-Cheng residence in record time. Once it arrived, the akuma flew through Marinette's open window and fluttered towards Gina, landing on the candy tin and creating the link between her and Hawkmoth.

"Befana, I am Hawkmoth!" Hawkmoth greeted his newest minion. "I'm restoring your matriarchal power as a grandmother. You will use these candies to reward the deserving and punish the ungrateful." the resident supervillain explained, catching Gina's warped attention the more he spoke.

"As for my reward, you will bring me the Miraculous of those pesky little kids, Ladybug and Chat Noir!" Hawkmoth finished, now sealing the deal between the two of them.

"You're right, Hawkmoth. The time has come to teach them all a lesson." Gina proclaimed, followed by her transforming into Befana.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Down in the bakery, Tom and Sabine were completely unaware of Gina's akuma utilization as they finished decorating a third cake to replace the previous attempts. Fortunately for them, they had just finished putting the sprinkles and strawberries on when Sabine was seated on Tom's shoulder to reach the top of the cake to put the candles on.

"Tada!" Tom & Sabine cheered when the last candle was placed, proud of themselves for completing their daughter's birthday cake.

"Good job, partner!" Sabine praised Tom as she was lowered to the ground, patting his chest with a smile. "Now we'd better get going, the party awaits us!" she exclaimed while walking towards the door, Tom following behind with the cake in his arms.

"Oh, wait, we've gotta tell Mom." Tom said, now remembering that his mom was still upstairs before a motorcycle-esq broomstick flew through the bakery door, Befana riding on top of it.

"Naughty son! Don't tell your mama what to do!" Befana snarled at Tom as her motorcycle hovered in front of him and Sabine, both of them startled by her presence.

"Mom-!" Tom yelped before he slipped on a rolling pin, causing the third cake to land in the garbage yet again while he was sprawled on the floor. Seeing her son's predicament, Befana laughed as she dismounted her vehicle and stood above her son.

"Do you know what naughty boys get?" Befana questioned Tom in a threatening tone, waving her candy gun before she spun the cylinder of her gun to land on black and fired it at Tom, turning him to coal. "Coal!" the witch-themed akuma exclaimed before turning to face a terrified Sabine while she was cornered by the register.

"You have nothing to fear, my fairy. You've always been good to me." Befana assured her daughter-in-law as she flicked her wrist to rotate the cylinder of her gun to white, firing at Sabine and turning into an angel-like fairy with a white mask covering her face. With her new fairy at her side, Befana smiled at FairySabine as she walked over to her motorcycle."So, now tell me. Marinetta isn't at the dentist, is she?" the akuma interrogated her new minion, hopping onto her vehicle while FairySabine hovered nearby.

"No, mistress." FairySabine confirmed, causing Befana to rev her engine in preparation to take off.

"Then take me to her!" Befana demanded, both her and FairySabine flying out of the bakery in search of Marinette.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Over at the Place des Vosges park, Marinette's surprise party was well underway when Adrien had pulled the guest of honor aside to give her his gift.

"Happy birthday, Marinette." Adrien said to Marinette with a smile, amused by her staring open-mouthed, at the small blue box in her hand. It wasn't until Alya's hand reached over and closed her mouth that Marinette snapped out of her love-sick trance.

"Open it, Marinette!" Alya quietly encouraged her best friend, drawing a giggle from Marinette. However, before she can open Adrien's gift, the sound of someone singing interrupts the party, startling everyone to look up and see FairySabine above them.

"La Befana comes at night, on her shaky broom in flight. She gives candy to those who are dandy." Befana sang as she flew in to circle over the partygoers, hopping off her flying motorcycle and landing in front of Marinette.

"Grandma!?" Marinette shrieked in shock when she recognised the akuma walking towards her, most of the others running off at the sight of Befana.

"You lied to your grandma, Marinetta." Befana practically snarled at her granddaughter as she drew nearer, nobody seeing Adrien running off in the background as the akuma stood a foot away from Marinette.

"No, I- I didn't know Alya was throwing a surprise party for me." Marinette protested, shocked that her grandmother had turned into a supervillain.

"She's for real, ma'am!" Alya exclaimed, moving in front of Marinette to protect her.

"And all those candies you pretended to be eating?" Befana questioned as she flicked her wrist, the barrel of her gun changing to black while Marinette looked at the ground in her guilt.

"I'm sorry, grandma. I didn't want to upset you." Marinette admitted in a shame-filled tone, which earned her Befana's gun pointed blank at her.

"I'm not your grandma anymore. From now on, I am only Befana! And I'm going to punish you for all those lies!" Befana proclaimed, just seconds before she tried to shoot at Marinette with a coal blast. However, thanks to Befana holding her at gunpoint, Marinette managed to duck and avoid getting hit... only for Mylène to get hit instead and turn into a coal statue.

"No!" Marinette cried when she saw what happened to Mylène, knowing that her current state was because of her actions and making her feel even worse. While Marinette was processing what had just happened, Adrien had found a hiding place behind a tree and let Plagg out of his outer shirt, hoping to take care of the akuma quickly.

"We didn't even get in on the buffet!" Plagg whined while watching Adrien pull out his disguise rune, complaining about his missed chance to pig out on food.

"Party's over, my friend!" Adrien said to his kwami while activating his Chat Noir disguise, the glamor covering his civilian self before saying... "Plagg, Claws Out!" the model yelled, transforming into Chat Noir and managing to not catch anyone else's attention before leaping out from behind the tree to get into the fray.

While Adrien was turning into Chat Noir, Befana started chasing after Marinette as the girl tried to escape with her friends, only to be blocked off by FairySabine after Alya had left the scene. Seeing the predicament his friend was in, Chat Noir leapt from his hiding place and landed on one of the speakers Nino had set up around the DJ booth, gaining the high ground.

"It's rude to leave while Befana's still speaking to you." Befana scolded Marinette, pointing her gun to shoot at the girl again before Chat Noir's staff knocked her aim away, forcing her to look at him.

"Hey, I never knew grandmothers could be so nasty." Chat Noir snarked at Befana from his perch on top of the speaker, smirking at the witchy akuma as she looked at him with interest.

"You would look wonderful in white, my pretty kitty." Befana mused aloud as she rotated the cylinder of her gun to white again, firing at Chat Noir before he easily but barely dodged it.

"Eh, not convinced. I'm much more into black. It makes my eyes stand out, don't you think?" Chat Noir teased Befana, tilting his head while pointing to his eyes to add ephesus to his claim. This only fueled the fires of Befana's limited tolerance of distractions and prompted her to fire more fairy bullets at Chat Noir, forcing the feline to jump from his perch and dodge them.

"Take care of this pesky pussycat!" Befana commanded FairySabine, causing her minion to fly away from cornering Marinette and try to get Chat Noir after he reached the rooftop above the party area. Upon seeing the FairySabine heading towards him, Chat Noir immediately jumped up to dodge the incoming fairy.

"Hey, I thought fairies were supposed to be nice!" Chat Noir shouted at FairySabine after landing back on the rooftop, only to be knocked down when she circled back and plowed into the feline, making them fall into the treetops. But while Chat Noir was busy with FairySabine, Befana started chasing after Marinette after the teen realized that she was able to escape, firing coal shots at the designer that missed her by mere inches.

"You're not getting away unpunished, Marinetta!" Befana taunted Marinette as she ran away, soon tripping and falling to the ground while dropping Adrien's present in the process. But as she picked herself up and saw the present next to her arm, Marinette didn't even have time to reach it before Befana turned it into coal. "You don't deserve all these presents, you spoiled little brat! Now, for what you really deserve." the akuma declared when Marinette turned her attention back to her, followed by an attempt to fire her gun at her granddaughter again. When she tried to, however, Befana found that it was empty, forcing her to reload from the candy tin at her waist.

"Don't worry. You'll get what's coming to you." Befana assured Marinette as she loaded her gun, the girl quickly crawling to hide under one of the refreshment tables. As soon as she was out of sight, Tikki flew out of Marinette's jacket and worriedly hovered next to her holder.

"This isn't how I envisioned my birthday party going." Marinette muttered to her kwami, disappointed that her birthday was going so badly.

"You need to transform!" Tikki said to her holder, hoping that Marinette would soon grant herself the means to better protect herself just as the table started to turn into coal. Seeing her hiding place compromised, Marinette scampered out from under the table and hid again behind one of the speakers flanking the DJ booth.

"Do you lie only to me?" Befana questioned aloud to her hiding granddaughter, walking towards Marinette's hiding place and scaring the poor girl.

"Chat Noir!" Marinette cried out to the feline, looking around to find him still trying to fend off FairySabine just a few feet away.

"Stay put, I'll be right there!" Chat Noir assured Marinette after pushing FairySabine back, only to be attacked once again. "Uh, soon!" the hero groaned after being thrown to the ground again, leaving Marinette unsettled by her chances of escape. Those chances decreased when Befana turned the speaker Marinette was hiding behind into coal, the speaker crumbling into dust under Marinette's touch.

"Or do you also lie to your parents and your friends, too?" Befana interrogated Marinette as she advanced on her, having no idea how right she was while Marinette backed away from her and found herself cornered by the second speaker. Fortunately for her, Alya and the class were hiding behind a nearby bush, able to hear and see Marinette's current predicament.

"We gotta help Marinette!" Alya quietly announced to the rest of their classmates, all of them immediately on board with the idea. With the plan quickly thought of amongst them, the class all went to work while Befana had her prey right where she wanted her.

"The time has come to teach you a lesson." Befana declared as she raised her gun at Marinette, only for a plate to fly past her and nearly hit her. A glance to her left soon revealed that it had been Alya who had thrown the plate at her, with more to follow with the stack in the reporter's arms.

"Marinette is not a liar!" Alya shouted at Befana, continuously throwing plates at the akuma while the witch kept evading them.

"Someone has to teach you table manners!" Befana snapped before she shot the final plate held in Alya's hands, turning it and the bespeckled girl into coal as she made to throw it.

"Alya!" Marinette wailed when she saw her best friend turned into coal, only to see Kim coming up to the stage and trying to jump on Befana to grab her gun. Unfortunately for the jock, Befana saw him and shot at him, turning him into coal too. "No, Kim!" the pigtailed girl cried, shocked to see Kim turned into a coal statue while Befana twirled her gun in her hand.

"That's what you get for stealing candy, you bunch of ill-mannered kids!" Befana snarled at the rest of the class, pointing her finger at them all as they came out of hiding after their failed rescue attempt.

"Don't touch Marinette! She's the nicest person in the world!" Rose cried, hoping to appeal to Befana's softer side.

"That's very disrespectful, to speak up without permission!" Befana exclaimed, startled by Rose's rudeness. "But then again, it's quite noble of you to stick up for your friends." the witchy akuma thought aloud, now unsure of how to deal with Rose before she made her decision.

"Okay. I shall make you a fairy." Befana decided with a flick of her gun, the barrel turning white before she shot at Rose and turned her into another white, angel-like fairy as she had with Sabine. "You are going to help me discipline your friend." the akuma proclaimed with an evil laugh, Fairy-Rose turning her masked face to her now scared classmates. But during the commotion, Marinette had used the opportunity to jump down from the stage and crouch behind it, ready to transform and end this nightmare.

"Tikki-" Marinette began, pulling open her jacket to let Tikki fly out before hearing something land on the ground behind her. Turning her head, she was greeted by the sight of FairySabine sprawled on the ground just seconds before Chat Noir dropped down in front of her.

"Sorry, I kept you waiting. We need to find you a better hiding place." Chat Noir greeted the damsel currently in distress, holding out his hand for her while extending his staff for their escape. "Shall we?" the feline asked, prompting Marinette to nod as she grabbed his hand, leading to her being swept into Chat Noir's arms before he lifted them away from the scene with his staff. But as they left, the sound of the staff extending had caught Befana's attention, allowing her to see them escape.

"Marinetta is getting away with the kitty! Catch them!" Befana demanded her fairies just as a recovered FairySabine joined up with FairyRose, forcing them to try and follow the order and go after the retreating pair. However, as a last-ditch effort to help their class president, the rest of the partygoers had managed to catch the fairies with some of the banner decorations tied to the minion's ankles.

"Marinette is cool, so don't touch her." Juleka said to the fairies, she, Alix and Sabrina holding onto FairySabine's bindings while trying to pull her to the ground.

"We won't let you hurt Marinette!" Max yelled to Befana, him, Nathaniel, and Ivan mimicking the girls and holding onto FairyRose.

"Is that how you speak to your elders? How rude." Befana critiqued, unhappy with the teens' behavior before she flicked her gun barrel back to black and turned them all into coal, freeing her fairies in the process. "Maybe this way you'll learn to keep quiet." the witchy akuma remarked before putting her gun away, hopping onto her motorcycle to join her fairies in their pursuit of Marinette and Chat Noir.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

During the end of Befana's rampage at Marinette's party, Chat Noir was now running across the rooftops with Marinette in his arms, hoping to find a good hiding place for her. While he knew she could handle herself thanks to their time working together on the Evilustrator sting operation, Chat Noir wasn't about to let his friend get turned into coal on his watch. So the best option was to hide her until Befana was defeated.

"You must be a really cool girl if your friends are protecting you like that, Princess. So why's your grandma flipping out?" Chat Noir asked Marinette as he ran towards the Eiffel Tower, hoping to get to the root of Befana's akumatization and ire towards her granddaughter.

"It's because she wanted me to spend more time with her." Marinette explained as she held onto the feline, already feeling guilty about her part of the mess she was in. "In my defense, she surprised me with her visit and I tried to explain that I had a prior engagement." the red-tipped-haired girl added, trying to find some way to defend herself from the misunderstanding.

"I'm sure you did, little lady. But sometimes, people can take things the wrong way." Chat Noir replied as he kept running, giving Marinette a downward glance as he did. "All you can do is try to fix things afterwards." the hero in black advised as they reached the end of the rooftop, the Eiffel Tower right across from them before Chat Noir leapt off the roof.

As the two of them fell towards the ground, Chat Noir grabbed his staff from his back and used it to pole vault him and Marinette the rest of the way to the monument. Seconds later, they landed on one of the tower's viewing decks, Chat Noir letting Marinette down from his arms when they were on solid ground again.

"Thanks for saving me back there, Chat Noir." Marinette thanked her saviour, glad that he had been there to help her escape.

"Think nothing of it. Who am I to let someone get attacked by an akuma? Especially on their birthday!" Chat Noir remarked, earning a pointed yet fond glare from Marinette.

"Remember, you're referring to my grandmother." Marinette reminded Chat Noir, which had him smirking at her with a soft chuckle as he was amused by her small-sounding threat.

"I know." Chat Noir assured her before getting his head back into the game. "But don't worry, I promise to turn your real grandma back to normal soon." the feline declared before bounding to the railing and hopping up onto it, ready to head out and battle against Befana. But just as he was about to leave, he stopped short.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Chat Noir realised with a soft palm hit on his forehead, quickly looking back at Marinette. "Happy birthday, Princess." he said, a smile appearing on his face and triggering one to form on Marinette's as well.

"Thank you, Chat Noir." Marinette reiterated, watching as Chat Noir left the tower completely before letting Tikki out of her jacket. "It's time to save my Nonna!" the designer declared, pulling out her disguise rune to activate her Ladybug disguise so that she could finally say...

"Tikki, spots on!" Marinette shouted, transforming into Ladybug and swinging off to join Chat Noir in freeing her grandmother.