Marinette knew not to leave her room at the same time everyone else did, so she was careful and sneaky about it. Her maids did her hair and makeup before she let them off for the night, hurriedly sheepherding them out of her room so she could change into her special dress. They tried to protest but Marinette shooed them off.

This time around, her dress was Ladybug-themed. It was red like her old one, except black spots danced down the fabric like pebbles on a path. The ballgown nearly went down to the floor, but Marinette had carefully designed it so that it wouldn't. With a mask covering her face, Marinette waited until she was sure everyone would be at the Ball before leaving her room.

When she entered the Ballroom, her eyes widened as she took it all in. The castle staff had transformed the room into a beautiful piece of art; streamers clung to the walls and rose to the ceiling, balloons were scattered here and there and there was a raised platform at the opposite end of the room where musicians were performing.

Marinette - or Ladybug, now, entered the party and made her way over to a snacks table, her eyes scanning the other guests. Most of the Selected were dancing with guards, as there was only one Adrien.

"Oh my gosh! Ladybug!" A voice squealed, and Alya pushed through the crowd until she was in front of Ladybug. "You're here!"

"Uh, hi there, Alya." Ladybug said. She was disappointed that her friend didn't recognise her, but she was happy to see Alya nonetheless.

"How do you know my name?" Alya gasped.

"I'm a member of the Selected." Ladybug said quickly. "But I'd prefer to keep my identity secret."

Alya's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh la la! Ladybug is apart of the Selection?" She fanned herself with her hand.

"Why is that such a surprise?" Ladybug raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, uh, I just thought that you'd be a maid or someone." Alya replied, eyes flitting away from Ladybug and back. "I have to go look for my friend Marinette. Talk to ya later!"

With that, she disappeared into the crowd. As the song finished, Ladybug spotted Tikki across the room. She was wearing a simple pink gown with a mask but Ladybug could see from her hair that it was her friend. Ladybug attempted to push through the crowd towards her, but a hand slapped down on her arm and stopped her. She spun around to see a girl with blonde hair staring at her in shock.

"Ladybug?" The girl gasped. "Oh my god, I'm your biggest fan!"

"Chloé?" Ladybug surveyed her dress. It was a yellow and black striped ballgown. She had her hair in a plait running down her back with a headband perched in her hair.

"She knows my name!" Chloé squealed. "Sabrina, it's Ladybug!" She grabbed the shorter girl's arm as she tried to move past the pair and dragged her to look at Ladybug.

"I, uh -" this situation felt so weird to Marinette. Everyone treated her differently as Ladybug. Maybe I should just stay as Ladybug all the time...

"Hey ladies." Prince Adrien appeared at Ladybug's elbow. The music had stopped momentarily as the musicians changed songs.

"Adrikins!" Chloé exclaimed. "Ladybug's here!"

"I can see that." Adrien said, smiling politely.

"Ladybug, this is Prince Adrien. He only has eyes for me." Chloé said sickly-sweetly.

"Not just for you, Chloé." Adrien said. The band struck up a slow tune at just that second and Adrien offered Ladybug his arm. "A dance, m'lady?"

There was something similar to the way he said it. Ladybug couldn't quite put her finger on it, but the way Adrien called her 'm'lady' was oddly familiar...

"But I don't dance." Ladybug tried to protest but Adrien was already pulling her onto the dance floor.

"Nonsense." He said.

It turned out that as Ladybug, - even without properly transforming - Marinette was still confident and miraculously, a good dancer.

Adrien and Ladybug didn't lose eye contact at all throughout the whole song. It was majestical, like Ladybug was floating on air. When the song was over, Ladybug hurriedly pulled away from Adrien and raced towards where she had last seen Tikki.

"Marinette?" Tikki said. "I - I mean, Ladybug?"

"Yes, that's me." Ladybug rolled her eyes.

Tikki smiled. "Alya has been looking for you."

"Yeah, I know..." Marinette sighed.

"You should probably go talk to her."

"As Marinette or Ladybug?"

Tikki pondered this for a moment. "Both."

"Both? But I can't be Ladybug and Marinette at the same time!"

Tikki turned and picked up a cookie from the food table behind her, popping it in her mouth. She shrugged, swallowing the biscuit. "Well, you are now."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Tikki sighed. "You haven't transformed into Ladybug but you're wearing the mask. You're neither Marinette or Ladybug, just a balance of both. Get it?"

"I think so..."

"Good." Tikki said. "You're learning fast."

They talked for a while before Adrien came back to offer Ladybug another dance. As she went out onto the dance floor, Ladybug caught Tikki wink at her.

Adrien and Ladybug danced like they had before; in time with each other and only focused on themselves. When the song was over, Adrien grabbed Ladybug's hand and pulled her over to a door which lead to a corridor just outside of the Ballroom.

"What's this?" Ladybug asked curiously. Adrien's bright green eyes locked with hers, his hands gripping hers like chains.

"Ladybug, you are an incredible person. I want you to know that I love you very deeply, and because of the reason that you are a member of the Selected, I want to know who so I may get to know you better."

Ladybug stared into Adrien's eyes. A thousand thoughts raced through her head. This was her chance. She wanted to reveal herself. But then again she didn't want to as well...

Only one thing came to her mind. Ladybug grabbed Adrien's face and stared into his eyes. "I'm sorry, but I can't."

She pulled his face to hers and kissed him full-on before dashing back into the party.

Ladybug disappeared into the crowd, praying that he wouldn't find her. She made it to another door which she exited and stood out in the corridor. As quickly as she could, she unzipped the top layer of skirt from her dress and flipped it over so that instead of the ladybug spotted skirt, there was a soft pink one. As there weren't any spots on the top because it was a simply white design, she zipped her dress back up as a whole new design. Finally, she quickly swapped her mask over so it matched her dress.

Upon entering the room again, Marinette hurried over to where she saw Alya talking to a guard by the drinks table. "Alya! There you are!" She exclaimed in fake surprise.

"Oh! Marinette! You're here!" Alya spun around to face Marinette. "You'll never guess who else is here!"

"Oh really, who?"

"Ladybug!"

Marinette fake-gasped. "Wow! She's here!"

"I know! But even better, turns out she's a participant in the Selection!"

"Really? I wonder who she really is..." Marinette said thoughtfully. "Is there anyone not here?"

"I don't think so." Alya said.

"Ah, Marinette, Alya." Adrien appeared, making Marinette jump.

"Hey Prince Adrien!"

"Hi Adrien."

Adrien smiled warmly at Alya before turning to Marinette. "I don't believe I've danced with you this evening, Mari. Come join me."

Marinette waved goodbye to Alya as she and Adrien took to the floor.

After dancing as Ladybug, Marinette knew some steps. Her and Adrien waltzed across the floor in each other's arms. Marinette didn't mess up once - and she was determined not to for the rest of the night.

Suddenly, above Adrien's head along one of the high windows, Marinette spotted a shadow dart across it. Confused, she looked around at the Selected.

"Is something wrong?" Adrien asked worriedly.

"Everyone's here except for... Chloé." She said.

Adrien's eyes widened, catching on. "She's been akumatised?"

"I saw someone in the window." Marinette said.

"Where?"

Marinette let go of Adrien's hand to point where the person had been a moment ago. "Just up there -"

Black.

That was all Marinette could suddenly see as she stumbled backwards away from Adrien into the sudden darkness. The lights had gone out so suddenly she wasn't expecting it.

"Where's Ladybug?" A voice rang out above the sudden panic.

Marinette gasped as she tripped over. She felt a rip as the skirt from her dress unzipped on impact and the top layer went limp. Oh no...

As fast as she could, Marinette tore off the rest of the skirt and flung it somewhere. She struggled to her feet and shoved through the crowd of dancers towards a side door.

Marinette disappeared out into the corridor the moment the lights came back on. A lucky escape.

•

Me: *checks to see when the last time I published was*

Story last updated two months ago

Me: WHAT THE -

Me: *climbs out of bandom trash bin and jumps into Miraculous one*

Oops.

(Please forgive me oh my god I'm so sorry)