.

Class went by very slowly and the whole classroom was tense. It was obvious that a lot of people were scared of Snagg because anyone who sat near him scooted away as much as they could. Amity could clearly tell that their teacher wanted to say something but she couldn't be mad at her other students for being afraid.

It was only a few more minutes of class before they would get a break and would go to their next period when there was a scream from outside. Willow quickly looked out and saw a few 'things' that looked exactly like the monster Snagg was yesterday. The other students quickly looked out the window and there were a bunch of gasps around. Luz immediately turned to Snagg who slowly backed away from the window with a scared expression.

Amity looked at him as well but she didn't even know how to approach him, and it looked like he was panicking. She knew the best thing to do would be to calm him down but how? She looked at her teacher only to realize she was trying to calm down the other students making her also realize she was probably the only one thinking about the boy. She decided to get over her awkwardness and try to talk to him, but when she turned back to him she saw that Luz beat her to the punch. She decided to get closer and listen in, it would be bad if the girl accidentally upset him more and caused him to get re-akumatized.

"Snagg are you okay?" Luz asked him slowly and the green-haired boy looked at her with teary and panicked eyes.

"That's me down there isn't it? I was that monster." He held his head as he tried to get his thoughts together but Luz quickly pulled his hands away and held them.

"Please calm down Snagg, that's not you... it's really not, yes you might've turned into that at one point but look... your hands are normal, just like mine. You aren't that thing okay?" Luz made sure she had direct eye contact and it really seemed to help him. He didn't look as strained as before and that alone made her smile.

"But you can't deny that it's his fault people are being changed." Boscha didn't waste a second to step forward with Matt right behind her. Immediately the boy's eyes snapped over to them and anger swelled right back into his eyes, covering the guilt and sadness that was just there.

"Once a monster, always a monster." Matt snickered out and that seemed to make Snagg worse.

Madame Azura came up behind them, but before she could say anything, the boy ripped his hands away from Luz's and then ran out of the room.

"Snagg!" Both Luz and Madame Azura called out for him, but it didn't matter because he was already gone. Luz looked at her teacher for a second before she then ran out of the room as well. Nobody noticed that Amity had already slipped away the minute she heard Boscha start.

"Snagg wait! Please!" She yelled after him and then she noticed he stopped a few feet ahead of her. She thought that he was going to listen to what she had to say, at least until she noticed a small black butterfly coming straight at him. She tried to call out to him, but she quickly noticed him pulling something out of his pocket. She realized it was the note from before and she tried to run even faster but she wasn't quick enough and she watched her classmate get akumatized right in front of her.

Her eyes were wide as she processed in her head another failure. She didn't even realize that the now re-akumatized Snagg was walking towards her, or the fact that since he wasn't looking he was very close to crushing her. Right before it could though she was quickly swept off her feet and into someone's arms. Luz blinked before she looked up and found herself staring into familiar gold eyes.

"Lady Noire?" She questioned softly and that seemed to make the superhero beam down at her.

"I wasn't aware that my name had gotten out there yet. What were you doing underfoot anyway?" Lady Noire asked her once they finally landed a little bit away from Snagg, who was obviously heading back towards the classroom, but luckily his big figure moved pretty slow.

"You may think that was a good pun, but I promise you it wasn't." Luz chuckled while telling her but the superhero still grinned.

"It made you laugh though. Anyway, I need to go deal with your friend here, please stay out of the way, and I promise me and my partner will deal with this before you know it." She winked before grappling herself back towards Snagg, but by the screams, he had obviously already reached the classroom.

What Lady Noire didn't notice though was the expression on Luz's face when she mentioned her partner. 'She can handle this without me...I'd just mess this up more, I couldn't even stop Snagg from getting akumatized again... even if it seemed like he let it happen this time', but she couldn't blame him for that. She slowly started to head back to the classroom before more noises seemed to come from there and she heard a crash. She ran with wide eyes back inside only to see a hole in the classroom wall leading straight to inside and Lady Noire yelled something before she swung away.

"Everyone you all need to leave the classroom, back away slowly from the wall pieces and broken glass so no one gets hurt." Madame Azura started, trying to get everyone out before the loudspeaker turned on.

"All students are dismissed for another supervillain problem." Was all Principle Bumps said before everyone started to tumble out the classroom. Luz was almost run over when both of her arms were grabbed by both Gus and Willow. They both had worried expressions but neither of them spoke until they were out of the building.

"Luz are you okay? When you didn't come back, and Snagg came back in as the monster we got really worried." Willow asked and Luz looked between her two friends and slowly nodded.

"Yeah, I was almost crushed but Lady Noire saved me last minute." She nervously laughed and she got two different reactions. Willow looked scared and really worried, while Gus suddenly got a wide grin on his face.

"The other hero is named Lady Noire! I'm totally posting that on my new blog!" He yelled excitedly and Luz wasn't sure what to question first so she just asked both.

"Other hero? Blog?" She asked and Willow sighed, but Gus looked even happier.

"We found out the hero who was in red yesterday goes by Catarina, and now we know her partner's name is Lady Noire. And I started a superhero blog yesterday night. The only thing on it at the moment was the way they both saved me and Willow before Catarina told us we need to go. They were both so cool!"

Luz looked at the ground for a second and shrugged. "I guess they are superheroes, but they didn't even finish the job. Now Snagg is a villain again because they messed up." She looked back at her friends and she noticed how offended Gus looked. She stared and waited for him to speak.

"How do you think they would feel if they heard that Luz? They're people just like us, and the same way we mess up, so do they. They're probably already beating themselves up enough about this, they don't need someone else to do it too." After that, the shorter boy walked away and Willow gave Luz a sad look before following her other friend. What he said really made her think, maybe other people weren't blaming her as much as she was... but other people aren't even aware that this was happening because of her, so they obviously wouldn't blame her. Catarina doesn't even exist to the rest of Paris yet so how would they blame her. She knew she screwed up and that was enough.

With that in mind, she deflated a bit and started to walk home, trying to think of what she should do about Tikki. It wasn't like she could just return the kwami, especially since she doesn't even know who gave it to her. Maybe she could give it to someone she knows, but who? Her first choices went to either Willow or Gus making her eyebrows furrow. She knew more people than just those two, she only met them this year. So why couldn't she think of any other options? That's when she remembered she never actually talked to or made friends with the other students. That would need to change.

Before she could go into her thoughts about not having friends she noticed she was in front of her house/the bakery. She saw the closed sign and assumed her mom was in the apartment. She walked in and locked the door before going up.

Once she walked into the living room her mother pulled her into a big hug and sighed in relief. She then pulled away and looked her daughter over and as soon as she finished she kissed Luz's head and pulled away.

"I'm so happy you're okay Mija." She breathed out in relief and Luz offered her mom a small smile before she nodded.

"I'm gonna go up to my room now mama." She mumbled and her mother slowly nodded as well.

As soon as she got to her room she saw a very familiar figure laying on her bed holding two stuffed bunnies. She leet out a cough and immediately King sat up and hid Tiny behind his back.

"Hey Luz, I didn't hear you come in." He chuckled and she narrowed her eyes. She was already upset she didn't want to deal with her little brother, she needed to quickly figure out what to do about the Miraculous.

"King, just leave Tiny and go." She mumbled and walked over to her desk and sat down. She didn't pay him anymore mind until he did the little squeal that he always did when throwing a fit.

She turned back to him ready to kick him out until she noticed actual tears in his eyes. She hated seeing him cry, no matter what. He stared at her with the same expression and Luz waited about three more seconds before opening her arms. King wasted no time before running right into her hug. Luz let him calm down before asking him.

"King, why do you keep trying to take Tiny from me?"

"Because Francois needs him!" He yelled and she looked at him confused.

"They're best friends and partners! They need to be together to do anything!" This time Luz blinked and then looked towards her drawer where she knew the earrings were.

"What if I told you Tiny did something bad, that made both Tiny and Francois have an even bigger mess than they started with?"

"What mess?"

"Nothing, nevermind." She shook her head before setting her little brother back down. King then looked down at Francois and back at Tiny before he looked back at Luz.

"Well, then they would work together to clean up the mess. I bet Tiny wouldn't do it again right?" He asked and Luz blinked confused before she slowly nodded and King then nodded more certainly.

"Then there wouldn't be anything to worry about after." After that King just stared at his big sister who seemed to be a bit frozen.

It couldn't be that simple, Lady Noire had to be really upset with her, she had to be. Luz thought back to how her 'partner' looked at her before she left. That's when she realized how she looked much more concerned compared to angry. Luz took a deep breath before looking back at King.

"You can take him, just bring him back okay?" She asked and King grinned really widely before he just ran out of the room with both bunnies in tow. Luz didn't waste another second before going in her drawer and pulling out the box and then taking out her earrings before putting them on quickly.

Tikki had appeared and looked happy to see her. "Luz you-" she stopped seeing how sad Luz looked.

"I'm sorry Tikki, and I promise I'll apologize more later but right now we really need to go! Tikki, Spots On!" She yelled, and the kwami smiled before she was sucked into the earrings for Luz's transformation.

Once she was Catarina again she took out her ladybug and turned it into a staff. She went to her window and took a deep breath before she got on the staff and flew off as fast as she could without falling.

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

"Where is my partner?" Amity mumbled to herself for about the 12th time. She was stuck in a complete stalemate with HeartProtector and couldn't do anything.

Initially, HeartProtector had both Boscha and Matt in both of his hands, but the minute he saw her he quickly threw Matt at her from his left hand and she needed to swing in to save him, but right after she set him down he threw Boscha from his right hand.

Of course, Amity rushed to save her as well but while she did that HeartProtector would then pick Matt back up and throw him again, making her need to quickly set Boscha down and then go after the boy again. This cycle had been repeating and it was really starting to annoy her.

Right after she had caught Boscha again, who was complaining much more than Matt, (whenever she caught him he would just be frozen in fear, but this girl was the opposite,) Amity felt her 'grapple' ringing. Her eyes quickly widen as she was unsure if HeartProtector would stop throwing them long enough for her to answer.

She decided to take the chance and answer the call with Boscha still in her arms, who was now complaining about that 'horrible beeping noise.' She looked back at the akuma only to watch him pick up Matt and start to laugh loudly while he started to stomp away, heading back towards the Eiffel Tower. If she had to guess the main reason that he didn't stay it was probably because Catarina wasn't there yet, so she landed and put Boscha down before answering.

"Catarina? Where are you? Are you okay?" She asked carefully trying not to pressure her or anything while still knowing she needs her help. Amity is surprised to see her partner giving her a small smile and a nod.

"I wasn't thinking straight yesterday. Sorry for worrying you Lady Noire, but I actually need to know where you are." Catarina asked through her screen.

"Just head towards the Eiffel Tower, that's where HeartProtector is going for some reason." After she said that Catarina nodded again and hung up. Amity then turned to Boscha who was just staring at her.

"You should get somewhere safe."

"Or you could take me with you?" Amity coughed a little at that before shaking her head.

"Sorry but I'm not gonna risk a civilian's life like that. I have to get going." And she didn't wait for the other girl to say anything else before she started to grapple in the direction of the akuma.

——————-

With the speed Luz was going at it didn't surprise her that she got to the Tower before both Lady Noire and HeartProtector, but she could still see the supervillain on his way so she decided to land right in front of the tower. To her surprise, 3 copies of HeartProtector started to close in on her, but they were still much slower than her. She had to get back on her staff and avoid letting any of them catch her.

"Catarina!" Lady Noire yelled which made Luz finally notice that HeartProtector had gotten by her and was trying to climb the Eiffel Tower with Matt in his hands. She wasted no more time and flew away from the copies and went straight to her partner. She swallowed guiltily.

"Lady Noire I-"
"I'm really happy you came back partner. But we really should be getting rid of this akuma right?" Lady Noire put out her fist and Luz couldn't help but smile and nod.

"Right!" She said while giving her a quick fist bump. They both got ready to go after HeartProtector when suddenly a bunch of cop cars came out of nowhere. Lady Noire quickly went over to them.

"Citizens you all need to get away from here it could be dangerous!" She tried to warn them but the officer in the front scoffed.

"It'll be more dangerous if this happens again because you couldn't do your job!" He yelled back and Lady Noire turned back to Luz who was now lightly rubbing her arm.

Before the other hero could say anything HeartProtector started to cough and gag on top of the tower which caught everyone's attention. Suddenly he coughed out hundreds of akuma's all at once and then fell to the ground on his back. It seemed while he was down, all his copies stopped moving as well. Everyone all stared in shock as the akumas started to form a masked man's face. It was even more surprising when he started to speak.

"People of Paris, I am Hawkmoth!"

"Hawkmoth?" Luz and Lady Noire questioned at the same time.

"I request one thing. For the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous that those two supposed heroes hold. As you can see you've both done enough damage to these poor people! Are you going to make them suffer more, just so you can play hero longer?"

Luz stared up in shock until Lady Noire walked forward towards it and pointed her finger. "Nice try Hawkmoth but everyone already knows who the bad guy is! If you weren't preying on innocent people's emotions and turning them into villains we wouldn't even be in this mess!"

Luz stared at her partner in awe. The way she easily took charge and pointed out the flaws in his logic that she almost missed herself. She bit her lip before getting off her staff and walking next to her partner. She took a deep breath to build her confidence and then stared up at 'Hawkmoth.'

"We won't be fooled or scared by your tricks! No matter how long it takes we will find you, and you will hand us your miraculous!" She yelled and then before she could process it she was in Lady Noire's arms. She looked at her but the other girl just grinned.

"This'll probably make it easier to catch all those akuma's." She whispered to her and Luz blushed but still nodded and focused her attention on the butterflies.

"Time to de-evilize!" As Lady Noire swung her around, Luz used her staff to catch every last one, ignoring the yells of the villain while doing so. Once they were finished they landed on the tower and stood proudly.

Luz stepped forward, "I promise you, no matter who tries to hurt you Catarina and Lady Noire will do everything in our power to keep you safe!" She yelled and then put her staff in the air, making all the butterflies come rushing out of it, and suddenly all of the people around (Mainly it was just cops) started cheering.

Lady Noire put her hand on Luz's shoulder, "I'm proud of you, and though I would purr-fer to continue to celebrate, we still have to deal with HeartProtector." She said and Luz looked below them to see the akuma was finally getting up. She furrowed her eyebrows when she saw his right-hand open and the left hand still holding Matt.

"Is the akuma in his other hand?" She asked and the cat girl shook her head sadly.

"No, I don't know where the akuma could be. He doesn't have anywhere else to put it."

Luz nodded before looking down at her staff. She lifted it up again, "Lucky Charm!" and there was a flash of light before a small toy turtle fell into her hands. Lady Noire looked at her just as confused as she was.

"Sooo... what's the turtle for?" She asked and Luz stared at it for a mother second and started to twist and turn it frantically, trying to understand the point of it.

"I don't know! Do you think this is a punishment for failing the last time?!" Luz panicked and Lady Noire placed her hand on Luz's shoulder again and smiled at her, directly at her.

"Calm down, I'm absolutely paws-itive you can figure this out Catarina." Luz couldn't even laugh at the pun since she was too busy staring at her partner, who was so supportive for no reason. Luz didn't deserve her trust, but it seems she still had it.

"Y-yeah, I can figure this out, I-" Luz stopped talking as she suddenly had pulled the toy apart. Her eyes went wide as she looked at Lady Noire who also looked shocked. Before they could do anything about it, HeartProtector seemed to have fully recovered and started climbing the tower still holding Matt tightly, with him, his copies started to climb it as well. The girls decided they should probably move since he was coming right for them. Lady Noire acted quickly and pulled Luz into her arms again and grappled them to another part of the tower which was out of the akuma's reach, which made him roar at them.

"Sorry HeartProtector but we would prefer to stay out of hand." She chuckled at her own joke and looked down at Luz before letting her go and noticing her red face.

"Are you okay Catarina? I probably should've gave you a warning."

"It's fine, or at least it would be if I hadn't broken the toy we needed." She looked down at the two broken pieces of turtle for a few seconds before it finally clicked in her head.

"Oh, OH! It's so obvious!" She yelled and her partner turned around to face her confused.

"What's so obvious?"

"It's not like HeartProtector has a million places to hide his akuma, he has his hands and his..." Instead of finishing she lifted up the shell part of the turtle toy, showing that it wasn't broken, but it was detachable. Realization dawned onto the cat themed superhero's face before she nodded.

"I knew you would figure it out." Lady Noire grinned at her and Luz froze for a minute as her face heated up again.

"Yeah, you did." But they didn't exactly have the time to celebrate before actually defeating the akuma.

"Okay, so I can handle the shell Catarina, and then I'll catch Snagg, so can you get Matt?" Lady Noire asked quickly and Luz didn't even realize she had mentioned Snagg's name.

"Yeah, let's do it." After that Luz got back onto her staff and quickly flew over to HeartProtector's face, dodging the arms of his copies that happened to be around him.

"Give me your miraculous!" He yelled and Luz wondered if Hawkmoth would be using victims to try and fight them for their miraculous from now on.

"Sorry HeartProtector, but I don't think you can reach me." She teased while making sure to float a few inches away from his arm range. He roared and kept trying to reach her with the hand that Matt was in while holding onto the tower with his other hand. With his arm so close Luz could tell now that Matt was actually unconscious, which would explain why he was so quiet during all this.

The akuma didn't even notice Lady Noire coming up behind him, she dodged the arms of the copies as well before landing on his back. HeartProtector didn't even seem to feel her, but she wasted no time. "Cataclysm!" She yelled and she felt a tingly sensation go through her body and stop in her left hand. When she looked she could see this think black cloud in her hand and she grinned before slamming it down onto HeartProtector's shell.

Everything happened quickly but Luz quickly grabbed Matt, and Lady Noire went to grab HeartProtector but realized he was now naked but luckily his body was covered in pink fur, but she still hesitated before grabbing his arm and grappling onto the tower again. It seemed like he fell unconscious after that, but Lady Noire didn't understand why he didn't turn back to Snagg yet, until she saw a black piece of paper flying away with the wind.

"Catarina! The paper!" She yelled which made Luz look in the direction that she was pointing and notice it. She didn't bother putting down Matt as she flew straight for it, and in a matter of seconds the paper was in her hands and she quickly ripped it.

HeartProtector quickly turned back to Snagg, but the girls forgot the copies were technically akumatized as well. Since Amity was closer she quickly let go of Snagg and grappled herself around the tower and caught 2 of the falling civilians. Even though Luz wasn't close, she was still fast and she was able to catch the last person right before he hit the ground, and she set him down gently. Since she was there, she also decided to set Matt down too, who was still unconscious.

She then flew back up to where her partner, Snagg, and the 2 other civilians were.

"Let's bring them down." Was all Lady Noire said and she picked up Snagg, while Luz picked up the 2 civilians and carried them to the ground. Once everyone was safely on the ground, everyone started cheering for them which caught the two heroes off guard.

"N-no need to cheer, we were just doing our job!" Luz tried to stop them but it didn't really matter since she still felt proud of herself. Suddenly her earring beeped.

"Oh, I gotta go."

"Me too, will you follow me real quick?" Lady Noire asked quietly from next to her. Luz nodded and they both waved before using their own methods of transportation to get away.

Once they were on a building that was far enough away Luz couldn't help but hug her partner.

"Thank you so much, I wouldn't even have been able to face Hawkmoth if it weren't for you. I don't even think I would've come back either." She said and the leather wearing hero laughed awkwardly before pulling away.

"Sorry I'm not exactly used to contact like that." She said and Luz felt a bit of regret before she was reassured.

"It's fine, it's nice to have a friend you can depend on to have your back. That's what I wanted to tell you anyway, we're a team now, so you never have to take on a burden by yourself. Even if you feel like it was all your fault, I'm still gonna be here to help you fix it. So partners?" She asked while holding out her hand. Right then Lady Noire's ring beeped as well so Luz quickly nodded and shook her hand.

"Partners."

-----------

Luz barely made it to her roof/balcony before she de-transformed. She practically fell off her staff and then slightly crashed into her table that was up there. She really hoped King wasn't in her room this time because she wasn't sure what excuse would work for this. Tikki then flew into her face very excited, making her forget about the noise she just made.

"I'm so proud of you Luz! You defeated your first akuma with Lady Noire!" She yelled and hugged against Luz's cheek making the other girl laugh with her.

"I did didn't I? It was only because Lady Noire helped and she-" Luz stopped as she slowly sat down on the floor of her balcony, her cheeks turning even more red. Tikki floated near her face, wondering what was wrong.

"Luz? Are you okay?"

"She really believed in me, even though I messed up so bad... And she kept being so nice and her jokes, and-" Tikki started laughing which caught Luz's attention again.

"Well it sounds like you have a crush on Lady Noire." She said and Luz's eyes widened.

"What? Me? Noooo... Maybe? I don't know." She groaned and covered her face with her hands, Tikki landed on top of her head.

"You're young Luz, it's okay to have a crush, it's normal. But you both are heroes, and you have a duty to protect Paris, long as your crush doesn't get in the way of that, everything is fine."

"Okay Tikki." Luz mumbled though she still didn't move.

"Are you going to spend the night out here?" the kwami quickly asked which then made Luz remember that King could still be in her room. She jolted up before she motioned for Tikki to hide as she climbed back into her room from the window. Everything looked the same, and she was relived that King actually wasn't there.

"You're probably tired Luz, and I hate to be a burden, but I am a bit hungry."

"Oh! Of course Tikki!"

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

"I'm so hungry Amity! Feed me!"

"Give me a second Plagg, the cheese I set out for you is gone I know that I.... Uggh! The twins probably took it. Sorry Plagg, you'll have to wait a while for me to get some more." She said and the kwami groaned as well as soon as Amity left the room.

She went to the kitchen and sadly both of the twins were siting there, probably waiting for her.

"What do you two want?"

"Nothing, just wanted to apologize for taking your cheese, never knew you would be into something so stinky." Emira teased and Edric walked over to her.

"But since we're so nice, we happened to find another plate, even better than your last one." He grinned and Emira pushed the platter across the table to her. She narrowed her eyes before slightly lifting the lid and then coughing.

"That smells terrible!"

"The stinkier the better, right?" Edric asked and Amity wanted to get mad, but Plagg probably would like this anyway, besides he needed to eat or he would never stop complaining.

Amity picked up the platter, ignored her siblings expression, then walked back to her room. She could hear both of the twins whispering something behind her, but she didn't really have a reason to care.

"Plagg, I got more cheese. This stuff is way stinkier than before though." She sighed and set the platter at her table. The kwami rushes over and smiled at her widely.

"No worries kid! The stinkier the better!"

"Where have I heard that before."

After stuffing his face Plagg came close to Amity's face making her confused. "Is something wrong Plagg?"

"No, I just wanted to tell you that congrats on your first defeated akuma." He said and Amity couldn't help her grin and slight blush.

"Thanks Plagg."

—————

"Kikimora, Emperor has requested that you meet us at the mansion immediately." Lilith spoke over the phone. After a few more seconds she sighed before agreeing and then looking at her boss who was sitting at his chair.

"She'll be here, but she asks for transportation."

"Just get her here."