"I am the BookWorm!" exclaimed the small statured women dressed in a similar fashion to the stereotypical librarian - brown hair twisted into a severe-looking bun on the top of her head, glasses perched on her nose, and a sweater vest pulled over a white collared blouse. The only thing that marked her as unusual was her skirt, full-bodied and white, covered in constantly moving type print. It looked almost alive, catching the attention of anyone she walked near. If Ladybug hadn't been so distracted by the somewhat foolish antics of her grinning blond haired partner, she, too, would have likely been curious about the skirt and the text that flowed across it like eyes moving quickly through a book. Even if it was just out of professional curiosity to check out an amazingly unique piece of fashion.

Ladybug, however, was all but rolling her eyes at the boy in black beside her, making puns about literature with a twinkle with his green coloured eyes.

"Feel free to check ME out next time you need something to read," he purred at her. "And then you can talk wordy to me."

"Focus, Chat!" she reprimanded, groaning as she pointed towards the woman on the street. He cocked his head to the side slightly, smirking, before turning to look at the Bookworm.

Calling for her Lucky Charm, Ladybug stared at the item that dropped into her hand with slight frustration. A balloon? Frowning, she quickly glanced around for clues on how to use it. As objects around her popped into place, Ladybug made her plan quickly, nodding at Chat Noir who just shrugged before grabbing his baton.

Knowing his role was ideally to be a distraction to the Akuma while Ladybug did her thing, he launched himself off the roof and rolled onto the street below, ending in a deceptively casual lean on his staff.

"Hey, Bookworm!" he called, voice ripe with cockiness. "I bet you love posting shelfies on Instagram!" Eyes narrowing on the young man with cat ears, the Akuma grumbled slightly, before opening the book she held in hands. Her mouth moved slightly as if she were murmuring the words to herself.

"You know…." continued Chat, noticing a flash of red in his peripheral vision, determined to keep the Bookworm's attention until his lady was ready for whatever she had planned. "I have been reading this book about anti-gravity. I just can't seem to put it down."

The villain didn't even bat an eyelash as she continued to murmur quietly.

"Aww, come on! That was a good one!" he whined slightly, deciding it was time to change tactics. Pulling himself out of his lean, he moved his baton in front of himself and prepared to attack.

As he took his first offensive step forward, Ladybug slid in from his left, leaning heavily against him as she landed with a small grunt, nearly knocking him over. In her hand, she held a contraption he couldn't quite decipher. The other hand gripped onto her yo-yo.

"Hold this!" she barked, thrusting the contraption at him before creating a complicated slingshot type weapon out of her yo-yo. "Put it in here!" she gestured awkwardly to the pouch place that she had fashioned in the middle. Doing as he was told, she braced herself against him to pull it backwards in the Akuma's direction.

His heart beat wildly in his chest as her black pigtails fluttered against his cheek while she pressed against him, but he held himself strong to support her efforts. She launched the creation towards the Bookworm, watching with anticipation as it soared towards their opponent.

The look on Ladybug's face was nothing short of shocked horror as the contraption vanished into a bubbly looking circle that appeared over the BookWorm's head, providing none of the expected results to allow them to grab the akumatized book out of the woman's hands.

As the two heroes stood frozen in surprise for a moment, the Bookworm took advantage of her opportunity. With a single gesture of her hand in their direction, words flew off her skirt to wrap themselves around both teens like tentacles.

Yelping, Chat pulled back against the swirling text and attempted to break free from its grasp. A single laugh escaped the lips of the Akuma before an arm sweeping gesture caused the chain of words to launch Chat Noir into the air and over a rooftop.

Text squeezed Ladybug tighter, pinning her arms to her side as she attempted vainly to wriggle free. Face lit with a purple glow and eyes shining with anticipation of success, BookWorm moved closer to the girl in the red spotted suit.

"Your story is over, Ladybug," the librarian cooed happily. "I get your miraculous." Ladybug tried to twist her head away from the outstretched fingers that reached for her earrings, but with her body trapped there was nothing to do. Kicking harder with more desperation, praying silently for her partner to bound back into the fray before it was too late, Ladybug could feel the first of her two earrings coming loose. A pink, tingling glow began to envelop her body as she felt Tikki's magic start to fade.

"No!" she ground out between grit teeth, frantically thrashing her head back and forth. The BookWorm just chuckled as more of the text from her skirt rose up Ladybug's throat and over her chin to hold her head still.

"There, there, buggy. It will be over in a moment," soothed the woman, reaching up and unclasping the second spotted earring. The transformation fell, leaving behind the unmasked face of a young teenaged girl with tear-filled blue eyes. "Thank you, young lady. You were an amazing protagonist. And now, for Ladybug's story… it is the end."

With a casual wave, the Bookworm released the text from the former superheroine, dropping her to the ground with a soft thump. Scrambling quickly to her feet, the girl threw herself at the woman, desperate for the earrings and her little kwami friend Tikki who lived inside. There was no way Marinette could let Hawkmoth get those earrings.

With a screaming yowl, Marinette landed on the woman, scratching and kicking, only to be knocked back painfully against a wall. Collapsing to the ground, tears fell silently down her face as the realization of losing sunk in.

Straightening her sweater vest, the woman moved down the street in the direction where she had flung Chat Noir, the intention of gathering his ring all too clear.

"Tikki!" Marinette shrieked, trying to put her feet under her again. Fumbling, she groaned as her body ached from the collision with the bricks. Without the suit, she was weak. Her back of her head throbbed. A gentle touch to the spot revealed not only an egg-sized lump but also some blood. She gave up on her plan to chase the Akuma victim, allowing her body to lean awkwardly on the pavement as she leaned on the wall for support. The tears flowed freely now as sobbed wracked through her.

Tikki was gone. Marinette could do nothing to get her back. The villain had won and Hawkmoth would get her miraculous. She'd lost.

Gasping for air while bracing against the pain in her body and head, Marinette couldn't stop the hopeless wailing that came out of her.

"That's IT, Wormy. I've had it!" boomed a voice off to the other side of the villain. Marinette slumped slightly, catching herself mid-cry to breathe a small sigh of relief, recognizing the voice of her partner. He stood in a strong defensive stance, legs apart and baton gripped tightly in his hand. He could get her earrings back.

BookWorm laughed, throwing the word tentacles out to grab him again. Using his baton as both a pole vault to keep out of danger and knock text out of the way, Chat attempted to scan around for his Ladybug. As a stream of words crashed into his shoulder and knocking him off balance enough to stumble, he heard his opponent chuckle maniacally.

"I've got her earrings, you foolish cat," she crowed. Chat's eyes widened in momentary panic as her words sunk in before a dark look crossed his face. "Now for your ring." A multitude of words streamed from her skirt at her command- surrounding him in an attempt to pin him down.

"Where is she!?" Chat hissed, emerald eyes glinting dangerously, as he viciously countered each new tentacle that got close to him. He easily threw himself around in a series of gymnastic flips and bounds as he made a circle around the woman, attention divided between the librarian attacking him and a frantic search for Ladybug.

From one corner of the park where the fight was, he caught a quick glance of Alya, racing into the space with her camera already trained on the battle - streaming live likely - without a care for her own safety. Another set of text made attempted to wrap its way around his waist and he smashed it with his baton, causing the letters to skew and disconnect from the rest of the sentence. He continued his scan of the area, desperate to find Ladybug.

Word line after word line flailed around him, grasping at his arms, legs, shoulders, head. Frustrated, he threw his baton at the woman, causing her to stumble backwards slightly. The text from her skirt stopped for a moment, allowing him to race forward, grab the baton off the group in front of her, and knock her to the ground. Placing his baton back in its holder, he moved closer.

She grinned at him with a cold smile, sending a shiver up his spine as he stood over her, attempting to pry her book from her grasp. Slowly, letters ravelled themselves up his legs and around his hips, pinning him in place as they travelled upwards.

Instincts took over as they moved up his torso, and Chat quickly pulled his ring hand against his chest, curling it protectively into a fist.

"No." he ground out, clasping it tightly against his body. "You can't have it."

The librarian laughed heartlessly as the text crawled its way towards its prize. "Oh, I will," she breathed in anticipation, face glowing with Hawkmoth's signature purple.

Suddenly, a body crashed against Chat's, wrapping itself around him with tight arms and legs, trapping his ring hand between them.

BookWorm hissed and the words that had been twisting around him squeezed harder. Chat yelped slightly as the pressure felt like it was going to cut off his legs. His eyes connected with those of his attacker, watching with horror as she opened her book and started to read in a soft mumble. A bubbling dark circle appeared beside her.

"FINE!" yelled the enemy with a roar. "Let's try it this way!" The woman slammed her book closed with a loud noise, giving him a frigid stare that somehow managed to twinkle with the exciting promise of what was about to happen.

It was so fast, he had no time to prepare himself. The woman threw herself at the dark portal, disappearing into it. The text wrapped around him tugged as she vanished, pulling him into the void along with her. Instinctively, he used his one free arm to hold the body around him protectively as they fell through the gap.

Light and dark vanished in a swirling mist of undecipherable colour. It felt like he was flying, or falling, or maybe he was standing still and the world around him was moving. He clung to the person who still held onto him, not sure which way was up or down. Scrunching his eyes shut, he curled his head into the soft shoulder of whoever was wrapped around him, hoping the world would stop spinning soon.

As quickly as it began, it stopped. His body hit the hard ground with a grunt, shooting pain through his back. Thankful for the suit that absorbed most of the shock, he opened his eyes. The air around him was thick with a coloured fog, making it impossible to see.

The arms that had latched themselves to his neck slowly came loose as the person shifted and rolled to the ground beside him. He turned his head as a soft, feminine voice groaned. Eyes wide with surprise, he stared at the girl who had thrown herself at him so recklessly in the middle of the battle.

Marinette?

Author's Notes: Thank you so much for reading my story :) I'm having a great time writing it. I'd love to know what you think!
Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to anything related to Miraculous Ladybug - I am just a fan writing a story about the characters I've grown to love. All rights belong to Zag and Thomas Astruc.