Whew... it is done. For some reason this story turned out far shorter than I expected and yet it took more out of me... weird.

BlueSeraphos... Belive me it took years for my brain to kick in and do that although as an adult I don't really have nightmares. Intense dreams sure but no real nightmares. The downside is I cant even watch shows like the walking dead because my mind is just that sensitive. I don't like horror and avoid horror flicks like the plague and wont read or watch anything remotely scary hours before falling asleep. When the raptors come in to my dreams I am no longer sleeping I am literally fighting my brain for control. I usually dont get much rest when that happens.

When a sleep over at the schools Gym gets crashed by an Akuma Marinette finds herself with no where to hide and an oddly clingy Adrien wanting to tell her something. But how can she stop an Akuma when she can't even transform? Sequel to The Cats Shield and Purloined Puns.

Locked In (Part 5)

It took Ladybugs eyes longer than normal to focus on her surroundings and she recognized them almost instantly.

"I am awake right?" Ladybug asked looking around the locker room area.

The lights were on and nothing seemed to have changed except for the fact that Chat Noir lay next to her instead of Adrien their limbs entangled awkwardly. Worried that Chat might still be stuck in a dream or that maybe she was still dreaming Ladybug reached for him but her hands shook, limb freezing mid-reach. She felt suddenly very aware of herself and everything around her, like she had been sitting in a quiet dark room only to be dumped without warning into the middle of a concert. Her body felt heavy as she took a breath, the cool air tasting like sweat and the beating of her heart in her chest was almost disorienting. Her heart rate spiked with the sudden influx of sensations and Ladybug shook her head with gritted teeth as Tiki calmly said "Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. The overwhelming sensation will fade in a moment."

"Is this a side effect?" Ladybug asked even as she did what Tiki said while Chat stirred next to her. There hadn't been any side effects to any of the other powers so far, but it wasn't outside the realms of possibility. After all Tiki had mentioned their powers were not meant for the astral plane.

"In a way. You are a very creative person and your mind is always calculating or feeling some kind of emotion. While using the incorporeal abilities your brain shuts off the sensations, which is why you felt numb. Sometimes there is a kind of backlash in people's minds when they go back to running at their full potential. I promise it will pass."

Even as Tiki explained, the overwhelming sensations faded and she felt Chat sit up next to her. "Ohhhh I do not feel right…" Chat complained and Ladybug opened her eyes.

He was pushing himself into a sitting position but like her his arms didn't seem to want to work right. Reaching out Ladybug supported him as she untangled their legs murmuring, "It will pass just give it a few seconds."

Chat grunted forcing his eyes open to slits as he peered around happy to be leaning against Ladybug. It wasn't often that she allowed casual leans like this since she felt that they should be strictly professional. It was more Marinette's thing to be touchy feely although he almost purred as she stroked her fingers through his hair.

Before he got too comfortable though Chat said, "I think I am getting rather tired of this Akuma. Where is it?"

Even though he didn't want to Chat sat up the initial sensory overload fading as he felt her shake her head. "I don't know Chat. We are definitely back in the real world though and the power up is depleted so I don't think we can attack from the inside again. It will be too dangerous since we run the risk of falling into another nightmare. Babooyaga will defiantly be waiting for us if we try."

Getting his feet under him Chat stood and put a hand down to help Ladybug up. "I agree. I wonder how long we were stuck in our nightmares and stuff… it feels like we were in those dreams forever…"

Ladybug understood his sentiment and even though she knew it had all been in dreams her body and mind made her feel like she had been doing all those rescues physically. "I know what you mean. I think a few hours have gone by at least but if more time passes in the dream word hopefully that will mean that the others will be able to snap more students out of their nightmares while we figure out what to do here."

"Do you think we should try waking someone and see if it worked?" Chat wondered and Ladybug shrugged.

"We should probably try to wake everyone at once. It might force Babooyaga into the real world again. The sprinkler system might be a good way to do that."

Chat shivered at the idea of a cold shower right now but he followed Ladybug back out into the gym. The lights were on out here too with games, movies, and music making a comforting buzz of sound.

"I never realized it was so quiet in dreams." Chat muttered making Ladybug glance up at him.

"Your right, more than once in my nightmare I wondered where all the ambient sounds had gone but I never concentrated on it till now."

Chat poked at one of the students near him curious to see if his touch would awaken the person. They gave a small whimper still obviously stuck in a nightmare. "My Lady we need to hurry. Maybe you could try your charm?"

"Oh… yeah I guess that is a good idea. You ready?" Ladybug asked and at Chat nod she tossed her yo-yo into the air shouting "Lucky Charm!"

The room didn't stir as light coalesced and an old fashioned alarm clock fell into her hands. With a chuckle Ladybug set the thing to go off in one minute since she was now on a timer. Shifting nervously as Ladybug set the clock down Chat opened his mouth to speak but Ladybug beat him to it.

"We… we to talk. After we beat this Akuma that is. Sooo… um… meet me on the roof?"

Chats mouth went dry but he nodded. They did need to talk. Talk about everything from being heroes to civilians and maybe something more. It sent a rush of confused feelings through him that he shoved down deep because they were about to go into a fight and distractions during fights led to injuries. Instead of pacing nervously or blurting something incredibly stupid Chat slowly shook his limbs out as he asked "So where do you think the Butterfly is?"

Ladybug loosed a short laugh since she had been expecting a different question entirely but as Chat turned to glance at her questioningly she shrugged, "I would guess it's in her mortar that she flies around in. Or maybe it's in the pedestal? Both are good targets but destroy the mortar if you can. That way she will be limited to the ground."

"Your wish is my command My Lady." Chat said sketching a bow as the alarm clock came to life with a vengeance.

The old style alarm clocks were loud obnoxious things that wouldn't turn off until you hit them or broke them. Ladybug let the alarm shriek as groans echoed around her several people popping up in their blankets with cries of alarm. Far more people than expected came awake and a scream that reminded Ladybug of nails on a chalkboard echoed louder far than the alarm clock, jolting even more people to consciousness. A miasma rose from still sleeping and awake students coalescing into Babooyaga up above their heads. Several students screamed as those who were conscious scrambled away pulling their unconscious friends with them. Everyone knew this was about to be a wicked fight and one of the conscious teachers ran for the doors leading those who could on an exodus from the gym.

"How dare you destroy my precious nightmares! I'll throw you two in a nightmare so deep you will be adults by the time you claw your way back to consciousness!" Babooyaga snarled the butterfly symbol coming to life on her face.

"The mortar Chat!" Ladybug hissed whipping out her yoyo as Babooyaga raised her pedestal.

"You can have their jewelry Hawkmoth! I want their minds you are lucky I let you wake up!" Babooyaga sneered sending a plume of vile looking smoke in Ladybugs direction. She had started this. Had started it with her stupid ghost story and had started the breakout with the nightmares. Ladybug or should she say Marinette was going to pay. Part of her wanted to tell Hawkmoth the news that she knew who Ladybug was and that she had a decent idea of who Chat was too. Most of her didn't care to tell however since she had lost quite a bit of respect for her power hungry Hawkmoth. Many things were revealed about people in their dreams or nightmares and Hawkmoth had been no different. For some reason Hawkmoth had been affected through his link with the butterfly when Babooyaga sent the initial sleeping wave out. He like the others had been sucked into a nightmare. Unlike the others his nightmares had been exquisite. A fascinating treat of terror that made Babooyaga want to put him under again just to see what he would experience a second time.

"Cataclysm!" Chat Noir cried jolting Babooyaga out of her reverie.

She turned, pedestal pointing in the direction of Chat Noirs voice but Ladybug snapped her yo-yo around it nearly yanking Babooyaga from her perch. Screeching in fury Babooyaga sent another plume of smoke in her direction only to feel the mortar shudder and turn black around her.

"No!" Babooyaga cried as she came crashing to the ground Ladybug and Chat Noir leaping back before spinning their weapons to block the shrapnel that flew their way. No butterfly emerged from the destroyed mortar but amongst the wreckage Ladybug spotted something that she had only seen in the dream world.

"Chat! The book!" Ladybug hissed.

"Go! I've got Babooyaga!" Chat returned as they both launched themselves forward.

She would go for the book in the rubble while he would go for the pedestal gripped in Babooyagas hand. One of them would be right and if it wasn't the either of them then they would have to get creative.

Babooyaga rose to her feet in the rubble looking younger, her nose not quite as long as it had been. "YOU DARE T-"

Chat struck her midsentence driving her off her feet and into the ground. Scrambling through the remains of the mortar Ladybug snatched up the book at the center. The instant she touched the book Ladybug just knew she was right and yanking it open she tore the book in half. A butterfly fluttered out as she let the pieces fall and Ladybug sagged with relief.

Babooyaga let out a final wail as Ladybug snatched the butterfly out of the air allowing Babooyaga to dissolve back into Anna. Chat scrambled off Anna as she returned to normal moving to where the lucky charm sat.

"Bye, bye little butterfly." He heard Ladybug call and he turned as she released the white butterfly from her yo-yo.

The gym was a buzz with noise as the two of them glanced around. Those that had been asleep before were now waking and the ones who had woken up were slowly creeping away from their hiding places.

"My Lady…" Chat hummed slinking to her side to hand her the Lucky Charm alarm clock which had thankfully stopped ringing.

"The roof?" Ladybug asked as the first questions started from the people around them.

Chat swallowed nervously but nodded and Ladybug tossed the charm into the air crying "Miraculous Cleanse!"

Ladybugs burst from the clock swarming over the gym and in their wake left kids and teachers alike snoring peacefully in their spots. By the time the ladybugs cleared out all the electronics had been turned off, the lights were out, and everyone was sound asleep but them.

"Small mercies." Ladybug breathed happy that they wouldn't have to sneak off to de-transform then return to calm their friends.

Silently the heroes slid from the gym and swung up onto the roof pausing to look out over the silent city. Maybe the roof had been a little extreme but they had to talk and this was the safest place to do so. It was so late at this point that it was early with the sky in the distance just getting its gray dusting of dawn. Chat stood several paces from her while Ladybug stood near the door that led up to the roof. The wall was a step or so behind her and Chat wondered if he should move closer or just flee. Her time would run out before his but the thought of running away at this moment made him feel so exhausted that Chat was surprised his legs didn't give out. It was just better to get this all over with he decided. Then they could go back to the gym and sleep this whole fiasco off.

"Ladybug…" Chat started but Ladybug held up a hand cutting him off.

"You know who I am, don't you Chat?" Ladybug asked her voice as weary as she appeared. Almost all of their battles had all been fought in their minds but now that the Akuma had been defeated the exhaustion was hitting full force.

"I do, princess," Chat admitted, the nickname telling her that he knew exactly who she was, without ever having to use her name. "I-I didn't mean to figure it out… it's just you smell the same and there are so many little things that you do that are the same and I just couldn't help but figure it out. I've wanted to tell you for a while but there was just never a good time, and then tonight in your dream you were so afraid… afraid of me and I… I don't want to choose between you, I can't." He remembered his own dream vaguely, at least the part about him having to choose Ladybug or Marinette and he was scared to know if Ladybug had been present in his dream before it had switched to falling off the Eiffel Tower trying to save one of them.

Ladybug felt the tension run out of her and she just sank to the rooftop, her back to the wall that she had landed next to. Chat looked terrified, ready to flee at the slightest hint of rejection, and slowly she patted the roof next to her in invitation. "I could never be angry at you, Chat. You didn't do it on purpose and besides I could never be afraid of you. In my dream, when I thought that you had been taken by Hawkmoth, I was afraid I had lost my best friend, and then when I found Adrien in the dream, I thought I had lost him too. That's why I was so afraid, I thought I had failed at protecting the two people I love most."

A startled look crossed Chat's face and he came down on his haunches inching closer to Ladybug as her earrings beeped again. "You… you love me?" Chat asked, as his ring beeped in warning.

Her hands rose to frame his face, a scowl pursing her lips "Of course I love you, you stupid cat. Why else would I let you stay over and listen to your awful puns?" Her words were a bit harsh, but Chat could hear the warmth in her tone as she chastised him, and her hands were gentle as she stroked a finger over his cheek. A tear slid down his cheek surprising them both and Ladybug looked worried even as he laughed wiping the tear off his face.

"You know it's been a while since anyone has said that to me…" Chat chuckled wetly "I had wondered if you would say it to me before my father did again."

"Oh Adrien…" Ladybug sighed sadly and reached up to cup his face.

She hadn't really planned to kiss him she would swear later. She had wanted to kiss his forehead but Chat had leaned in and in the next moment their lips met. The kiss was warm, sweet, and her transformation gave out somewhere in between because when Chat pulled back Marinette stared up at him.

"I love you too. I've been in love with you the moment you faced your fear and took down Stoneheart." Chat admitted his transformation wearing off in a flash of green light.

Marinette to his surprise blushed. "This, I-I mean we… how do we do this?" she finally blurted and Adrien laughed swinging around to sit down next to her.

"My guess is one day at a time Princess. W-would you maybe like to go one a date with me tomorrow? Or maybe its today… whenever we wake up. We can talk more then too…" Adrien yawned thinking that maybe sitting down had been a mistake.

Beside him Marinette sighed what little energy she had left trickling out as she leaned against him. "That sounds Purrrfect"

Adrien chuckled leaning back against Marinette. He was so going to call her on that pun later since right now he was far too tired to even think straight. As his head drooped against hers he heard her murmur "I've loved you since you gave me your umbrella. Guess that means you've technically loved me longer…"

Adrien wanted to argue and say that it didn't matter but he was too tired. Somewhere around them he heard Plagg mutter "Awe jeez… I told you they were going to be love struck idiots…"

It made Adrien give into sleep with a smile on his face.

As the sun rose the two teens slept on and the kwami kept watch even as they happily chatted. They were both tired too but they didn't want their charges to get into trouble for being where they didn't belong. Really the two silly teens should have remained in the gym since they had both been exhausted and just waited a few hours to discuss things. That wasn't the way they did things though and just as Tiki was deciding to try an attempt at waking the two she heard voices coming from the stairwell.

"I'm telling you her phone is up this way! Marinette has to be here!"

The kwami hid just in time as the stairwell door was hauled inwards dumping the two sleeping teens on their backs.

"Marinette!" Alya yelled as poor Marinette blinked at her, exhaustion lining her face.

"Sleep…" Marinette crooned shifting enough so she could prop her head on Adrien's chest.

Alya blinked at the scene before her then promptly took a few pictures.

"Ummmm Marinette? You're using Adrien as a pillow." Nino managed beside Alya looking confused.

"I don't mind." Adrien commented eyes still closed since it was shaded in the stairwell and cooler.

Neither teen moved, leaving Alya and Nino to glance at each other, confusion and glee in equal parts in their features.

"Oh we are so going to have to talk." Alya muttered reaching down and hauling a protesting Marinette up off the ground. "Come on girl. You are sleep deprived and the Lock In is over. If you don't want the teachers frantically searching for you two we need to move."

Nino handled Adrien muttering something about taking him to his house but Alya had a better idea.

It felt like a dream sequence, her brief moments of consciousness Marinette decided. Marinette remembered being handed her bag, saying a sleepy hello to her parents, and then she had fallen to her bed knowing nothing more but warmth and darkness. No dreams or nightmares had plagued her and it was with a low satisfied hum that she drifted awake. Blond hair and green eyes greeted her as she opened her eyes and Marinette blinked once, twice then let out an incoherent noise as she shoved Adrien right off her bed.

"Ow." Adrien complained as he hit the lofts floor.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry!" Marinette squealed her mind returning to the real world as she scrambled to the edge.

Adrien was laughing by the time she made it to the edge and he took her hand as she helped him climb back up. He pounced on her the second he was back in the bed sprawling across her lap and legs. He had done this as Chat several times and Marinette let out a low chuckle as she instinctively started to weave her hands through his hair. Her room was too quiet to have anyone but them in it and besides she could just barely make out Alya's voice down below saying she was going to make sure they didn't sleep the whole day away.

"So I think we have a bit of explaining to do…" Marinette hummed as Adrien started to purr softly. "How do you want to break it to them?"

"How about a kiss?" Adrien asked wickedly and at Marinette's disapproving tap he chuckled shifting off her lap and towards her stairs knowing it was time to start moving. He had spent the past 15 minutes drinking in Marinette's lovely features before she woke up and shoved him off the bed so he at least had thought a little bit about what to say. "It would distract them about how we ended up on the roof… Maybe give us some time to-to figure things out the rest of the way…"

Adrien's words rang true making Marinette sigh, "Fine…" She murmured following a happily bouncing Adrien to her floor.

The road before them probably wasn't going to be easy but they had each other, truly had each other since the identity thing was out of the way. With dating thrown into the mix things were bound to get complicated but for some reason Marinette felt ready for it. At her door Adrien paused long enough to take her hand before he grinned, eliciting a matching mischievous smile on Marinette's face. Hard road or not things were about to get a little more fun. As one they opened her door ready to take on the world… together.