About three minutes ago.

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Calm and collected, just like father told her to be.

Holding her arms stiff at her sides and maintaining a bright red complexion, Chloe certainly did not appear to be keeping calm and collected.

This was her night. She had planned her dress weeks in advance, along with every item of jewellery currently pinned and draped over herself, and barely got an hour of sleep the previous night thinking about her oncoming chances with Adrien. The sheer potential in this night. After some few weeks of not seeing him at all she was more than ready to keep him company, to be able to speak to him without an adult peering over their shoulders, or maybe even to dance.

All through their childhood she'd known how little time he had been allowed with children his age, let alone with her, so had gotten used to jumping at the chance to let him have some fun and spend time with her. And honestly, she had had enjoyed being around him too.

But that girl, the one in the purple dress, had the audacity, the nerve, to ruin it all. To act as if she were a friend of his.

Deep. Breaths.

Chloe straightened up and pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. No matter, Adrien knew better than to waste time with a girl who's a practical stranger and just run off from his own closest friend like that. He'll come back, for sure.

And he'll ask Chloe to dance.

For sure.

Chloe grabbed something from the nearest tray offering food and popped it into her mouth without looking at what it was, and then set out across the ballroom floor to find Adrien. He can't have made it far and if that girl had managed to wrap her slimy arms around hi-

Before she could finish the thought a piercing noise broke through the crowd and stopped her in her tracks.

She couldn't move. Absolute dread washed over her, not from the sound, which she only later recognised as a scream, but from the realisation that she was in unimaginable danger.

Having learnt from her tutor at home the natural reaction an animal has when confronted with danger, Chloe knew she had turned into no more than a rabbit frozen before a predator. A weak and terrified creature, defenceless and suddenly, very alone.

Holding her breath she slowly turned her head to the right, where huge glass windows stretched up to meet the ceiling of the hall and opened out to the huge gardens behind the building. As the evening had only begun no guests had left to wander the gardens yet, although many were gathered around the base of the windows to chat and wave glasses of expensive drinks at each other, very close to where Chloe was standing. No lights had been lit out in the gardens among the rows of neatly clipped hedges and tall, nearly humanoid, rose bushes which were only illuminated by the almost full moon overhead. Although the effect was eerie there was no current reason for the gardens to be lit up anyway since they were not yet open to guests, only to the groundkeepers. The gardens should be completely empty.

Despite this, Chloe's eye was drawn to a strange, hulking shape at the centre of the garden, barely more than a shadow in the moonlight. It shifted, shimmered in its place, and then split into two.

Chloe strained to see the shapes better, leaning closer to the window as many others were now doing in wake of the noise.

Quickly, almost too fast for her eyes to track, one shape leapt forwards into the light the ballroom was casting in a small halo onto the nearest section of the garden, occupied by circles of brightly coloured and exotic looking flowered bushes. Now that it was less than five steps away from the window the shape was in clear view, and recognisable as the shape of a young woman.

Chloe choked and staggered backwards away from the window.

She knew that girl. Except, there was something indescribably, inescapably wrong about her this time.

The girl locked eyes with Chloe and stepped closer to the window, pressing a hand against the glass. The small crowd which had gathered a moment before had now bustled back from the window with noises of general shock and horror, but none had run away yet.

Idiots!

Chloe was ready to scream now.

Why aren't you running? She wants me dead! She's going to hurt you!

The sickening smile on the girl's face widened, revealing a row of inhumanly sharp teeth. From a distance perhaps she wouldn't have looked too off, but from where she was Chloe could see the mistakes. Arms a bit too long. Legs slightly too thin. One eye much bigger than the other.

She forced herself to look away before it got any worse. It was as if a child had drawn, no, a child had drawn in the dark, what it thought a person would look like. Chloe tripped over her skirt to get away from the window and pointed herself towards the doors out of the hall on the opposite side of the room.

Pushing through the stunned crowds the deafening sound of the windows shattering behind her and dozens of screams rang out, and knocked her to her knees. She skid, sliding across the polished marble floor on her satin dress skirt in what would have been a comedic manner at any other time, a few feet until she toppled and her shoulder cracked against the floor hard. She gasped at the force which ran through her torso, shuddering and struggling to get a breath into her lungs.

Deep. Breaths. Deep. Deep. Dee-

A hand grabbed hers.

Chloe was pulled up into sitting position, the noises of chaos rushing around her in shouts and screams and a flurry of skirts. She blinked and looked up at the hand, then to the arm connected to it, then up to the worried face above her.

"Chloe! Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

Chloe felt the burn begin in her eyes, the tickling in her nose and tightness in her stomach. She was already pouring tears down her cheeks when she began speaking.

"Adrien. Adrien I - I - I'm so scared. I don't know w-w-what to do. She wants me dead. I don't kn-know w-why b-b-b-b-"

Adrien pulled Chloe up onto her feet and into his arms, squeezing her until she stopped trying to push words out and fell into silence.

"It's okay."

Chloe let a slow breath out and raised her arms to Adrien's shoulders, gripping the fabric of his jacket with white knuckles. Her breath shook in her chest.

Behind Adrien, the girl in purple appeared with a stony face.

"Adrien, I need to talk to you." The purple girl said, pulling her skirts up around her knees as if she were preparing for a sprint.

Adrien let his arms loosen around Chloe and turned to the girl. "It's not the time, Marinette. You and Chloe should leave as soon as you can."

Marinette grabbed Adrien's sleeve and pulled him closer to her with a force unexpected enough to earn a startled look from him. "No. I'm not leaving. You are."

"What on earth are you talking about?"

"Go! Now, Adrien!"

Chloe stepped in-between the two before things could get any worse. "You two, stop fighting. In fact, stop talking entirely. Adrien," She turned to address him directly. "Come with me and get out of this place before we're both killed because of this crazy-" she turned to Marinette. "street girl and her hero fantasies."

Marinette looked ready to start an all-out brawl before Adrien held up a hand to stop her.

The three of them were some of the last remaining in the hall, most had rushed out of the main doors already but some were still tottering around in confusion or a drunken stupor. None appeared to have been injured by the windows breaking although some were sporting small cuts on their bare arms. The misshapen girl from earlier was nowhere to be seen.

"Why would you want to stay here?" Adrien asked Marinette.

"It doesn't matter." Marinette said. "You're still recovering from your….sickness. There's no reason for you not to get out as fast as you can."

"Fine!" Adrien threw up his hands. "I'm leaving. But not until I know you're safe too."

"Fine!"

"Alright!"

The two fell into silence, chests rising and falling from the exertion of fighting against an equally stubborn individual.

Adrien was staring directly into Marinette's eyes. On any other day Marinette would have broken her gaze or begun to boil over, but her resolve had already set her face in an expression firmer and with more strength than Adrien had been able to recognise in her before. In fact, he was struggling to hold back his surprise at her new-found resolve. More than the extraordinary nature of it all, she was beginning to remind him of someone he had never thought to compare her with until now.

Marinette huffed. "Why are you smiling?"

"It's nothing." Adrien said, turning his eyes away and towards the nearest set of doors. "Let's get out of here then."

Marinette nodded then frowned. She span on her heel to where Chloe was standing.

Where Chloe wasn't standing.

She and Adrien suddenly tensed.

I look away for five seconds. Five seconds and I've got both of us into a mess again.

Marinette cursed herself under her breath when her gaze found Chloe. Neither she nor Adrien had noticed her vanishing or even heard a sound as she was stolen away. Surprisingly Chloe hadn't cried out at all, Marinette assumed she had hit her head on the ground or fainted rather quickly after being grabbed.

Chloe was lying in a far corner of the hall unconscious, her arms spread out above her head reaching towards where they were standing. Her hair had come undone and was lying in a wide blond halo around her perfectly painted face and glittering dress. Squinting, Marinette spotted what she had been dreading and grabbed Adrien's arm. "Get out of here, now."

Adrien stared back at Marinette. "Wh-" He was broken off as Marinette made a quick decision, sweeping her leg under his feet, sending him swiftly towards the ground with a soft crack as his head hit the marble and he was knocked out.

Ah. You slipped.

She winced and tugged him by his feet towards the tables lining the side of the hall to lay him down underneath one, the table cloth curtaining him off from the rest of the hall. She muttered a quick "Sorry." and darted back out to the now entirely empty ballroom. Marinette briefly considered the array of cutlery lying over the table tops and grabbed a small but sharp knife, wrapping in the folds of her skirt before turning around.

The ground was littered with masquerade masks, trays and food, everything which had been dropped in the mad rush to get away from the dark shape sulking in the corner of the hall opposite Marinette. She could see Chloe more clearly now; dangling a few feet off the ground in her dandelion yellow gown, her bare legs hanging bruised and cut from glass shards below her torn skirts. She had been dragged across the floor by the ankles by what was now wrapped around her waist in a knotted band of brown-green.

The tendril of vine was unnaturally robust, barbed by thorns thicker than Marinette's arm and longer than knives. It arched above Chloe's head and led back down in a tangled path to the akuma standing below her, numerous other vines snaking out from its arms and shoulders, some lying motionless on the ground around it like sleeping animals, others hanging in the air poised like vipers before striking.

Marinette shivered. Chloe had been shaken by the sight of this akuma, and for what was now an apparent good reason. The creature holding Chloe up before her was misshapen and grotesque but with the horrific grace and elegance in its movements that Marinette had seen in previous enemies. Its skin was a sickly pale shade of green, like sun-bleached dead leaves, under a costume wrapped around its body with the texture and colour of oak bark. Its appearance shouldn't have afforded any comfort or mobility yet it moved forwards with eerie fluidity to address Marinette in a rough, raspy voice dripping in poisonous hostility like sap.

"A little girl. To stop me?" The akuma shuddered with laughter as its voice resounded around the hall from wall to wall and marble floor to silver ceiling. "Silly, silly, you'll get yourself killed little one. Just like this stupid girl."

The akuma hoisted Chloe further in the air, her head lolling around on her shoulders like a doll.

"This girl." It spat the word out with venom. "She will die without delay, do not fret. The show will resume shortly. Oh yes. And such a show it will be! Ha! Not a soul will stand in my way, not in mine. No. Not in mine. Ha! Ha ha!"

The maddened babbling of the akuma rang around the hall as Marinette touched a finger to her earlobe. Her dress melted away in a familiar whirl of rose scented air. She tested the weight of her fan in her hand and reached up to find her hair was still locked in a tight bun at the top of her head. She supposed this could be practical. At least she couldn't be grabbed by the hair again.

The akuma sneered at the sudden appearance of Ladybug.

"Ah. You." It said, stepping forwards with a forest of thorns rising at its side.

"Yeah, me." Marinette moved into a stance lower to the ground, anticipating an immediate attack, yet none came.

The akuma continued. "The Ladybug wasn't it? A mere pest to my crop, I should think. It shan't be too difficult for me to get what both I and he want after squashing a little beetle like you."

Marinette frowned. "Who is "he"? Is there a second of you guys today?"

"Oh don't worry your little head about it, I'm sure you'll know of him soon enough. After all, he was oh so very interested in you two heroes." The akuma grinned, showing off the thorn-like rows of teeth. "Now if you'll excuse me."

Marinette caught her breath as the akuma pulled the unconscious Chloe towards itself and raised an arm up to her neck, its fingers grazing her throat.

"Tell me why." Marinette demanded, speaking before allowing herself enough time to think an argument up. There was little more she could do before Chloe got hurt, she far too far away to stop the akuma physically just yet. "Why do you want to hurt her?"

The akuma paused.

Oh thank god.

"Because she ruined my life."

Marinette easily pictured the ways in which Chloe could have been a great bother to practically anyone she came across, herself included, but didn't see an obnoxious girl as a good enough reason to commit any level of violence. Legality aside, she just wasn't worth the effort in Marinette's opinion.

"This girl stole my shop from me, my home and my family. If it weren't for her I'd still be happy, and my children would still be with me." The akuma said, gazing up at Chloe's body; hovering like fruit under tree branches. "If it weren't for her-"

Marinette moved quickly. The akuma's hand had only just reached Chloe neck again when two of its stick-thin and bony fingers flew off behind it with a metallic whizz.

It hissed and span back to the spot where Marinette had stood, and had now disappeared. The steak knife clattered to the ground along with a spatter of brown-green sap and flecks of bark.

The akuma threw a cool gaze around the hall, slowly dropping Chloe's body to the floor and smiling.

"Oh little bug, little bug. Won't you come out and play?" It called, a cruel grin spreading across its face.

Marinette's voice answered from all corners of the hall. "I recommend not teasing me."

"Oh really?"

"So what do you call yourself this time, since you lot seem to be oh so fond of nicknames."

"Speak for yourself." The akuma said, picking at a small bud sprouting from its forearm. "I was told to answer to The Florist. But I find it nowhere near as threatening as I would have liked it. Tacky, I believe."

"I agree."

The akuma staggered as Marinette dropped onto its shoulders from above, where she had perched on a high tapestry. She locked her arms around its neck and jaw, pulling her own body weight backwards until they both toppled to the ground.

Stay down. Stay down. Please stay down.

Only a moment later a limb of vine shot forwards to scrape Marinette's cheek before she rolled out of the way across the glass-scattered floor. Shards cut into her palms as she got back onto her knees.

"Little bug little bug. Don't be such a pest." The akuma's barbed vines flew forwards again, two missed, Marinette dodged another three; the thorns raking away at her clothes, a last one wrapped itself around her ankle before she could avoid it.

"Won't you let me get on with it? I haven't got all day you know." The akuma said, tugging Marinette's legs out from under her and dragging her backwards along the ground, shards of glass tinkling under her. With a sickening jolt, Marinette saw that the akuma had regained all its fingers once again. Anything she did to cut, slash or remove would be undone soon enough by its magic.

The akuma noticed her staring. "Oh? This?" It asked, flexing its left hand above its head. "I suppose it will make things difficult for you, won't it? And oh so easy for me."

The vine around Marinette's ankle suddenly tightened, driving a blade deep into the flesh of her calf, and hurling her away into the wall of the hall. All air was knocked out of her chest. Marinette coughed, tasting metal.

Ah. This again.

The akuma laughed as Marinette's body slid down to the ground. The vine remained wrapped firmly around her leg.

"Ha ha ha! Ha! I'll squash this little beetle! Yes!" The akuma descended into a fit of crazed giggles, holding its sides in absolute mania as the vine leapt up again, holding Marinette 20 feet in the air in preparation for a second blow.

"I squash you! I'll squish you! I'll throw up around and crush you under my foot you little pest!"

At the peak, Marinette blearily lifted her head. She was close enough to touch the golden painted ceiling if she were to reach her hand out. From within the images carved into the plaster a little angel peered back at her, holding a blanket of clouds out for a stampede of Pegasus to run under in a flurry of gold light and feathers. Muzzily Marinette tore her eyes away and pulled out a fragment of glass from where it had been lodged in her thigh, one long and sharp enough for the job. She quickly drew it up, then drove it into the vine around her lower half, pushing it in then with a rush of strength pulling it across until it severed the limb.

Snip Snip.

Marinette fell from the suddenly slack grip of the vines and dropped to the ground again softly, only stumbling slightly when she put weight on her slashed leg.

The akuma screeched and sent its vines flailing around it, some pulling tables from the side of the room and knocking sconces topped with long thin candles over, spilling wax and flames over the floor. One reached high enough to rattle a chandelier. The crystals tinkled in a harmony incompatible with the chaos which had been already strewn over the ground below them, almost enough to have Marinette laughing at it.

Snapping back to reality Marinette shot a glance at the ruined tables. Good. Adrien was still nowhere in sight. Looking back, and forwards to the current situation, it may have been a better decision to simply have tossed Adrien out into the corridor or hidden him in the garden. Too late now. Marinette cursed herself as she closely dodged a vine. Another whistled past her ear as she skirted the akuma to behind its back, however the akuma span around before Marinette could react and sent an arm of vine into her stomach.

Marinette was left breathless again. She felt cold air rushing past her as she was helplessly knocked back through the glassless windows and out into the gardens, barely aware of what was up, what was down, and how far she had travelled.

She landed in something relatively soft. Looking around, it was a flowerless bush with bright red leaves. Thanking her luck she rolled out of it and stepped onto the pebbled path, brushing hair and mud from her eyes. Before taking a second step she ducked down and behind the bush she had landed in.

The akuma strode slowly but deliberately behind a row of white roses and pear trees, less than throwing distance from where Marinette had crouched.

She took a few deep breaths.

From Marinette's observations, the fights recently had become more difficult. The akuma were more violent, more intelligible, and more difficult to get rid of. In a worrying turn, this one was suggesting the presence of an ally. Never before had two akuma appeared at once, that was one thing Marinette could be sure of and rely on, something she could use against them every time. That and she would have Chat. But not this time. She had made sure of it. And without him, snark, puns, tactical backup and all, this was going to be tricky. But no matter. She had managed on her own before, she'd do it again, and what's a plant to a superhero anyway?

It's not a problem! I'm not afraid of a plant!

Marinette closed her eyes to the sight of the akuma for a moment, brainstorming. No injury to the main body was permanent and any damage to the vines was redundant to actually defeating it, since there was so many and she doubted they would stay gone for long. How do you kill an invulnerable plant? One with razor-sharp thorns and a very very bad temper.

Her first solution to the problem was chemicals. Chemicals kill plants, but she was no chemist, and none were at hand.

The second was; a plague of insects. This was an even sillier idea. Yes, the Florist had mentioned the pest nature of a ladybug but, unfortunately, plagues of locusts or ladybug beetles were exceptionally rare in England. Running out of ideas, Marinette opened her eyes and glanced over the top of her hiding place.

The akuma was out of sight. While grateful for the absence of the nauseating creature, Marinette turned a sickly shade of grey at the akuma's vanishing trick. The garden was entirely silent, unnaturally so. Not even a bird was flying overhead or rustling in a nearby tree, making the silence enough to chill Marinette.

Bad, bad, this was bad. Wherever the akuma had gone to it was now somewhere she could not see it, or see what it was planning. With the advantage of the element of surprise it could easily break her neck, or send a thorn through her chest in a painfully short moment if it crept up behind her. Marinette turned on the spot, still crouching down in cramped fear, her heel digging into the gravel underfoot as she surveyed the space behind her feverishly. Nothing. The gardens behind her were vacant, lit clearly by the glow from inside the hall and stretching back like a whole park in itself. Marinette tensed up, she knew something was nearby. Something right by her.

She searched around her, eyes darting from one shrub to the other until they landed on a shape lying still on the ground, hidden by the shadow of a topiary plant.

Marinette shuffled closer to the body and quickly found a pulse. This may have been the scream from earlier. He was dressed in a smart yet slightly muddy uniform, most likely a guard hired to keep any gate crashers from the party indoors. And he was attacked by the Florist on its way into the ballroom with no chance of any kind of victory from the very beginning, poor guy.

After tugging the gently snoring man deeper into the undergrowth, and commenting to herself about her own repeatedly ineffective ways of getting people out of the crossfire (Yeah sure, just shove them out of sight. It'll be fine.), she stood up straight behind the shelter of the tall topiary. Now, her eyes had had the time to adjust to the change of lighting and she doubted the Florist would waste much more time in disposing of her, so she prepared for an attack.

Marinette peered into the gloom, her hand tightening around her closed fan. Sure enough the akuma's voice came out of the darkness.

"Found you."

She heard a shattering crunch from behind her, only a moment before a barbed vine erupted through the undergrowth behind her and knocked Marinette off her feet and away into a medium sized stone planter. It shattered with the impact, sending rubble into local flower patches and a shower of dust over Marinette's hair. Her back suddenly ached. It hurt to stand up again.

"Oh little one, don't you understand?" The akuma drifted through the shrubs and topiaries, its voice oozing hatred.

"People like us, the scum of the street; we must make our own vengeance. People like her," it thrust a hand behind to the glowing façade of the building. "They can just do whatever they like to us; they have the money and power to do so, why bother stand up to them. Convict us of fraud. Lock us up. Starve our families 'til we're only bones. Steal our fortunes. Steal our children from our very arms."

The akuma leant in to the dazed Marinette, who swayed slightly on her feet but still stared into the akuma's pair of sickly yellow eyes. Its hand cupped her chin, pulling Marinette's face closer to its own.

"Take our children into the workhouse in front of our own eyes."

"I'm sorry."

The akuma frowned. "Why would you apologise?"

"Because it's my job to keep the people in this city safe." Marinette said. She felt grit between her teeth as she spoke.

The akuma scowled and spat at the ground, dropping its hand from Marinette's face and stepping back.

"I may have considered letting a little bug with a silly idea of heroism like yours scuttle off free if...if it weren't for my own arrangements."

"Who is it? Who are you working with?"

"None of your business. If all goes to his plan you'll never even have to meet him, I'll get to do what I need done and he'll get what he wants." The akuma said, twirling a nearby sprig of witch-hazel between its fingers.

"What's that?" Marinette dreaded the answer.

"Why, those lovely little two-parts-of-a-whole you heroes are so proud of."

Marinette felt her heart shrink in her chest, the icy feeling of panic rising up to her throat as she felt her world get a little bit bigger. And her life as the Ladybug a little thornier.

Neither she nor Chat had ever discussed where they had acquired their talents, she had only assumed he had found his the same way she had, and rarely shared the details of said abilities. Marinette hadn't even told him about her earrings. She figured he hadn't gleaned anything about that anyway, she always made sure her hair covered up the studs wherever she was, whoever she was. Something she had assumed quite early on in the partnership was the presence of a similar item in his own hands, perhaps not another pair of earrings but maybe an item of the same size, shape and power.

Marinette had not only deduced this from the consideration of simple logic and the fact that similarly to her Chat would dash away in a hurry after pulling off a large attack spell with his weapon of choice, Cinderella style. But also from an inkling of a presence around him similar to the one she had felt when she first encountered her little miracle earrings. Given, it was merely a vibe, but she had found herself feeling a certain pull towards Chat from an early instance.

Beyond a tad embarrassing, it was curious. The feeling was of a second half and a polar opposite. He was in fact her opposite, a bright and loud character almost comedic compared to what she was with the mask on.

The second part to a whole.

"All I need for now are your miraculous powers. That's all I ask from you." The akuma said.

So there are others who know about these things. There are others out there.

"I'm not handing them over."

"I promise I won't kill you if you just hand them to me."

Marinette steadied herself. Her fan had been knocked from her hand but she only needed a few precious moments to reach where it had landed, on a small mound covered in rich pink flowers a couple dozen feet to her left, all she needed first was to distract the darn creature.

The distraction came quickly in the form of the newly conscious groundskeeper wobbling to his feet and moaning in confusion. He yelped in shock when the akuma came into his view and began to run away back to the building. Although neither Marinette nor the akuma made any move to follow him, Marinette recovered from the interruption a moment sooner than the Florist, who stared after the retreating man with venomous hunger, and scrambled to her left down the pebbled path towards a forest of brightly coloured flower bushes.

Once she was among the plants the akuma had lost sight of Marinette, but she knew the advantage wouldn't last more than a few moments so hurried to her fan, the sound of her own breath and pebbles crunching underfoot being all she could hear over her own voice in head.

Get the fan. Stop those vines. Find the butterfly. Don't die.

Marinette reached where her fan was lying, grabbing it from amongst gnarled branches and climbed up onto a low marble wall and held the fan out in front of her. The akuma came back in view, walking slowly to where Marinette stood with a stony expression.

"Don't think you have any chance in fighting back, little bug. None of your magic tricks can do anything to me, and…" It paused, looking Marinette up and down. Her chest was heaving and her outstretched arms were quivering slightly. A small pink flower had been caught in her hair. "It looks like you've run out of steam, child."

Marinette pursed her lips. She was becoming worn out. Maybe it would have been a better idea to let Adrien get out of sight and bring Chat into the fray; then she might have been spared some of the beatings. She dropped the idea from her mind quickly. It was too late to regret that, too late to bring anyone else into the fight.

Gathering herself together and slowing her breaths Marinette said, "I've got enough left to stand up to you."

"Ah, wonderful." It said. A vine shot out directly at Marinette's face.

She rolled out of the way letting the vine shoot past her and into the wall of dense hedge; showering Marinette with dark green leafs. The vine lodged in the hedge and stayed lodged, the thorns finding themselves caught between the tangle of rigid branches, it tugged and twisted but didn't budge from its place.

Marinette didn't waste a moment and leapt up onto the taut vine and ran along its length, dodging a couple limbs coming her way and swatting another away with her fan, until she reached the dumbfounded akuma at the end. There she struck the akuma across the temple with the fan's handle and thrust her flattened palm up into its jaw, its head jerking back and both of them toppling back to the ground in a tangle of limbs and colourful armour. The akuma was only stunned and some of the vines still stirred around them but Marinette began searching without another attempt at attack.

The item would be somewhere on its body, somewhere reasonably shielded from herself, so she knew if she looked hard enough it would show itself to her. This was unfortunate in this akuma's case however as this involved being up close and very personal for a period of indeterminate time and this akuma was not one Marinette was comfortable spending any time in close proximity with.

She swept her eyes over its torso but nothing of particular interest. Its skin was rough and uneven but had no bizarre purple stones lodged in it as far as she could tell, there was no visible place a stone could even be concealed in its armour.

Starting to panic; the akuma would regain its senses soon enough, Marinette began to examine the area of its shoulder where many of the vines had sprouted from. She gasped as the akuma twisted it its place to begin to turn to see where she was crouching by its side and clamped her hand down over its eyes. A stupid move, but one that would buy her a few moments more.

It payed off, as a second before the akuma had returned from its daze Marinette's eyes fell on a small purple stone hidden amongst the root-like tangle around the akuma's shoulder blades.

Found you.

The akuma yanked Marinette's hand away from its face and hissed. Now she was right up next to the thing, Marinette could get a proper view of its face, and it wasn't a pretty one. Its eyes glowed a dull yellow and bored straight into Marinette's own clear blue, sending a shiver down her spine.

With a yelp, Marinette felt herself dragged backwards and up, up until the gardens below were just a green carpet of topiaries and fountains swaying, strangely enough, a dozen feet above her head. Distantly, Marinette recognised the grip of a vine around her left ankle and the feeling of distinct wrongness that comes from the sensation of gravity pulling in the opposite direction that normal. She tensed her stomach and swung herself up, in an attempt to reach the vine holding her in the air but was jerked out from the momentum when the vine whisked her through the air again.

And let go.

The motion continued and Marinette whizzed through the cold air for the second time that night. She was fed up with being tossed around by this creature but unfortunately there was very little she could do. What goes up must come down and from her point of view; the landscapes of the garden, grand building and sky were swirling around in an indistinguishable blur.

Because of this she struggled to predict her exact destination, and hoped it was another lovely little bush or hedge to break her fall like last time.

But this time her landing was far less soft.

Marinette gasped as her hip felt the full force of the impact after what felt like a long long time spent airborne. She crashed through the window into the dead end of a long dark corridor and fell to the carpeted floor, rolling to a stop by a row of busts, coughing and wheezing.

The hallway was empty of course; the authorities had yet to arrive at the scene to find out exactly what had caused the hysteria at such a refined celebration. For now that was working in Marinette's favour, peelers and detectives would only get in her way and spend more time getting hurt than being any actual help against a creature like this.

Marinette pulled an arm in, pushing her elbow into the floor to prop herself up. Her arm folded in under her and she fell back to the ground, her chin knocking against the floor with a crack. She coughed and rolled onto her back, screwing her eyes shut and tried to slow her breathing to normal, her breaths erupting into more coughing whenever she did.

Before long the familiar and nauseating sound of the akuma's voice drifted through the now glassless windows at the end of the hallway and reached Marinette's ringing ears.

"Crush the bug. Crush the bug. Crush…and take them back. Take them back. My children."

Marinette grit her teeth and pulled herself to her feet, holding herself against the pedestal of the bust she had landed at the foot of. The glass had scattered over the floor further past where she had landed, spilling some distance down the corridor. Her fan was nowhere in sight. The cuts on her leg were almost healed, though caked in dirt and vegetation, all her bruises had vanished by now and the only visible injury she still had left was a collection of small slashes from the broken window glass. Despite this she was well aware she was on her last legs. Her vision swam and blurred and her knees had begun to feel weak under her.

Come on. No time to rest.

The akuma clambered through the window; not looking at all tired out from the fight so far, only angrier, and lowered itself to the ground.

"Crush. Crush. Little bug." It muttered, crunching shards of glass underfoot. It continued to mumble and hiss as its vines slowly crept over to where Marinette was standing.

Move. Move damn it.

Marinette's legs wouldn't budge.

Move. Please please move.

She held her breath as a vine slithered up to her feet and raised its head like a viper, up to Marinette face. It inched closer to her, reaching for her ear and a small red and black stud she had thought she had concealed with her hair.

Marinette ducked her head down, tucking her chin into her chest and clamping her hands over her ears.

Pitiful. I'm practically giving up.

"Now, don't mind me." The akuma said. A second vine idly tugged her hands away and wrapped itself around Marinette's head and forcing her face towards the first vine. "I'm almost done with you little pest."

The vine crept closer again to her earrings.

Marinette closed her eyes. She had had enough of staring down this akuma. Maybe she'd had enough of everything in fact. If she couldn't hold off one creature on her own then she clearly wasn't the one suited for wielding this power.

"Ladybug!"

The voice broke through her daze with a jolt. Marinette's eyes snapped open and she caught her breath.

Adrien stood in an open doorway some distance away, staring at the two of them with wide eyes. The akuma hadn't reacted to his voice and apparently hadn't heard him at all in its furious trance.

Marinette didn't wait for it to notice him and grabbed a shard of glass resting nearby her and jabbed it into the akuma's shoulder. It shrieked and the vines loosened, letting Marinette roll out of the way to a safer distance. She frowned; she could see neither Adrien nor her fan. One or the other would be a sight for sore eyes despite the fact that Adrien seemingly had no instinct for self-preservation. It was simply a relief to see him safe and sound.

The missing fan, however, posed a problem. It had been escaping her grip repeatedly that night as if it had a mind of its own and a determination to get her killed as fast as possible. If there was a way to tie it straight to her wrist, or a similar solution, Marinette would have been more than eager to sign up. The damn thing spent more time lost than in her hands.

She took another step back from the akuma, who had been re-invigorated by her escape. It picked the shard from its shoulder and pointed a long gnarled finger at Marinette.

"You just don't know when you've been finished off, do you?" It said.

A shape moved behind the akuma then stepped into the moonlight.

"That's because you've finished no one yet."

Adrien held up a large sconce, lit and clearly ripped out of the wall very recently. He thrust the candles into the akuma's back and the flames spread fast. Though the candles were dripping hot wax over his arms and face he remained rooted in his place with the candleholder held above his head until most of the vines were aflame and flailing around the hallway.

The akuma screamed as the fire ate through the vines faster than any glass shard or fan could have. Chunks of vegetation dropped out of the air to the ground by Marinette, charred and smoking.

Adrien dropped the sconce at his feet and stamped out the candles' flames before running some distance away, clearly waiting for Ladybug to finish the job.

Marinette blinked and snapped out of her surprise, jumping forwards to duck under a smouldering vine and around the akuma's back. It was completely blind to her now, not even aware of her movements and only trying futilely to put out the fire. Marinette reached her hand into the flames covering the akuma's body to where she remembered the stone to be. Her hand was scorched, her skin stung and blistered from the heat but she had already had enough. Enough of this whole fight. Enough of being knocked about. Enough of backing down.

Her fingers curled around the smooth surface of the stone.

Enough of this.

She pulled it out from the remains of the vines and dropped it to the carpeted floor. It smouldered in its place for a moment before her foot came down on it, crushing it into a collection of shards.

"Incredible." Adrien's voice came from the other end of the hall. The moonlight behind him fell across his shoulders and his dishevelled blond hair, illuminating the places the wax had clung to him, to his cheeks and far-too-expensive blouse and waistcoat.

Marinette smiled. "I've done better."

Her fan laid a step behind Adrien, tucked behind a display case.

"Could you pass me that please?" She said, gesturing to her wayward fan.

Adrien jumped into action, picking the fan up and tossing it into Marinette's hand. It landed back in her grip and she turned to the small purple butterfly making lazy circles around the motionless and charred akuma. Marinette quickly finished her duty; freeing the butterfly and watching it drift out through the glassless window frame into the night air before the shattered glass on the ground rustled and leapt back up to their place and the vines and greenery melted away from the unconscious akumised victim. The hallway almost looked untouched by the battle.

Adrien walked over to where she stood.

"Are you okay?" He asked. There was a smudge of sauce on his chin from where Marinette had dropped him by the tables.

She smiled. "Yeah. I'm completely fine." Marinette suddenly lost the smile. She remembered dropping him by the tables. "Are you okay? What are you doing back here, this is far too dangerous. You could have been hurt!"

He grinned nervously, blushing and rubbing his neck. "I woke up once everyone was already gone and heard you fighting next door. I thought that…well… I didn't want to leave you if I could have helped."

Marinette sighed. Reckless and cute. A dangerous combination.

"I guess its fine. As long as you're not hurt."

"Not at all. I've only got a bit of a bruise right here." He gestured to a spot on the back of his head. "I must have bumped it on something and knocked myself out accidently. Ha ha!"

Marinette grimaced. "Be more careful next time." She made a mental note to apologise for that somehow.

Adrien peered past Marinette at the woman lying on the ground. She was wearing a green apron with small red and yellow flowers embroidered onto it and lay in the centre of a burnt ring on the carpet. She appeared to be sleeping soundly but had a frosting of tears around her eyes and a red glow from crying.

"Do you think she's okay?" He asked.

Marinette crouched down and moved some tangled hair away from the woman's sleeping face.

"I think she'll do better than before. If this happened because of her misfortune then I can only hope that I've done something to turn her luck around."

Marinette turned back to Adrien and stood up.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Adrien blushed harder and tugged at his collar. "Ah. Um, I was just thinking about how much you've done for…for us. As in, like a hero. You're really a great hero. Really. I really…admire you."

"Is that so?" Marinette felt herself burning up. She had still been in Ladybug Mode for the most part but now that the battle buzz had worn off she was beginning to feel the usual frailty she felt around Adrien. "I'm…glad to know you feel that way."

Adrien pushed his hair around his face, making it more of a mess in the process. "Ha ha. I'm- I'm really a big fan. Of you, I'm a fan of you." His hands were busy, fixing his hair, straightening his shirt collar, picking dust from his suit.

Marinette was frozen in place. "Is that so?" His words weren't being processed or recognised at the time in the least, neither was his behaviour. Perhaps it was the exhaustion setting in that was letting him get to her so easily.

"I really, really admire you."

Marinette's heart was thumping in her chest. She was reaching optimum inelegance.

"I really think what you've done for this city has helped... a huge number of people…and…well…"

Blood rushed in her ears and completely drowned out his voice. At this point she knew she was bound to make a fool of herself somehow, even if she attempted to make some more conversation she was fated to humiliate herself in front of him.

Adrien shuffled his feet, glancing away from Marinette's blank but bright red face. "Do you think we'll meet again? I'd really love to know more about you, Ladybug. Would you be okay with being around someone like me? "

Marinette heard none of it, only a rushing in her ears and a desire to get out of his sight as soon as possible. "Is that so? In that case I'd better be heading off. Right now. Goodbye." She delivered her wooden line and snapped her fan open, releasing a flurry of red feathers and a gust of floral scented air. When the dust cleared she had vanished from the corridor.

Adrien dropped his arms to his sides.

"…Lady?"

He sniffed and picked at a wax patch on his face. He had yet to notice the redness flaring up around the dribbles of wax on his cheeks and the singed edges of his sleeves; he had left his undivided attention on Ladybug from the moment he had spotted her.

But she had seemed awfully distracted while he was talking to her. And it had taken a whole lot of his concentration not to burst into a gibbering mess in front of her during said conversation. There was something about being out of costume while being face to face with her.

He couldn't help thinking about her sudden exit, Cinderella style.

Maybe it was something I said.

He sighed and began to make his way down the hallway; he guessed he would have some explaining to do once he was home.

Chloe woke up with a start.

Her dress was ruined, shredded in fact. She was lying in broken glass and dropped cutlery and hats. There was a gourmet prawn caught in her hair.

"Adrien?" She called out, sitting in the centre of a large empty ballroom. She faintly remembered something horrific dragging her away from him; the memory of it chilled her. After that was a blur but there was someone else in her memory, someone who made her pause. It was a blurry image in her mind, just a figure in red and a few shouted words.

Then it fell into place.

She sat upright. She had been rescued by the Ladybug. The city's hero had come to save her.

The evening hadn't gone to plan but Chloe decided that even if her time with Adrien was cut short that night she had received at least one compliment, and that might just make up for some of the disaster.