I watch, slightly open-mouthed as Ladybug keeps a grip on the Yo-yo, keeping Matriarch's arms pinned.

"Chat!" She yells, and Chat leaps to attention.

"My lady calls! Be right back!" He says cheerfully, leaping over the desk. I start to follow but he waves me back.

"Stay where it's safe! We've got this!"

Ladybug yelled something, then grunted as Matriarch dragged her forward. Chat lashed out with his stick, using it as a quarterstaff as some of the spider mutants tried to come to her aid.

"What did she say?" I asked.

"Ladybug says the akuma is in the pendant hanging around Matriarch's neck. If we can grab it and smash it, then we can release the evil and things will be reset back to normal." He spun around, whacking the spider that used to be Nino. "Only problem is, one of us needs to get on her back in order to get the thing and my paws are a little full at the moment."

He rolled sideways and a web attached itself to the wall, barely missing his head.

"I could do it," Chat said, fighting off the girl in pink, "If I use my staff to pole vault onto her back, I can use my Cataclysm to destroy it, but then Ladybug is defenseless."

I hear a crackling noise as another spider mutant fights its way out of its web cocoon. I hear another noise, closer, and turn just in time to kick at a spider boy with red hair. He stumbles back a pace and gets his foot caught in webbing. He hisses, trying to pull free.

"We're going to be over run in a moment," I observe grimly. "Keep the spider-things occupied, I'll steal the pendant."

"No way." Chat says firmly. "Stay there where it's safe."

"Look Puss in Boots," I retort, irritated, "there's not going to be a safe place in a moment, and since no one gave me a super-powered stick or yo-yo, my only other option is waiting to get webbed and mutated." Or blow my own secret identity when I transform into my alter ego I thought silently. That option was becoming more and more likely with every second. "So either you let me help or I give it a shot on my own."

"Qu'a-t-elle dit?" Ladybug asks.

Chat translates, looking annoyed. Immediately Ladybug lets loose a full stream of irate words in French.

"Non, non, elle doit rester là où c'est en sécurité. Kitty, si elle essaye d'attraper ce pendentif et qu'elle se blesse, je lierai ta queue dans un noeud."

She stops to take a breath. I cock an eyebrow.

"What did she say?"

"She said no," Chat replies shortly, sweeping the legs out from under a boy wearing a green shirt. "And I agree."

I shake my head in exasperation. What was it with this girl trying to protect m-

I freeze as something clicks in my head. Two girls with the same hairstyle, the same eyes; the same annoying hero attitude. I looked toward the door, just to make sure. Just as I thought, the whole thing was still covered with webs, with the exception of the small hole I'd cut in the middle. So the only way Ladybug could have gotten into the classroom was if...she'd been inside the whole time.

I stared at Ladybug, no Marinette, not quite believing my eyes.

"Look out!" Chat yelled.

Too late, the spider thing that had once been a boy wearing a skull shirt swung down like a monkey and snatched me up, swinging us both in a dizzy arc over the classroom.

Probably carrying me to the back of the room to be webbed I thought to myself. I caught Ladybug and Chat Noir staring up at me with twin looks of horror and shock on their faces. They didn't seem to notice the spider things converging on all sides.

"I got this!" I yelled, digging my elbow hard into the spider things side. His grip loosened slightly. "You've got your own problems."

Chat and Ladybug looked around, as if suddenly realizing their predicament.

"Chat! Utilisez votre cataclysme sur le sol ! »A wall was coming up. I braced my legs and pushed off as I hit it, swinging us back in the opposite direction. Down below I heard:"Cataclysme! »There was a squeal of outrage from the spider mutants as half the floor suddenly disappeared and they fell through. So that's Chat's cataclysm I thought. I spotted Matriarch below."Sorry dude, this is my stop," I say, and punch my abductor right in the eye. He lets go with a hiss, holding his hand to his eye in pain and I fly through the air, aiming for Matriarch's broad back. Without my wings to slow me down, the landing hurts a lot more."Oof" I gasp, as all the breath is driven from my lungs.Unfortunately, I don't have time to properly catch my breath, as Matriarch feels me land and starts scuttling and bucking under me like a mad bull in a rodeo. "Whoa Nelly!" I yell, holding on for dear life.

"Porte-bonheur!" I hear Ladybug yell, as Matriarch suddenly lurches forward. I slide down, grabbing onto her hairy waist with one hand while the other reaches for the pendant. My fingers close around the chain just as Matriarch takes off, dragging Ladybug along and running straight up the wall, with me still clinging on for dear life.

I'm going to have to change soon, I realize, dangling in the air. If I fall from this height-

As if on cue the chain I'm holding onto snaps and I plummet towards the ground.

"Guardian of the Gate-" I start to say...

"Gotcha!" Chat yells, snatching me in the middle of my fall.

He pulls me close to his chest, and I hold on tightly as he somersaults through the air, depositing us in the middle of a giant red and black pillow.

Huh? How did this get here? I wonder, gasping for breath.

Chat pulls me to my feet, looking concerned.

"Are you alright?" He asks. I manage a nod and open my hand, showing the purple pendant in my palm. His eyes widen in surprise. "You got it!" He says in amazement and I manage a smile.

"Was there any doubt?" I tease.

He takes it and tosses it in the air, hitting it with his stick towards Ladybug. She catches it one-handed and crushes it in her fingers.

"I could've done that!" I protest. Chat motions me to shush.

Ladybug swings her yo-yo as a familiar purple and black butterfly flutters out of the broken pieces. With ease, she captures it within the yo-yo.

"Il est temps de purifier" she shouts. When she opens the lid, a white butterfly emerges.

"Au revoir petit papillon." Ladybug says, waving. She takes the pillow and tosses it into the air.

"Coccinelle miraculeuse!!" She says joyfully. I watch in amazement as the pillow becomes thousands of bright red lights, erasing sticky ropes of webbing, repairing the broken furniture, and changing all the kids back to normal. Matriarch's bright colors and ugly body dissolve, morph into a scrawny woman with short hair in a lab coat.

I look at Chat Noir.

"Where did she get that pillow?"

Chat looks surprised.

"That's her Miraculous Charm. It's kinda like her magic power to help defeat the bad guy. Though in this case it was just something handy to catch our fall. But because she used it she'll have to transform soon back into...whoever she is." He finishes, looking wistful. Now it's my turn to be surprised.

"Whoever she is? You mean you don't know?"

Chat Noir shakes his head.

"We live dangerous lives as superheroes. If anyone where to find out who we are then they might go after our friends, our loved ones....It's better this way." He concludes.

"But she's your partner! Isn't it a little weird to not-" I couldn't imagine what that was like. In C.L.A.W. there were a few fanatics who obsessed about keeping their secret identities, but they usually had one person who knew their secret.

"It sounds lonely." I say quietly.

"It is a little," Chat agrees, "but it's what Ladybug wanted." He watches her as she assists a few shaky students to their feet, his heart in his eyes. I put a hand on his shoulder, sympathetic. I felt sorry for the kitty, not knowing who his partner was, but loving her anyway. He put a clawed hand on top of mine, as if thankful for the comfort. His eyes meet mine, and a look passes between the two of us. Sympathy, understanding...perhaps something more. After everything that had happened in the last few hours, I wasn't angry at him for what had happened when I arrived.

I had seen firsthand what an akuma could do, and I had also seen how hard he and Ladybug had fought to defeat it, to protect me from harm.

The moment is broken as something beeps like an alarm, and we both jump. Chat looks at the ring on his hand.

"I have to go too," he says apologetically. "I used my cataclysm to make that hole in the floor." He pauses, eyes twinkling slightly with humor. "I guess you could say it was a ground-breaking feat, right?" He winks.

I groan and shake my head.

"That was awful." I say. Chat looks a little hurt.

"Well, I thought it was funny." He gestures at the room, where students have all gotten to their feet, thought they still look a little dazed. "But everything here should be fine now." He waves a clawed hand. "Catch you later, Chéri..." He smiles. "Get it? Cuz-"

"Yes, I get it, because you caught me." I say, shoving him towards the door. "Now get out of here."

He salutes with two fingers and runs out the door, leaping over the railing, then uses his stick to launch himself up into the sky.

Around me, kids are settling back into their seats as if nothing has happened. I join them, pretending to listen to the lesson.

When the teacher turns toward the blackboard to make notes, I casually look at my phone, which has a tracker app on it. While shoving Chat out the door, I'd attached a small, button-sized tracker to the back of his neck. I watch as the small dot moves in the direction of the Agreste Mansion, confirming my suspicions.

"See you later, Chat," I murmur with a smile.

Hello my Miraculous friends! Thank you for our patience, I realize this chapter was a long time in coming but hopefully it was worth the wait. Hopefully you don't hate me for the turn I'm taking with the story, but it will all be explained, I promise :)

I've also been working on some new stories, do I have any people who like romance, ballroom dancing and hot latin guys? Because that is what Chispa (meaning Spark) is all about.

Also, who is excited about new Miraculous episodes coming out? I particularly want to see if anything more happens between Luka and Marinette or if it was just a one-episode crush. Personally I think it would be fun to give Adrien a little competition, since he doesn't seem to appreciate Marinette enough yet.

Lastly, a special thanks to Marichat101Obbessed, EmpireKun, ConstantTea, WolfLoverrr, NandaMdu and WritterForFun. You guys keep me believing I'm actually a decent writer. And if any of you guys need me to read something of yours and give my thoughts I would be happy to do so :)