(See the end of the chapter for notes .)

Ten people, locked overnight in the Louvre. Except now, three of them have been frozen by an akuma. Will the others be able to hold it off until morning? And where is that pesky akuma hiding? Maybe it's in plain sight...

Chapter Text

Just a short time ago, nine students and a friendly museum curator were about to have an exciting night. As exciting as a night locked inside the Louvre could be, that is. Now, there were six students, a very worried museum curator, and nothing other than the strong desire to get Ladybug and Cat Noir to rescue their friends in the air.

“Alix! This was your idea!” yelled Chloe.

“Hey, how was I supposed to know this was going to happen?” the pink-haired girl snapped back.

“It was your stupid poem that started this all, and it looks like it’s coming true… bit by bit. Where’s that piece of paper?”

Alix pulled it out of her pocket. Chloe snatched it and read:

“Ten little children at a friend’s house to dine;

One choked his little self and then there were nine.

“You see! Nino was at the water fountain taking a drink!

“Nine little children staying up too late;

One fell asleep early and then there were eight.

“Sabrina went to bed early on the night that we’re supposed to be awake until morning!

“Eight little children gazing into heaven;

One stayed too long and then there were seven.

“And poor Mylène was found where?!? Next to the astronomy exhibit! It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure it out -- you’re behind all of this, and I’m going to make sure it stops or I’m not Queen Bee!”

Adrien moved behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. “Actually, you’re not Queen Bee right now. You don’t have the comb in your hair. And I’m pretty sure nobody here is Ladybug, Cat Noir, Rena Rouge, or Carapace, either.”

Alya opened her mouth and quickly shut it.

Marinette’s mind was racing. How do I get away from here and get Ladybug to solve this? How can I explain Ladybug’s even BEING here when there’s been no indication that something is wrong and no signal to the outside world? I never thought I’d be in a situation where getting alone time with Adrien was SECOND priority, but here we are.

“We should split up!” Marinette blurted out. “Let’s search the museum for the akuma!”

“I’m not going alone,” whispered Nathaniel. “I know I draw a comic book where I’m a mighty hero, but I don’t think I’m going to do anything but lose if I face an akuma armed with only art supplies.”

“Pair up, then. I’ll keep you safe and I’m a real superhero,” Chloe said confidently. “You have nothing to fear because the akuma is going to want nothing to do with me.”

Mr. Kubdel drew Alix closer to him. “That’s a good idea, Chloe. I’ll go with Alix and see what we can find.”

Looking at Marinette and Adrien, Alya said, “WELL, I DON’T WANT TO BE THE THIRD WHEEL HERE! I’ll just go with… um…” She looked at Chloe and winced. Superhero or not, Alya and Chloe still got along about as well as oil and water.

“It’s no problem at all, Alya!” chuckled Adrien. “You two are best friends, anyway, so I’m probably the third wheel here.”

Alya’s eyes rolled so hard she almost pulled a muscle.

Marinette reached out and took her hand. “It’s OK, Alya. We’ve got this.”

“There are three levels here. Chloe and Nathaniel, you take the top level. Since there are three of you, Adrien, Alya, and Marinette take the main level. Alix and I will take the bottom level. Return back here in half an hour with your findings.” Mr. Kubdel intoned, setting a timer on his watch.

“Good luck.”

“So...do you really think Mighty-Illustrator could take Queen Wasp in a fight?” Chloe asked Nathaniel once they had reached the top level.

“Ummm… well, Queen Wasp was pretty powerful… and it was a team-up with Ladybug, who is amazing, so…” Nathaniel stammered, unsure of where Chloe was heading with this line of questioning.

“She is amazing, isn’t she? I’m so glad she chose me, her biggest fan, to be her partner! It’s like a dream come true!” She even gave me a second chance after I tried to prove myself by fixing a problem I actually caused.

“So… you’ve always wanted to be a superhero, then, Chloe?” Nathaniel offered. It’s weird to hear Chloe talk about a subject without being condescending.

“Well, not really, but with Ladybug on the scene, someone so brave, and amazing, and beautiful, how could I not want to be just like her? I’m amazing, beautiful, and I can be brave when I’m Queen Bee…”

Chloe’s rambling list of qualities her and Ladybug shared went largely unheard. You’re not the first person that comes to mind when I think of amazing, brave, and beautiful. A dark-haired figure began to take shape in his mind, which he quickly shook his head to clear. Focus, Nate! You’ve got a job to do!

Alix and Mr. Kubdel were exploring the bottom level, traipsing their way through boxes and exhibit parts in a long-disused storage room.

“Dad, our ancestor wouldn’t have made any special watches to help defeat akumas, would he have?”

“Unfortunately, no, honey. And the secrets that make the superheroes are so obscure, there’s been very little confirmed evidence of them. Why, there used to be a Ladybug in ancient Egypt, and another one here in France many generations ago… but nobody knows the origins of them. I might be able to do some research, but after tonight, I’m not even sure I’ll be allowed in the museum again.”

Alix frowned. “I’m sorry, Dad. Let’s do what we can here and get out of this nightmare.”

They exited the storage room and Alix put her rollerblades back on. “I’m going to hit the little girls’ room real quick,” she announced, and skated off before her dad could protest.

Mr. Kubdel turned to face his daughter’s retreating form, weakly raising a hand and opening his mouth in protest. I’m not sure I’ll ever catch up with her. Might as well move to the next room…

He opened the door to a janitor’s closet and was assaulted by a cascade of mops and brooms. Staggering backwards and dusting himself off, he glanced into the closet and noted that everything seemed normal. After closing the door, he went to the utility room across the hall and opened the door, pausing briefly to note a familiar figure out of the corner of his eye.

“Back so soon? I would have expected you to take a lot...mmmmmph!”

Adrien, Alya, and Marinette were exploring a fine arts exhibit looking for out-of-place things when Alya grabbed Marinette, smiled sweetly at Adrien, and said, “Just a moment, ‘kay?” before dragging her over to a corner bench to sit down. Adrien, for his part, played along by moving as far away as possible and studying a Van Gogh so close he could count each individual brush stroke.

“Girl, I am trying so hard to get you two together, and you haven’t said a word to him all night long! When are you going to take some initiative and just tackle him already?” Alya was ready to shake Marinette out of frustration, so she just sat on her hands instead.

“In case you haven’t noticed, there’s an akuma on the loose in the museum, and that’s our first priority. Not sneaking away and making googly eyes at Adrien… which I can do from here, thank you very much.” As if to illustrate her point, Marinette stared off into space, dreamily.

Alya laughed in response. “You’ve got it sooooo baaaaad, Marinette. You really need to do something about this. Why would you suggest splitting up if it weren’t to get with Adrien in the first place, huh?”

“We’re supposed to find the akuma before it finds someone else! I mean, I don’t know what we’ll do… maybe we can trap it or something, or capture the butterfly once we free it… but we can’t just sit here and do nothing! I feel helpless… more helpless than trying to talk to Adrien, if you can believe that.” She stood up and began pacing, winding up in front of a Renoir. “I feel like the girl with the glass.”

Alya joined her, indicating a gentleman in the painting. “And that’s the one, there, the guy with the raised hand?”

“Yes.”

“Is she in love with him?”

“Yes.”

“The time has come for her to take some real risks.”

“Well yes, she’s thinking about it. She’s thinking of a stratagem.”

“Yes, she likes stratagems, doesn’t she?”

“Yes.” Both girls giggled.

“What you need to do, is take a cue from our spotted heroine and just say bye-bye, little butterfly to all the ones that collect in your stomach whenever Adrien is around. You’ve mastered talking to him on video chat, but whenever you are around him, you vapor-lock. C’mon, girl, say it with me: bye-bye, little…”

Alya’s chant was interrupted by the power going out. Darkness enveloped the teens until a few security lights up the hall cast eerie shadows across their faces. Eyes wide and mouths agape, they could only stand there while shock and terror overtook them, until a cry from deep within the museum set them running.

Passing a flushed Adrien, Alya and Marinette charged down the stairs, nearly knocking over Chloe and Nathaniel, who were coming down from the top level. While the four classmates steadied themselves, Adrien finished the job Alya and Marinette started by crashing into them at near-full speed, causing them to tumble down the flight of stairs to the next landing.

A muffled voice spoke from the tangle of bodies. “Everybody OK?”

“Fine.”

“Ow.”

“Mmph.”

“Get -- OFF -- of me!” Chloe snarled, pushing her way out of the bottom of the pile. Smoothing her hair, she started down the stairs, thought better of it, and turned to help the other four up.

Continuing down as a group, Alya asked Adrien, “Do you have that flashlight handy?”

“Flashlight?” Adrien looked confused.

“You know, the one you used to tell that story about the yellow ribbon,” Alya prompted.

“Oh! That one! Was that tonight? Seems like so long ago…” Adrien continued, “I don’t have it with me. I think it’s still in the auditorium.”

“Hang on,” Nathaniel interrupted. “Chloe, get out your phone.” Once Chloe did that, Nathaniel turned his phone’s light on and aimed it at Chloe’s diamond-encrusted phone case, illuminating nearly the entire museum.

“Bright light! Bright light!” Adrien cried, covering his face with his hands.

Marinette lowered Nathaniel’s phone. “Why don’t we save the light show until we get out of here safely. Until then, just one phone light at a time so we can conserve battery power.”

The group continued downstairs, where they encountered Alix, nervously skating in circles.

“Guys… my dad. We got separated and I can’t find him! And now the power went out and I… I just…” The usually super-confident Alix deflated in front of everybody. “Let’s go find him.”

Six little collègiens proceeded down the hall. Knocking on doors and calling into rooms, Marinette took point as the group went deeper into the museum like trick-or-treaters who didn’t want to find the trick and weren’t in the mood for any treats. The second-to-last door on the right had a pile of brooms next to it. Stepping cautiously around them, Marinette opened the door to the utility closet and gasped.

Over her shoulder, Alya shone a light into the room.

Six pairs of eyes saw Mr. Kubdel standing at the master breaker, hand on a lever very clearly turned to OFF. He was looking back at them, a mixture of shock and sadness on his face.

“Dad…?” Alix offered.

Mr. Kubdel didn’t respond.

“...Dad?...” Alix said again, moving gingerly forward.

Mr. Kubdel didn’t acknowledge his daughter. Or anyone else, for that matter.

Adrien pushed through the small crowd and waved his hand in front of Mr. Kubdel’s eyes. Nothing. He poked Mr. Kubdel in the side to no reaction. Finally, he attempted to move the lever on the circuit breaker back to the ON position. Adrien couldn’t budge it.

“He’s frozen, like the others,” Adrien explained. “But since he’s frozen in this position, it also means that this lever is frozen, too! We’re stuck in here with no power… and an akuma... until the morning.”

Back in the auditorium, Alya spoke up. “Alix, what happened?”

“I don’t know!” the petite girl responded. “We were searching the lower level like we planned, and I had to go to the little girls’ room. The power went out while I was in there. I found you all just after I got out of there. I didn’t want to be down here by myself,” she concluded.

“What about your phone? Why didn’t you just turn the light on and go look for him?” Alya asked.

Alix mumbled something that sounded like “dropped-it-in-the-toilet”.

It was Chloe’s turn to question Alix as she barged in with “Well you said that you couldn’t find him anywhere! How could you not find him if you didn’t even look?!”

Alix straightened up and got in Chloe’s face. “I thought he would have followed me! We weren’t supposed to split up, and he knows this place better than everyone else! I thought he would be safe for thirty seconds unsupervised!”

“Seeing as how this was, again, all your idea, and it was the person you were paired with that got attacked this time…”

“That doesn’t prove anything!” Alix retorted.

“THE STUPID NURSERY RHYME SAYS IT WAS YOU!” Chloe yelled, visibly losing her composure. “Get it out! You’ll see!”

Alix pulled the piece of paper out of her pocket and unfolded it.

“Read!” Chloe commanded.

Alix cleared her throat and read,

“Seven little children, each making their picks;

One chose poorly and then there were six.”

“You SEE?” thundered the blonde, towering over Alix. “We all picked our partners for splitting up! Mr. Kubdel obviously chose poorly, because his little girl froze him! Well, I, for one, am not going to stand for this anymore! When we get out of here, I’m going to have my daddy do SOMETHING with you, and then I’m going to go with Ladybug and stop Hawk Moth once and for all!”

Alya and Marinette coughed nervously.

Alix stood there with her mouth open, not saying anything. After a few seconds, she abruptly turned around and skated to the corner of the auditorium, where she slumped down and started crying softly.

“Chloe…” Nathaniel said, causing her to whirl and face him. “Are you saying that Alix is the akuma?”

“Isn’t it the obvious conclusion? She was the last person alone with her dad, and he’s frozen now! Who else could it be?”

Alya’s eyes lit up, and Marinette sensed her best friend’s investigative techniques kicking in full steam.

“OK, Chloe, you do have a point. But in fairness to our friend, let’s see what we can rule out so far.” Alya started pacing as everyone prepared for the whirlwind. “We can rule out for sure four people: Nino, Sabrina, Mylène, and Mr. Kubdel. That leaves the six of us -- yes, including you Chloe, we’re being fair, remember? Was there anyone else in the museum? A night watchman or gift shop employee who was working late, for example?”

“Nobody,” Alix sniffed from the corner. “Dad always prided himself on being trustworthy enough to have a group of kids over here without any extra help or any accidents. He’s been doing it like that for as long as I can remember.”

“How about anyone able to get into the museum from the outside? Maybe Hawkmoth didn’t send a butterfly this time; maybe he sent an akuma to hide in here and terrorize us!”

“How could it have gotten in, though?” asked Marinette. “The security system has this place locked down tight.”

“It might be easy, after all, when I was an akuma, I got into your bedroom without much effort,” Nathaniel said, blushing to match his hoodie.

Alya saved her friend’s brain from completely melting by stepping in front of her and saying “OKAY! So, we split up and didn’t find anything, so maybe there isn’t anybody in here… but maybe there is. Did anyone manage to complete the level they were searching?”

“I did,” said Chloe. “But that doesn’t matter since the akuma -- assuming it’s not Alix -- could have just sneaked up there after we all left. We’ll have to pair off again and start over. C’mon, tomato boy,” she grabbed a still-flushed Nathaniel and stormed out of the auditorium, her phone lighting the way.

Adrien, Alix, Alya, and Marinette stared after the departing duo.

“Soooo… pair up again?” Adrien said tentatively.

“We… can…” muttered Alya, “but I’m not so sure it’s a good idea for any of us to be alone with any other one of us…” she glanced at Alix.

The insinuation was too much for her. “Fine, fine, FINE! I GET IT!” Alix skated over to the three friends and started circling them. “YOU think I did it, too, and I DIDN’T. I don’t know how to make it up to you or get back into your trust… except these are my friends too, and that was my dad who’s not only frozen, but is also the only one who is going to get in trouble after all of this is over with! And yeah,” she took a breath, “maybe this was my idea in the first place, and it was a dumb idea, and I’ve gotta pay for that a bit too. So,” she pirouetted to a stop and put her hands on the girls’ shoulders. “I’m the fastest. I can cover the most ground out of everyone here. And, I know the museum the best, too. I’ll prove it to you -- I’ll prove it to all of you. I. Didn’t. Do. It.”

And quick like a rabbit, she grabbed the flashlight and was off, with Marinette calling after her, “Wait! Alix!”

“I’m going to give you girls some more alone time, if that’s OK with you,” Adrien said.

“It’s actually not, now that you mention it,” Alya returned.

Adrien pinked. “I can count on two fingers the number of people who will be uncomfortable being in the restroom with me.”

“We’ll wait outside,” stammered Marinette.

Time passed.

Alix’s mind was racing as fast as her skates. That was an… interesting conversation. I wonder if this will work? I can take the heat for a while longer and not crack, but I’m not the best actor in the world. Heck, I’m not even the best actor in the building! Still, if it puts an end to this quickly, I’ll do it.

The unlikely pair of Chloe and Nathaniel continued their bonding over Ladybug. Nathaniel was quiet, but made for a good listener as far as Chloe was concerned. He had been listening to Chloe go on and on for what seemed like five minutes before she turned around and blinked into the shadows. “Have you even heard what I’ve been saying?” she huffed.

“Oh, yeah, sorry… distracted. Inspiration,” he grunted. Chloe noticed that he had pulled out a tiny sketchpad and was hurriedly putting pencil to paper.

“If that’s a commission for Ladybug, let me know,” she grinned. “If it’s any good, I might have her sign it for you. And maybe one for me, too,” she added as an afterthought. “Wait… did you hear something? Let’s go check it out!”

Adrien re-emerged from the restroom and met up with Alya and Marinette. “Ready, musketeers? Let’s get to the bottom of this! But, really… we should start at the top.”

“The top? Why do you want to start there?” Marinette gave him a puzzled look.

“Well… maybe cell service has been restored. I can call my bodyguard and have him pick us all up.”

Alya stepped in front of him, hands on her hips. “Adrien, honey, how would he get past the security system?”

“Have you seen the man, Alya? He’s not called The Gorilla for nothing. I didn’t even notice that much of a change in him when he was akumatized,” he chuckled, heading towards the stairs.

“Alya!” hissed Marinette. “You called him honey?!?!”

“See how easy it is, girl? You should try it!” Alya nudged her with her hip, and with a big wink, grabbed her hand and took off after Adrien.

The three friends reached the top of the stairs.

“If I never… climb… stairs… again… it will be… too soon,” panted Alya. “My quads are on FIRE.”

“Sit down and rest here on this bench, I’m going to walk around and see if I can get any bars,” directed Adrien.

Marinette pulled Alya down next to her as Adrien walked toward a window, slowly waving his phone. “I don’t like this, Alya. I don’t even know what we’re up against. I’d rather go up against something I know than a shadow.”

“You know Adrien and you can’t even speak to him. You’re amazing at standing up for yourself! You can lead an entire class to safety against an akuma. You make sure everyone is treated fairly… most of the time. You should be able to just put some sentences together around that poor boy, face-to-face, and at least talk to him like a normal human being. I bet if you started doing that, you would get where you needed to be faster than you could believe!”

“I’ve been getting better, Alya, and you know it. I’m trying to be his friend, first and foremost. He’s such a sweetheart and even though I may be a little obsessed with him, I’m getting over that! My heart just gets in the way of my voice sometimes,” she sighed. “Butterflies just seem to have it out for me and my social life, I guess,” she added absently. Oops -- was that out loud?

“Err.. what do you mean by that?”

“Well, if you think about it, it was a butterfly that wrecked my cinema date with Adrien. It was a butterfly that showed ALL OF PARIS AND POSSIBLY THE WORLD my crush. It was a butterfly that wrecked Operation: Secret Garden.” And I have to show up whenever there’s a stupid butterfly, regardless of what I’m doing. If I ever have a spa day and it’s interrupted by a butterfly, I’m going to scream.

“That’s… remarkably unfortunate. I never thought about it, but you do seem to attract butterflies like, um, moths to a flame? Hawk Moths to a flame? Hang on, there’s a right way to say it, but I can’t figure it out.”

Marinette rolled her eyes and smiled at her friend. “You should leave the puns to Cat Noir.”

“Wait, you know Cat Noir?” Alya was about to sink her hooks into this new line of questioning when a loud crash came from nearby on the top level. Pulling each other to their feet, they ran past Adrien, who was muttering to himself and staring at his phone. His head snapped up and he stared after them for a couple of seconds before following.

Adrien, Alya, Marinette, and Nathaniel gathered around the pile of bodies on the floor. Alix was whimpering, clutching her knee. Chloe looked like she was about to yell her head off again.

“Sorry… oww… didn’t see her… hurt my knee. Is Chloe OK?”

Adrien leaned in to examine the blonde more closely. “Well, she’s not dead, and she doesn’t appear to be injured,” he determined. “But… she is frozen. Looks like the akuma got her, too.”

“One more of us who’s been proven innocent… too late!” Alya exclaimed.

Four pairs of eyes turned to the pink-haired girl.

“I swear,” Alix whispered, “it wasn’t me.” Her voice shook. “I don’t know how to prove it to you, except to out-last all of you. And in order to do that, I need to be alone. Because one of you is going to get me. I’m going to win this. I’m going to be the last one standing when Ladybug arrives and makes all of this better. You’ll see,” she muttered, picking up the dropped flashlight and turning it on.

“You’ll all see.”

She took off on her skates again, grinding the escalator rail down to the middle level, and taking off.

Four people stood in a square, facing each other, none being the first to take their eyes off of everyone else.

A rumbling stomach broke the tension.

“Did anyone bring snacks?” Adrien asked.

“There are some snacks down in the auditorium,” Marinette said. “I brought some macarons and croissants to munch on.”

Adrien looked at her gratefully. “OK, let’s go, then!”

Four pairs of feet stood still.

“Hmm… we should probably figure something out. OK, everyone, put a hand in front of you,” Marinette directed. “Now, move forward until we can each grasp hands.” The foursome inched toward each other. Once they had stacked hands in the middle, Marinette continued “Put your other hand on the shoulder of the person next to you. That way, we all know where everybody else is and what they’re up to.”

Four pairs of feet shuffled toward the stairs.

“OK, one stair at a time, and we’ll just go down together!”

“And if we trip, we’ll all go down together. Got it,” Alya chuckled. “Look at us, all bunched together, holding hands. We’re like a looooove square or something.”

Three pairs of eyes looked at the brunette as her chuckle became an uncontrollable giggle, which turned into a fit of laughter, which turned into Alya leaning heavily on Marinette in an effort to stay upright.

“I don’t see how this is funny, Alya,” Adrien intoned.

“I don’t see how it’s not!” she wheezed. “Look at us! This is absurd! Here I thought we were going to be looking at boring museum exhibits for a while and then sneaking off to spend the rest of the night making out.”

The other three traded glances.

“Instead, we’re doing an elaborate dance just to walk down the stairs. I don’t know what Hawk Moth is getting out of this, but I hope he’s having a blast. A BLAST, DO YOU HEAR ME, YOU —“

Nathaniel’s face turned red again at the stream of profanity coming out of Alya’s mouth.

After Alya collected herself, the four friends made their way down the rest of the stairs. Inching their way to the auditorium (and studiously ignoring Sabrina’s floating body), they surrounded Marinette’s bag as she unloaded some boxes of pastries from her parents’ bakery.

“Mmm, these are delicious, Marinette!” Adrien exclaimed.

Alya gave Marinette a triumphant look, a big wink, and then tore into her own croissant, noting Marinette putting a macaron into her purse but not saying anything about it.

After the boxes were nearly empty, Marinette looked around at her satisfied friends.

“We should probably save something for Alix,” Nathaniel suggested. “She’ll be hungry soon; all that skating has got to be tiring her out.”

“Pair up for the lav?” Adrien suggested, fingers glistening with butter.

With nods of assent, the girls and boys each ducked into their respective restroom to wash their hands. Two minutes later, three people emerged. They found a person in a red hoodie standing over an open pastry box.

“Couldn’t resist, could you?” called Alya with a snort.

The fourth person didn’t answer.

“Something’s wrong, Alya,” Marinette warned.

“Everything’s wrong. I can’t believe it,” said Alya.

Alya walked over to the fourth person, who was clearly frozen. She flipped down the red hood.

Everyone gasped at the pink hair underneath.

“I… don’t understand,” Adrien stammered. “Where’s Nathaniel?”

“Where is he, indeed?” Alya answered.

In a too-quiet museum, three pairs of eyes looked at each other.