"How... how was it th-that easy to cover my mask?" Ladybug asked, stunned by her new appearance. Her yoyo still hung at her hip, but she'd just put it in a backpack or purse when the time came.
"Your mask doesn't rise or anything. It looks like a tattoo or paint," Chloe replied without looking up, beginning to file her own nails.
Immediately, her hands flew up to touch her earrings, which still didn't have a backing and was still attached to the skin.
She didn't look anything like herself anymore, especially with the new disguise, and it really scared her. It wasn't the fact that she looked different that scared her, for it was the fear of losing the girl she was and becoming a new person.
"Do you want to go out in public and test your new look to see if anyone recognizes you? My work is genius obviously, so no one would recognize you anyways," Chloe asked Ladybug.
"Sure," she replied, wondering how she could pull this off in the slightest. When the time came and she'd have to go to school, she worried that her classmates would see right through her disguise. What if she tripped up in front of Adrien or Alya realized she was a fake?
"Your name should be something fabulous. How about Lucille?" Chloe asked the heroine.
"It doesn't really suit my look," Ladybug answered.
"How about Belle?"
"Mm..."
"Ella?"
"Nah..."
"Chloe the Second?"
"..." Ladybug flashed a disapproving look at the blonde.
"It was worth a shot," she laughed, shaking her head.
"You're so difficult," Chloe huffed after responding to Ladybug's glare, but still continued to rack her mind to think of a name that could suit her idol's new look.
"I just want something that stays true to me," she answered honestly.
"What about Bridgette?" The blonde suggested.
"Bridgette... I-I think it's a good name. I could remember Bridgette," Ladybug replied, saying the last part mainly to herself.
"It sounds a lot like that Mari-trash's name, but if you think it works, it's probably good," Chloe responded with a little sassiness.
By this point, Marinette didn't get so annoyed hearing Chloe call her Mari-trash, being that she heard it so often, that it didn't affect her as much as it used to. She had already learned to ignore it from years before.
"Don't call people trash, Chloe," Ladybug scolded half-heartedly, leaving the blonde to roll her eyes.
"Let's get going to test your new clothes out, Bridgette," she stressed her name in a playful manner.
The two left the hotel and went to meet up with Sabrina to introduce her as a new member of their little group and to their school.
"Bridgette, huh?" Sabrina asked, studying her more closely and seriously than would've made her comfortable. Ladybug hoped she wasn't catching on that she was Marinette or Ladybug.
"Welcome to the school!" Sabrina's demeanor changed completely, from cold to excited and friendly.
"Thank you, Sabrina! Sabrina, was it?" She pretended to have a little problem remembering her name as to make it believable that she was a new student.
"Yep! I'm Sabrina, and this is Chloe! Chloe is the mayor's daughter!" The redhead replied with a smile.
"She already knew that, dingbat. I told her," Chloe replied rudely, but her tone was slightly less irritated.
"Oh... we'll definitely show you around school tomorrow! Hope you have classes with us!" Sabrina replied enthusiastically.
"That would be awesome!" Marinette replied.
"I think you will, because someone has to fill in the spot for Marinette Dupain-Cheng if she isn't found," Sabrina said, shaking Marinette to the core.
"Ma-Marinette who?" Ladybug squeaked out, almost fearfully. Chloe looked up from her phone, raising a surprised eyebrow.
"A girl in our class apparently didn't come home, so my father was called on duty to search for her. Marinette Dupain-Cheng works at the bakery around here. You should try it one day, Bridgette!" Sabrina filled her in, leaving Bridgette to want to bite her basically non-existent nails that disappeared under the suit when she was permanently transformed.
Chloe realized there were no nails where her fingers were in the gloves, so she knew she'd have to make an adjustment and add fake nails to the gloves to make it look more believable.
"Well, as much as we all just love Mari-trash's trash, we need to get going soon," Chloe said, wanting to fix Ladybug's disguise.
"See you tomorrow, Bridgette and Chloe!" Sabrina smiled, leaving the premises with understanding to whatever Chloe's excuse was supposed to be about.
"Something happened to a civilian?" Ladybug pretended to be surprised, even though there wasn't much effort in trying. She actually was surprised that the news was beginning to spread after one day.
"She's probably just got her clumsy butt stuck in a trash can or something. I don't think she could get in much trouble anyway," Chloe said truthfully, annoying Ladybug a bit.
"Anyways, I just noticed we need to add fake nails to your gloves! It would make it much more believable," Chloe changed the subject, and Ladybug swore she could almost see the smallest bit of guilt in her face.
"That would be a good thing to add. Also I should get a backpack and some school supplies. Would you have any I could borrow?" Ladybug asked.
"Definitely. I have a bunch of ugly unused school items you could use from the back-to-school sale," Chloe said.
"Thanks."
The next day, Chloe helped Ladybug re-apply all her makeup after she dressed in her new clothes. There was even light pink, painted fake nails added to the gloves with glue. There wasn't much she could do to make the fabric spandex of the light beige colored gloves look more like hands, so she wore a jacket with longer sleeves to cover up most of her hands.
The two ate breakfast and left for school. Marinette's heart was crushed when she saw her best friend sitting alone at the empty desk, trying not to cry.
"You can't talk like Ladybug either, so try to change the pitch of your voice," Chloe advised.
"Bridgette!" Sabrina cheered from across the room, causing a few classmates to turn their heads toward the unfamiliar brunette in their classroom.
"Who's Bridgette?" Kim crossed his arms in confusion as Max stood by his side.
"You're new to our class? Welcome Bridgette! I'm Rose and this is Juleka!" The petite blonde basically popped out from behind her unsuspectingly.
Chloe automatically scoffed at the attention she was getting, but decided not to say anything. After all, she thought, this was Ladybug.
"Um... hello Rose and Juleka," she replied, using her voice in a slightly higher pitch than her usual. She made sure to speak more shyly.
Miss Bustier smiled kindly and begin to speak to her class, "Students, we have a new class member today! Her name is Bridgette- What's your last name, honey?"
"I'm Bridgette... uh... Luck. Bridgette Luck is my n-name. Yeah," she tripped up. Chloe face-palmed at her pathetic attempt, and Ladybug was pretty sure she'd do the same if she were watching herself.
"Class, please welcome and be kind to Bridgette Luck. You can sit... um..." the teacher tapped her pen on her chin thoughtfully as she searched for an empty seat to place the student in. To her dismay, they didn't have any, but there was Marinette's seat.
"You can take Marinette's old seat for now. I'll figure out something when the time comes. Bridgette, sit next to Alya. Alya, please raise your hand," Miss Bustier continued.
The unhappy redhead raised her hand weakly, and Ladybug sat beside her. She felt a little self-conscious, being that she was worried the makeup might come off if she accidentally wiped it.
"Hello Alya," she said in her newly adjusted vocal range.
"Hi."
"I also have a sad announcement to make about one of your classmates. I'm sure some of you already know this, but it's been reported that Marinette has gone missing," Miss Bustier announced, causing the poor heroine to nearly pass out.
"Poor Marinette!" Rose cried out, causing Juleka to frown with worry.
"I saw the news on Alya's blog! Keep a look out for her, guys," Nino added.
"What?! We have to do something!" Adrien jolted up from his chair.
"Calm down, Adrikinz. It's probably just like the time you went missing for Christmas," Chloe tried to assure.
"She would do the same for any of us! We have to search for her!" Adrien insisted.
"He's right," Ivan shook his head.
"We need to find Marinette," Mylene responded.
"After school, let's all meet at the Louvre to start our search. We'll work in pairs. It'll be much safer and faster that way," Adrien began to plan.
"Kids, make sure you have your parents' permission to do this! Looking for a missing person by yourselves is really dangerous! Especially with all the akuma attacks we've had in the past year," Miss Bustier advised.
Chloe looked over at Ladybug, who was looking down at her lap blankly.
"If it means we could find Marinette, let's do it. I'll have my parents come look with us," Alya finally responded.
"I'll call my daddy and ask him to put Marinette's missing case on the news," Chloe muttered, holding back her instinct to gag at the thought of her rival.
"I'll try to keep an eye out for Marinette as well," Bridgette told everyone.
Tough luck finding Marinette, Ladybug thought with a sigh. She couldn't even find Marinette, and she was said girl. It would seem wrong to tell everyone to give up, but at the same time, she was incredibly guilty for not telling the others that she's never gone missing in the first place.
This guilt continually piled on until the end of the school day, right up to when the search party would meet up by the Louvre.
"Chloe, I think I have to go to Marinette's search party as Ladybug," she whispered to the blonde as they walked out of the school.
"I really don't think Marinette needs a huge search party anyways. I'm pretty sure she just had some sort of rebellion thing going on where she just wacked out and left," Chloe mumbled annoyedly, crossing her arms.
"I don't think she needs a search party either, but everyone insisted on it. I'm just going to patrol around as Ladybug to keep an eye out," Ladybug told her.
"I don't know. Marinette has always seemed so..." Chloe confessed.
"Trashy?" Ladybug guessed with an eye roll and a smirk.
"Strong, like you. She's stood up for classmates and taken charge during an akuma attack. I never thought she'd be a victim," Chloe continued, to Ladybug's ultimate surprise.
"And she is trashy," she added quickly to cover up the compliment.
Ladybug couldn't help but smile. Of course her frenemy had no clue she was standing right beside her, but she didn't talk terribly about Marinette for a second there, and it warmed her heart. Maybe she wasn't just hateful of her civilian self, but jealous?
Once the girls got back to Chloe's hotel, Ladybug took everything off, including the makeup before preparing to take her leave from the balcony.
"Are you coming to the search?" Ladybug asked Chloe.
"Why would I have to?" Chloe huffed before nodding her head to confirm she was coming along.
"Okay, so this undercover mission has to stay a secret. Just pretend none of this has happened, and we'll meet up again when the search is over for the day," Ladybug reminded the blonde, who suddenly changed her attitude.
"Got it! I'm going to be a real sidekick!" Chloe shrieked excitedly, remembering all those times her and Sabrina cosplayed as the Miraculous duo, " I got the perfect outfit for this!"
Ladybug sighed as Chloe ran to her closet before pulling out her cosplay piece. She slipped into the bathroom to change, where she placed Ladybug-themed sunglasses on her face.
Once she emerged from the bathroom, Ladybug sighed tiredly before using her yoyo to zip away from the balcony. Chloe however, took the elevator to meet up with everyone at the Louvre.
"Ladybug! Over here!" Alya called out to the heroine.
Ladybug ran over to the search crowd meeting. Nearly every person she knew was there. From all her classmates to even Manon and Mrs. Chamack. "What's the problem here?" She asked, pretending she had no idea. Her lips pulled into a straight line and her eyes displayed the same determination she used during akuma attacks.
"My best friend, you've probably seen her on the LadyBlog a few times! She's gone missing. Her name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng," Alya began to explain.
Her own mother took out a picture of Marinette, one from her birthday. "My daughter is gone. Please, can you help us find her?"
"Sabine, I know Ladybug will do everything she can to find our Marinette. Don't worry, honey," Tom reassured his wife.
"He's right. I-I'll do something. I promise," Ladybug said without thinking.
"We'll do our very best to bring her home as soon as possible," Chat Noir spoke from behind Ladybug, his emerging voice startling her.
"Thank you, you two. It means a lot for you busy heroes to take time out of your day to help us," Sabine replied, her eyes beginning to water.
Ladybug became more and more guilty, causing her glance to fall to the floor as she was unable to continue looking at her saddened family.
"After you, my Lady," Chat bowed.
As she cleared her throat, she saw Chloe in a Ladybug cosplay running over, almost out of breath. Sabrina looked over at her, almost betrayed. "You should've told me to bring my Chat cosplay!" She spoke accusingly.
"Okay girls and boys! We need to split up, but stick in pairs! Mrs. Cheng and I will drive around the town. Chloe and Sabrina, you girls can search the mall, accompanied by Lieutenant Roger. Mylene and Juleka, you girls can look around the school areas with Mr. Hapréle. Rose and Nathaniel, you can try the nearby museums with Chat Noir. Manon and Mrs. Chamack, would it be alright to put Marinette's missing case up on television?" Tom began to command, looking at his list.
"Of course. I'll be reporting live as we assist in the search as well. Manon and I will look around the park and television station," Nadja informed him.
"Thank you so much guys," Tom expressed his gratitude.
The first few groups he assigned with one another began their search as he went to assign other places to the other people who came to help. Most of the underage people were paired with adults along with another one of their classmates for safety measures.
"Alya and Nino, you're with Ladybug. Maybe you three could start looking by the Eiffel Tower? Marinette spends a lot of her time there," Tom asked them.
"Will do, Sir!" Nino took off his hat politely, then followed Alya and Ladybug.
The heroine glanced at her partner, knowing he was the only one who might even possibly understand her situation. She swallowed down a lump in her throat, pushing away her sudden rise of emotion.
"You two wait here. I need to talk to Chat Noir for a second," Ladybug told Alya and Nino. She grabbed Chat's shoulder from his group.
"Hey, do you mind if I have a word with you?" She asked her partner, a little more shyly than normal.
"Of course, LB! Rose and Nathaniel, I'll be back in a moment," Chat assured before taking Ladybug's hand and leading her to a more secluded area.
"So what's going on?" He asked, concern flashing in his green eyes.
"I- um... I," she struggled to say.
No, she thought, she had to deal with this on her own. This situation wasn't Chat Noir's problem and she wouldn't drag him down with her in this issue.
"Ladybug, is everything okay?" He asked, tilting his head slightly. He obviously cared for her, but if she told him that she couldn't get her mask off, he'd figure out that she was Marinette and that she was a fraud who wasn't really as cool as Ladybug and he'd hate her forever, she thought to herself.
Everything that held her together collapsed. Her overwhelming guilt, fear of never returning to her family and friends as herself, stress from taking on another identity and hiding more secrets from everyone was beginning to pour out through her sudden emotions.
"Ch-Chat," she choked out, holding back tears at this point. It was obvious that she was biting back her cries now as her face crumpled into a cringe and tears were brimming in the corners of her eyes.
Why was she getting so emotional? Ladybug angrily wiped away her tears and tried to stabilize herself. Chat Noir was getting very worried and she wasn't making anything better by crying.
"No, no, no. Please don't cry, my lady. What's going on?" Chat Noir asked, gently holding her shoulders. He was getting scared, for he wasn't sure why his partner was getting emotional.
Then it hit him.
Marinette.
"Wait, you're very close with Marinette. Aren't you? I promise we'll try very hard to find her today!" Chat Noir attempted to reassure his partner.
He was only making her feel worse and piling more guilt on her.
She couldn't tell him the truth. Ladybug got ahold of herself and nodded in response. Chat Noir pulled her into a reassuring hug, to which she ended up hugging him back to his surprise.
Snuggling her face into his suit for a moment, she felt slightly comforted. It made her realize that she wasn't alone as Ladybug, and she'd always have Chat Noir no matter what happened.
"Let's get back to searching," Ladybug said, sniffling a little once he released her from the hug.
"Alright. We'll be at the museums. I'll call you if I find anything, and you can do the same," he pointed to his staff before heading back to his group. With a small salute, he left with Nathaniel and Rose.
She took a deep breath and went back to Alya and Nino. Ladybug didn't want to have anymore breakdowns.
"Ready to go?" Nino asked to heroine.
"Definitely. Let's get going," she told him.
It still struck her with guilt for the fact that no one would find anything.
"So I know she is always by the Eiffel Tower because she loves getting inspiration for her designs there. Marinette is such an awesome designer," Alya told Ladybug.
"Really?" Ladybug asked, genuinely surprised that Alya thought about her designs.
"Agreed. I've never seen a more motivated designer," Nino added.
With those words, Marinette mentally told herself to give them huge hugs once she returned to her formal self, if she was ever so lucky to be herself again.
The three of them finally got to the Eiffel Tower. "Ladybug, maybe you should use your Lucky Charm! I think it would help with the investigation!" Alya suggested.
"Lucky Charm!" Ladybug called out, causing a notepad to fall in her hands.
Alya and Nino stared at the item blankly.
"No offense Bug but how in the world is a notepad going to help us find Marinette?" Nino asked.
"Shut up, Nino! It could be very helpful!" Alya scolded him.
Ladybug laughed nervously and wondered how a notepad would solve anything. It took a few moments after for her to realize what she was supposed to do with it.
She officially had a plan and it wasn't going to be difficult.
"Guys, my powers are telling me that Marinette used a notepad exactly like this one! She must've left a note behind if my powers are telling me this!" Ladybug lied.
"Now I see it! It looks like the pages of Marinette's diary! Maybe a diary page fell out of her diary before she went missing!" Alya concluded with her investigation skills.
"Bro, that could be helpful," Nino realized.
"Totally! Hey, so let's split up to see if we can find that page! Nino, check the Tower stairs and elevator! Alya, try checking around the visitor floor of the Tower. I'll check around the outside and in the higher places!" Ladybug told them.
The two obeyed the heroine and left to check those places. Things were going according to plan, meaning she had time to write a quick page on the notepad to make it look like an diary page or note. The notepad did not come with a pencil or pen to her dismay.
As she was thinking about how she would write a note and what she would write on that note, she realized something strange.
She had not returned the wig after using it, and it was a Lucky Charm, as well as the notepad.
Did she have two Lucky Charms? Maybe the wig disappeared after she called the next Lucky Charm out.
"Lucky Charm!" She called out again, and a pen fell in her hand, as she held the notepad in the other.
Did she have the power to obtain multiple Lucky Charms now? This was exciting, yet strange to her.
She'd have to study it later, as she did have a job to do.
Ladybug slipped into a nearby bathroom to write her note.
What to write...
Dear Diary,
I'm feeling terrible for what I'm about to do.
No, no, she thought, that sounded terrible. It would scare everyone. She ripped out that page and used the next to write something else.
Dear Diary,
I ran away from home.
-Marinette
Ladybug was just glaring at the ridiculous excuse for a leave-behind note she just wrote. No one would believe she actually wrote that or ran away from home.
Again, another page ripped from the notepad. Luckily, it was a pretty thick notepad, meaning she wouldn't run out of paper too soon.
Dear Diary,
I am the Entry-Writer. I write entries and am I hidden akuma. Chances are that I'll never be returned back to normal and there's nothing Ladybug can do about that and it's all her fault in the first place.
She bit her lip with annoyance towards herself, being that she was blaming herself. She ripped the paper out and threw it away with the other sad excuses for a diary entry.
Dear Diary,
I am leaving this page out of my diary with the intention of having it found.
She looked over what she had just written for a second. Was it okay, she wondered. Still, she continued.
There is a situation and I'm not sure how to solve it. I don't even think Ladybug would be able to figure this one out, as smart as she is. I promise anyone who reads this, I'm safe, I'm not kidnapped, and I didn't just run away.
-M
Ladybug tore the page from the notepad after leaving the restroom. She slipped the note in a planter by the bottom of the Eiffel Tower. She made sure the paper was somewhat visible before pretending to look for the note.
Once she saw Nino come back from his search, she turned toward the planter to turn his attention to it.
"I couldn't find anything," he replied sadly, not noticing her gesture.
However, Alya was the opposite when she returned.
"Oh my gosh! Is that a paper? I saw a few papers up there, but most of them were flyers for the new restaurant," the brunette headed straight for the planter.
"I didn't think to check the plants!" Ladybug spoke.
Alya unfolded the paper and read it to herself, respectful of Marinette's privacy. Once she read the part about it being intended to be found, she relaxed a little.
However, once she got further in the note, she didn't stay relaxed. "There's a situation she can't solve! Ladybug, you have to do something... even though she just said you probably have no clue how to solve it!"
"Ouch," Ladybug joked.
"Well, she says she is safe," Nino pointed out, reading over Alya's shoulder.
Ladybug pretended to be interested as well, looking over Alya's other shoulder.
"She doesn't seem to be in danger," she replied.
"We have to show this to Marinette's parents!" Alya said.
"Use the group chat I created for the thirty-something people search party," Nino suggested.
She texted a picture of it to everyone.
"We might as well get back to the Louvre," Ladybug told her.
"I'll put that in the chat as well."
Messaging: Search Squad
Alya:
Picture file sent. Click link to view: Marinette.Diary.JPEG
Alya: Check the link! I found a note Marinette left for us!
Chat Noir: She says she isn't kidnapped! Thank goodness, she says she's okay! Is there a date on it or anything?
Tom: You didn't see her around the area at all?
Sabine: I'm glad to see that she's not in trouble.
Nadja: I'm live on the news for this investigation. Would you like me to present the entry on television?
Ladybug: Sorry, she wasn't around the area and it's not dated. I'm unsure of her whereabouts, but she seems to be alright.
Tom: That would be great, Nadja! Sabine says she's alright with it as well.
Alya: I'll give the note to you guys at the Louvre. We've started heading back.
Sabine: Alright, we're on our way.
Sabrina: Chloe, my dad, and I will start heading back as well. We didn't find anything about Marinette at the mall.
Fred Hapréle: Same here. We're on our way back to the Louvre.
Soon enough, everyone met back at the Louvre. Alya had given the official note to Marinette's parents, and everyone was unsure of what to do next.
"Well, it seems that we've searched everywhere in Paris. Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng, we'll keep a lookout for sure and I'll have my police department's cars out to search as well," Sabrina's father told Tom and Sabine.
"Is there anything else we can do? There's got to be something," Chat Noir argued, remembering how Nino told him all about how Marinette was freaking out when he went missing that one time. She cared so much when he disappeared, and he was found. The same had to go for Marinette. She couldn't stay missing forever, and it was making Ladybug miserable.
"We'll look again tomorrow. Meanwhile, you kids go do your homework."
And it seemed like Bridgette wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.