Deeper and deeper under the castle went Ivan and Marinette until soon they come to a corridor where they saw a pair of knights guarding a room further down.
"There they are," Marinette said trying to come up with an idea.
"So what now?" Plagg asked before taking a bite out of a piece of cheese he just seemed to have.
"Leave it to me." said Ivan and went to go talk to them.
o0o
Everyone watched as Ivan went to directly talk to them.
"Oh there you are." he said "The King needs you right away in the courtyard, and he says if you didn't hurry you'll spend the rest of your lives as house-flies. Or was it Horse-flies?"
Not wanting to be either, the knights left.
Waiting until she was sure they were gone, Marinette and the Kwami's came out to join Ivan who was taking the keys off of the hook and opening the door.
Slowly the door opened but it appeared to be an empty room.
"Why would Hawkmoth put guards on an empty room?" Marinette asked looking around, confused.
o0o
Behind a magic wall Chat Noir, Chloe, Nino, and Alya watched as Marinette, Ivan and the Kwami's came in.
"Marinette!" Chat said making her stop as she was about to leave.
"What's wrong with her?" Chloe asked "She deaf or something?"
"We can see them," Nino said slowly trying to work it out "But they can't see us."
"Or hear us apparently," Alya said knocking on the wall to test that.
Chat Noir placed his hand on the wall wishing he could get to Marinette.
o0o
Reaching out her hand Marinette slowly moved forwards until she felt some kind of wall.
Looking around she found torch and asked Ivan to help her get it off the wall.
Together they got it down, and used it to hit the wall making it break and collapse.
Smiling the first thing Marinette did was hug Chat Noir who hugged her back.
"Aww..." all the Kwami's but Plagg said reminding them they weren't alone.
"We've got to get out of here," Ivan said to everyone "Hawkmoth's building a bonfire."
"I doubt it's to warm up the palace," Chat said trying to be funny. "Come on, let's see if there's anyone else down here first." he said taking the keys and running off down the corridor.
o0o
For the next 15 minutes, they checked every room and let everyone out.
Once they were sure everyone was there, they headed back upstairs.
In the courtyard Hawkmoth was watching as everyone in the kingdom was brought before him.
Up on the balcony over-looking the courtyard, after Ivan and the other prisoners said they'd look for away out, Chat, Marinette, Nino, Alya, and Chloe were all watching this happen.
"Ladybug or no Ladybug that tyrant's got to be stopped." Chat said jumping up onto the railing.
Pulling out his sword, he looked down and called out:
"Is this any way to run a kingdom Hawkmoth?"
"Ah... you're just in time for the party," he replied before using his staff to set the wooden tepee on fire.
Jumping down, Chat Noir faced his opponent and said the wisest words he thinks he ever said "There's more to being a king than having a crown."
"Oh? And suddenly you're an expert?" Hawkmoth asked the feeling that he was hiding something in his voice.
"You'll never gain their loyalty until you've earned their respect." Chat said looking to the crowd.
"I don't need their loyalty," Hawkmoth said glaring at the wooden cat boy "I don't even need them."
Turning to the crowd he cast a spell.
"Those who do challenge me, living statuary be."
With that he pointed his staff to the people, gliding it from left to right and one by one everybody changed into stone statues.
Up on the balcony Alya watched as her friends and family got statue-fied and jumped down next to Chat Noir, anger in her when she saw her sisters get changed too.
"You'll pay for that Hawkmoth!" she said pulling a sword out from a knight's belt and ran towards him.
Smirking Hawkmoth turned his staff onto her and soon she was a statue as well.
"ALYA!" her friends called out.
Mouth open in surprise, Chat Noir closed it snarling like an actual cat and charged at Hawkmoth, swinging his sword, jumping back when the man changed his sceptre into an axe and started swinging back.
Chat backed Hawkmoth into a corner of wagons, knocking him down, only for him to get back up again.
"Hmm I'm afraid I underestimated you," he said glaring at the wooden boy, before casting a spell on himself to make him into a giant. "With the brawn of 20 and 6, I'll spite my enemy into sticks."
o0o
Up on the balcony Nino said one of the most obvious things he could say at that point "I think things just got a whole lot tougher."
Worried for her friend, Marinette looked for a safer way into the courtyard choosing the stairs and came out just as Hawkmoth had a beaten up Chat on the ground beneath the bonfire.
"Chat Noir!" she called and ran over to see if he was alright.
Nino came over as well, his own sword drawn in case a fight were to happen.
"I'll give you a choice Chat Noir," the giant Hawkmoth said speaking only to the wooden boy "Dismemberment, or barbeque?"
"All right that's it!" Marinette said getting up "You're no king! You're just a bully, a coward, hiding behind a magic wand. You don't deserve that crown on your head! I bet you even killed the old king yourself just so you can take over the throne!"
Those who were still alive, questioned this.
Hawkmoth was the Kings advisor, and he did go and see the king every day, and every day slowly the king did seem to get worse.
And then, Hawkmoth was the last one to see the king, as he thought it best for Prince Adrien to not see his father in the state he was in.
And... was it not Hawkmoth's idea to wait for the Prince to be ready and responsible enough before he got the throne?
"I obviously didn't shrink you small enough," he said glaring at Marinette. "Your mouth is still much too big. Well that is about to change..."
Looking into his sword to see what was going on, Chat Noir saw Hawkmoth hold up his sceptre and called for as much magic as he could "To the one who vexes me, smaller, smaller you will be!"
"NO!" Chat cried out and held the sword in the way of the beam of magic, using the shinyness of it to fire the spell back at the man.
Chat held it for as long as he could before he was knocked to the ground again.
Over with Hawkmoth, he was surrounded with magic. As he let go of the sceptre it burst into thousands of tiny pieces, and he started shrinking to the size of a mouse.
Scared, he climbed over the edge of the crown and ran to the sewer grate jumping down it.
"Ha!" Chloe called out "Back to where he belongs, the sewer!"
Marinette wasn't paying attention as she was with Chat Noir.
"Oh my poor kitty..." she said gently turning his head to look at her.
"Don't worry Marinette, I'm just wood remember?" he said coughing a little.
"You're much more than that, you stupid cat," Marinette said giving him a kiss on the cheek, not sure if she should be mad or upset that he didn't think so "It's what's inside that counts."
Slowly Chat Noir started to have a magic glow of bright green around him as he changed from a wooden nutcracker into a living young man, wearing white prince-y royal clothes, a sword tied to his waist, and white boots.
"Who... Who are you?" Marinette asked backing away a little, confused.
"It's Prince Adrien..." Nino answered for his friend, looking at Chloe to see her reaction.
"The Prince!" Chloe said happily then paused and thought of all the things she said about him "Oh... the... the Prince."
Marinette helped Adrien get back onto his feet then started glowing with red magic herself.
Her hair came free from her pigtales, a tiara was on her head, her nightdress became a beautiful princess-y dress, with a black chest area, a glitter veil around the red skirt covered in black spots, bright red tights, and black ballet slippers.
"Of course..." Adrien said realizing what was going on "Ladybug's been with us all along."
"What?" Marinette asked not understanding.
"Marinette, it's you! You are Ladybug." Adrien explained as the girl looked herself over.
"Me? I couldn't be, I'm just Marinette, remember?"
"But it all makes sense," Adrien said as he started listing the things she had done "You saved me from Hawkmoth in your parlour. You're kindness led us to Alya allowing us to join the resistance. You rescued us and everyone he had trapped there from his dungeon. You're bravery lead to his defeat. And your kiss has broken the spell. You are Ladybug, look!"
Marinette looked around and saw all the people who were moments ago changed into statues come back to life, Ella and Etta falling down due to Alya rushing over to hug them.
Then the colour came back to the castle and all the other messes, Hawkmoth had made were fixed and back to how they were before.
And last but not least, the bonfire vanished and the fountain started spurting water again.
"You've broken all of Hawkmoth's evil enchantments," Adrien said gently taking Marinette's hand.
"And now you're free to take your rightful place as king," she replied in a hopeful voice.
"Well, that's for the people to decide." he said looking to his subjects.
"Three cheers for Prince Adrien!" Nino called out to lead everyone who cheered happily along with him.
To celebrate anyone and everyone who wanted to was allowed to dance to show off their feelings at how happy they were now.
Ella and Etta went first with Plagg, Tikki, Pollen, Wayzz, Trixx, and some more friendly Kwami's flying around and dancing with them.
Next up was Alya, Nino and Chloe who did a reasonably good job, until the girls bashed into each other because they were both so focused on their own dance they didn't see where they were going.
At first Marinette was worried they were hurt, but when both started to move and to laugh, she calmed down.
Nino helped them up and they went back into the crowd to let Marinette and Adrien have their go.
"I must warn you," Marinette said in a whisper to the boy next to her as they made their way forward "I've been told I have two-left-feet."
"That's ok," Adrien said smiling "I have two-right-feet."
Sass and the Nature Kwami's flew over head and let a few rose petals fall down as the two took their positions.
Despite what they just said to each other, the two of them danced perfectly together and got the loudest cheer and a bouquet of flowers from the Kwami's.
"Thank you friends," Adrien said looking around as Marinette accepted the flowers. "As your king I shall let the wise leadership of my father be my guide."
This brought out cheers from everybody.
Now Adrien turned to Marinette with a question he hoped she would say 'Yes' to:
"None of this would have possible without you Marinette. Will you stay, and be my queen?"
In response, Marinette pointed to her ladybug locket and said "This locket was supposed to take me home, but in my heart I feel I'm already there."
Slowly she moved to kiss Adrien on the lips getting cheers from the crowed.
The cheers were dying sown when someone said: "I absolutely despise happy endings."
Looking up they saw Hawkmoth riding on the back of a bird-transformed Volpina coming right for Marinette.
As they passed, Hawkmoth reached out and snatched the locket, then waiting until Volpina was out of the reach from everyone, opened it releasing the magic which slowly started to send Marinette home.
"He's not going to get away with that!" Ella said holding out her hand which the Frost Kwami's quickly made a snowball on.
Taking up her aim the girl threw the frozen projectile and hit Volpina knocking her out and making her start to fall.
They landed on the other side of the palace wall where Ivan, Melyne, and a few other people who Hawkmoth had imprisoned were waiting with a cage for the two of them.
But the damage had already been done.
Bit by bit, Marinette was getting less solid as the magic stared to send her home.
"Marinette, no!" Adrien said trying to grab he hand but unable to catch it.
"Adrien..." she responded as she disappeared.
"Marinette!" he said hoping she could hear him "I love you."