"Marinette..." I whispered, tightening my fist.

"Do you know her? She's really sweet, sometimes I stop by her house and she gives me croissants! She's a nice girl, I don't know who made her angry..." Cat Noir sighed.

I gave Cat a look of sorrow, distracted by what was happening. "M'la- Epitaph, look out!" Cat Noir threw himself on the floor with me.

I rubbed my head, groaning. "I'm sorry, I was distracted." I mentioned, hiding behind a flower pot.

Cat Noir hid behind another flower pot. "It's okay, but be careful. She shoots black bows, and I'm guessing that's a hate bow. She has 1 pink bow, which is probably love."

"She mentioned the pink bow is for Adrien Agreste, do you t-"

"B-But they're just friends!" Cat Noir interrupted. "...Sorry."

I brushed off what he said, directing my attention back to Marinette. "It doesn't matter, she may have a crush on him. I don't blame her, if she really loves him, it must be hard on her since everyone in Paris loves him."

"Sure, he's handsome, but I'm better! I'm so purr-fect, anyone can fall in love with these adorable cat eyes!" He exclaimed, cheekily smiling. I stifled a laugh.

A loud scream of civilians yelling startled Cat Noir and I. "I think it's time you use your Lucky Charm..." He added, peering over the flower pot. I nodded my head, gripping onto the yo-yo.

"Lucky Charm!" I yelled. An object fell onto the ground, wrapped up in a Ladybug print packaging. I opened it, revealing a voice box that had a note written on it. 'Adrien's voice'

"This is one of the most straightforward Lucky charms I have ever seen..." He muttered, holding the picture. "It may be because I'm inexperienced. Whatever it may be, let's just use this to distract Marinette, and then you cataclysm her purse, the Akuma has to be in it."

Cat Noir gave me a thumbs up, activating his power.

I pressed the button on the box, a voice coming out of it. "H-Hey, let go of my wrist, I don't think Marinette is chasing us anymore!"

Marinette quickly turned around, about to grab the pink arrow. Cat Noir took his chance and cataclysmed her purse, resulting in the Akuma leaving and her falling due to the detransformation.

"I got her!" I yelled out, catching her and then setting her on the floor. "Give a moment please, I have to uh, you know... Got ya, bye-bye little butterfly... Miraculous Epitaph!"

Once everything went back to normal, I looked at Marinette. Her eyes were a puffy red and her eyeliner was messed up. I crouched down, wiping off the eyeliner that was dripping down her cheek.

"I heard about you, Marinette, supposedly you're a sweet girl and almost everyone likes you!" I continued. "What happened today though..."

Marinette giggled out of embarrassment, looking off to the side. "Well... I saw my crush and one of my good friends get a little... close to each other. Dumb, right?" Her face fell downwards, almost like she was trying to resist a frown.

"It's not dumb, you can't control your feeling and that's okay. I would suggest you talk to your friend about it, and see if they are together or it was a misunderstanding." I smiled at her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

My earrings beep which meant I was about to detransform back soon. "I uh, have to go... I hope everything works out for you!"

"W-Wait, you're not the regular Ladybug, right?" She asked. I shook my head, averting my gaze down. Marinette laughed. "You did an amazing job, thank you." She complimented.

I thanked her, walking towards Cat Noir. "Well, this marks the end of me being Ladybug." I said, spinning my yo-yo.

Cat Noir groaned. "You were actually pretty cool, Epitaph, but I can't wait to see my lady again! If Ladybug isn't available, I want you to be her!" He exclaimed, holding out his fist.

I first bumped him, latching onto a building with the yo-yo. From that building, I made my way home, detransforming on the balcony.

Tikki came out, grinning. "Thank you for helping us with this, Y/N! But as you know, I have to give the miraculous back to my master."

I agreed with her, taking off the earrings. "Marinette is Ladybug, isn't she?" I abruptly asked, handing her the earrings.

Tikki sighed, she didn't look surprised, it was more of an acceptance look. "I knew you were going to find out... what made you know?"

"Well, Marinette being akumatized and Ladybug being MIA correlated, and then whenever I draw Ladybug, I have to draw the facial features of Marinette..."

"Just please, don't tell anyone. If anyone knows who Ladybug is, Hawkmoth can easily target her in her civilian form." Tikki explained.

I nodded, opening my balcony door. "Well, Tikki, this is where we part." Tikki sighed, smiling. "It was nice to have you as a temporary holder of this miraculous, Epitaph." With those last words, Tikki flew away into the night.

Once she was gone, I went inside my room. "Cat alert, coming through!"

Cat Noir flew right into my room, landing on his feet. I gave him a 'why are you here' look. "Cat, why are yo-"

"Why am I here? Well, Miss little manga artist, I was coming back from fighting a villain, you know the usual." He flexed his arms. "Get to the point..."

He giggled. "And then, on my way back to my house, I came across Adrien Agreste! He told me he was looking for you since supposedly you guys got separated during the Akuma attack. I told him I would find out where you were and tell him."

I walked over to the balcony, sitting down on a chair. "During the attack, Adrien hid me away, but after a while, I tried to look for him, but didn't see him. I didn't see any trouble happening from where I was, so I ran back home, and you can see, I'm safe."

Cat Noir got close to my face, smirking. "Why were you and that Adrien boy together? Sounds like you two were being friendly." He chuckled.

I backed up, shaking my head. "We're just friends! He's attractive and has a good personality, but my friend likes him and I can't do that to her... why do you care anyway?"

"Oh, nothing, just wondering! Well, I'll get going, but before I go, Adrien told me to tell you to text him, he's worried about you!" Cat Noir smiled before jumping off the balcony with his staff.

I rubbed my head, taking out my phone.

💚

Me - heyy, how are you?