"I don't like him. Next!"

Leanne let out a long sigh, running her hand down her face.

"B-But Miss, I barely said a line-"

"Nope! You're talentless. Next!"

"Chloé, you can't just determine actors based off of their looks. And it's not like it's going to matter anyways, because these men are auditioning for The Phantom. This is the character who is supposed to supposed to be deformed and 'hideous' to look at." Leanne dropped her papers on the table before Chloe, Leanne and one other sitting before the stage as one young man with a makeshift mask walked off with a sigh.

"Deformed and 'hideous' to look at?" Chloé snickered. "Someone call Nathanael!" She called out.

Adrien, who was onstage prepping some of the background stage with Nino and Marinette, who was helping a designer with costumes, both turned to Chloé.

"Chloé!"

"That's not nice to say!"

Chloé huffed, offended by Marinette's words, but then gasped excitedly and looked over at Adrien.

"Ooh, ooh, I know! Why don't we have my Adrikins audition for the part?" Chloé's face brightened and she turned to Leanne. "I'm sure he would be perfect for the part! My Adrikins is good at everything! Except, he's not hideous to look at." Chloé shot a wink to Adrien on the stage and he chuckled nervously, desperately wishing that Miss Leanne would not listen to her stupid antics.

"Adrien is a very skilled student. He excels when reading Shakespeare." Professor Bustier spoke up behind Leanne.

Leanne looked at her watch and then back at Professor Bustier and the rest of her actors going to audition.

"I suppose we can take a ten minute break and see what you kids can do." Leanne sighed and Chloé cheered as the rest of the actors scattered.

Adrien was trying to sneak off of the stage, when Chloé came up and latched onto his arm, dragging him out to center stage.

"Come on Adrikins, don't be shy!" He laughed nervously, but he was internally cursing Chloé.

Marinette huffed from her spot on the side of the stage, papers scattered around her as she was helping a designer with some costumes.

"I-I would really like to, but I kind of have to-"

"Wipe the stage away Adrikins!" Chloé said, handing him a script.

Adrien wanted to refuse but he couldn't refuse her. Not in front of everyone.

Adrien took the script from her hands and Chloé clapped quickly, jumping off stage.

Marinette watched as Adrien leafed through the script, the spotlight shining on him, making him look like a handsome angel.

The heat of the spotlight made Adrien feel hot and uncomfortable, along with the many pairs of eyes that were staring at him. He rolled his head across his shoulders and his eyes caught a glance over at Marinette, who was watching him intently. With that, he smiled and put his script down.

"You have come here, in pursuit of your deepest urge. In pursuit of that wish which 'til now has been silent... Silent! I have brought you, that our passion may fuse and merge. In your mind you've already succumbed to me. Dropped all defenses, completely succumbed to me! Now, you are here with me. No second thoughts. You've decided... Decided! Past the point of no return. No backward glances... our games of make-believe are at an end! Past all thought of if or when. No use resisting..." His voice was a tone deeper, demanding and deathly attractive.

Blinded by the spotlight, he was just looking aimlessly into the auditorium but his words rang deep within him and he started to turn to a person whom he felt his words were deemed to be directed to.

"Abandon thought and let the dream descend! What raging fire shall flood the soul? What rich desires unlock its door? What sweet seductions lie before us? Past the point of no return. The final threshold..." He reached out his hand towards Marinette, his eyes gleaming darkly and seductively. "What warm, unspoken secrets will we learn? Beyond the point of no... Return!"

Marinette had been listening to his words the whole time and she realized something – He was right.

Marinette had always liked Adrien, she could consider it a crush, but now? It was an irresistible and undeniable flame that she had succumbed to.

She let out a shaky breath she had been holding in, her heart pounding in her throat and drumming in her ears. With her breathing as a signal of mild acknowledgement, Adrien shot her a wink, before looking towards the shadow of a figure he saw sitting below the stage. Claps echoed along the auditorium and Adrien was snapped back to reality, his shyness taking over the better of him. He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Whoa dude, that was awesome!" Nino went to Adrien and gave him a rough pat on the shoulder. "Who knew you'd be so great at acting!"

"That's my Adrikins for you! Hey, you should let him take the role." Chloé bugged Leanne and Professor Bustier had to step in.

"These shows go on for several weeks and up to months. Surely, you wouldn't want us to leave Adrien behind?" Professor Bustier hit the nail on the head and Chloé quickly declined and told Leanne that she could not keep Adrien.

The rest of the day went by and there were some roles that couldn't be filled due to Chloé's quick shoot down if she didn't like the person.

Adrien and Nino finished setting up the stage with a couple of the other boys and Marinette had gotten so caught up designing with the costume designer Shaun, that she didn't notice whenever Professor Bustier had starting calling everyone up to go to the hotel for the afternoon.

"You know, you're really good at designing." Shaun told Marinette as they sat side by side on the floor with designs all over them.

"Thank you! I dream of becoming a fashion designer." Marinette smiled.

"Well, you got the knack for it. Wanna stay here and become my assistant?" He teased and Marinette laughed.

"I would love to but I'm sure I have to talk this through with my parents."

"Marinette?" Her head turned to the call of her name. Adrien was standing before them, Adrien seeming to purposely avoid looking at Shaun. "Professor Bustier said it's time for us to go."

"Aw. Well, I hope you take me up on that offer. If you do, you know where to find me." The designer gave Marinette a wink as she stood and brushed herself off with a giggle.

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind, Shaun. Thanks!" Marinette began to climb off the stage and Adrien had stayed behind just for a fraction of a second, sending a death glare over at the designer still sitting on the floor.

"Paws off. She's mine."

"So where are we going now?" Marinette asked as she sat in a seat in front of Nino and Alya. The class had been filed into a travel bus, Alya and Nino looking into a map.

"It looks like we're going to Sir John Soane's Museum." Nino replied and Alya peeled herself away from the map to look into her phone.

"Eccentric 19th century collector's home packed with classical sculptures, paintings and other curiosities." Alya said, reading off of her phone.

"Well, it doesn't sound too bad." Marinette said, sitting facing forward.

"Speak for yourself." Nino muttered. Marinette wished she could as she looked over at the empty seat beside her – Seconds after the two of them stepped out of the opera house, Nathalie and Adrien's bodyguard were waiting to pick him up.

"Sorry Marinette, I'm going to have to leave you. Will you be alright for a couple hours to yourself?" He asked. Adrien hated himself for listening to his father, for thinking that for a fraction of a second, his father would let him leave the country for a moment of peace.

"D-Don't worry, I'll be fine!" Marinette stammered, flushed by his concern. "I'll just tag along closely to Alya and Nino when they aren't making out." They both shared a laugh but Adrien sighed, apologizing again. "It's okay, it's not like you're leaving me for the whole trip."

"I... I hope that won't be the case." He gave Marinette a sympathetic smile and apologized yet again, before being ushered into a car by Nathalie.

Adrien's rest of the day was a photoshoot in the Jubilee Gardens in front of the London Eye.

"More publicity." Nathalie had stated. Between shots, Adrien would watch as the London Eye turned in the sky, watching as the baby blue skies slowly changed pink, his eye catching on a couple that was sitting in one of the gondolas, snuggled together and watching the setting sun.

Adrien hoped that Marinette was doing well without him, hoping that by now, they would all be in the hotel, eating dinner. Adrien was so distracted with his thoughts regarding Marinette that a loud explosion in the River Thames startled him out of his skin almost. Many people screamed and started running, water dropping everywhere around them with the large explosion from the river. A dark laugh and a shadow rose from the sudden vortex that had now formed in the River Thames.

"You fools simply judge by appearances. You wouldn't know talent if it bit you in the behind!" Adrien focused in on the figure floating above the vortex, seeing a man in all black with a cap, a purple mask covering his eyes in the shape of a butterfly.

"Phantom, I am Papillon. These people don't appreciate true talent when they see it. In exchange for people knowing your true talent, I give you this power."

"My pleasure Papillon." The Phantom growled happily. "London is truly a stupid place. London always gets destroyed in films, now it's time for the real thing." The Phantom laughed and out of his cape he pulled a cane out of his cape, pointing up to the skies.

Thunder rocketed through the orange-pink skies and they suddenly turned gray, rain pouring down and sending everyone scattering everywhere for cover.

"An akuma in London?" Adrien was hidden in the shade of a tree, everyone else still running to the nearest cover. Plagg refused to come out of hiding in Adrien's shirt due to the downpour. "Plagg, transform me!"

Adrien welcomed the tightfitting suit of leather around him and he opened his eyes as Chat Noir, his catlike vision allowing him to see in the dark atmosphere the Phantom had created.

"Have you considered how you're going to capture the akuma and cleanse it? May I remind you, you hold the miraculous of destruction, not creation." Plagg inquired from the back of Chat's mind and he shrugged.

"Maybe I can just use my cataclysm on it and destroy it." Chat smirked and he could see Plagg face palm in his mind's eye.

"Why don't you try calling Ladybug?"

Chat scoffed. "There's no way. She's at home, safe, at Paris." Plagg snickered and Chat stepped out from the shadow of his tree, using his baton to extend him towards the London Eye, sitting on the centerpiece of the now dim Ferris wheel. "Paw-don me, monsieur, but you just ruined my purr­-fect day." Chat gave his signature smirk.

"Black cats are very unlucky. I should dispose of such unlucky things." The Phantom growled, pointing his cane towards Chat, bringing in a freezing chill to the downpour, causing golf ball sized hail flying towards Chat Noir. "Give me your miraculous, you naughty feline! Or else I'll bring all natural disasters to center in to London!" Chat dodged the hail, the hail causing damage to the Ferris wheel.

"You don't have Ladybug, so without her power, any damage that is caused will remain." Plagg cursed in the back of Chat's mind.

"You think I don't know that Plagg?" Chat used his baton to extend away from the London Eye, towards the open park.

The Phantom followed, the vortex of water that had been in the Thames was now rising out of the water, the winds it was producing making the London Eye sway. The trees all around him swayed haphazardly in the wind, leaves and branches ripping off of the trunks and flying towards the vortex.

Just as Chat touched ground, a tree branched zipped by him, swiping his cheek with a nice gash that ran across his cheek. In the cold rain, Chat could feel the warm blood running down his cheek as he cursed, keeping his eyes open not only for the Phantom, but any more stray branches.

The Phantom settled several yards across from the distracted cat, lifting his cane in the air before bringing it down to the ground, sending a crack from in front of the Phantom's feet towards the distracted black cat.

"Look out!" But Plagg's warning had come too late. The ground shook with the magnitude of a great earthquake, Chat unable to keep his balance as the ground began to break open at his feet. Sirens rang in Chat's mind. "Pull back Adrien! We need Ladybug's help!" Chat used his baton to push onto the nearest roof and ran, going towards dark clouds, a laugh rising from behind him.

"You can run, but you can't hide forever, black cat." The Phantom called out to Chat's retreating figure.

"Damn it all." Chat cursed as he ran across roofs and between buildings. He swiped his thumb upwards on his baton, the screen lighting up with the Ladybug's face on the screen. He continued running, expecting the call to decline but when he heard the sounds of a pickup, he stopped, looking down at his baton.

"My lady?" He asked and a smile appeared on his face as he saw his wonderful Ladybug appear on the screen. It was only an hour's difference between Paris and London, so it seemed a bit odd to him that his lady was out on patrol so early in the evening, but he was nonetheless happy that she picked up.

"Chat? What are you doing? Is something the matter?" Concern was evidently laced in her words.

"Ah, yes, there is a paw-sibility that I made need your assistance..." Thunder rumbled in the skies above and the two visibly flinched. He glanced back at his lady and he noticed she was looking at him rather attentively.

"Chat? Is that a Ferris wheel that was in the background?" She asked and he chuckled nervously.

"Well you see..."

"Chat. Where are you?" Ladybug asked.

"Um..."

"Chat."

"London." Silence.

"You mean London, London?"

"London in the United Kingdom, London."

She gave a chuckle of disbelief. "Where are you?" She asked.

"Going towards Big Ben." Chat was still as confused when she answered the call.

"Alright. I'll be there in five."