Notes: Inspired by La Chata AU by Ladybeug on Tumblr.

This is a thank you gift for the lovely Puss in Boots commission piece from Ladybeug for her Le Chata AU (Chat Noir as an Actual Cat)!). Check it out! It's really, really good! (You can find these tagged as "La Chata AU" on her tumblr. She had graciously allowed me to post this gift!

In setting up my request, I spent quite a lot of time wondering how that Cat transformation might come undone actually...or just how he had come by it in the first place. This piece is the result of my own headcanons of her lovely AU, explaining the absence of characters during some certain key comic events.

Thanks also go out to Kellarhi and Enberlight for beta reading!

More than a little winded, Tikki fled out from under the fairy lights which sparkled against the fading Paris sunlight. It was never ideal to stray away from their chosen, but she and Plagg needed to get Chat Noir back on his proverbial feet. And fast.

It was a necessary evil, one that Tikki hadn't agreed to quickly. Without the ability to transform, their chosen shouldn't get into much trouble while they were gone. The Kwami could even bring a miraculous back… if an Akuma appeared.

But Hawkmoth had already unleashed one Akuma onto Paris this evening.

Tikki narrowed her eyes. And they needed to speak of matters that their chosen might not yet be ready to hear.

"What's the matter, Sugar Cube? Been putting away too many sweets?" Plagg winked.

"Not all of us get to nap all day, Plagg." She huffed, dashing through the air a bit more slowly than usual. She whirled on Plagg, cutting off his way forward pointedly. "Someone has to keep the Akuma at bay and make sure your chosen's father doesn't catch wise to his current, reduced state. And with Marinette insisting that we do so to help keep Adrien safe - and to bring all your cheese back from Adrien's house - she can hardly swipe enough cookies from the bakery to keep my energy up."

Plagg gaped in affront. "I'm not napping."

Tikki rolled her eyes, speeding off over the rooftops.

"Well, I'm not napping all the time." Plagg huffed, zipping behind her to catch up. "Keeping the kid focused on something other than his temptation to go stir-crazy is a whole chore in itself. I swear he's been whining more about being stuck inside than I ever do."

Tikki giggle-snorted at that.

Plagg continued as if he hadn't heard her laughter. "Do you even know how long I've been hearing him wax poetic about how amazing Marinette is for going over and making his Dad think he's still there, sick? And it isn't like he can call up his other friends… not while he's supposed to be so sick. As soon as I figure out his phone, I am going to record him that so I can watch your girl go scarlet without the transformation."

"Plagg." Tikki chided, peering back at him over her tiny shoulder. "You know Adrien needs to use all that recording space to keep the ruse."

Plagg sighed into the darkness. "I'm just happy he's out of that house. Even if it's only a little while until we get all this straightened out."

Circling back to pat his shoulder, Tikki smiled. They hovered above Master Fu's familiar rooftop. "I dunno if your trick would work anyways. Marinette's been doing pretty well since she found out who was behind the mask. The fact that she saw Chat Noir vulnerable first made it all a bit easier on her, I think. She's got a cooler head for crises, and she's definitely been happy to have Adrien around." Tikki shook her head sadly. "I'm just worried that when this all calms down, she'll get stuck in her own thoughts again."

"If it helps any, the kid is already more of asmitten kitten than usual." Plagg mewsed, mischief bright in his glowing eyes.

Tikki just groaned as she phased in through Master Fu's door.

Books were strewn all around Master Fu's otherwise sparse living quarters. Wayzz flitted about anxiously, keeping his senses attuned for the slightest hint of trouble as they talked.

Tikki frowned, as she slipped down onto the table to pick up a cookie from a plate. Master Fu looked far more somber than ever, which didn't bode well for their research.

Plagg grumbled audibly as he took in Master Fu's serious appearance, then scowled at a slim slice of cheddar as he dropped down to the table beside her.

"Plagg, Tikki. Thank you for returning so quickly." Master Fu sat at the table with them. "Your chosen will not be joining us?"

Tikki frowned, briefly meeting Plagg's eyes. "Not tonight. You have news for us?"

Master Fu closed his eyes, placing his phone atop the table for Tikki and Plagg to see. "I'm afraid I didn't find much, as I've been working to decode the history contained within the pages of the book. It seems - for at least what has been recorded - that the other miraculous haven't been used nearly as often."

Wayzz hovered at Master Fu's shoulder. "I checked with the other Kwami as well, and none recalled a situation like this, where the ring was fractured. Of course, none of the others are nearly as prone to damage." His eyes fell on Plagg, then turned to Tikki, "Or to healing."

Tikki nodded, sagely. "That makes sense. Most of them have only been drawn out sparingly."

Wayzz tilted his head. "Indeed. So unless Duusu or Nooroo possessed some special knowledge… I'm afraid we are no closer than we were yesterday."

Master Fu stroked wrinkled fingers over his beard. "Yes. The cat miraculous is the most prone to damage because of the nature of its power, and the fact that it has Tikki's powers of creation as its equal and opposite. Those effects appear to be compounded, as you seem to be used in a partnership more often than not."

Plagg's brows furrowed, as he tossed the too-sharp bite of cheddar into his mouth to mask his growing irritation. This certainly did not bode well for Adrien, who had things hard enough as it was. None of this was what he'd wanted to hear - not when it had all gone sideways the once before...

Tikki peered over at him. "But our holders haven't always been so close…I mean, with Kali Billi..."

"That was hardly his fault." Narrowing his eyes, Plagg chewed noisily. "They really couldn't know one another because they were of different castes… in different sections and lived miles apart."

Tikki flinched, shutting her eyes. "I know she was sequestered. When the ring was corrupted, the closeness that would have been needed for her to heal him would have left her a pariah."

Plagg hissed. "So she did fear him. Or was it just that she feared he was of the lower caste?"

"That's not fair, Plagg. He had turned into a black tiger." Tikki huffed, wheeling on him. "Be reasonable. He was large and he was wild. It would have been very hard for her not to be terrified!"

"But her fear was what had him spiral further into the more chaotic animalistic side." Growling, Plagg's tiny claws bit into the table. "Locking him up did nothing to improve matters!"

"It was the only way to get the ring off of him."

"Which we should have tried before we let him transform…"

Tikki sighed. "You're right."

"Huh?" Plagg said, eloquently.

"We could have done better, for them both. We should have sought out a blacksmith and tried to fix the ring first." Tikki's blue eyes flashed. "We should have both chased him into the jungle...on that first day. Before things had gotten so dire."

Plagg harrumphed, silently staring at his other half. "But at least then, we could still see the ring to try and fix it. This became melded to Adrien's usual form after he cast Cataclysm."

Master Fu, flattened his hands against the table. "Is it possible he's already fighting the chaos then? That keeping Ladybug so close, in any form, is keeping his form locked in place from drifting further from his human form?"

"So their proximity will only help us to fix the situation…?" Tikki pondered aloud.

"It is possible," Master Fu hummed, "eventually."

Tikki breathed, her lips curving upwards. "Then there may be hope of reversing this."

Plagg scowled. Tikki might want to hope, but neither of their holders was there yet. As much as Tikki's girl would be good for his chosen someday, the girl had a crush on his face... not on the real boy underneath. Right now, it wouldn't be enough, not to keep him safe from the ebb and tide of chaos and self-doubt. The fact that Marinette could be so level right now only served to prove his point to Tikki.

"It will only work after pigtails can square off with a much bigger Chat Noir, one who would be fighting a living cataclysm in his mind."

"Adrien has incredible control...when he wants to…" Tikki hedged. "And we both know he wants things back to normal...at least as much as they can be."

Plagg snorted, shaking his head. "I bet the kid will want to keep all the petting."

"And the purring," Tikki smiled.

Sighing, Plagg dropped back onto the table, wearily staring up at the ceiling. "It's still too risky. Much too risky…"

"It does appear that young Adrien and Marinette are growing closer by the day." Master Fu offered. "But it is only a matter of time before Adrien's father wisens to his missing son."

Plagg shook his head. "I've already sworn him off of transforming."

"You didn't tell him why?" Tikki chided.

"Of course not." Plagg grumped. "He'd be reckless enough to try it without understanding the risks."

Tikki smiled sadly. "But Adrien is going to need to know… and soon."

"But if it all comes with a risk of harming Ladybug," Plagg exhaled a shaky breath, "then he's not going to want to do it."

"She doesn't want to kiss me."

Plagg snickered, phasing up through the skylight as Tikki hovered over his chosen's prone form on the floor. "There, there…"

He couldn't exactly handle the kid at his most over-dramatic, but at least he was being a bit more honest now that the masks had fallen away.

Clearly, Tikki's chosen had a bit more common sense, since she had turned him away.

Then again, Ladybug always was about business. How much of that was owed to his other half, Plagg was never sure.

She leaned against the lounger, peering up at the sky and contemplating the night.

She had a barely-eaten piece of cheesecake that almost certainly had his name on it.

If only she didn't look so put out…anxiously biting at the corner of her bottom lip, fingers fanned out over her stomach. "How would I know if I wasted magic, Tikki?"

"I'm not Tikki, but it seems like any good use isn't really a waste, right?"

Her blue eyes were comically wide. "Plagg?"

Plagg chuckled, nibbling the corner of the cheesecake. "Hard to be saving Paris and not be putting it to good use."

"But what if I used up all the magic I needed to help Adrien change back?" She fidgeted, tucking her knees up against her chest, and pushed the rest of the scarcely touched cheesecake over to her partner's Kwami. "I mean, when Dark Cupid had Chat Noir under his influence before, it seemed so important that I needed to break the spell he was under at the time, but this seems like it is all that much harder to break."

Plagg's eyes glimmered with delight at the creamy bit of sweetness. "You really are that worried about him?"

Marinette sat up to full height. "Of course, I'm worried about him! He's my partner. And my friend."

"And something more, too?" Plagg smirked.

He wasn't at all disappointed as she blushed impressively in spite of the dark. "I can't really worry about all that right now. But if there is something I can do to help him, I feel like I should be doing it. Adrien wants to be able to go home and to school. He ought to be able to race the rooftops by my side."

She fiddled with her hair, brushing the windblown bits behind her ears. "And I know that he would do the same for me…"

Finishing off the last of the cheesecake, Plagg watched her fidget and muse for a while longer.

"That's the thing about magic."

"Hmm?" She glanced over at him, just as eager and honest as the kid ever was.

"Sometimes, it just has a funny way of working things out."