inspired by azamack's/ artzamack's lovely fanart on tumblr.
Chapter One
remiss (adjective)
1. lacking care or attention to duty; negligent.
Adrien could feel the sun shining through the window before he even opened his eyes; it was going to be a beautiful day and the forecast had called for it to be similar for the remainder of the month. He was so preoccupied with basking in the warmth of his blankets and of the light that he almost did not register the sound of his alarm.
Reluctantly Adrien lifted his arm, grasping at the air until the snooze button met with his fingers. Silence filled the room and he was able to once again enjoy the sunlight caressing his skin.
Not for long, he sighed internally, realizing that he was never really allowed to sleep in.
With a groan, he sat up, reaching his arms high above his head and allowed his muscles to stretch while a groan of protest passed his lips. "Good morning, Plagg," he greeted, setting his feet on the ground.
His hand rose in an attempt to rub the sleep from his eyes, and almost emphasizing how exhausted he felt, Adrien yawned sonorously and shamelessly. After a few moments, he realized that he did not receive the usual response of "five more minutes," and his eyebrow raised, a disbelieving grin ghosting across his lips. He had to hand it to Plagg; he was a pretty heavy sleeper, even compared to Adrien.
"Plagg?" The name hung in the air, again without any words from his Kwami.
His smile was replaced with a puzzled frown - then his eyes snapped to the hand near his face, still balled into a fist, and he realized that something was missing: his Miraculous.
My ring?! His breath caught in his throat as he stared at his bare hand, and he even held it out farther just to make sure. It can't be gone. It was right here last night. Plagg was right here.
"No," he spoke with a gasp, his eyes widening as the reality of the situation crashed down upon him. His body was trembling, his eyebrows drawn together with incredulity, and suddenly he felt like he was stuck within a bad dream.
He wished he was stuck within a bad dream.
"NO!"
The scream echoed through the house, carrying his emotions with it: the disbelief, the shock, the anger, and the pure agony of the situation.
Gabriel Agreste sat in his office, head in his hands as he listened to the pained shout of his only son. He tensed, his lips parting and the breathing he had been holding flowing out quickly.
Inside the desk drawer to his left sits a box, and inside that box, a ring. Not just any ring, but the very ring that he had noticed Adrien to be wearing when they had hugged after the incident with Jackady. "It'll all be over soon," he had said, and he meant it.
"It's for his own good," he mumbled to himself, seemingly convinced by his own words as he returned to his work.
Turmoil ensued inside of Adrien. Losing his ring meant losing Plagg - losing the one person who knew him with and without the mask, inside and out. Plagg, although inhuman, was his absolute best friend, in spite of their jovial conflicts, and he had been irresponsible and negligent enough to lose the one thing that kept him around.
Adrien ripped the blanket off of his bed in hopes of hearing the metal clatter to the ground, but he was left hanging when all that followed was quiet. The quiet made him want to explode.
His dresser suffered next. Clothes were thrown out behind him, scattering all over the floor in an array of casual and formal, vivid and neutral, and his shoes were not far behind. Still, even after tearing every clothing article out of his dresser, he was left empty-handed.
The bedroom was large, yet even though he scoured every inch of it, not a glimmer of silver was seen.
Not even the bathroom held a trace of to where his Miraculous had disappeared, but even in the shower he did not remove the ring from his finger; he would not have done that to Plagg. The idea that it might have fallen down that drain was a bust, since the drain was covered and the only thing small enough to fit through was the water itself.
As soon as he had begun looking, though, he had known that he had not accidentally lost it. His ring had definitely been on his finger, since he clearly remembered Plagg falling asleep in his mess of blond hair.
Someone had to have taken it.
And I was asleep, he thought bitterly, fists clenching at his sides as he looked around. It resembled the scene of a tornado, should he have to compare it to anything. He did not care. Plagg was stolen while I was asleep and I couldn't even wake up to stop it from happening. Am I really that careless?
He stumbled backwards, sitting on his bed and staring blankly at the window in front of him. While a part of him was able to comprehend to situation, a corner of his mind refused to accept it; after all that time as Chat Noir, keeping his identity a secret and protecting his Miraculous from the hands of evil, it all gets taken from him in a split second.
He lost his Miraculous. He lost Plagg. He lost Chat Noir.
His mind drifted to a certain hero clad in polkadots and he wondered just what she would do - and he knew she would do everything in her power to find her missing Miraculous. "I can't just sit here," he scolded himself, standing abruptly once more and grabbing his cell phone. "I have to find my Miraculous and save Plagg!"
Without another word he dashed out of his room, making a bee-line towards the front door. Nothing would stop him; not anybody-
"Adrien." Nathalie's stern voice stunned him. Clearly she had just arrived, since she had not even been able to set her briefcase down. "We need to leave soon."
"Leave?" he repeated dumbly, not quite understanding what she was talking about.
His gaze was caught by a flickering over her shoulder and he realized that the television had been turned on, broadcasting the local Parisian news. While it had been speaking of the pleasant weather moments prior, a breaking newscast cut in with an update on akuma activity.
"The villain appears to have the power to put people to sleep and nothing seems to be able to wake them," the caster reported, holding the microphone inches from her mouth. "The targets do not seem to be specific, either; he's targeting anyone and everyone in his view."
The akumatized boy in question appeared behind her, a sickly sweet grin on his lips as he stared directly into the camera's lens.
"Now we hopefully await to appearance of Ladybug and-" Suddenly a blast of blue blinded her and she swayed before falling to the side in a deep sleep. It was clear the the cameraman had been affected as well when the camera clattered to the ground.
Fingers snapping in front of his face snatched his attention. "Were you listening at all?" Nathalie asked while tapping her foot.
"I really need to go-"
"You're not going anywhere." With a roll of her eyes, she turned around and began walking towards the door, silently ordering Adrien to follow her. "Your father arranged for a photoshoot with one of Paris's most famous photographers, and this is the only time he is able to fit us in for the next three months. We are not missing this."
"But-" Adrien tried again.
He was cut off, again. "No 'but's. We're leaving… now."
A wave of panic coursed through his veins as his worried stare flickered between the television and Nathalie's back. So badly did he want to go and defend Paris, but apparently there was no way for him to weasel his way out of the photo shoot.
My Lady… She can handle this on her own.
His hopes for her were high, even as he climbed into the limousine and drove in the opposite direction of the akuma.
After this, I need to focus on finding Plagg. That's my priority.
Something in his gut told him that it would not be so easy; the task he had before him would be a long and perilous one, whether or not he recruited the finest help Paris had to offer.