Historian's Note:

This is the fourth in a series of adventures set in the universe first created by Elegy for a Chat, picking up immediately after Time & Again ends and in that gray area of time that may or may not have existed between the second and third seasons of Miraculous.

To any new readers, there are multiple elements from the prior three stories in this arc that are referenced in this story; though not required reading, you might find it beneficial to review those before continuing if you are just arriving. Then again, you may also want to read this one first, and backup afterward to see how we got here in the first place. The author has attempted to ensure that both options work equally well.

This particular adventure was written before the third season of Miraculous had been released in the United States; though the author attempted to avoid spoilers at all costs, they did become aware of a few plot points that were planned as part of that season but not before a substantial portion of this story had been completed. Any similarity of this tale to episode(s) that aired in the third season are purely coincidental and more due to logical intuition on the part of the author based on what had aired up to season three.

Chat Noir

I was sitting on Marinette's balcony, staring at the pendant I'd given her the night of the Sweethearts Ball.

She didn't remember I'd given it to her, of course, a direct result of the memory blocking potion she had downed earlier in the evening. It had been (in my view) a misguided attempt to protect our small circle of Miraculous Holders by erasing our knowledge of each other's true identities.

I'd found out who Ladybug was inadvertently while we were fighting off Last Walker a few months ago; then, literally a few days ago, discovered my best friend was Carapace, and Marinette's was Rena Rouge. She'd told me that Nino, Ayla and Chloe had already taken the potion, and had anticipated I would not be a willing participant to the action. She'd tried to incapacitate me long enough to get the potion into me, but I'd managed to fend her off; it had been a pyrrhic victory, though as she'd taken it herself while I watched in horror.

We'd run our normal patrol after she'd recovered from the potion's immediate effects, but my heart hadn't been in it. After we finished up for the evening, I'd automatically leaned in to kiss her as had become my custom, only to have a firm hand slap across the cheek remind me that all was not as it had been. That seemed an opportune time to part for the evening; I'd started toward the mansion but found myself instead on my favorite rooftop overlooking Notre Dame.

I was still angry that she'd done it. Angrier, perhaps, that she'd not discussed it with me, and had taken advantage of my trust to slip a Mickey Finn into my coffee to try and incapacitate me. It was partially offset by knowing she thought she'd had my best interests at heart, but considering how far we had progressed in our relationship, it was still a bitter pill to swallow. Above all, I was angry that she had intentionally taken herself away from me. That hurt worse than anything that had come before it.

I fiddled with the ring she'd given me, twisting it slightly and half tempted to yank it off and super-throw it into the river. I changed gears and wondered if I should just throw myself into the river; the shock of the cold water might restore some straight thinking, something I was sorely lacking at the moment.

Ladybug had inadvertently given me enough information to play as though I'd been part of the plan, so that meant I knew the four of them were now clueless. I also knew that I should no longer know how to get to Master Fu, which meant asking for his help in this (or any other matters) would be problematic.

I was on my own. And I felt certain there had to be a way to counteract the potion. Ladybug had said it was only temporary; I just needed some trigger to have it fade faster.

My feline ear pivoted as it often did and I heard Ladybug drop onto her rooftop patio. Where things stood now, she would have gone around the Bakery in a big loop to ensure I hadn't seen what direction her home base was; she also, clearly, didn't remember my rooftop two blocks over had a clear view of her patio.

I turned and used my enhanced vision to watch as she transformed back to Marinette. She seemed to be conversing with no one, and then had started pacing, clearly troubled. My heart broke slightly seeing it, and I wanted nothing more than to take her into my arms…

Hang on. This might be an opportunity.

I leapt off the roof and ran vertically around the block, making one final leap to land gently on my usual chimney just above her patio. "Good evening, Princess," I said.

She turned from where she'd been leaning against the railing, clearly tired but also unable to stop thinking. "Chat Noir! What a surprise."

I moved down the railing beside her and perched, perfectly balanced as always. "I was passing by and saw you out here," I started. "Is everything all right? You look troubled."

"No, Chat," she said quickly. "Just tired, I guess."

It was when she'd turned back toward the railing I'd seen the glint of the necklace, and a smile burst into life on my face. "That, Princess, is quite purretty," I said, pointing to it with the end of a claw. "I had no idea you were an admirer."

She followed my direction and saw the pendant in her little bonsai tree, shock clearly outlined in her expression. "What?" She went over and picked it off the branch it had been gently swaying from. I had to believe, in my heart of hearts, Marinette had put it there on her way out to meet me with the potion and had clearly planned on returning and straightening up before taking the final flask herself. My unexpected struggle with her had led to an improvised ending, and she'd returned after forgetting everything – including the pendant.

"Where did this come from?" she asked as she pulled it into the light to get a better look at it. I could see her tracing the details with a finger, and her mouth compressed into a single line the way it almost always did when she was mentally chewing on something.

"It doesn't matter," I said wickedly as a plan began to form in my mind. "But I bet it looks beautiful on you."

"Thanks, Chat," she said, still confused.

I continued to smile. "Well, I guess I'll let you get some rest," I said at length. "But I am always happy to lend an ear if you need one." I emphasized my point by rotating one of my feline ears in her direction.

"Thanks, Chat," she said. "See you around?"

"Count on it," I winked, and fell backwards from the railing into a roll and tuck, using my baton to spring upwards toward the next building. I started to run across the rooftops toward home, pulling together the elements of a tactical plan to bring Ladybug's memories back.

Much depended on how Marinette reacted to Adrien in the morning.

Adrien

Thursdays were afternoon lab days for our science classes, after a full morning of lectures. Father had already informed me that I'd be leaving school after lunch for a photo shoot at the Grand Palais, so I'd only have the morning with Marinette.

Gorilla dropped me off at the main entrance earlier than normal, and I bounded into the main courtyard looking for my gaggle of friends. Nino and Ayla were already there, but I couldn't see Marinette. I headed in their direction and joined them. "Hey guys," I said.

"Dude," Nino said. Ayla just nodded at me, and appeared to be fixated on something on her phone.

"What's with her?" I asked Nino.

"I'm not sure," he said. "She's been re-watching several videos on her blog that she says she didn't make."

I looked over her shoulder. It was difficult to recognize at first, but then I realized it was the interview she'd conducted with me when I (well, technically, Chat Noir) had publicly declared my love for Ladybug – and why I was taking Marinette to the Ball. "I don't remember doing this," she murmured. I could tell it was bugging her deeply.

"Huh," I said, shrugging. "That looks like you," I said helpfully.

"I know, right?" she said. She wandered away, working her phone.

"She's been like that since yesterday," Nino said. "I can't even talk to her."

"Huh," I repeated. "Have you seen Marinette yet?"

"No," he said, and then he fist pumped me. "Dude, later."

I found myself alone in the wide open courtyard, surrounded by my classmates. It was almost like my first day, when I didn't know anyone. I waited a bit longer for Marinette, but at length headed to first period.

We were well into the lesson when she appeared, late, and slid into her seat behind me. Late enough, actually, that the period ended ten minutes later. As we stood to head out to our next class, I casually asked: "Are you okay, Marinette? It's not like you to be late."

"A-a-a-drien, hah, you late me? Nah," she said, completely flummoxed in my presence.

For once, it warmed my heart to see it, since she hadn't apparently removed her Adrien-crush related memories, only the ones after we'd become a couple. "Uh, okay, well see you in class," I said as I grabbed my bag and headed for the door.

I'd only made it down a few steps before I saw the akuma in our courtyard. Why we seemed statistically more probable to have akumas than any other location in Paris was a mystery I'd never delved into.

This time around, it appeared to be the night janitor, and he was riding on the back of one of those floor polishing devices; I didn't immediately see why my classmates were screaming until I noticed he was holding a feather duster in one hand. I watched, fascinated, as he tapped one of my classmates with it and he immediately transformed into one of those robotic cleaning gizmos. In fact, there were several dozen of them now roaming the floors, the walls, and even the wrought iron work, busily scrubbing every conceivable surface.

That's a new one.

I backed up and found, ironically, an empty janitorial closet, and locked the door. Plagg came floating out. "I hope she's ready for this," I said to my kwami.

"I'm surprised you're even talking to her," he huffed. He'd taken the whole episode a bit personally.

"We'll get her back," I said. "I know we will."

"Optimist," he said.

"Plagg – claws out!"

Chat Noir

The green transformation wave washed over me, and I burst out of the closet as Chat Noir, and leapt to the railing ringing the level above the main courtyard. I needed a sense of the Janitor's movements before I could come up with a plan of attack. "This place has never looked better, friend," I said loudly, drawing his attention. "I have a feline we might want to have you around more regularly."

He turned his floor polisher toward me and aimed his feather duster in my general direction. I leapt sideways, narrowly avoiding a fusillade of feathers, sneezing in the process. One hit a student who'd been running behind me, and he dropped into machine mode, scrubbing happily away. "Sorry," I said to the kid as I spun up and around another burst heading in my direction.

"Look," I continued as I leapt over to the far side of the mezzanine. "I'm not above a little preening myself, but do you really need all of these helpers?"

I was rewarded with another burst of feathers, which I scooted around. I pulled my baton out and cracked it into my catarangs, hurling them at the feather duster. One hit and knocked it out of his hand; the other was a clean miss, but embedded itself into the wall outside the gym. That left me one baton short.

I pulled myself over the edge of the railing and dropped to the main floor, avoiding the robots, and scuttled toward the fallen feather duster. I'd almost reached it when three of the robots suddenly swerved and caught my foot; I fell forward and skidded just out of reach of the duster.

Down turned out to be a bad position. The robots turned on me en masse and started to pile on, scrubbing away as they did so. I batted off the first round and tried to stand up, but the floor had grown slick with the soapy solution they'd been using; I skittered and went down again before being able to deploy my claws properly. The second round piled on five deep, and though I managed to get a few off, they successfully pinned me to the floor, arms splayed out in front of me.

At that point, it occurred to me that Ladybug had yet to appear. Since she technically had been just behind me, I was a little surprised, but had no time to really think about it. Janitor was headed toward me and the now conveniently exposed Miraculous. I tried for another burst of strength to get the manic robots off me, but the position they had me in prevented getting any traction on the floor.

Lovely.

"I did take a bath this morning," I said as Janitor rolled closer. "Did I miss a spot?"

"No," he finally said. "You are actually pretty clean, aren't you?"

"I try," I said, wondering if that was a compliment or not. "So, can we talk? Most villains have something they want – aside from the Miraculouses, of course."

"Everything must be clean," he said, rolling within a meter of my hand. "Everything."

"That is a tall order," I observed, "given the size of our city." I tried again to budge and managed to only jam my chin into the concrete as I slipped. "Ow… that's gonna leave a mark…"

Where are you, Ladybug?

I tried another tactic and rammed my claws into the concrete and pulled. I managed to move forward, which was the wrong direction, actually. But it had shaken off a few of the robots, so I tried again, slightly sideways with one arm, and yanked, hard.

Multiple robots fell off this time, and I managed to free my other arm enough to yank myself further away with another claw burst, this time sending me halfway across the floor and away from the Janitor, trailing robots in the process. I rolled into the corner of the room and into a crouch, claws planted in the wall to keep me upright. "Does this wash also come with a wax?" I asked. "I don't really need one, but I could use a dryer for my hair," I added, shaking the suds out of my mane.

The robots turned toward me, with Janitor behind. I started to claw my way up the wall and out of immediate danger, lifting myself quickly to the next level. On my way up, I spied Marinette coming out to the classroom, eyes firmly planted on her phone.

What the…?

I flung myself off the wall, and used the railing for a leap across the space. I grabbed her in mid-air, narrowly getting her out of the path of Janitor's duster, which he'd retrieved and trained on her. I curled my body around hers and rolled into a controlled crash on the landing, protecting her as much as I could. Her phone went flying out of her hand and smashed into the wall.

"Okay?" I asked quickly.

"Yes," she said, as she took in the scene. "I'm fine, Chat. Don't worry about me."

I wouldn't normally, I thought. "Hide in that closet there," I said helpfully, hoping her alter ego would get the hint. "I'll come back for you when it's safe." I poured some gas on the flame. "Sooner or later, Ladybug should get her to help me wrap this up."

Something flickered on her face, but she kept her response to herself and simply snuck into the closet. When I heard it lock, I bolted for the far side of the mezzanine to give her space to transform. Janitor was still mopping up the floor below, seemingly unable to get up the steps to hassle me; I decided to take advantage of that again and perched on the railing.

"I'd say the last round was a draw," I mused, twirling my tail as I sat there. "Care for a rematch?"

He turned toward me again, pointing the feather duster at me. I noted that while he was unable to get up the steps on that floor polisher, his robots had no such issue and had started swarming in my direction like ants coming out of the hill. My baton was still in pieces on the first floor, so I had limited options; I wound up leaping away from the railing and hooking a claw in one of light fixtures, then pulled myself over to the beams that held the roof over the courtyard. It would take a bit for them to climb that high.

That is, until they started rounding the roof edge and coming down on top of me in droves. How they'd gotten to the roof was beyond me, but they were now pouring through every access point: skylights, windows, you name it. I did my best to work my way around them, and had managed to get nearly all the way across to safety before I inadvertently wound up under an air conditioning duct that blew open with hundreds of the little critters. That blasted me all the way down to the main floor again, and they swarmed me at double speed, burying me before I could even think about wriggling out from beneath them.

Janitor started in my direction again, and this time multiple robots were laying on the back of each hand, preventing me from tensing into a clawing motion. They had learned from their past mistake, which was intriguing if it hadn't been outright terrifying.

"Well," I said. "I'll spot you this round. Best two out of three?"

I tried not to think about the fact that Ladybug still hadn't appeared. "Now would be a good time," I said out loud.

"For what?" Janitor asked.

AN: Welcome back, friends! And so, the story continues. And yes, this will be a heavy MariChat storyline. Just because.

Progress updates will be posted on my profile, but you are always welcome to PM me with thoughts/comments/please write this into the story ideas. ;-)