"Did you see the news, Girl?" Alya asked excitedly over the phone.
"No." Marinette said, simply. She'd had a long day at work and hadn't gotten much done.
"There's a new Chat Noir." Alya said and Marinette cringed. "And they got video footage of the fight and you will never guess who joined in!" she said.
"The new Chat Noir?" Marinette asked.
"No, Adrien!" Alya said and Marinette's breath caught. "Chat's baton got knocked away from him and Adrien grabbed it and went after the akuma. I guess all those fencing classes he had paid off." Alya said. "Hold on, I'm going to add the video to the Ladyblog." She added. Alya then went silent. "Oh, and there's more, Girl. You may want to sit down for this." She added.
"I'm not going to sit down, Alya. I still have a block to go before I get to my apartment." Marinette said.
"People got pictures and video of Adrien hugging Ladybug." She said.
"And?" Marinette asked.
"Well, he's only the love of your life. I figured that you'd probably want to know that they're close." Alya said.
"He's a decent guy, Alya. Him comforting her doesn't mean that they're close." She said. "I doubt they even know each other." Marinette said.
"Are you forgetting the Crawler incident?" Alya asked. Marinette suddenly remembered how the Crawler had targeted Adrien and she'd had to protect him. That lazy cat hadn't even shown up for that fight.
"Yeah, I guess they've had run-ins, but that doesn't mean anything." Marinette said.
"Whatever you say, Girl." Alya responded. "I've already got people commenting on the Ladyblog that they think Chat Noir was Adrien." She said. Marinette stopped for a moment.
"That's ridiculous. He wouldn't have the time to be Chat Noir. Between his duties at Agreste and lessons he barely has enough time. And he even still models sometimes." Marinette said.
"Okay, whatever you say. That hasn't stopped half of Paris from thinking that he's Chat Noir. Maybe if you see the video you'll understand." She said.
"I don't want to see the video." Marinette replied, climbing the steps to her apartment building.
"Probably not. The new Chat Noir was really cold to Ladybug. Like really." Alya said. "I don't like him at all." She added.
"I wonder where the old Chat Noir is." Marinette said absently.
"I don't know, but I hope he comes back soon." Alya said.
"I don't think he's coming back, Alya." Marinette said as she made her way into her apartment. "Well, I'll talk to you later." She said.
"Okay, see you later, Girl." Alya said.
Marinette hung up the phone. She then sat down at her computer. As much as she didn't want to watch footage of the akuma battle, she pulled up the Ladyblog. She saw the video that Alya had just added to the Ladyblog. It was a newscaster's footage. It showed Adrien tackling her, her swinging away from an attack with Adrien and then her freezing when she saw the new Chat. She watched intently as the new Chat attacked the akuma. He didn't seem trained in combat and was just trying to hit the girl and her crutch. She saw his staff get knocked away. The camera zoomed in on him for a moment as he dodged an incoming attack, rolling away from the staff. Then the camera focused on Adrien. He had picked up the staff and was treating it like a sword against the akuma.
As she watched, she did see similarities in the form that he used as compared to her Chat Noir. She lost herself in thought as she tried to recall all of their battles. She did see a resemblance in how they moved, especially with him having tackled her at the start of the fight. She then watched as the camera focused on her being comforted by Adrien.
"It appears that Ladybug may have a friend within the Agreste family. Or maybe it's something more?" the newscaster said in a suggestive tone. The footage then cut off. Marinette felt sick to her stomach with that last sentence. She knew that Ladybug and Adrien had nothing to do with one another. However, even the suggestion could make him a target of a future akuma attack.
"Why did he do that?" she asked, frustrated.
"Probably because he's a nice guy and wanted to make sure that you were okay." Tikki supplied. "I think that we need to talk more about the new Chat Noir." She said.
"What about him?" Ladybug asked.
"Master Fu wouldn't have chosen a new Chat Noir. He wouldn't have accepted the Miraculous back. Miraculous wielders are chosen by the Miraculous and that can't be changed, not even by the Great Guardian. He was lying, Marinette!" Tikki said.
"Why would he lie?" Marinette asked.
"If you don't believe me, go and ask Master Fu. He will tell you the same thing. Chat Noir wouldn't have been able to give the Miraculous back. The new Chat Noir must have stolen it!" Tikki said.
"Are you sure about that? He seemed pretty sure that he was chosen." Marinette replied.
"It was an act, Marinette!" Tikki said.
Marinette nodded. "I guess I should pay Master Fu a visit." She said before furrowing her brow.
"What is it, Marinette?" Tikki asked.
"Adrien said that Chat Noir wasn't going to show up. He also knew that my Lucky Charm was what makes my transformation drop. He seems to know more than he's saying." Marinette said.
"Let's go to see Master Fu. That way you can ask him what you need to." Tikki said. Marinette nodded. She opened her purse for Tikki and then left the apartment. After a short train ride and a walk, she knocked on the door to the Grand Master's home.
"Master Fu?" she called just before the door opened to the elderly Chinese man.
"Yes, Ladybug." He said. Marinette suddenly had no idea what to say. "I assume you are here about Chat Noir." He added.
"Yes." Marinette said, nodding.
"Come in." he said. Marinette entered the house. "I thought you would be coming." He added, leading her into the next room. He had tea ready for the two of them.
"There's…a new Chat Noir." Marinette said.
"I saw. Chat Noir decided to go against what I told him." Master Fu responded.
"So, he did come here? To give you his Miraculous?" she asked.
"Yes. I did not take his Miraculous and he apparently decided to give it away." Master Fu stated.
"How could he just give it away?" she asked.
"You and Chat Noir were chosen by your Miraculouses, but you are not the only ones who can use them. Whoever is in possession of the Miraculous can wield it, but only the chosen ones are connected to their Miraculous." Master Fu said.
"So, Chat's going to get his Miraculous back?" she asked.
"I didn't say that. There is no telling what will happen now that the Miraculous is out of Chat Noir's hands. You will need to help him, Ladybug." Master Fu replied.
"I wish I could. I'm the reason he went away." She responded.
"There is never an instance where an apology would not be welcome." Master Fu said and Marinette shook her head.
"I think there is. And I think it is the situation I'm currently in." Marinette said.
"Ladybug, you and Chat Noir are meant to be together. The two of you are Yin and Yang. You are two halves of the same whole. You will find him again and you will be able to let him know your true feelings." Master Fu said.
"I don't even know what my true feelings are." Marinette replied.
"Yes, you do. You don't want to admit it, but you know what you feel." Master Fu said.
"Where do I even start looking for him?" she asked. "We never knew each other's identities."
"Think about what you want and what you need." Master Fu said. "You will be able to find him, Ladybug." Marinette nodded.
"Come on, Tikki." She said to her little kwami before turning to leave. "Thank you very much, Master Fu, for the tea and the conversation." She added before leaving.
"You are very welcome, Ladybug." Master Fu said.
"What are you going to do?" Tikki asked.
"I think I need to pay a visit to Adrien." Marinette responded. "Tikki, Spots On." Marinette said before she left Master Fu's house. As Ladybug, she swung through the city until she found Adrien's apartment building. She recalled that it was one of the taller buildings. She landed on the roof and then used her yoyo to hang down and look in through his window. She saw a very startled Adrien when she did so. She reached out and knocked on his window.
"What are you doing here, Ladybug?" he asked, opening that window.
"Mind if I come in?" Ladybug asked. Adrien nodded and stepped aside to give her room. "You know about Chat Noir, don't you?" she asked, crossing her arms and not looking at him.
"What do you mean?" Adrien asked.
"You told me this morning that Chat wasn't coming to the fight. You stated that he knows about my feelings for him." Ladybug said. Adrien raised his hands as he backed away from her, seeing a determined glint in her eye. "What do you know about Chat Noir?" she asked.
"I…Ladybug, I…" he started.
"What do you know about Chat Noir, Adrien?" she asked.
"I don't know anything." He said. Ladybug didn't believe him.
"You have to know something." She said. Adrien closed his eyes as he repeated what he said. "Then how did you know he wasn't coming?" she asked.
"He did come." Adrien replied.
"And you joined in the fight." She said.
"I just reacted." He said as quickly as she finished.
"You moved just like him." She said.
"I must have had similar training." He said.
"What do you know about him?" she asked, her eyes begging him to confirm what she thought.
"I don't." he responded, his eyes shifting away from her face. "Ladybug, I wish I could help you, but even if I did know where Chat was, I wouldn't be able to tell you. I would be betraying his secret identity. I would think that you, above all others, would understand why I can't do that." He said, turning his eyes to her.
"I…can you at least tell me if he's alright?" she asked.
Adrien shook his head. "I can't tell you anything." He said.
"Do you know why the new Chat lied?" she asked.
"What do you mean?" Adrien asked.
"Nevermind. Sorry that I bothered you, Adrien." She said, turning to the window. She paused, her hand in the air ready to throw her yoyo. "You need to be careful. With the news report earlier you may become a target because of me. Keep an eye out for akumas and stay safe." She said.
"I will, Ladybug." He said as she left through his window. She had one more stop to make before she turned back. One more person that she wanted to see who might help her to make sense of all of this. She swung through the streets until she landed on the girl's balcony. Timidly, Ladybug knocked on the glass door. There was a rustle inside and a significant amount of commotion before the curtain was haphazardly pulled back.
"Ladybug?!" Alya shrieked. "What are you doing on my balcony? Do you want to come in?" she asked excitedly as she threw open the door. "Come in. Do you want pizza? I have pizza!" Alya said, turning to run to the table.
"That won't be necessary." Ladybug said as she stepped into the apartment. "I wanted to talk to you." She added.
"You want to talk to me?" Alya asked as she pulled out her phone.
"Without being recorded, please?" Ladybug asked. Alya glanced down at her phone and then back to Ladybug, gulping before slowly nodding. "What do you know about what is going on with Chat Noir?" she asked.
Alya's eyes widened. "I was going to ask you about that." She said. "Why would I know anything?" she asked.
"You run the Ladyblog. I'm sure people give you tips?" Ladybug asked, hoping for anything.
"I'm sorry, Ladybug. I don't know. No one has seen him for three or four days." She said. "Do you know why he gave up being Chat Noir?" Alya asked and Ladybug winced.
"It was me." She said.
"No, Chat loves you." Alya said. "There's no way that he stopped being Chat Noir because of you." She said.
"Yes, there is. We had…well, I hurt him very badly." She said, looking down at the ground. She then shook her head. She wasn't there to tell Alya about what happened, she was there for information. "What do you know about the new Chat Noir?" she asked.
"Nothing really. No one has any idea of who he might be or where he came from. All we know is that he says that he's going to be the new Chat Noir." She said. "Ladybug?" she asked hesitantly after a moment.
"Yes?" Ladybug asked.
Alya bit her lip briefly. "Are you and Adrien Agreste a…couple?" she asked. Ladybug let a chuckle fall out of her mouth as she shook her head.
"No, me and M. Agreste are not a couple. I barely even know him." She said.
"No, really. Not going on the Ladyblog, I promise." Alya said.
"Really, I barely know him." Ladybug stated.
"A lot of people are thinking that he is Chat Noir. Well, that he was Chat Noir…" Alya started, but Ladybug cut her off.
"No, there's no way that Adrien Agreste was Chat Noir." She said abruptly.
"So, you know who Chat Noir was?" Alya asked and Ladybug hung her head after another moment.
"No." she said simply.
"So, he could have been?" Alya pressed.
"I guess he could have been. But I don't really think that he is…was." Ladybug said.
Alya nodded. "Do you want to make a statement for the Ladyblog?" she asked. Ladybug thought for a moment. "You could make it to Chat?" Alya suggested. Ladybug's face fell as she thought. She nodded. "Okay" Alya said, excitedly as she grabbed her phone. "And…ready." Alya stated as her phone beeped to indicate that it was recording.
Ladybug cleared her throat. "Chat? I…I'm just sorry. I'm so sorry. Please come back and talk to me." She said. "I know that I don't deserve it and that you are probably still mad at me and you should be, but please." She said as her eyes welled up with tears. "I really need to talk to you. Can you meet me in our place? Even if you're just in a regular disguise since you don't have your Miraculous?" she said. She didn't want to go back to the abandoned building, but she didn't want anyone else to know where they would be meeting. "I'll wait there for the next three nights." She said and then she nodded for Alya to turn off the recording.
"I'll put it up right away, Ladybug." She said.
"Thank you." Ladybug responded. She turned and exited the room and swung through the streets again. She found it easier to lose herself while she navigated the city. She wasn't truly patrolling so much as roaming. Before long, she found herself on her balcony.
"Do you really think that was the best idea?" Tikki asked as she came out of Marinette's Miraculous. "Asking Chat Noir to meet you when he doesn't even have his Miraculous?" she clarified.
"I have to do something, Tikki." She said.
The next day, she went to work as usual. She had noticed that it seemed Adrien was avoiding her. Today, his assistant Tyler came to check on her designs. "It looks like you're almost done." The man said, looking at the drawings that Marinette had created over the course of several weeks. "Probably just a few more and then we can get these up to Gabriel." He added, smiling at her.
"Thank you, Tyler." Marinette said. Trevor was tall, tanned, and had light brown eyes and a dazzling smile.
"Keep up the good work." He said before he left her office. Marinette nodded and turned back to the design that she was currently working on. She managed to finish it by the end of the day and then she made to rush out of the office. She wasn't looking where she was going and tripped, falling to the floor with a groan.
"Are you okay?" a few voices called out. Marinette looked up and her face immediately turned red. Adrien, Tyler, Nathalie, and one of the IT guys, she was pretty sure his name was Mitch or Mike or something beginning with an M, were looking at her with worry.
"Yeah." She said as she stood quickly and brushed herself off. "I'm fine. No big deal." She said. "Well, I guess I better be off." She said quickly as she turned and quickly rushed out of the building.
She quickly made her way to a secluded alley where she transformed and swung through the city to the abandoned building. She still wasn't prepared for the state of the room. It hadn't been touched since the last time she had been there. There was still a giant hole in the floor, holes in the walls, and the mattress and blankets were still shredded. Ladybug carefully sat down in front of the window to wait.
She didn't even know what to expect as she waited. She figured that he would likely not show up. While she waited, she considered what she would do if the roles had been reversed. She realized that she wouldn't show up if it had been Chat that had broken her heart to such an extent. The sun set slowly while she waited.
Every time the wind made the building creak, she would look expectantly to the door on the other side of the room. And every time she did, she would realize that nothing was there. "Oh, kitty. Will you ever forgive me?" she asked as she waited.
She didn't know how it happened, but Ladybug had managed to fall asleep while she waited. When she woke, she quickly looked around the room, seeing that nothing had been disturbed. Sunlight, however, was pouring through the window behind her. She looked down at her wrist to see that she had transformed during the night and that she was almost late for work.
"Tikki?" she asked frantically.
"Let me guess, spots on?" Tikki asked. Marinette nodded before she said the words. There was no way that she would make it to work on time if she didn't transform. She made her way quickly through the city and then transformed in an alley near to the Agreste building. She walked in quickly to see the IT guy talking with Adrien.
"Marinette." Adrien said as she walked in. "How was your night?" he asked. He seemed like he was in a better mood than he had been all week.
"Uneventful." She said sadly. She didn't know why, but seeing Adrien made her realize how much she missed her kitty.
"You've met Marcus, right?" he asked, introducing the dark-skinned man next to him.
"Can't say I have." Marinette replied.
"Yes, we did. We had orientation on the same day." Marcus responded. "I don't blame you for not remembering. What with that akuma attack." He said.
"Yeah, that was scary." Marinette said briefly. "Well, I'd better get to work." She added.
She managed to finish one design during the entire day and then she rushed to the abandoned building right after work. That night, she stayed awake until the sun came up. However, no one disturbed her throughout the night. The next day was Saturday. Marinette normally spent Saturdays with Alya, but instead she called her friend and said that she was sick. She didn't leave the abandoned building all day and waited for night to come again. This would be the last day. If Chat didn't show up tonight, it would mean that he really wasn't going to show up.
Tikki tried to comfort her during the day and to get her to leave the room. She said that it was probably just making Marinette feel worse. Tikki was right. Marinette did feel worse because of the room. It was a constant reminder of how much she had hurt Chat. However, she wasn't going to leave it, not when she didn't absolutely have to. As the sun started to set, Tikki suggested she transform back into Ladybug.
"Why should I, Tikki?" she asked.
"He can't know that you're Ladybug, especially not now, Marinette. He doesn't have his Miraculous and that means that he would be in danger if he knew who you were. If you want him to be safe, then you need to transform." Tikki said.
"No, Tikki. I don't want to." Marinette said.
"Marinette. Don't be selfish." Tikki said.
"How is it being selfish if it's what he wants?" Marinette asked.
"Because you're not doing it for him, Marinette. You're doing it for you, to try to make him forgive you. If you want to show him, then do it, but don't do it for your own gain." Tikki responded. "Do it because you want to, not because you want him to do something for you." She said.
"You're right." Marinette said, hesitantly. "Tikki? Spots on." Marinette said. Within moments, Ladybug sat where Marinette had been. She waited in silence. As the night drew on, tears started to form in her eyes. Her kitty wasn't coming, but she didn't believe it until she heard the birds chirping to announce the new day.
A/N: First I want to thank all of the people who have favorited, followed, and reviewed this story. I have read each of them and they do influence how I write this story. Unlike Unmasked, I'm writing this one as I go. With that said, this chapter was almost very different which actually resulted in a one-sided reveal, however, I decided to save that for later. I just don't think that Marinette has suffered enough to get to the point that she was at in that section of chapter that I wrote. Anyway, I'm going to address the reviews that I've received on the last chapter.
Joey: Yes, Plagg not liking the new Chat Noir is rather foreboding. Or it just means that he doesn't like change. Either way is possible. I'm glad that you're liking the story so far. And I haven't watched How I Met Your Mother. And yes, Tikki is annoyed. She is very annoyed. When she finds out Plagg's role in this, he's going to get an ear-full.
I'm Not A Princess: Honestly, at this point I'm not sure. I kinda want to have him get it back, but part of me doesn't want to. It'll all just depend on how the story progresses.
GregorySpoon: Yes, he really is focusing on his anger and using it to keep from feeling the sadness and hurt. I'm really happy that you're liking the story so far and hope you keep liking it.
RickMorty: I would say yes. Then again, he also had a random wheel of camembert show up in his fridge, so he might be growing numb to it.
BABYBABYBABYLRI: This is a good idea. I might have to edit OC's perspective of chapter one...because that actually fits. I had been going with the idea that he wanted to prove himself as Chat Noir as they are some pretty big paws that he's stepping into, but your idea works better to be honest.
SaRaH: I honestly could see OC getting annoyed with Plagg and the original Chat Noir (especially if he keeps leaving camembert all over the place).
Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed again. Now, for the next chapter, do you guys want a Plagg-centered chapter (since I still want to keep OC under wraps a little) or do you want to check in with Adrien and see why he didn't come to see Ladybug?