Eleven days, eight hours, and forty three minutes since his ring had been broken. Was it a bit obsessive that he was keeping a mental timer and constantly checking? Maybe. But the antsy restlessness plaguing him refused to leave and if he wasn't doing something, anything, he was going to go crazy.
Heck, he was already going crazy. He missed the feel of the Parisian night air on his face, the rush of the rooftops zipping away beneath him as he leapt from one to the other, the freedom of going wherever he wanted and saying what he pleased without consequence. But most of all, he missed the sound of her voice. The teasing lilt of her amused tone when he cracked a joke, the crooked smile she gave in answer to something he said.
Her eyes, sparkling like the bluest ocean beneath the midday sun when she turned to look at him.
Plagg's voice cut through his thoughts, scattering his mind's image oh his Lady like leaves in the wind. "I told you, you need to relax. You should listen to your friend Nino sometimes, you have to 'chill out' a bit more."
Adrien stared somewhat accusingly at the ring on his nightstand. There was still no visible progress on the supposedly healing crack.
"The Miraculous is broken, Chat Noir is missing in action, Ladybug had to fight five akumas without my help so far and you expect me to 'chill out'?" Adrien snapped, shooting the cat-like creature a vicious glare.
Plagg shrugged from his perch on Adrien's pillow choosing instead to inspect his whiskers. "Your panicking isn't going to make the ring heal faster, so there's really no point in all your freaking out."
Adrien scoffed in disgust, launching himself off the bed to stride across the room and drop heavily into his desk chair. Ignoring Plagg's yelled protests at being bounced into the air, the boy turned on the computer screen, bringing up the Ladyblog.
Alya had just posted a new update.
Scrambling into an upright position, Adrien nearly toppled out of his chair in his eagerness to hit the play button on the video. Alya's grinning face took up the entire screen, which jostled around as if she were running with the camera—likely her phone.
"Hi, everyone! It's me, Alya, bringing you the latest news on our favourite superheroes via the Ladyblog! I've just spotted Ladybug nearby and if we're lucky, maybe we can—ah! Ladybug! Ladybug! Can I have a moment, please!"
The video feed blurred around for a moment—Adrien had the impression Alya almost dropped her phone in her excitement—before finally coming to rest on a slender figure clad in red balancing perfectly on a lampost. At Alya's call, she looked down, and Adrien was graced with the beautiful, quizzical blue eyes of his Lady.
"Is something wrong?" she said, hopping off her perch to drop down onto the ground in front of Alya, giving the camera a close up look at her. Adrien sighed, equal parts happy and morose; this was the closest he had been to her in two weeks.
"Oh, no! Not right now, but I was hoping you could spare a few minutes for a short interview?" said Alya's disembodied voice.
"Well, I guess I could …." said Ladybug, trailing off with a reluctant glance up at the sky. Her usual sunny smile was nowhere to be seen, the timbre of her voice sounded more at home in a hospital morgue than with an interview with one of her fans. His Lady was usually openly receptive to interactions with civilians; something about her lackluster reaction to Alya's enthusiasm was off. Was it because of him?
"Oh, thank you, thank you!" squeed Alya. "I'll cut right to the chase then; the whole of Paris has noticed Chat Noir's disappearance and is dying to know where he's gone. Do you have any details you could spare, or are you just in the dark as we are?"
He saw the surprise registering on her face before she broke into a smile as she chuckled, pigtails bobbing with the slight head motion. But the mirth never reached her eyes. Considering he had always known her with the mask on, he prided himself in being familiar enough to read her expressions as if there never was one. "Oh! Chat. Well …. The truth is, he's been …."
"Been what?" Alya prompted gently, when Ladybug fell silent for a beat too long, staring absently into the camera. She blinked, seeming to snap out of some stupor.
"Ah! He's been, er, sick!"
Adrien blinked. "What?" he said out loud at the same time Alya did, leaning closer to the monitor as if he would be able to hear her better. Ladybug's amplified her cheery smile up to eleven, and she began resorting to the exaggerated hand gestures she did when she got flustered.
"I know I probably should have said something publicly earlier but he didn't want everyone to worry. See, Chat's been a bit under the weather so it's just me for now. Don't worry though! I've got everything under control and Chat will be back before you know it!"
She was making it up on the spot, but it made sense, Adrien supposed. There was no telling if Hawkmoth could choose to redouble his efforts on getting at least one of their Miraculouses and he might choose to strike now if he learned that Chat Noir was out of action indefinitely. This way, everyone was convinced that he was at least still around and could still be called in a real emergency.
Then he noticed her face.
The skin beneath her mask was a touch too pale, her normally soft lips dry and peeling. Up close, he could now see the bloodshot veins webbing across the whites of her eyes. She looked plain tired. His heart clenched in his chest, a lump growing in his throat. Had she been losing sleep?
"Oh, that sounds unfortunate," said Alya after a brief pause. "What's wrong with him?"
"Oh, that! Well, you see, it's the funniest thing," Ladybug laughed, waving a hand in a way reminiscent of how she stalled for time. "Part of why he didn't want anyone to know was because … well, he's gotten … chicken pox."
"Chicken pox?" Adrien parroted after Alya's voice, staring at his Lady smiling at him from his screen. All the diseases, viruses, and illnesses she could have came up with, and it was chicken pox?
"That's right!" she said brightly. "Chicken pox."
"Ohh, I completely understand, now. I think I wouldn't to see anybody either if I were Chat Noir," said Alya. "When do you expect—"
"I'm really sorry, but that's all the time I could spare and I have to go," said Ladybug, already moving away and poising her yoyo to throw.
"Oh, that's fine! Thank you again, Ladybug! Tell Chat Noir that all of Paris hopes he gets well soon!"
Something flashed in Ladybug's eyes, her step faltering, but both signs so slight, so unique to her character that he was sure only he would ever notice them. "I-I will, thanks!"
And with a last farewell wave and zip of her yoyo line, she was gone.
Adrien stared listlessly as the video concluded with a excited Alya recapping the interview and bidding her viewers a good day. Heaving a sigh, he leaned back in his chair. The image of her tired eyes plagued him, guilt gnawing at his stomach. It was his fault she was so tired, so worn out. He'd let her down, and she was the one paying for it.
Still, it was nice to hear her voice again, even if it was through a video. Taking a deep breath, Adrine tried to reassure himself—he'd make it up to her once things were back to normal.
Reaching forward, Adrien tapped the replay button.
A/N: Oh. My. GOD. I am so so sorry for what happened in the last chapter, guys. I was so embarrassed that I about ready to fall off the face of the Earth. xD
What happened was that FFN apparently doesn't like being copy-pasted from Tumblr, so somehow the formatting code got in along with the text. Being an idiot, I didn't double-check and proceeded to submit it. The next thing I knew, I was getting reviews telling me that something was wrong. I had a look and just about headdesked myself, then proceeded to replace chapter 2 again. But I instead used the wrong chapter and the Chapter 2 of my ML Breakdance AU 'Want to Dance with Me?' showed up over here instead. When I realised my mistake, I just about died. xD
But everything should be fixed now, and I did make sure to check this chapter before sending it out so everything should be fine this time. Once again, sorry for the update shenanigans! I'll do my best to make sure nothing like that ever happens again. :)