Special Thanks to Chloeinka from Devintart for the use of her artwork for this fic.
You can find more of her work at art/Princess-Ladybug-662692520.
Chapter 7: The Morning Of
Adrien groaned as the first light of day entered his room. He had stayed up later then planned after Marienette had gone home. Paper littered his desk with crude drawings that would put the Agreste name to shame. He knew for sure he was no artist and was glad he had asked Marinette for help.
He rolled over hugging his pillow to his face, trying to block out the rising sun and sounds of morning traffic. A soft knock jolted him from bed. He looked up just in time to see Nathalie open the door and take a step in.
"Adrien?"
"Yes, Nathalie?" he yawned.
"Good Morning," she nodded to him. "I wanted to inform you that your father and myself will be leaving soon."
"Hmm?" Confused, he hadnt been aware his father was leaving the house.
"It seems there was an emergency in the London factory last night. We shouldnt be more then a day." She was checking through the schedule she held in her hand.
"As for me?" He climbed out of bed, wearing nothing more then his sleeping pants.
Nathalie raised an eyebrow at him but didnt comment on his attire. "Your father has expressed that you are to remain here during our absence. Your body guard will be present in case you are in need of anything."
"Yea, okay." He frowned.
"Adrien."
He looked up at her.
"I will talk to your father while we are gone. He just needs some time to adjust to… you getting older."
He sighed. "Thanks, Nathalie. For everything." He smiled at her in appreciation. "I really mean it."
She nodded. "You should get dressed. Breakfast will be ready soon." She turned to walk out the room when she paused. "By the way, Adrien. It seems the alarm system is currently under maintenance." Without another word she left his room, shutting the door behind her.
Adrien laughed to himself as he got dressed for the day. That was Nathalie telling him he wouldnt be caught if he happened to sneak out for the day.
He looked around for Plagg who was unusually quite. Still sleeping, I suppose. Lazy cat.
As he passed his desk to head down to the kitchen, he paused looking at Marinette's book. It was open to her unfinished red dress. For a moment it looked oddly familiar to him, but he dismissed it quickly. But something tugged at him.
Frowning, he pulled his chair out and sat down sliding the sketch book in front of him. He studied the drawing, his eyes memorizing the details of the black accents in the skirt and gloves. The neck piece was more like a modern turtle-neck shirt in a solid black, much like Ladybug's suit was accented with. The drawing was beautiful as is, but it was missing something- important.
Without hesitation Adrien found his school notebook and took out a clear cover sheet. He grabbed a sharpie marker from a drawer and got to work.
Not wanting to ruin Marienette's design, he laid the clear cover sheet on top of her drawing and started some edits of his own using the sharpie. While not an artist, filling in circles was easy enough. By the time he was finished, he had nicely placed spots along the torso and sleeves. She had only started shading the gloves in with black, so he grew some open circles on the gloves and finished coloring their background in to match the image on each arm.
But…
There was still something missing.
Plagg's comment last night was haunting him and for once he wished the Kwami had given him more information.
He pulled the keyboard out and turned his computer on, the background image of ladybug colorfully displayed. He starred at her face memorizing the beautiful blue eyes behind the mask.
Who are you, M'Lady? Who do those beautiful blue eyes belong to under that mask?
The mask.
Looking down at his overlay he carefully made an outline where he assumed the head would be on the image- had she drawn it on a model. Matching it to Ladybug's mask, he sat back to admire his work.
Still not of the same quality as Marinette's, but his edits really made the dress stand out. It truly was Ladybug inspired and the matching mask made it all complete.
Satisfied, he shut the book with a sigh. He would worry more about it after breakfast and maybe even show Marinette later that day. Hopefully she wouldnt be too offended that he had some ideas of his own to add to her design.
He headed downstairs for breakfast.
Unknown to him, Plagg had been watching him from the library loft. As soon as Adrien had left the room, Plagg took the opportunity to fly down to open the book and look at the image Adrien had added to the "Ladybug" dress.
"What do you know," he said softly to himself, a frown marring his features. "Its not just Ladybug..."
With having nothing to do, Adrien decided to clean his room and hide the evidence of his failed attempts at designing fashion. Several crumbled up pieces of paper ended up in the trash, but his red dress edit remained, the sketchbook closed but the clear insert where he had left it.
It was nearing lunch when he decided to turn the TV on to catch up on some anime. But the news caught his attention.
"… attack in Paris city streets."
Suddenly alert, his head snapped to watch the news report. Said reporter was out of the danger zone, but in the background you could see the demolished buildings, the street littered with debris worse than his Cataclysm could create.
His eyes narrowed, recognizing the neighborhood. It was the short expanse of road between his school and Marinette's. He picked up the controller and hit pause. Looking closer, we could just make out the bakery in the corner of the screen, and beyond that past the wreckage- his school. For the moment the two places that meant the world to him were safe.
"Plagg!" Adrien yelled, waking the Kwami from wherever he had been napping. "Its time to transform!"
The Kwami nodded, a yawn escaping his lips. "What about your bodyguard?"
Adrien flinched as if remembering he had a babysitter. Dashing to his bedroom door he saw him standing at the end of the hall, his hands behind his back as he watching over the mansion intently.
"Hey," Adrien called to him. "I was wondering if I could get you to go grab me some lunch at that new pizza place across town that just opened. The one father kept promising to take me to." He needed an excuse for this body guard to leave, and with it being in the opposite direction of the akuma fight there was no way he would be spotted.
His body guard took a moment to think about it before grunting.
"Thanks! Get whatever you like. We'll split it."
With a nod, he turned to head down stairs.
Quickly locking his bedroom door behind him, Adrien called Plagg to him. "I'm sure Ladybug is already on scene. We need to get there and help her."
"Just say the word kid. But I warn you- there better be some Camembert on that pizza."
Adrien rolled his eyes with a smile. "Plagg, Claws Out!" Even after transforming for the past two years, the feel of the power that flowed through his veins each time he became Chat Noir was exhilarating. He loved the feel, and while he couldnt wait for them to put a stop to Hawkmoth, he hoped he would never have to give up the freedom that came with the Black Cat Miraculous Ring.
Jumping onto the window ledge, now in his powerful cat suit, he watched as the limo pulled out of the gates and headed in the opposite direction it was supposed to go. "Great, he's going the wrong way." Rolling his eyes, he leapt from his ledge and headed in the direction of the school.
Vaulting from roof top to roof top, Chat Noir watched from the corner of his eye as the limo containing his body guard drove right passed Marinette's home and into the fight. The limo stopped suddenly as it reached the end of the destroyed road.
With a single leap Chat landed on the roof top of the building his bodyguard had pulled up next to. Peering down to make sure he was okay, his bodyguard slowly got out of the car and looked around at the damage, unsure of where to go.
"Just get back in the car and go back," Chat mumbled to himself, concern for his fathers employee.
So caught up in his friends safety, he didnt hear the whistle that blew right by him. The sudden explosion knocked him off his feet as he fell back, the building he was standing on collapsing under him.
The battle was fairly quick after Chat managed to remove himself the rubble. While straining to push off the concrete walls that had fallen around him, he had seen Ladybug on the scene, his bodyguard with her. He was safe, even if no one noticed Chat himself struggling.
After getting free he jumped into battle and helped Ladybug defend herself before she called upon her Lucky Charm and together defeated the Akuma.
But when his ring started to beep showing he only had minutes left, he said his farewell to his lady and vaulted off to hide on the roof tops of the newly repaired buildings. He had just landed in his room before he felt the power of his Miraculous leave him.
Adrien rubbed his leg where the bullet had made contact through his suit. While there was no visible injury, a slight throbbing was present. He had lied to Ladybug about it feeling better. It wasnt as bad as earlier, but he had a feeling he would be feeling it for a few days.
"Hey, Plagg. Has Ladybug's Cure ever… not worked with past Ladybugs?" he questioned his friend.
Plagg swallowed a large piece of cheese that Adrien had given him upon arrival. "Not that I can recall. Why do you ask?"
Adrien looked down at his leg lost in thought. "Its… nothing." Ignoring the pain he fell first face down on his bed. It was tolerable, but the feeling that something wasnt right weighed on his mind. He would brainstorm with Ladybug next time he saw her.
It was a few hours later before his bodyguard arrived, a bandage on his head, but two pizza boxes in hand.
He still went and got pizza? Was Adrien's first thought. But he was concerned for his friend. "What happened? Are you okay?"
His body guard nodded, quiet as usual. He handed Adrien a pizza box before turning to head back down stairs.
"Hey, wait! Do you want to take the rest of the day off?" he called to him, knowing exactly what happened to cause the injury. His bodyguard just shook his head slowly and departed.
Adrien frowned, closing his bedroom door. He would have to tell Nathalie later how stubborn the man was being. Adrien was, after all, old enough to take care of himself. He didnt need someone at his beck and call, and he surely didnt need a babysitter.
Plagg shared a very simple cheese pizza with the teen without complaint. In fact, he sort of complimented the humans on making such a delicious meal, in his own twisted way of course.
"Plagg. What else can you tell me about the dress Marinette was designing?" Adrien suddenly asked.
"The ladybug dress?"
Adrien nodded waiting for the Kwami to continue.
"Well, I cant remember all the details, but that particular dress was worn by Ladybug during the Elizabethan era."
"Woah. So the 1500's huh?
Plagg nodded. "She was a Princess or something, although not directly related to the crown."
"Any idea how Marinette would know that this dress belonged to Ladybug?"
"Your guess is as good as mine, kid." He flew down to take the last slice of pizza. "Maybe ask her?"
He shrugged. "It could just be coincidence."
"Thats probably it." Plagg continued to slurp up the cheese not paying much attention to the conversation. More like avoiding it.
"What about Chat Noir?"
Plagg looked at him from over his slice. "What about you?"
"No, I mean the Chat Noir from the Elizabethan era."
"Oh, you mean Gatto Nero."
"Gatto Nero?"
"Yea, my holders never really were creative when it came to their superhero persona names." Plagg finished off the last of the pizza. "He was an Italian living at the court during the reign of Queen Elizabeth the first. Gatto Nero literally means Black Cat."
Adrien laughed, interested in this part of history. "I supposed he had a different suit to fit into that era?"
"Of course. Although, it was so similar to what every high class male wore during that time, so he blended in a lot."
"No cat ears?" Adrien asked, touching his head where his ears were when he transformed.
"Naw, no ears."
"So what controls what each Miraculous holders suit looks like?"
"Honestly kid, I have no clue. Like I said before, as the world has evolved, so has the magic contained in the Miraculous."
"And why arn't the Miraculous told in our history books? There isnt mention of them anywhere."
"Another mystery I suppose. Tiki might know, if you were to ever meet her you can ask her."
"Tiki?"
"Ladybug's Kwami. My other half."
"Okay, now I've lost you." He grabbed his Kwami and held him to eye level. "What do you mean other half?"
Plagg swallowed suddenly unsure. "Ah, well the Black Cat Miracoulous is Destruction and Bad Luck where as the Ladybug Miraculous to Creation and Good Luck. We are the Ying and the Yang that compliment each other. Without one, you cannot have the other."
Adrien's brow furred in thought. "I hadnt thought about it like that before."
"Believe me kid, I try not to think about it either."
Adriens phone going off ended the conversation. He looked at the time. It was late afternoon, and school had been out for some time.
He picked up the phone to see who was on the caller ID. It was Marinette.
