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Short chapter. But! Major plot points. Lots of them. I hope you enjoy!

Until Next Time!

~Nebilas

Adrien landed in his room, ripping off the ring as quickly as he could. Plagg spiraled out, already yawning. "Back home already? Good I'm- Oh shit Adrien what's wrong?" Adrien was clutching his right arm, lying down on the floor, hissing. "Adrien take off your shirt." Plagg commanded. Adrien practically tore it off in his haste and Plagg cautiously moved over. He inhaled sharply. "Adrien this doesn't look good."

"It doesn't fucking feel good either." Adrien groaned. Adrien's entire right arm appeared to be covered in bruises and cuts, except the cuts were green and appeared to already be infected, which made no sense to Plagg at all.

Plagg quickly began feeling Adrien's arm, searching for broken bones, making Adrien flinch. "Nothing is broken, but something is wrong here Adrien. Didn't her miraculous ladybug effect do anything? This already appears to be infected but it's only been fifteen minutes."

"It's not infected." Adrien forced out.

"It's digesting. I was hit by intestines." Plagg's eyes widened in realization.

"That… That's nasty." Plagg decided.

"Yeah thanks Plagg." Adrien grumbled, forcing himself to his feet.

"Well the only thing we can do is wait." Plagg sighed.

"They'll stop eventually. Best I can offer is to take painkillers." Adrien nodded and walked over to the bathroom, grabbing tylenol, before walking back into his room.

A thought hit him as he swallowed the pills with a glass of water. "Hey Plagg any idea why an Akuma would be black?"

Plagg looked confused. "No… Why?"

"Because today it was black." Adrien muttered. "And it was a bitch."

Plagg scratched his head. "Huh. I have no idea. I mean you were able to beat it right?"

Adrien shrugged, and hissed in pain as a result. "I mean I had to use cataclysm but yeah it worked." He ground out.

Plagg's eyes widened in horror. "You used Cataclysm?" Adrien nodded, confused by the cat's reaction. The cat stared at him, seemingly giving him a once over. "Odd. You aren't showing symptoms."

"Symptoms?" Adrien shrieked. "Of what?"

Plagg shook his head. "It's probably nothing. We'll see."

Adrien narrowed his eyes at the cat kwami. "Plagg you can't say the word symptoms and then expect me to just ignore it. Symptoms of what?"

Plagg sighed. "There's no real name for it.. It's only happened once or twice. Basically a Chat would use Cataclysm on a negative energy of some sort. Like an akuma. And whenever that happens, the negative energy would reflect back into the Chat. Did the Akuma disintegrate?" Adrien shook his head. Plagg frowned, trying to piece everything together. "I don't understand."

"Why not?" Adrien asked, trying to be optimistic. "Maybe it just disappeared."

It was Plagg's turn to shake his head this time. "No come on kid, think back to physics. Energy cannot be created or destroyed only transferred. That energy went somewhere, and we don't know where. And that's a problem."

Adrien sat there letting it sink in. "So now what?" Adrien asked, feeling slightly out of it.

Plagg shrugged. "There isn't much we can do right now. We have to wait and hope that this doesn't end up happening."

Adrien groaned. "Could this day get any worse?" As if waiting for his cue, there was a knock on his door and Adrien hurriedly put on a sweatshirt. "Come in!"

Natalie's head popped in. "Your father has returned. He wants to speak with you." Then she left as quickly as she had come in. Adrien stared at the door in mild disbelief.

"You did ask." Plagg said, smirking.

Adrien paused before exiting his room. "Hey Plagg… Do you think I'm doing the right thing with ladybug? Pushing her away I mean?"

Plagg sighed. "Just remember what I said Adrien. I don't want you on opposite sides of the war. It always tore me apart when I saw that. And I know you still love her, and that you're doing this so that she won't miss you if you die. But…" Plagg shook his head and looked out the window. "I can't help you with this. It's your choice. Personally I think you should go to her and ask her to remove her mask because she might just do that for you. And you may even discover you'll love her more when the mask comes off." Adrien stared at Plagg, at a loss for words. Plagg turned back to him. "Just think on it alright?" Adrien hesitated, then gave a short nod. Then he backed out of his room to go speak with his father.

XxXxXxXx

Marinette was angry at herself. She had been completely ineffectual during the Akuma battle today and was kicking herself for it. And then Chat had just up and left even though he was clearly injured, not wanting to be around her. But he had saved her life and made sure she was unharmed. Then he had single handedly defeated one of the fiercest Akuma's they'd ever encountered because she had gone and sat there like an idiot.

She was finally nearing her house but she wasn't sure she wanted to be home at the moment. She entered the bakery, waved to her parents and proceeded to head up to her bedroom as she usually did. She set her bag down, giving Tikki the all clear, and went out onto her balcony. The sun was creeping down towards the horizon, giving Pairs a shining orange color. Tikki floated up next to her. "How are you doing?" Tikki asked, landing on her shoulder.

Mari shook her head. "He just confuses me Tikki. He pushed me away but he still saved my life, and made sure that my leg was ok."

Tikki sighed. "That's because he still cares about you Mari. He still loves his ladybug."

Marinette threw her hands up in the air in frustration. "Then why push me away? I know that I pried into his identity, but he also said he doesn't blame me for that."

Tikki pondered it for a few moments. "I think… I think he did at first. He blamed you and was angry but at some point it came around and refocused on him again. He's probably angry with himself for getting angry but now in order to spare you the heartache, he's distancing himself in case he ever gets mortally wounded. He wants you to be able to move on easily and not miss him."

Mari stared at Tikki. "So… Because he loves me he's trying to make it so that I won't reciprocate his feelings?" Tikki nodded and the corner of Mari's mouth twitched upwards.

"I… I'm not sure if that's stupid or sweet." They looked at each other again. "Both." They said simultaneously, before smiling and staring back at the sunset. "I hope he's doing okay." Mari sighed.

Tikki smiled and nuzzled her chosen's cheek. "I'm sure he's fine. Miraculous cure healed him after all."

XxXxXxXx

I am not okay. Adrien thought, trying not to grab his arm out of reflex. He couldn't afford anyone seeing the injury. He took a deep breath as he reached his father's study. You can do this. He ignored the jabbing pains in his arm and knocked on the door. "Come in." Adrien opened the door and entered.

His father sat in his chair behind the desk, flipping through a folder of designs, which he did not look up from. "Adrien. Sit down."

Adrien did so and sat in the smaller chair before his father. "How was your trip?"

"Joyous." his father said in a dull voice. Adrien was tempted to laugh but his father wasn't smiling. Not that that came as a surprise to him.

"Son we need to talk." His father began, putting the folder down and rising out of his chair.

"Well that's why I'm here." Adrien said.

His father glanced at him disapprovingly. "We need to talk about this girl I've been hearing about. I thought we established that you were not to have a girl interest during the school year if you are going to keep going to that school."

Well that didn't take long. Adrien thought bitterly. "I'm pretty sure you established that dad. I didn't ever agree to it."

His father turned an angry gaze on him. "Don't back talk me. We have discussed this, and I want it to be cut off now."

Adrien's gaze suddenly became steely and his jaw clenched. Then he said a word he had never said to his father. "No."

His father's eyebrows raised. "Excuse me?"

Adrien stared back at him, undeterred. "I said no. I'm not giving you control over this part of my life as well. Marinette is my girlfriend and that is not going to change unless she wants it to." His father opened his mouth to reply but Adrien pressed on. "I won't allow it to get in the way of school or photoshoots. But I am not giving her up as my girlfriend."

Gabriel Agreste stared at his son, clearly trying to figure out what the hell to do. This was the first time anyone had told him no in a long time and he was having difficulty processing. He sat down and sighed. "Look son I was 15 once as well and I-"

Adrien let out a bark of laughter. "I'm sorry did I say something funny?" his father growled, looming over the teenager.

Adrien was in shock. The laugh had been a reflex from the disbelief he was experiencing. Adrien looked up at his father, feeling numb. He doesn't even know how old I am. He had always known his dad wasn't exactly father of the year but this.. His father had resumed talking but Adrien had spaced him out and was staring at him blankly. He doesn't know how old I am. "Adrien! Have you heard a single word I've been saying?" Gabriel snapped.

Adrien focused on his father again. He cocked his head slightly. "I turned 17 yesterday but sure. Continue."

His father stared at him. "You need to break up with her."

Adrien scoffed. "I will not."

Gabriel glared. "Yes you will."

Adrien met his gaze. "I refuse."

"Fine. You will no longer be attending your school. Get out of my study." Adrien stared at his father in disbelief. His father showed no sign of changing his mind. "OUT!" His father roared. Adrien stiffly got up and left the study, fighting off the renewed feeling of isolation he'd been trying to run from for the past nine years.