The rest of his visit left Chat Noir incredibly happy, but he had felt extremely disappointed to leave. He couldn't help but look forward to the next evening, which both he and Marinette had agreed to meet.

"Chat, Marinette isn't...distracting you from patrol, is she?" Plagg asked tentatively to Adrien once they were back in his room.

Adrien looked up at Plagg, laughing. "Are you kidding? Of course not!" However, the truth was, he didn't think they'd ever find Imperiumal. He was simply gone. The patrols with Ladybug were useless, and he couldn't help but feel more drawn to Marinette than Ladybug...it was strange.

Plagg sighed and let the matter slide, returning to his beloved Camembert. "Well it better not." He grumbled.

Adrien rolled his eyes and walked to his bathroom, realizing with glee that he wouldn't be having a nightmare. It still made him overjoyed when he thought about the pendulum and didn't fall asleep. It only proved the fact that Imperiumal was indeed gone. He got ready for bed then walked back out, glancing at Plagg only to see him hugging his Camembert with a similar expression of glee Adrien had moments before. "Goodnight Plagg." He said quietly, as if he were worried to disrupt Plagg's happy eating.

"Night." Plagg responded before shoving half of the cheese into his mouth.

Adrien crawled into bed and closed his eyes, the back of his mind reminding him he hadn't seen his father since that time he had given him that strange parting...

Adrien opened his eyes, groaning as he was blinded by a bright light. He blinked, thinking his eyes would focus. He was probably just waking up for school. However, the light didn't fade, and his sight didn't return. Now rubbing his eyes, Adrien sat up, moving his head around even though he couldn't see anything but that bright light. With a sinking feeling Adrien suddenly recognized the light. It was golden. The pendulum. Adrien quickly got to his feet, walking forward only to run into what felt like bars. He was in a cage. He looked around, trying to see past the light. "Disoriented, kitten?" Imperiumal's voice sounded from above. Adrien's head snapped up, but then again, he couldn't see anything.

"Where are you?" Adrien called out, holding out his hands as if he were blind, which, he was. Let me see! Get this blinding light away from me! Suddenly, the light flickered, just for seconds at a time, and Adrien saw some of his surroundings. He saw that he really was in a cage, and outside of it there was only black. He looked up while the light flickered still, seeing Imperiumal standing on top of the bars directly above him. Imperiumal cackled, and the light came back. Adrien's head throbbed painfully, and he groaned, again thinking with all of his might to get rid of the light. But nothing happened. "I thought I was done with this... Why am I still having dreams?" Adrien said mostly to himself, but Imperiumal answered.

"My dear kitten, did you lose faith in me? Think you had won? You saw my pendulum once and that was more than enough." The akuma said, and Adrien could tell he was smiling.

"What do you mean?" Adrien said, feeling extremely vulnerable. He placed a hand over his ring finger, quickly realizing there was nothing there.

Imperiumal cackled once more. "I'll give you a hint. Haven't you found it odd, that although you are just barely experiencing this dream, you know how to fight the light?" He paused. "Now be specific; how did you do it? How did you get the light to flicker?"

Adrien opened his mouth to respond, but he was stumped. How did he do it? "I just thought-"

"Exactly." Imperiumal interrupted.

"Exactly what?"

"You'll figure it out eventually. However, I suggest you fight desperately every night. Because trust my words, this will happen again. And again... and again..." Suddenly Imperiumal's voice drifted away, and so did Adrien. Drifting...drifting...

Adrien's eyes shot open. There was no blinding light. There was no cage. There was only the morning sun that shone through his windows. "Plagg..." Adrien said weakly, his head throbbing just as painfully as it had in the dream. He realized that the dreams would continue... he didn't know why he had such confidence, but Imperiumal had said they would. But when did Adrien ever listen to an akuma?

"Adrien?" Plagg was now hovering in front of Adrien, an actual look of worry on his face. "What's with you? You're really pale..."

"Plagg, I had another nightmare."

"So?" Plagg asked, backing away as Adrien sat up.

Adrien glared at Plagg, but something as simple as that sent a huge wave of pain over his head. "Nevermind." He said grudgingly, feeling foolish to have even told his small black kwami. He wouldn't care. He just didn't want his smooth flow of Camembert to end. He slid out of bed, wincing as his head screamed in protest.

"You okay, kid?" Plagg asked hesitantly, following Adrien as he made his way to his closet.

"Just fine." Adrien mumbled, his head throbbing worse than before.

Plagg looked like he wanted to linger on the subject a bit longer, but he silently gave up. "Well... ok." He then flew off.

Adrien groaned as his head suffered another wave of pain. Why were the dreams back? And would they really continue? Why had Imperiumal said to fight desperately every night? Was he going to have to fight that blinding light? Or Imperiumal himself? Were these dreams affecting him in real life? It certainly felt like it.