A/N: I ended up splitting this chapter, as it just kept getting longer and longer, so hopefully you won't have quite as long a wait before you see the next one. Thank you to everyone who's been reading and reviewing!

Tikki hugged the Butterfly Miraculous to her chest and flew, slipping outside through an open window and flitting high above the streets of Paris. She was relieved that she'd been able to return Nooroo to his Miraculous without any trouble. The last time she'd tried something similar, she'd been with Plagg. She hadn't been entirely certain she'd be able to do it alone. Nooroo would have been free to follow her, of course, as long as she still held the Butterfly Miraculous, but Nooroo was no longer used to freedom. He'd been forced to work with Gabriel Agreste for too long.

Anger wouldn't help her now. She knew that. She didn't have the whole story, either, and she knew that, too, but the furious part of her thought she didn't need it. The Miraculous weren't meant to be used for evil! Nooroo was going to carry the memory of this horror for lifetimes past Gabriel's own.

She didn't have the power to restore the time Nooroo had lost. She couldn't fix this. But if she could get Nooroo back to the Guardian, then at least it would still help him.

Tikki met Wayzz and Master Fu less than three blocks from the Agreste residence. They weren't transformed, something she put down to Wayzz's insistence and Master Fu's wisdom in listening, so she passed the inactive Butterfly Miraculous to its Guardian. As Master Fu's fingers closed over it, he looked up at her. "Plagg—"

"I know," Tikki interrupted. She shared a look with Wayzz; Master Fu should know perfectly well that she knew. He should also know that she'd felt it imperative, given the circumstances, to rescue Nooroo. If she had been able to confer with Plagg, he would have agreed.

Nooroo wasn't the only one who was lost, but Nooroo's powers had been misused, and saving him had always been their priority.

Marinette had only thought in terms of stopping Hawk Moth, of preventing his reign of terror before it could become fully established. Tikki had never forgotten the prisoner behind the transformative magic that had swept across the city. She understood, in a way Marinette could not, how perverse it was for a Miraculous to be used for evil, even an evil that tried to convince itself of its own good.

"Keep Nooroo safe." It was something more of a plea than a command, but Master Fu merely smiled at her and nodded. He knew how much she worried. "I need to get back to Marinette."

"I can help you," Wayzz offered. "With Plagg—"

"No," Tikki cut in. "We still aren't certain Hawk Moth was always working alone, and we can't afford to bet on suspicions now." She turned her head slightly to include Master Fu in her gaze. "I saw the book. He has it. I'll try to fetch it when this is over. I can—"

"You can only do so much," Master Fu reminded her.

"Marinette will help me," amended Tikki. "We will return the book."

Wayzz frowned. "If he was able to decipher the book, even a portion of it—"

"I know." It hardly bore thinking, but Tikki wasn't about to dismiss the possibility—especially not when Hawk Moth had worked so hard to acquire both her Miraculous and Plagg's. "And I know that's why you think you should help, Wayzz, but it's exactly why you can't. You're too valuable." She didn't add that there was little he could do on his own, for while Wayzz had an instinct for knowing when something was wrong, it was considerably less often that he could pinpoint the whereabouts of the source.

Even now, it was more likely that Wayzz had sensed the destruction of Plagg's Miraculous and had come to check on him and Adrien than that he had known the fight had taken place at the Agreste manor. He might have known of Nooroo's plight the moment the Miraculous had been activated, but he hadn't known where Nooroo was being held and hadn't been able to sense the Miraculous until it had been activated. That was why the job had fallen to her and Plagg, to Ladybug and Chat Noir. They worked well together and had a way of combating Nooroo's power. Wayzz and Master Fu, whether alone or transformed, did not stand as good a chance.

It was not merely Master Fu's age. It was not simply the risk of losing the remaining Miraculous if their Guardian fell, either, great though that risk was. It was the fact that a task like this was never best suited to one hero alone.

There were times when Tikki regretted having to reveal secrets to Ladybug piecemeal—she hadn't even really told Marinette of the Guardian yet, despite seeking his help—but when it came to this, she understood.

Secrecy was paramount.

Hawk Moth's misuse of power was precisely why.

"You need to help Nooroo," Tikki repeated. "We might have saved him from an evil master, but he isn't truly free yet. He won't be for a while." She flitted backwards nervously, not wanting to be away for long. There was still too much that could go wrong.

"Go." Master Fu's dismissal was spoken softly but given without hesitation. She turned tail immediately, taking advantage of the fact that she was now free to flicker through walls. She'd check in on Marinette, and then she'd get the book. If she could at least hide it in the meantime, she'd feel better.

It didn't take her long to return. She hesitated when she saw Marinette still slumped against the chair, but the book was lying in the open, and Marinette would be much worse off if Gabriel Agreste was allowed to continue abusing its secrets. Tikki dove for the book, wishing she had accepted Wayzz's help after all. She was struggling with the task of tugging away the ancient tome, intent on hauling it backwards through the doorway, when she heard Gabriel's voice.

"Tikki, wasn't it?"

She froze, not loosening her grip on the book but suddenly horribly aware that she hadn't seen him lying on the floor when she'd come in. Why hadn't she looked more carefully? She knew better. She hadn't even thought him terribly injured; she'd seen him moving toward Nooroo's Miraculous as she'd snatched it up. And even if he had gone to talk with his son, he wouldn't have left the book out in the open.

She was a fool.

"Bring that back to me, Tikki."

Tikki turned slowly, finally spotting Gabriel standing by the doorway, just in front of the desk. She began to feel rather ill, this time with something Master Fu couldn't easily cure.

"Now." The word carried the weight of command. Tikki felt her body lurch toward Adrien's father, her stomach still churning with dread.

No.

She continued her advance slowly and jerkily, but the book wasn't heavy enough to halt her progress completely.

Please, no.

"Marinette," she whispered, looking back at her friend. Marinette didn't stir, not yet, but Tikki could see that she was breathing.

She could also see that Marinette no longer wore her earrings.

Tikki felt Gabriel take the book, and then that was it, the task was over, so she could—

"Stop, Tikki."

—not make it away in time.

"I am your master now. You will stay by my side and do as I say. Now come back here and remind me what I can do with your power."

Tikki couldn't help it. Even as she began to speak, drifting as slowly as she dared back to Gabriel's side, she began to cry.

Wayzz jerked back into his hiding spot, not daring to let Gabriel Agreste see him. Master Fu had been right to have him follow Tikki despite her wishes, but Tikki was right in that there was little he could do here alone. Still, even if he couldn't rescue Tikki himself, he could gather information as Master Fu had wanted and make the attempt if he felt that there was a chance of success.

They'd just gotten back Nooroo.

He didn't want to lose Tikki.

The current—former—Ladybug was injured, but she would recover. Even as he waited just out of sight around the corner, listening to Tikki's voice breaking on the recitation of her powers, he could hear the girl stir. And if he had noticed, he was certain Gabriel would have as well, and he would not linger where he might lose his newest asset.

They would be moving soon, which mean Wayzz had to move first. He couldn't retrieve Tikki or the book, but he could find Adrien.

Wayzz began zipping from room to room, passing through walls nearly at ceiling level as he searched the mansion. He finally found Adrien not in a room but in a hallway, hugging his knees as he sat on the floor. He saw a woman hovering at the end of the corridor, keeping an eye on the boy. He didn't seem to have noticed her, but she made Wayzz's task more difficult.

He ended up distracting her by pushing over a vase in one of the rooms near her, letting her rush to investigate the sound of shattering porcelain, and pushing the door shut behind her. He had had enough practice with different locking mechanisms over the years that he was able to trip the lock, but he doubted it would hold her for long. He might have bought himself some time, but he would still need to be quick.

Adrien started when Wayzz landed on his knee, and Wayzz shushed him hurriedly. "My name is Wayzz. I need your help. We have to save Tikki."

Adrien frowned. "I thought…. What about Nooroo?"

"Nooroo's safe. Tikki's the one in trouble now. Your father stole her Miraculous."

Adrien's eyes widened at the words, shocked out of his tears. "But Marinette—!"

"Alive, but she shouldn't keep fighting. Not alone. She needs you. She was chosen to be Ladybug, just as you were chosen to be Chat Noir."

Those had been the wrong words. Wayzz knew that the moment they had left his mouth. Adrien's face tightened. "I should never have been chosen as Chat Noir. Today just proved that. I've ruined everything."

"You still have the power to save everything," Wayzz said quietly, "and the boy chosen to be Chat Noir would take that chance. You have not changed that much, Adrien Agreste."

Adrien swatted him away. "I destroyed Plagg! He was my friend, and I killed him! Don't tell me I have the power to save everything—everyone—when it's not true. I just destroy everything I touch."

"Destruction is Plagg's power," agreed Wayzz. "He is the only one of us who can truly destroy another."

"Yes, and I used it on him! It's my fault he's—"

"You used Nooroo's power."

Whatever argument Adrien had been about to make died on his tongue. "I…what?"

Wayzz might not know the exact details, but he could figure it out from what he'd felt. "You were transformed under Nooroo's power, not Plagg's, and Tikki was able to reverse what was done. But if you do not save her, you'll be facing terrifying creations only Plagg can destroy, coaxing you out of hiding, and you will be hunted until your father has the Ring of the Black Cat. We've seen this before. He won't stop. You need to defeat him now, before he has a chance to exercise his new power."

Adrien was staring at Wayzz, but Wayzz had a feeling he'd stopped listening. Slowly, Adrien looked down and carefully opened his right hand. Nestled within was the Cat Miraculous, whole and inactive, green paw bright against black. "Plagg," Adrien whispered.

"Keep him hidden for as long as you can. Unless your father transforms, you'll be able to reclaim Tikki's Miraculous without being transformed yourself. Once you have the earrings, Tikki will be free to follow you."

Adrien carefully slipped the ring into his pocket, letting Wayzz know he had been listening. Thankfully, he knew enough that putting on the ring would be activating the Miraculous. Master Fu had chosen well; not everyone would have been able to wait to be reunited with someone they had thought lost forever. "What about Marinette?"

Tikki was more important than Marinette, but Wayzz knew she wasn't to Adrien. "Marinette won't be safe as long as your father has Tikki, but I doubt she's thinking about her own safety very much right now. I'm only asking you to join her fight. She's injured, but she's alive. You know her better than I; do you think she'll just let your father take Tikki?"

"Marinette's the strongest person I know," Adrien said quietly. "She won't give up."

"Strength alone won't help her right now. She needs her partner to back her up or she won't win this fight. Help her rescue Tikki, but whatever you do, don't lose the ring or you'll lose Plagg."

"And you?"

"I must get the book while your father is distracted. It's too dangerous for him to have. I need to return it to my master."

Adrien frowned, but he didn't keep questioning, for which Wayzz was grateful. He wasn't sure they had time for any more explanations. "Okay," Adrien said as he climbed to his feet. "Let's go."

Marinette's head was pounding, but she climbed to her feet when she realized Gabriel Agreste was still standing. He held one of the books again, and she could see the other behind him on the desk, but her eyes couldn't seem to focus well enough to read the titles of either from this distance. Tikki's power had taken away the pain from her earlier injuries when everything had been restored to the way it had been before, but she would have to live with these. Hopefully, her parents wouldn't ask too many questions. She never had been the most graceful of daughters.

"Please, stop this," Marinette implored when she noticed Adrien's father looking at her. "There's a better way. There must be."

He was smiling, and Marinette suddenly saw Tikki hovering just behind his shoulder.

"Tikki?" she asked slowly.

Tikki didn't move, didn't even answer her.

"Tikki?" she repeated, taking a step forward.

"Tikki does not belong to you," Gabriel said.

Marinette frowned. Tikki had never belonged to her, just as Nooroo had never belonged to him, but she didn't think…. "Tikki, what's going on?"

Another step closer, and she finally saw the glint of red in Gabriel's ears. She swallowed hard. Both hands flew up to feel her earlobes; they were bare. "No…."

"Run along, Mlle Dupain-Cheng. Our meeting is over."

Marinette tried to swallow back the sick feeling that threatened to crawl up her throat. "You can't do this." But evidently he could, and was. "Please." She couldn't lose Tikki to Hawk Moth. She had been trying to avoid that ever since she'd truly accepted the mantle of Ladybug.

"I may not have the Ring of the Black Cat, but that does not mean the powers of the Ladybug Miraculous are useless to me. Tell me, Mlle Dupain-Cheng—what would you sacrifice for someone you loved?"

The question was all too similar to what Chat Noir had asked her. "If this is about your wife, I can help—"

"You admitted that you do not know the truth, so do not pretend you can help me." His voice was cold. "I have your Miraculous; that is all I ever needed from you."

"I think you need someone to remind you of your humanity," Marinette said softly. "I think you've already sacrificed that in your search for the Miraculous."

"He did."

Marinette turned slightly, suddenly realizing that Adrien stood in the open doorway. He was shaking, but he looked determined. He began a slow walk forward, no longer looking at Marinette as he headed for his father. Even from here, she could see his red eyes and tearstained cheeks, and her heart fluttered in her chest.

Adrien wasn't supposed to look so defeated, so broken; the brave face he put on now couldn't hide the pain underneath.

"Father," he continued, "there are some things that cannot be changed. Mother is gone." He stopped less than a foot from his father. "You have to let her go."

"I can still get her back." The response was cracked through with desperation, one of the first real emotions Gabriel had allowed to bleed into his voice, but Marinette was too distracted by the look of utter horror on Tikki's face to keep her eyes on him, even though she knew she should.

"Would she even want you to?"

"Adrien, you don't—"

"Of course I understand!" Even Gabriel looked shocked by Adrien's outburst. "Father, you've been pushing me this entire time, haven't you? Didn't you want to know what I would do if I were in your place? You wanted validation. You wanted to know that what you were doing isn't wrong because of what you'll gain. But it is wrong."

Marinette saw Gabriel's face blank as he carefully closed off his emotions once again, and she was terribly certain that Adrien had pushed too far, but she didn't think that she should intervene right now. She wasn't sure she could, even if she had wanted to. The throbbing in her skull was only getting worse, and she reached back for the chair to steady herself.

"You made the same choices, Adrien."

Adrien shook his head. "No. You wanted the Miraculous to obtain power in an attempt to do the impossible. I was willing to give up that power to preserve what didn't deserve to be ripped apart."

"I am willing to give up everything for the woman I love; you were willing to do the same."

What? Marinette looked at Adrien, but he was ahead of her now and she couldn't see his face. Her heart did a somersault as the possibilities raced through her mind, which did nothing to make her more steady on her feet, and she had to force herself to focus. The situation was too dangerous for her to allow her mind to wander.

And she had no guarantee that Adrien's father wasn't twisting the meaning of his words.

"This isn't self-sacrifice, Father. This is madness. You would destroy an entire city for one person?"

"I would level Paris if it would save your mother." There was no doubt in his voice at all, and it made Marinette shiver. "She is worth the world to me."

"Then it's not love, not when you know she wouldn't want you doing this for her sake, not when she is already lost. It's an obsession. It's poisoned you."

The sharp crack of flesh meeting flesh sounded through the air, and Adrien was sent reeling backwards from the force of the slap. His father slowly lowered his hand. "Never speak to me that way again."

Adrien touched a tentative hand to his reddening cheek but straightened defiantly. "Would you prefer that we keep lying to each other?"

"I would prefer that you do not judge until you understand. What I sought to do was not impossible, Adrien. Were the Ring of the Black Cat not destroyed, I would have been able to combine it with the Earrings of the Ladybug. With the instructions in the book, I would have been able to bring back your mother. We could have been a family again."

Adrien stood even with Marinette now, keeping his distance, and she saw his eyes go wide. She had never imagined it either, what might be possible if the Miraculous were combined. Hawk Moth's determination to seize their Miraculous suddenly made a lot more sense. As powerful as they were on their own, their combined power was synergistic—and too much, she suspected, for one person to safely wield.

Adrien must think much the same, if he believed the mere aspiration of that power had been enough to skew his father's judgement.

"We won't ever be a family again," Adrien said at length. "Not like we were. Too much has happened."

"Sometimes treachery can't be forgiven." Marinette didn't realize she'd spoken the words aloud until she caught Adrien's slight nod. She'd been remembering her own struggle with it earlier as she wrestled with her conscience about whether or not she should forgive Chat Noir. As treacherous an act as that had seemed, it was insignificant compared to something like this.

She wasn't sure where Adrien found the courage to face down his father right now.

"Then don't forgive me. I will not beg for your forgiveness, Adrien, when I would not act any differently if given the choice. I only ask that you cease trying to stop me and leave me be. I would like to see your mother again, even if you do not."

"Of course I want to see her again!" Adrien burst out. "How can you say I don't? I miss her so much it hurts! But what you're proposing isn't right. Mother would never want you to do this. She wouldn't—"

"She gave up everything for you," snarled Gabriel. "She would understand exactly what I am doing in trying to get her back."

Adrien withdrew something from his pocket. "Well, I'd like to think she'd understand why I can't let you, too." And then he was moving, spinning away and calling, "Plagg, claws out!"

Plagg.

He wasn't gone; his magic was rushing over Adrien as she watched, transforming him into Chat Noir.

The ring wasn't destroyed after all.

Marinette knew it was possible that Tikki would have been able to restore it, but she hadn't…. She'd watched Plagg get caught by Adrien's Cataclysm, taking the blow meant for her, and she'd thought that that was the end. Tikki hadn't said anything to the contrary, and Adrien's grief had been genuine. He couldn't have known the truth for long.

She stood frozen, useless, as Gabriel lunged for his son, but Adrien ducked away again, calling on Plagg's power of destruction. Marinette's heart leapt into her throat as she saw the bubbling cataclysmic magic swirling around Adrien's hand.

He was so close to his father, but he wouldn't, surely, not even—!

Gabriel stilled, and then his lip curled. He didn't seem afraid of Adrien; he seemed resigned that it had come to this. "Tikki," he commanded, "transform me."

It must have been the moment Adrien had been waiting for. While Gabriel was blinded by the swirling magic, Adrien had darted around and reached out for the book Gabriel had dropped when he'd realized Adrien still had the ring. His fingers brushed the cover, and its pages crumbled into dust. A split second later, he ended his transformation, just as Gabriel's had finished.

Even as Plagg's magic had been retreating, Adrien had been moving, crossing the room to meet her. He took her hands and tugged her forward. "Get out of here, Marinette. You can't fight this. Go. Please. I…I don't want to lose you."

"I—"

"Give me the ring, Adrien, or I'll be forced to take it."

Marinette didn't want to look at Gabriel, but she was drawn to him anyway. His suit had more black than hers, but it wasn't a reversal like Antibug's had been; it was its own design, crafted for a different user, this one with darker intentions. The solid black accents looked sinister on him, all sharp angles and razor straight edges, and even his mask—cowl, really—was reminiscent of war paint. Her suit looked innocent by comparison. Naïve, even.

She had been.

"Go, Marinette," Adrien pleaded.

She felt her fingers close around his ring. He had spoken of self-sacrifice, had hinted at nearly suicidal attempts to do the impossible, and now he wanted to face this danger alone. By himself.

She didn't want to leave him, but he'd given her the ring.

She had to get as far away from here as she could.

She had to try, at least.

Adrien pushed her away as his father advanced, calling out a taunt to try to keep Gabriel's attention from her, and she dropped into a roll to keep out of his reach before finding her feet and running.

She didn't look back.

She couldn't afford to.