I jumped back, screaming for several reasons. The first being, I was standing in front of Adrien.

Adrien is hiding in a closet in the dark. Adrien is hiding in Chloe's closet in the dark. I'm standing in front of Adrien.

my mind went around like that a few times until I finally stopped screaming and bent over , my hands on my knees, trying to catch my breath. I was actually starting to feel a little better, that is, until Adrien grabbed my arm and pulled me into the closet with him and closed the doors behind us.

"Shhh, Marinette..." he whispered in my ear. I think he said some more but my brain had completely shut down at that point, my body becoming aware of his next to mine, my train of thought was one blinking loading screen.

I could die here, if it weren't for the voice in my head yelling, "Get a grip girl! You are Ladybug! Cat Noir needs your help."

That last part especially caused my mood to cool. My partner was here somewhere and needed my help.

"what's going on?" I asked Adrien but he put his finger to his lips, a movement to silence me and he moved over to a crack in the closet door.

I moved right next to him, following his example and peeking outside but I didn't see anything.

"Okay." he turned to me, "I don't see them right now Marinette, we have to get out of here."

"Why, what's going on?"

"It's Chloe, she's..."

I put a hand on my purse already trying to figure out how I would transform into Ladybug.

"She's akumatized isn't she."

He shook his head, "No. It's not that. Well at least I don't think she's akumatized. This is different She's emotionless, cold. Not like she usually is; she tried to kill me, but that's not important right now. We need to get out of here."

I nodded and straitened up putting my hand against the door. I was building a plan in my head when I suddenly remembered Cat Noir, he was here, somewhere.

I turned to Adrien considering my options, I needed to find my partner but I know that I needed to get Adrien to safety first. Cat Noir could handle himself and he would probably be upset if he knew I abandoned a civilian to run to his side.

"We have to make a run for it as quickly and quietly as possible, we can do this if we stick together."

He put his hand on my shoulder. "No Marinette, you need to leave. Get as far away as possible, call the police."

I blinked slowly, he was crazy if he thought I was going to leave him here in Chloe's closet for several reasons.

"How about no. I won't leave you here."

"Cat Noir! Where are you? We were just having fun!" Chloe yelled out in a sing-songy voice.

Adrien tensed and looked out the closet again. "Marinette, I don't have time for this, I need to get you out of here. You don't understand. I can't leave."

I shook my head, "Is this because you and Chloe are dating? I know you two mean a lot to each other but this is ridiculous. We can leave and come back with the police or better yet leave it to Cat Noir and Ladybug."

He gave out a short chuckle. He was being stubborn, if I could just get him to leave I could circle back as Ladybug and find Cat Noir.

"Come on." I said grabbing his wrist, "Let's go. Together."

He shook his head again, "No Marinette, I'm sorry, I can't but you have to get out of here. You have to run."

with that he suddenly jerked out of the closet and ran out of Chloe's room. I sat in shock for a moment before following him as quickly as I could, cursing his name under my breath.

I ran out into the living room but ran back behind the wall when I saw Chloe and Adrien facing each other.

"Glad you finally came out." Chloe said, "I didn't know you were such a fraidy cat." She cackled and I peeked over the wall to see her holding two knives in her hands.

I opened my purse ready to change into Ladybug, I wouldn't let Adrien die.

"Chloe, please. You don't have to do this, you're under her control."

I froze, what was he talking about?

She sneered at him, "No Adrien, I'm not under her control. In fact, for the first time I'm actually thinking clearly. My mother said that I could join her, but only if I proved myself and I am determined to do just that, and that's why I have to kill you Adrien, it's not personal in fact, I wish it wasn't you, but you know how it is. I need that ring on your finger."

My mind started doing all sorts of acrobatics, trying to figure out what she meant by that but my curiosities was suddenly solved when Adrien said, "Plagg transform me." and suddenly, standing before me wasn't the Adrien Agreste I've fantasized over for the past two years, it was Cat Noir.

I froze, my mind and my body numb. Chloe and Adrien started fighting, She was fast and skilled with those knives, she's obviously had some rigorous training but she was no match for Cat Noir. It only took five minutes before he had her pinned to the floor with his baton.

He looked up and saw me openly gaping at him from the doorway. His face blanched his expression mirrored how I felt, horror, shock, and confusion.

"Marinette... I told you to run."

I opened my mouth to say something but the words weren't there.

Chloe used his brief distraction to take advantage of him and swept his feet out from under him, grabbed her knife and ran to me holding the knife to my throat.

Cat Noir leapt up suddenly and stood, ready to attack.

"Stop, stop right there or I'll kill her. I'll do it Adrien, in fact, I've wanted to do it for a long time, her crush on you always bothered me."

I'm ashamed that my first reaction was embarrassment even though I had a psycho holding a knife to my neck.

"Good kitty, now stay there, we're leaving, make yourself comfortable."

She pulled me back behind the wall and she started moving towards the elevator.

"You couldn't kill me Chloe, we've gone to the same school since forever, we're friends."

Chloe scoffed, "Friends? I've hated you since the day I met you Marinette. You always had everything I didn't, your parents loved you, you were happier than I was and yet you were so unworthy. A poor daughter of a baker, but people lock to you, they love you, it's disgusting."

I shook my head, there was no way this was really Chloe.

"There's one thing you don't know about me Chloe."

She held the knife more firm against my neck, "Oh? and what is that?"

"I have a secret and no one knows yet, Tikki, transform me."

I was suddenly surrounded in magic and I used Chloe's surprise against her to slam my heel into her foot and take her knife from her.

Fully transformed I spun, using the shock and terror in her eyes to hit her over the head, knocking her out.

Cat Noir leapt in suddenly, brandishing his baton dangerously before he saw Chloe on the ground, me standing over her.

He stepped back in surprise, "Ladybug! You're here!"

I nodded and grabbed Chloe's arms, We needed to tie her up before she woke up.

Suddenly Cat Noir looked around frantically, "Marinette! She was here a minute ago, Chloe had a knife. We need to find Marinette."

I stood up and looked and Cat Noir, unsure what to say. He looked at me expectantly, "Where's Marinette?"

I looked back at Chloe and back to him. Surely he could have figured it out. I didn't have time to have escaped and I wasn't lying dead anywhere, there was only one explanation, but I couldn't admit it to him, I couldn't tell him the one thing that I swore I'd never tell him. I kept looking for the words but none came out.

He took one more step backwards, his eyes not breaking contact with mine, he asked one more time in a soft voice, "Where's Marinette?"

Was it so hard to believe that I was Ladybug? Did I disappoint him so much?

"Adrien..." I said, still searching for the words but as soon as I said his name he shook his head.

"No. You're not Marinette, you can't be."

I nodded, "Tikki, detransform me."

Tikki flew to my purse where I kept a stash of cookies, probably wanting to stay out of the situation.

Cat Noir suddenly got angry. "You're not supposed to be here! I told you to stay away. I told you it was a trap."

I folded my arms defensively, trying not to feel awkward as Marinette talking to Cat Noir as Ladybug would. Talking with no lies between us.

"Chloe is taken care of, you're welcome by the way."

"No, not Chloe. It's the suite, there's some kind of magical barrier we can't leave, no one wielding a miraculous can."

I froze the room suddenly feeling very small. "Oh."