I transformed and traveled to the cliffs where he was already waiting.

"What is this about?" I asked.

"Whoah, what's the hurry? No time for a simple hello?"

I smiled and rolled my eyes, "Somehow, I was given the impression that this was important."

He put on a face of mock horror, "and leave our good manners to suffer? Surely not!"

I rolled my eyes, realizing that playing along with him was the best idea.

"Hello, now can we get on with it, what did you need?"

He smiled "I have something that I thought you should see."

He brought out a small miraculous box. When I saw it my eyes widened and my heart skipped a beat.

"Where did you find a miraculous?" I asked.

"Oh no, this isn't a miraculous, he opened the box, revealing it to be empty.

"Then what-..." I started to ask, wondering why he thought this empty box was an emergency.

"This belonged to someone I knew. I've seen it hundreds of times before but when we were I that temple looking at all those miraculous, I realized that this box means that there are more miraculous out here other than ours and hawkmoth's.

Do you know if the person who had the box could still have the miraculous?

Cat Noir shook his head, "My M- She has been dead for years."

I nodded, hearing a tone in Cat Noir's voice that I'd never heard before, a warning of sorts.

I changed my direction if thinking, it didn't matter who held the miraculous, it matters who has it now.

I thought for a minute, if hawkmoth had it then surely he wouldve used by now, master Fu had told me that the combined strength of the miraculous could give hawkmoth the ability to raise more than one minion. Surely that is proof for it not being in hawkmoths posession. what mattered was who had it now.

"Maybe she got buried with the miraculous." I said, musing out loud.

"It isn't." He said with a hard voice, "listen, i thought this ring, these powers, i thought they were a gift. But now I realize that I'm being punished."

I stared at him, unsure what to say.
"You cant possibly think that."

"They used to mean freedom until i realized that it wasnt freedom, it was another responsibility. My responsibility to protect these people. The night you showed up, i wasn't going back to the city, i wasnt going to fight Lupus, not again. I was going to abandon everyone because i was too selfish, too tired of responsibility. I don't think i should have it. Listen. Ive been thinking about it and I think you should take my miraculous."

He stared at me so seriously that i dont even think I could mistake him for kidding.

"What are you talking about?"

"Your master, the man you talked about earlier, he said he wanted all the missing miraculous right? That includes mine, I want you to take it."

"No." I said.

"What do you mean no? I thought that you-"

I reached into my pocket and took out the crumpled up note that had been haunting me for weeks, and i cut him off by shoving it at him.

"Read it." I said. He opened up the letter and scanned it quickly and stared at me accusingly.

"When did you get this?" He asked.

"Mmm, about a week ago."

"Why didn't you..."

"Why didn't I take your miraculous by any means necessary? Because I realized that I can't do this alone. I was sent here to save all of man kind by returning three ancient powerful objects to their home before evil forces can take over the world, and i shared this responsibility alone until you. You helped me, you took off that weight from my shoulders. Those responsibilities, they're not yours. They're ours. So no, I will not take away the only ally I've found. You got that?"

He gave me a small little half smile and nodded and I smiled back at him.

"We can do this. but I can't do it without out you, do you understand?"

Suddenly, a sound of bells rang out from the city, and I wheeled around towards the city.

"What is that?" I asked.

"It's the alarms, something big must be going down."

"Already? We just had an akuma, what else could they possibly throw at us?"

He just gave me a half sort of smile and a quick bow, "I'm sure it's nothing you can't handle, I really need to check back in with my... people."

I nodded, that was just perfect, I could probably find myself to the heart of the matter faster as Marinette than Ladybug.

I found myself back at the castle to find the whole place with tempers running high.

I went all the way to the Princess's chambers to even find any of the girls.

"Where's Alya and Alex?" I asked, finding every other guard in there.

"The Prince disappeared in town when the monster attacked. Alya and Alex are with the search party."

"What happened?" I asked, I didn't see the prince anywhere as I fought the akuma. My stomach dropped as I imagined him bleeding, dying in an alley.

"They say he just disappeared, one second he was standing there and the next he was gone."

"I'm going to go help with the search." I said, already heading out. but I didn't get far before I saw Alya heading down the hall towards me.

"Marinette! There you are! I've been worried sick, Rose said that you went off to face that awful monster by yourself!"

"Yeah, I-"

She cut me off by wrapping me in a big hug, "We went out to look for the prince but you were missing to. Don't scare me like that."

I smiled at her, "I'm fine Alya. Did you find the Prince?"

She pulled me away and grinned at me, a gleam in her eye, "Why, are you worried about his well being?"

"Well you know, he is our future king and all, I'm just doing my job by taking an interest in the safety of the royals."

Alya nodded, "Of course, I would never assume anything else, but, you should be less worried about his safety and more worried about mine. We found him inside a building, hiding from the monster but me on the other hand, I think his father wanted to string me up by the thumbs. I think that we really are going to have to put one of us on Prince duty. For my safety and sanity, and I think that should be you."

I froze and looked at her, shocked. "I couldn't possibly... I don't think that's... I can't."

She grinned an evil grin, "Well you seem to have a... unique interest in the Prince's safety. I think that it's the best idea I've ever had."

I shook my head, "Why not Alex or Mylene?"

"You are the next senior officer after me. Let's face it Marinette, you're doing this."