Chapter 18

Adrien's hands were enrobed in black. They had little claw tips over the fingernails. On his right ring finger, a black ring glowed with a lime green paw print. His muscles were alive and flexible.

"Ladybug! I've got my Miraculous back!" Her only response was a muffled cry. "Cataclysm!" His hand charged with bubbling black energy and he plunged it into the brambles surrounding the gazebo. They disintegrated. Marinette was curled in a ball on the floor, her clothes ripped and bloody from the advancing thorns. Chat raced to her. "Marinette," he whispered. She turned her wide, brilliant eyes on him.

"Chat Noir," she smiled softly, "please don't give up on me."

"I won't. I love you, Marinette. I love you for everything you are."

"Adrien," she whimpered, "it's going to get worse. Don't give up on me."

"I won't," he repeated. There was a groan from outside the gazebo. Adrien's eyes followed the noise to see Hawkmoth returning to his feet and rubbing his jaw where he was sporting a massive purple bruise. Chat Noir smirked—at least in one reality, his hits were having an effect.

"Ladybug…" Hawkmoth sneered, stretching his arms and legs ominously, "Thank you for the magic…"

"How did you know Adrien was here?" Chloe's voice rang through Adrien's aching head.

"I can't tell you," a low Chinese accent responded, "I just know he is, and that I need to speak with him."

"I'm sorry, it's not safe, I don't know how you got past security to begin with—"

Adrien sat up, his pounding headache threatening to knock him out again, and turned to see a blindingly bright Master Fu in the hallway. "It's ok, Chloe," Adrien announced, "he's ok."

Chloe glared at Adrien warily, but admitted Master Fu inside. "Good morning, by the way," she huffed, "though I don't think you can call 4 o'clock good…"

Adrien rubbed his tender forehead and Master Fu gave both of them a quizzical look, "Were you sleeping?"

Adrien shrugged, "I don't know if you can define what I do in this reality as sleeping. I think all these difficult nights are taking their toll on me. I feel terrible."

"Or maybe there's something going around," Chloe groaned, "because I feel awful as well."

Master Fu nodded, "I, too, feel quite sick."

Adrien looked at the other two, "That can't be a coincidence. Master Fu, why did you come here in the middle of the night, especially when you're not feeling well?"

Master Fu gave a sideways glance to Chloe, then whispered, "Is she… cool?"

Adrien snorted, "Yeah, she knows as much as I do."

The old man nodded and spoke, "Something very strange woke me up an hour ago. The Miracle Box where the strange creatures live started singing."

"Singing?" Chloe echoed. "Like, hip-hop or country?"

Suddenly, a raspy, drawling voice chirped, "It was our special kwami song that we can use to contact each other, not crass human music. Not that you would know the difference."

Adrien couldn't swallow—his tongue had gone sandpaper dry. His eyes were prickling as Plagg lifted Master Fu's wide hat and zipped out. Adrien held open his hands and Plagg—who was surprisingly strong for being the size of a plush doll—knocked Adrien over into the couch. "Plagg! I'm so happy to see you!"

Plagg purred against Adrien's cheek briefly, then backed up, "You smell funny."

"I smell normal," Adrien scoffed. "This is how I smell when I'm not packing a wheel of camembert in my back pocket."

"Well, it's awful," Plagg complained. "It's like… soap and cookies. Wait, cookies—where's Tikki? We need to find Tikki! Do you have her?"

"Yeah, she's here," Adrien reassured Plagg.

"Good." Plagg seemed agitated, but accepted his chosen's word. "Hey, Blondie?" Plagg turned to Chloe, "You wouldn't happen to have any cheese around, would you?"

She raised an eyebrow, "You're calling me Blondie and you think I'm going to pull out all the cheese I have for you?"

"Not just any cheese, though, I prefer a finely aged—"

"You're ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!" she laughed and ran her fingers through her short curly locks. "Adrikins, is he always like that?" Adrien grinned. Plagg punched his arm. "Why don't you go find your own cheese. This is a well-stocked hotel, the pride of Paris, I'm sure there's something to your liking downstairs."

Plagg scowled at Chloe. "Great. Just great. Another human who doesn't appreciate just how delicate a kwami's needs are. Well, maybe I'll take Tikki and she and I can catch up without all these stinky humans around."

"Plagg…" Adrien warned, but the kwami rolled his eyes.

"Tikki! Tikki, where are you?"

"She likes to sleep in this scarf my father gave me, hang on," Adrien said, going to the bundled scarf on the coffee table next to the couch where Adrien had been sleeping. He gently poked the scarf. "Tikki, wake up, Plagg's here! Plagg's actually here!" She must be really tired, he thought, as he poked the scarf again. Nothing happened. He unraveled the bundle and nothing was there. "Tikki! She was here last night, where is she?" Adrien was suddenly panicking. "Tikki!"

Plagg zipped around the room calling her name but came back with a look of dismay on his face, "She's not here. What did you do to her? This is your fault," he added, glaring at Chloe.

"My fault?" she retorted, "How do you figure that?"

Plagg pouted, folding his arms dramatically. "You scared her off. Didn't make her feel welcome. You probably didn't even give her any cookies. She needs cookies just like I need cheese."

"Knock it off, Plagg. You know we've been taking great care of Tikki," Adrien warned. "Is there any other kwami with you, Plagg?"

He kept beady eyes on Chloe, "No, only the Miraculous that were in use at the point that reality went haywire were able to connect. Tikki was already here, so I—"

"Wait, does that mean—" Adrien looked down at his hand. His silver ring flashed back at him, "—Yes! I have my Miraculous back!" He jumped to his feet and his head gave a particularly fierce throb, but he didn't care. "Plagg! Claws—"

"Whoa there, Adrien, calm yourself," Plagg whined. "We really should find Tikki and make sure we know what's going on before we start transforming and saving the world."

Adrien sat back down, "You're right."

"It's been known to happen. Now get me my cheese before I have to make any more leadership decisions."

Adrien rolled his eyes at his kwami, then looked to Master Fu. "So, do you have any ideas about what's happening, or what we should expect?"

Master Fu just shook his head slowly. "I'm a masseuse who owns a run-down dojo in a dodgy part of town, who happens to own a magical gramophone inhabited by strange, magical creatures that started singing to me. I… I think I'm the last person you should be asking for advice."

Everyone laughed long and hard. Adrien smiled fondly. "In my reality, in the reality where Chat Noir and Ladybug weren't just figments of my imagination, you were the Guardian. Well, not recently. A few years ago, you gave up the Guardianship and handed to Ladybug."

Chloe gave an interested look to Adrien, "You hadn't told me that."

Adrien nodded solemenly, "Yes, Ladybug has been the Guardian of the Miracle Box for the last three years. She cares for the kwami, she makes assignments if we need another superhero to help for a while, that kind of stuff."

"And this is on top of her responsibilities as Ladybug, as well as whatever else she has going on in her personal life?"

Adrien shrugged, "We've already gone over how I'm realizing the toll it must take on her."

Master Fu piped up, "I've been hanging out with the time kwami long enough to understand you believe we're in some kind of alternate reality, but if I'm no longer the guardian, why do I have the Miracle Box?"

Adrien shrugged, "Your guess is as good as mine. But we must keep in mind that this reality was created out of Ladybug's desperation. She was overwhelmed and hurting at the time, and," Adrien paused to extract his physics notebook from his messenger bag and flip to his pages of notes, "if I've noticed any pattern in the last few days, it's that Ladybug seemed to shift things to protect herself and find a little bit of peace. I think that Master Fu came back with the Miracle Box because Ladybug wanted a break from being Guardian, and therefore she reinvented the previous Guardian."

"Makes sense," Master Fu shrugged, and Adrien nodded. If it made sense to him, that was good enough. "And certainly explains why you two are the only ones able to see or hear me." Adrien gave Master Fu a surprised look, but the old man merely shrugged. "It's been a long week."

Plagg yawned noisily, "Are you three done discussing your sci-fi mumbo-jumbo yet? I really want my cheese, and that means finding Tikki!"

Chloe grabbed her phone and punched her fingers into the screen, "There," she huffed, "I ordered a fresh plate of camembert from the kitchen. Happy?"

Adrien laughed, "You're fighting a losing battle, Chloe. He'll never be happy—"

"Hey!" Plagg countered, "I'm always happy—"

Adrien pressed on sarcastically, "—until he's found Tikki and Ladybug and helped restore reality."

Plagg pouted. "Now listen here, kid. I am not as heartless as you make me out to be. I do want things fixed."

"Really? And not just so you'll get your mini-fridge back?"

"Mini-Fridge?" Chloe asked, but after getting quick headshakes from both Adrien and Plagg, decided to drop it.

"No, not just for my mini-fridge," Plagg muttered. "Because just one time before, Tikki was on her own when she had to re-write reality, and… and it wasn't a moment I care to remember. So, I'm here to help. Now," he whined louder, "I always help better on a full stomach—"

As if on cue, there was a sharp knock at the door and Chloe skipped to it and cracked it open— "Your camembert, Mademoiselle," Jean Pierre's voice showed no sign of confusion at the request for a platter of cheese before daybreak, but Chloe thanked him and came back to offer the entirety of the wheel to Plagg, whose eyes went wide.

"Ok, kid, this girl's alright. You can keep her around a bit longer."

"Good to know," Adrien muttered and winked his thanks to Chloe.

"So what do we do? What's the next step?" Chloe asked.

Plagg swallowed a slice of cheese whole, then sat on the edge of the platter to think. "You know where Ladybug is?"

"Yes."

"And it's obvious you've connected with her. She's remembering things, she's feeling things again."

"Sorry, but why is that obvious?" Chloe asked.

Plagg waved a paw over his body, "Because I'm here. Magic is coming back. Ladybug's changed enough of this reality now that it's cracking. Things are leaking through. If things keep changing, it's likely to crumble entirely."

Adrien smiled, "Oh, that's great! That means she's accepting it, we just need to keep doing what we're doing, keep the communication open, work with her—"

Plagg was shaking his head fervently, "It's not going to be that easy. Balance must be maintained, and a reality that's cracked is inherently out of balance. Besides, don't forget one crucial detail. I'm here. Your Miraculous is back. Tikki probably got called back to her Miraculous the same way, and we have no clue how Ladybug's going to handle a kwami when she doesn't even fully accept magic as real. And there was one more Miraculous in use when this reality was re-written—"

Adrien felt the weight of the situation crashing upon him. "Hawkmoth's."

It wasn't his idea to go to school. It was actually Plagg's, surprisingly enough, but Adrien saw the logic in it. They didn't have definitive proof that Gabriel Agreste—Hawkmoth (thinking those names together still made Adrien ache)—knew Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities, only that he suspected them. And even if he did, nobody had any idea of his motivation. The only things they knew had happened were that Gabriel had become violent and had ransacked Adrien's room, possibly looking for the picture Adrien had drawn of Ladybug. The question then became how to keep Adrien safe and stay in contact with Marinette, both of which were answered best by going to a school crowded with witnesses. Besides, Adrien was too exhausted to think of a better plan, so he and Chloe arrived twenty minutes early that day. The weather was abnormally windy, and both of them had to shield their eyes against blowing dust and debris. Sabrina was spotted a few minutes later, laden with the massive bread sculpture, fighting against the wind. Chloe gave Adrien a quick peck on the cheek and promised to check in later before running over to help Sabrina make it up the stairs. "I think we'll take this straight up to the Humanities classroom," Chloe suggested.

"Good plan," Sabrina puffed.

"Do you need help-?" Adrien called, but Chloe gave him a rapid shake of the head and mouthed 'stay here!' So, he stayed put. He pulled his collar up to keep the chilly wind at bay. He scanned the crowds of students arriving for the bright blue eyes that would take his breath away and mulled over what he would say when Marinette arrived. He had kissed her the night before, and he'd gotten his Miraculous back. Maybe Tikki was with her? Maybe she'd seen the evidence of magic and was ready to reject this reality? Wait, how was that even going to work? Adrien had been so preoccupied with convincing her that she was Ladybug that he hadn't even thought about the mechanics of ending this reality and returning home. Was he going to do some kind of chanting? Or maybe a secret ritual? He looked at his palms, envisioning them being sliced open with a knife in a cinematic ordeal… was it going to hurt?

The bell rang, pulling Adrien from his reverie. He hadn't seen Marinette arrive; she must have been just as exhausted as he was, considering she'd been having the same dreams interrupting her sleep. Besides, he remembered with a fond smile, she was a notoriously late person. He ran to his physics classroom just in time. He forced himself to focus on the teacher as time slowly ticked by. The wind kicked up outside, rattling the windows. As the day dragged on, Adrien started wondering if Plagg's warning about reality cracking was just Plagg being dramatic. Other than the howling wind, nothing seemed strange. He ate his lunch in the school cafeteria and decided that even the wind wasn't that weird. Weather could be odd—that was hardly a sign that reality itself was disintegrating. He ducked into the locker room and opened his jacket pocket to let Plagg out. The kwami yawned and asked, "What's so important that you had to interrupt my nap?"

"You claimed reality was cracking, but nothing much is happening."

Plagg sat on a shelf and scowled at Adrien. "You want proof?"

"Well," Adrien thought, "I just… don't think things are that big of a deal."

"Whatever," Plagg grumbled. "Do what you like, I don't care either way."

Adrien didn't like that dismissive tone. "It's not that I don't trust you, Plagg, it's just that, well, I've been nothing but scared since last Thursday night and I'm tired."

Plagg started rummaging through Adrien's locker, "Look, kid, I can't make you do anything. I can't make you believe anything you don't want to believe. I've shared with you what I know; how you use that knowledge is up to you. Now, did you save any cheese from lunch or do I have to sneak out again?"

Adrien rolled his eyes and handed over the slice of camembert Adrien had set aside just for Plagg, reloaded his messenger bag, and headed upstairs for his Humanities class. He hadn't seen Marinette all day, not even a quick glance in passing, so he was particularly excited for Humanities. Besides, he was incredibly proud of his bread sculpture. He leaned into his desk when he made it into the classroom—the brief run up the stairs through the courtyard was windy enough that he was shivering. Chloe and Sabrina were already in their seats, Nino and Alix were ready to go… where was Marinette?

The bell rang. The teacher announced the project presentation order. The first group started talking. Adrien's nerves decimated any lingering hope. His group was next, and he hung back and hardly spoke as Chloe and Sabrina showed off the Colosseum. He returned to his seat next with an empty chair beside him, and thought through every word, every gesture, every nuance from the last several days. Had he blown it again? Had he hurt her without realizing it? Maybe kissing her was way too much, maybe she hated him now—

The door flew open and Adrien's heart nearly leapt out his chest. Marinette blasted inside, followed by a gust of wind that emptied the papers from the teacher's desk. "Sorry," she muttered.

"It's quite alright," the teacher insisted. "I got your notification this morning; everything's squared away for your project, then?"

Marinette nodded and sat down. Adrien suddenly felt stupid—she'd helped him with his project well into the evening, despite not even being in his group. She'd had her own homework to do and had forfeited her precious time just to help him. It was so classic Ladybug—so classic Marinette—that it made him smile and frown at the same time. She was self-sacrificing to a fault. Adrien scooted his chair closer to her and hoped to get her attention enough to give her a supportive smile, but her long hair fell over her face and she kept her eyes fixed in the opposite direction. The group up front finished and was given polite applause.

"Alright, the last group of the day is our Athens team," the teacher announced. "Nathaniel, Marinette, Cecille? You're up!"

Marinette didn't so much as glance at Adrien as she walked to the front of the room. "So, yeah," Nathaniel began, "we were assigned to study Athens. We thought about focusing just on the buildings, but, there's more to it than that…"

Cecille, a bubbly girl with flowing brown hair, took over, "Marinette had a great idea to focus more on the deities worshiped in ancient Greece, rather than just on the architecture. We got some help from Marinette's friends at Agreste Design—" Adrien gasped, "—and we hope you all enjoy the show!"

Marinette opened the door and six models strode inside, all wearing elaborate costumes depicting various Greek gods and goddesses. The last, most incredible costume was Athena, but Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, and Aphrodite were all represented. The class oohed and aahed over the costumes, and Marinette's team talked about their research on Greek fashion, then pointed out elements in each costume. Adrien's ears were ringing with white noise. He still couldn't believe Marinette had teamed up with his father's company. Don't read into it, he tried to reason with himself. She probably had the assignment done ages ago. She probably didn't know anything about who my father truly is. She doesn't need your permission to work with models and designers just because the business bears your last name.

Eventually, the teacher let the class members come forward and view the costumes up close. Adrien used the din of excited students as a cover to talk to Marinette. She was still avoiding eye contact, but he sidled up beside her just close enough that their shoulders brushed. That mind-boggling electricity raced through his shoulder again as she took a small step to the side. "The costumes are pretty amazing," he smiled.

She blushed lightly, "Thanks."

"So, you worked with Agreste Designs, huh?"

"Adrien…"

"It's ok," he added, "I know you probably finished the project days ago, before knowing what you do now."

She looked at her hands. "Not really, we got the costume idea a while ago, but… but we didn't finish it up until this morning."

"Wait, what?"

Just then, the door opened and the class collectively gasped as Gabriel Agreste strode inside. "Ah, Mademoiselle Marinette," Gabriel crooned, "It looks like your presentation went well. My apologies for my lateness. After devoting the better part of the morning to helping this young designer with her school project, I had to finish up some work in the office. But it looks like you finished just fine. I trust you got the notice that Marinette would be working with me today?"

The teacher grinned, "Yes, yes, the whole school board agreed that a day working with Gabriel Agreste could count as a mentorship day, and Marinette's absence this morning was happily excused."

"Excellent," Gabriel smiled. Adrien felt sick to his stomach. Gabriel turned to his son, smiling wickedly, "I'm happy to mentor a student, and something about this project really spoke to me. Mademoiselle Marinette, thank you for sharing your talent with me. I look forward to working with you in the near future."