Marinette holds her breath. She had done her best to explain everything she could to Master Fu. How Lila came to her house, that dreaded phone call, how she ran away and when Nicole found her. Then she had explained why she was there in the first place.

The man strokes his beard as he sits in silence, his face the picture of thinking. Finally he looks at her, "You said that Hawkmoths men were following you?"

She nods quickly, "Yes."

He takes this in with a frown, "And that girl was helping you."

She nods faster this time, impatiens making her nervous, "Yes."

He folds his arms, "And you haven't told your new friends about the miraculous?"

Marinette clenches her hands into fists in her lap, "No, of course not. What happened with Hawkmoth was an accident."

He sighs heavily, his gaze finally shifting away, "In this kind of situation, I would normally have the miraculous returned to me."

Fear pierces her heart, a cold horror freezing her limbs in place, "B-but you can't! I-" her tongue is heavy in her mouth, "Masfed Fu, I still have to save Adrien! I can't just leave him all alone. I made a promise!"

The master holds up a hand to stop her, it irks her so much to see him only mildly concerned when she was losing herself like this, "I understand you have some concerns. However, the miraculous are far too dangerous to be found by someone like Hawkmoth. I cannot allow them to fall into his hands."

Her vision is going blurry with the treat of tears, she couldn't lose Tikki. Not after everything that's happened. If she lost her, everything would have been for nothing. The patrols, the fighting, all of her sore muscles, losing Adrien, all of that time would be gone in an instant. She couldn't let that happen, it would break her.

Tikki rushes forwards, "Master Fu. Marinette has been doing everything in her power to keep the miraculous safe. Even when her life was in danger she didn't give up the earrings. Please don't take me away from her."

Master Fu shakes his head at her, "I wasn't finished." When they both remained silent he continues, "I said 'normally' but this has become more complicated than 'normal'."

The cold melts away from her body, leaving her slumped in her seat, the worry however doesn't leave, "So what happens then?"

She watches him pull something out of his pocket and hold it out, "I will be handing this back to you."

A small ball of light green flies up from his hand to float in the air, a bright pop revealing a small black creature, "Jeez what's with all the noise."

Tikki tackles the black cat a few feet away from them, squeezing the life out of him, "PLAGG! You're ok!"

The Kwami flails his arms, "Huck! Yeah I was fine. Now I'm not so sure!"

Tikki lets him go, "What happened? We could barely get you to come out before and even then you weren't doing so well."

Plagg makes a show of clearing his throat, opening his arms wide, "Funny you should ask that!" He pauses and it almost reminded Marinette if Chat when he starts to over exaggerate a story, it weren't for the subtle quivering in his shoulders, "I… was really brave ok?!" He straightens his back, "Chat Noir told me to leave, to run and find Master Fu, and I did! I didn't abandon him!"

Tikki waves her arms in a 'calm down' motion, "Whoa, no one was accusing you of abandoning anyone."

The cat doesn't seem to hear her, "They got in a fight! I had never seen Chat he so brave before and he never stands up for himself! Then he told me to run away and I did, I was just following orders!"

Marinette reaches out her hands and cups them underneath the Kwami, his whole body shaking as he tries to hold back tears. He practically topples over in her palm.

"I was just following orders."

They sit in silence as the Kwami's hold each other, one to comfort and the other hiding. Marinette could take a guess at how much the tinny god was hurting, but she needed the whole story if she was going to save the blonde.

"Plagg?" He peaks up at her, "I know that Chat Noir is Adrien."

Master Fu gives her a mildly surprised glance but says nothing.

Plagg however looks distraught, "What? But you weren't supposed to know."

Tikki hugs him closer, "Well when the owner of a miraculous goes missing, Ladybug is the first one to know. That and they have class together."

The cat nods, "Yeah, that makes sense." A pout forms on his face, "And he tried so hard to keep it a secret for you."

Marinette smiles sadly, "I know."

Taking a breath, Plagg pulls away from his red counterpart, "Well, if you know it's Adrien then I guess I can tell you the whole story. The night he went missing, he was actually on one of his nightly runs, see that kid didn't like to be at home all the time and needed to blow off some steam! He had decided to change back before going into his house, which turned out to be a good thing." He takes a breath, "Then he went into his house through the front door and his father turned on the lights while standing at the top of the stairs being all creepy. Then he asked Adrien why he was out so late and Adrien couldn't think of a good lie so he said 'nightly run' like it was a question and not the truth." He floats up at this point, "And then his dad got all angry and said he wasn't allowed to go to school anymore, or leave and every second of his life would be planned out for him, and I guess the miraculous was still influencing him because he got this super angry face and yelled at his father for being unfair. That he might still be a kid but he didn't like modeling for his dads dumb clothes, that he planned on being as difficult as possible if his father wouldn't let him have at least a little free time." He starts moving his arms around, getting more animated, "Then his father yelled back saying 'how could you do this when your mother is dead so I'm the only one who can care for you'" anger crosses his face, "Then Adrien looked all guilty like he regretted speaking his mind and I wanted to hit that guy, then he said that Adrien wasn't to blame, like he didn't just mention the kids dead mom, and then he asked Adrien to follow him and they went to this weird basement place and his mom's body was down there. And then he told Adrien that he was Hawkmoth and that he had a plan to save his wife by taking the miraculous and Adrien got super scared and as soon as his father wasn't looking he told me to run and not to turn back. Then he handed me the ring and the phone and I tried to run away with it but-"

Marinette stops him, "The phone! What happened to the phone?!"

Plagg backs up a little, "I was getting there. See, I can't phase the phone through things, only my ring and I was running out of energy fast because I had to take the long way to get out. I'm not sure what happened but I was flying with the phone and it was super heavy and then suddenly I wasn't and I couldn't find it and I was so tired because I hadn't eaten after Adrien's run so I came back to Master Fu and then I fell asleep."

Marinette throws her arms up, "Where did you drop the phone? Does Hawkmoth know Adrien is Chat? Does he think it's someone else?"

Plagg shrugs, "Somewhere on the streets and I don't think so?"

Something occurs to the bluenette, "Oh no." She grabs her pigtails as that all too familiar fear comes back, "Oh no, oh no, no, no, no, no! This is all my fault!"

Tikki flies into her face, "What's wrong Marinette?"

She grabs the Kwami gently, "Hawkmoth knows who Chat Noir is and it's all my fault!"

Master Fu's eyes widen, "He knows? How?"

"I talked about him all the time in the messages I left!"

Tikki's eyes scrunch, "I don't remember that."

Marinette could feel the tears building up again, "I called him when you were asleep a few times. I left so many messages I lost count."

The Kwami shakes her head, "Even if you did, you promised to not say who he really was. You called him Chat every time you were on the phone. If Hawkmoth knows who Chat Noir is, it's not because of you."

A tear escapes her eye, but she's quick to wipe it away, "Are you sure?"

"I'm positive!"

Plagg lands softly in her open palm next to Tikki. His small warmth making it easier to get rid of the tears.

"I'm so sorry you got dragged into this Plagg, I know you don't like Luka very much but I couldn't think of anyone else at the time."

The cat shrugs, "It was an emergency and it technically still is." He folds his arms, "I might not like the music kid but until we find Adrien I won't ever be happy."

Marinette runs a finger over his head, petting him, "I miss Adrien too."

The cat shoos her hand away, "I didn't say I miss him! It's just hard without having my favorite cheese given to me everytime I ask."

Tikki pokes him in the cheek, the small smirk on her face and fond look in her eyes portraying the amusement she had for her destructive counterpart, "Maybe some of the other miraculous can give us ideas on what to do. Let's go talk to them."

Marinette tilts her head in confusion, letting her hands fall to her lap so the Kwami can float, "The others? Can you talk to them?"

Wayzz appears from seemingly nowhere into her vision, he must have come out at some point while they were talking, "We can visit them in the box. I'll go with you."

Master Fu nods to the now trio, "Go and talk with them, I need to discuss something with Marinette alone."

The Kwami bow to him, flying towards the old record player and disappearing inside of it a moment later. Once they are alone the master focuses on the teen.

"I did not finish speaking to you about what was going to happen."

The bluenette feels a small lump form in her throat, shaking her head up and down to signify she was listening.

"Like I said. You may keep Tikki for now, and I will be giving you the black cats ring, but I cannot let them rest of the miraculous out of my sight."

Marinette's heart seizes.

"There have been too many close calls during your battles with Hawkmoth, your teammates have succumb to their emotions and been akumatized while wearing their superhero persona more than once, I do not want to risk anymore than has already been done."

Blood pumps loudly through her ears, she couldn't do this alone, "But Master Fu, you said I could decide what to do with the miraculous."

He frowns and closes his eyes, "I did, but that was before. Now that I have heard so much I am making a different decision." He holds up a hand to stop her from talking and something inside of her snaps at the action, "You will still be the rightful owner of the miraculous, when you are older. I realize now that you are still a child and I have placed too many responsibilities on you." He folds his hands on the table and looks her in the eye, "I will be taking the rest of the miraculous with me into hiding. If I deem you or Chat Noir unworthy of the miraculous in the future I will retrieve them myself at that time, and I will decide when you can have them back."

Anger bubbles in Marinette's gut as the Kwami return to them. She decides not to say anything, though by the look on Tikki's face she's not very good at hiding her frustration.

"Marinette, what's wrong?"

The teen shakes her head, "Nothing."

Master Fu heaves a tired sigh and places Plaggs ring on the table, "You should be getting home now. I believe school is about to end."

Being reminded of her home life turns the bubbling into broiling, but she shoves it down as far as she can, snatches the ring and leaves the room, miraculously holding back from slamming the door shut or stomping all the way down the stairs and out of the house but she's close.

When the sunlight finally hits her in the face she throws her arms up and waves them around in anger, trying to keep her mouth shut so she won't start screaming but some angry grunts still leave her.

A gentle patting on her shoulder reminds her of her company, "Marinette, please stay calm. If you get too angry-"

A fuse pops, "I am far from angry Tikki! I'm furious! I can't handle the amount of emotions I'm under right now and I don't want to deal with them! Let Hawkmoth send a stupid butterfly at me! See what happens! I'd like to see him try and akumatize me because right now the only thing holding me back from punching him in his stupid face is the fact I don't know where he is!"

With one last angered shout she throws her hands down to her waist and marches off in the direction of her school. She had plans to get done, things to do and nothing was going to stop her, not even Master Fu. She was tired of everything getting in her way of saving her kitty. She was tired of everyone else controlling her life. She was tired of running!

With a huff she shoves the ring onto her finger to keep it safe. Better than the flickering thought of throwing it in anger. If she had help this would all be easier, but now apparently she wasn't allowed to have help. She had to do this all alone, forever if she couldn't save Adrien. If she could just convince master Fu to give her the miraculous.

She stops in her tracks, hidden in the shadow of a building on her way home, a thought coming to mind that could fix her all problems or at least the most pressing ones.

She could just take the miraculous.

It would have to be when no one would notice so probably that night. She had no idea when master Fu would up and disappear but she didn't have time to find out. With a determined frown she checks for other people around and transforms. Using her yo-yo to propel her towards her home. The words she had muttered ages ago echoing in her mind, 'I won't let this keep going, I will get you back.'

"No matter what the cost." slips from her lips as she jumps to the next rooftop.