Chapter 2

Adrien was bored. There was nothing else to it. His mother's lessons had gotten less interesting, and she seemed more and more on edge. Every once in a while, she would wrap Adrien up in a hug and just let him know how much she loved him. It made him suspicious and a little worried that her sickness was coming back. Any time he brought it up, she assured him that she was perfectly healthy.

He hadn't told either of his parents about his trips to Marinette's house. Maybe if he had remembered the blue-eyed girl, he would have mentioned it, but he still only knew what the girl looked like because of the pictures Sabine had shown him.

His mom seemed to notice him staring out the window instead of listening to her lesson because she stopped talking. She walked to the window, looking out as well. Adrien stiffened as she put an arm around him, but it wasn't like her usual tense hugs. She seemed relaxed for once as she looked out over Paris with him.

"It's such a beautiful day out," she said, glancing over at Adrien with a smile. "Why don't we head out and do something outside?"

Adrien perked up at that and he nodded excitedly. His mom grabbed her oversized bag and put some books and schoolwork inside before gesturing for Adrien to follow her. The two recruited his bodyguard and got in the car. Adrien looked out the window as the Sedan pulled away from the mansion gates and turned down the street.

"Are we going to the park?"

"No," his mom said, looking uncomfortable. "I thought maybe we could go to the Eiffel Tower instead."

Adrien felt a pang of disappointment, but he supposed it was a good thing. If he went to the park, he'd only want to visit the Dupain-Cheng's bakery and he couldn't with his mom watching. He had been going more and more often just to get pastries or to talk with Tom and Sabine about their daughter. It bothered him that he couldn't remember Marinette, but there was something comfortingly familiar about the bakery. If he had to guess, he spent a lot of time there for the food.

"I know your father doesn't want you out much," his mom sighed, snapping Adrien out of his thoughts. "But if you ever do want to get out and get some fresh air, just let me know. We can go together."

Guilt swirled in Adrien's stomach as he thought about all the times he had snuck out, just in the last few days. His mom probably didn't know about all those times, but he couldn't help but feel like she knew something more than she was saying.

"I just don't understand why he's so against it," Adrien responded, deciding against owning up to his escapades.

"There was a lot of crime a few months ago," his mom said, her smile almost pained. "It was pretty bad from what I've heard. I think your father is just concerned about your safety."

"I haven't heard about much," Adrien responded, his brows furrowed. "Though, I don't watch the news that often."

"Don't," his mom said facing back forward again. "It's only depressing."

Adrien shrugged. The news wasn't interesting to him anyway. He had much better things to do with his time; like taking trips to the Eiffel Tower or getting macarons from Tom and Sabine's. Adrien looked down at his hand as they pulled up and ran a finger along the fading line on his right ring finger. He had searched his room and belongings for a ring, but he couldn't find one anywhere.

"I was thinking we could learn a little bit of history while we're here," his mom said, once the car came to a stop. "It's a bit more fun to talk about what happened in Paris from the top of the tower where you can see everything."

Adrien smiled and undid his seatbelt. "Sounds perfect."

ooo

It was late, but Adrien didn't really mind. The ring he had been missing was bugging him way more than he thought it should. Where was it? He obviously wore it long enough to get a tan around it, so it must be important to him. He just couldn't figure out where he had gotten it from.

He had tried to talk to his mom about it once, but she had changed the subject, assuring him his father could get him a ring to replace it. He hadn't told her he didn't want to replace it as much as he just wanted to find where he had put the original. Part of him knew that he wasn't really sure what the ring even looked like. He had looked in some of his father's pictures during past photoshoots, and there was indeed a ring on his finger. It was silver and fat, but he wasn't sure if there were any other markings on the ring since it was so little in the pictures.

He was in the basement, trying his best to look for the ring with a phone flashlight. He wasn't sure why he had thought he could find it with the weak light from his phone, but he was realizing rather quickly that there was no way the ring was going to be found. There was a fancy elevator that took him to the basement connected to his father's office. He remembered his father coming down here once after Adrien's accident, though he wasn't sure his father had seen him.

"Why do we even have this place?" Adrien whispered to himself looking around the catwalk suspiciously. It seemed like it would be a fancy place to hold a fashion show, except that there was nowhere to sit and watch. Maybe it was still in the process of being remodeled. Deciding the ring wasn't anywhere, Adrien turned back to the elevator.

"Better head to bed before someone notices I'm gone," he muttered to himself, letting the elevator take him back up. He exited as quietly as he could, now in his father's office.

As he passed his father's desk, something made him stop. There, on the desk, was a package of half-eaten cookies. He found it strange since his father never really ate cookies, and stranger because the label on the package was one that he recognized. The T and S were unmistakable on the ripped package and Adrien felt a flash of annoyance. His father apparently had been unfair in telling Adrien to avoid the bakery when he was ordering cookies from it.

Next to the cookies was a round of cheese. Adrien's curiosity got the better of him and he lifted the round top. Instantly, the smell of the cheese filled the air and Adrien grimaced. It was a pungent cheese that seemed really familiar. Adrien didn't remember having a particular like for Camembert, but maybe the familiarity of the smell was because his father ate it.

Adrien abandoned the packages, realizing he didn't have time to waste. He needed to get back to his room as quickly as possible before anyone realized he was out of bed. He tiptoed across the office and out the large doors, closing them softly behind him.

It wasn't until he reached his room that he allowed himself to relax. He laid in his bed stretching out his arms and legs which were stiff from the tense tiptoeing across his house. He had never shared a room, as an only child, but there was something odd about going to sleep lately. He always felt like he should be saying goodnight to someone.

Maybe it was just because his mom used to tuck him in, and his memories were all out of whack. Shrugging it off, he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

A photoshoot had once again brought Adrien to the park. He was pleased by the fact since it meant he could slip away to the bakery more easily. Vincent was pleased by the pictures he was getting, telling Adrien how he looked back to normal for the first time since the accident. Adrien was having a good day. That was until he visited the bakery and was bombarded by two random teenagers who happened to be inside.

"Dude!" one of the teens said, running over. He was wearing a red baseball cap and glasses and was accompanied by the girl Adrien had run into the other day. Immediately, he was feeling guilty.

"I'm sorry," he said, quickly before either could say anything else. "If you knew me from school, I don't remember."

"What?" the girl asked, looking suspicious. "What do you mean you don't remember? We get that your dad pulled you out of school, but-"

"Your pops is actually the worst, dude," the boy in the hat said, folding his arms. "Chloe's been depressed for weeks."

"You know Chloe?" Adrien asked, his eyes widening. That was someone he remembered. Maybe this was a good start to getting his memories back.

"Seriously?" the girl asked, looking almost offended. "You remember Chloe?"

"Alya, Nino," a familiar voice chided. "I told you already. Adrien had an accident weeks ago and he's lost his memories of school."

"Well, I thought he'd remember his best bud," the boy-Nino-sighed. "This sucks, man."

Adrien grimaced. "Sorry. I don't remember anything about school."

"So you really don't remember Marinette at all?" Alya asked, her expression suddenly becoming sad.

"No," Adrien admitted. "I've tried. Were we really that close?"

"Dude," Nino laughed, shaking his head. "She was totally in-"

The boy cut off as Alya's elbows connected with his ribs, knocking the breath from his lungs. Nino shot her a look and the girl narrowed her eyes.

"She was in our class," she finished. "She sat behind you, and you did a couple of projects together. You almost competed in the video game championship with her too, but you gave up your spot to another boy in our class who really wanted to compete. Marinette tried to give him her spot, but you let her compete and gave up your spot instead."

"She gave you her lucky charm for that tournament," Nino said, frowning slightly. "And then you made her one for her birthday."

Adrien looked between the two teens, feeling more and more unsure. "I wish I could remember," he said, for what seemed to be the millionth time. "I really do."

"She was a huge fan of fashion too," Alya said. "She loved Gabriel's fashion trends. She had so many designs she used to show me-I always told her she should show them to you, but she was too nervous."

"I'm sure I would have loved them."

There was a spark of something in the bespectacled girl's eyes and she turned toward Sabine. "Madame Dupain-Cheng, do you think we could show Adrien some of Marinette's designs?"

The woman behind the register looked thoughtful for a moment. "Tom and I have to keep the bakery running," she said slowly. "But you could bring him up to her room if you want."

Alya thanked the woman, and Adrien found himself being dragged through the bakery and up the stairs to the Dupain-Cheng's apartment. He felt uncomfortable, but he didn't want to hurt Alya or Nino's feelings by refusing.

The door to the apartment was unlocked and Alya dragged Adrien inside and up the stairs just on the other side of the door. She pushed open a trap door and disappeared. Adrien followed after her, and Nino followed close behind.

Whatever he had been expecting Marinette's room to look like was proved completely wrong as he was engulfed with pink. He frowned at the room, suddenly noticing pictures of his own face on the walls. Alya followed his eyes to the pictures and she winced.

"Like I said, she was really into fashion."

Adrien nodded slowly, as the girl wandered over to the corner of the room where a large trunk was sitting. She opened it and Adrien wandered over curiously. The trunk slammed shut before he could see what was inside.

"Not in there," Alya squeaked, grabbing Adrien by the arm and dragging him to the desk instead. Nino had sat down on a pink chaise and was looking around.

"It's weird to be in here," he said when Adrien met his eye. "It's a bit of a downer."

Alya faltered and Adrien noticed tears welling in her eyes. "Well, she'll wake up soon, I'm sure of it."

"What happened to her?" Adrien asked. He had been too afraid to ask Tom and Sabine, but Alya and Nino seemed more open to talking about it.

"We're not really sure," Nino answered. "Her parents have been pretty private about it. She got hurt somehow."

"She was such a klutz," Alya laughed, wiping at her face quickly.

Adrien felt the mood of the room shift and he felt suddenly uncomfortable. Alya seemed to notice his unease because she threw the closet open.

"Aha," she said with a grin. "Here are some of them."

She pulled out several outfits and Adrien looked over them. He wouldn't lie-it was impressive that someone his age had made them. His father was a professional fashion designer, so he was used to looking at quality work. Though some of the stitches were crooked and not everything was perfect, Marinette must have been a talented designer to have made some of the articles at her age.

"These are awesome," he said honestly.

"She would have been so excited to hear you say that," Nino piped up, coming over to join them. "She even made you a Chat Noir hat once when she found out you were a fan."

Adrien looked over in confusion. "A black cat fan?"

He didn't necessarily dislike cats of any color, but it didn't really make sense to him. He didn't have any particular attachment to black cats.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten Chat Noir and Ladybug," Alya gasped, sounding almost offended.

"I'm sorry," Adrien apologized. "I'm telling you; I have no memory of anything that happened since I started school."

Alya typed something furiously on her phone before she handed it over to Adrien to read. He scanned the screen, his brow furrowing as he looked at the website. It was called the Ladyblog and had pictures of a girl in a red polka-dotted bodysuit and a blonde boy in a black leather suit.

"These were Paris's superheroes," Nino explained since Alya was still fuming about Adrien's memory loss.

"Were?" Adrien asked, picking up on the past tense.

"Well, Hawkmoth stopped sending out akumas," Nino said. "Not sure if they found the dude or not, but we haven't heard from Ladybug or Chat."

"This sounds made up," Adrien said, looking between the two friends, trying to decide if they were pulling on his leg. They seemed serious about it all, though.

Before they could respond in their defense, Adrien's phone buzzed. He looked down at it and saw the message from his mom. She wanted to know if the photo shoot was over.

"I've got to go," he said, quickly responding and assuring his mom he was on his way home. She was at Chloe's hotel visiting with Audrey who was in Paris for the weekend, but he knew she would check up with Nathalie to see if he was home.

"Oh, well it was nice to see you dude," Nino said, looking over at Adrien with a sad look.

"You too, I suppose," Adrien said, wincing at how awkward he sounded.

He stuck out his fist to the boy automatically and Nino blinked. Adrien felt embarrassed by the action, not sure why he did it. It had just felt like the right thing to do.

"Uh...Pound it?"

Alya made a squeaking noise, and Nino softly tapped his knuckles against Adrien's. Adrien cleared his throat uncomfortably and rushed down the ladder-like stairs before he could do anything else to embarrass himself.

ooo

Weeks passed without much else happening. Adrien was beginning to discover his father hadn't been entirely honest with him. It seemed he had lots of friends from school who were constantly disappointed when they saw him and he couldn't remember their names or anything he had done with them. He felt like an awful person every time he encountered any of them. They all had the same disappointed look in their eyes every time he told them about his accident.

Despite his mom's hopeful comments that maybe his memories would return, he hadn't had a single one return. He had researched the superheroes Nino and Alya had talked about, but he didn't recognize them at all. He would have thought he would remember something as cool as that.

His fencing, photoshoots, and piano were going well, much to his mom and father's pleasure. He had a recital tonight, but he wasn't looking forward to it. He enjoyed playing piano, but only the pieces that were fun. Sometimes his mom would pop in while he was practicing to play with him, but then she'd kiss his head and tell him to keep practicing. He had talked to the Dupain-Cheng's about the recital, even going as far as inviting them. They couldn't come because of the bakery, but they assured him they would have a celebratory treat for him after. He didn't know how to tell them he wouldn't be able to stop by.

"Adrien?"

Adrien looked up at his mom's voice, quickly closing all the tabs on his computer about the heroes of Paris. He wasn't sure why he was so guilty about it, but he didn't want his mom to know what he was looking at.

"Are you ready for your Chinese lesson?"

"Oh," Adrien stammered, opening his drawer closest to him to look for a pencil. He froze as he pulled out a chain of beads on a piece of red yarn. There was a clover on the large green charm in the middle as well as some other beads of various colors. The oddest thing about it was he had no idea where it had come from.

"What is that?" Emilie asked, coming farther into the room.

Adrien studied it for a long time, trying to pin down where it had come from. It had a four-leaf clover on it-those were supposed to be good luck, right?

"I think it's a good luck charm," he said, remembering what Nino and Alya had told him a few days ago about Marinette and the video game tournament. "I...I got it from school."

"You remember that?" his mom asked. Adrien expected his mom to be excited about the fact, but she seemed almost nervous.

"Not really," he admitted. "I just...assume that's what it is. It's got a clover on it. It's definitely not something father would have made."

Emile calmed and gave him a small smile. "We're going to be late for your lesson."

"Oh, yeah," Adrien said, grabbing a pencil from the drawer the lucky charm had been in. "I'm good to go."

"See you in the car, then."

Adrien nodded, getting up to follow his mom out of the room. He almost put the charm back in the drawer, but then he froze. It was a bit of good luck...and he needed it tonight. He shoved the charm in his pocket and headed for the door.

"Guess we'll have to see if this works."

ooo

The recital went well. In fact, Adrien wasn't sure he had ever played the piece better. The judges present had given him great marks and he was feeling great. So great, he even risked asking to stop by a certain bakery.

He had been turned down.

At first, he felt a bit discouraged, but even being kept from the bakery couldn't dampen the good feeling he had about the recital. He ran up to his room to put his music back and change into pajamas, and the charm fell from his pocket.

"You really are good luck," he said, bending to pick it up. "I need a bit of that in my life."

He placed the charm on his piano before changing into his pajamas and flopping onto his bed. It had been a long, but rewarding day, and he wanted nothing more than to sleep. It wasn't long before he drifted off.

He was walking along the edge of the park, heading toward the bakery, just like he had been doing for weeks. He twisted the ring on his finger nervously, though he couldn't remember what he was nervous about. He paused in front of the bakery, looking at the display of baked goods. They had all his favorites today, and that made him excited. He headed toward the door, opening it for a few straggling customers, before entering.

A girl with dark hair tied into two pigtails stood behind the counter, ringing up some customers with a smile. She laughed as she wrapped up their order, tying it closed with a large pink bow. The process seemed natural as if she had tied order after order like that.

Her eyes flicked up and met his and suddenly the smile became strained. Her face turned pink and she started stumbling over her words with the customers she was currently working with. They laughed at her mess-ups and bid her farewell. Adrien approached her, wanting to tell her something...but what?

"Adrien! What do you here today?"

The voice shocked him. It was so familiar-it was Marinette's voice. He knew her.

"M'lady."

The comment was in his voice, but Adrien wasn't sure why he had said it. He felt like a dork standing there, but he wasn't sure what else to do. Marinette for her part looked like she had seen a ghost.

"W-What?"

Adrien felt like he had done something very wrong. He couldn't figure out what it was, but suddenly the bakery was fading around him.

"Wait!" he cried, reaching out to grab Marinette's hand before she could disappear too. He was too late, and the girl joined the rest of the blurred landscape. Adrien whirled and something hit his legs. Looking down, he realized he had changed clothes. Into...leather.

"What?" he whispered, looking down at his hands.

"Kitty?"

He looked up at the voice, recognizing it immediately. "Marinette?"

"Don't use my name," the girl chastised, coming out of the shadow. She was wearing a red polka-dotted suit.

"Wait," Adrien said, shaking his head. "You're that superhero."

"Are you feeling okay, Kitty?"

Adrien looked back at his outfit, confusing growing. What was going on? Where had the bakery gone? Wasn't Marinette in a coma? Her parents had been so upset...

"I don't know."

The world tilted again and Adrien reached out to grab something to keep himself from falling. However, his hands fell through the air and he ended up on his face. Something was throbbing and he felt stuck to the cold ground beneath him. He could hear footsteps in the distance matching the pounding of his heart.

"Face it, Lady-luck. You lost."

"No," a familiar voice grunted. Marinette's voice. "Stop. You still can do the right thing."

"You don't understand," the voice growled. "You'll never understand."

"Marinette?" Adrien asked, trying to lift his head. Why did everything feel so heavy?

"It's over."