Marinette felt all the blood rush to her as her body froze, her limbs staying static to her sides. Chat had definitely seen her, she could tell in the way he was standing, as though he was unsure of himself. How had this happened? What was she supposed to do now? Gulping, she wondered how he'd react now that he saw her. What does he think? Is he mad at her for lying to him for so long? It wasn't like it was in her hands tell him. Besides, he had visited Marinette out of his own accord, yet it still scared her as she imagined all the ways this right there could go wrong.

She couldn't bring herself to speak, just staring at him with wide, eyes and flushed cheeks. She must've looked like the definition of "deer caught in the headlights". Breathing in, her breath came out in ragged spurts as she tried to calm down her racing heart. God, was he going to just stare at her and not say anything? The tension and suspense were killing her, she just wanted to get this over with and rip it like a bandage.

Just how would all this affect their relationships? As she stared at his serious gaze, she could've sworn she saw a white mask over his eyes instead of his typical black one. The sudden sight petrified her and a gasp escaped her as she stared at him. Anxiety rushed through her body as she remembered just why Chat Blanc had existed. He had known her identity, and somehow that was too much a connection with what was happening right at this moment. Fear struck her and held unto her with a deadly grip.

She knew he'd never hurt her knowingly, or intentionally, but that rather mattered very little when it came to the destruction of the world.

Deciding that the silence was too deafening in contrast with her thoughts, she spoke first. "Chat, look. I can explain, just let's talk after we're done with the akuma, okay?"

His lips pursed slightly as he nodded, head pointed at the floor, before his eyes stared directly into hers, "Who are you?" Her jaw slacked as she stared at an amused Chat in front of her.

What?...

"Chat, I-I'm Marinette, you don't remember me?" She walked closer to him, trying to see if he had a head injury of sorts that would make him forget her. She wasn't sure why exactly she had told him who she was, her knees were practically trembling as she imagined the world ending.

"No, but you clearly know me. I didn't even remember being Chat, until Plagg told me to transform, although I remember other aspects of my life, like being a-" She launched herself to stop him from talking any further, not wanting to put his identity in danger. "Oh, right. The little black cat told me, identities must stay a secret, wonder why." He smirked playfully, before leaning back so that her hand would move away from his mouth. "So, you're that partner he was talking about?" His grin widened in a way that was reminiscent of when they first met.

This whole ordeal was going to be a disaster if he didn't remember his life as a superhero, it was like having to deal with a baby superhero Chat. "Tell me you read the instructions for your powers."

"Yeah, I didn't, at first. Had to transform again. So, you're called…Ladybug, right?" She nodded and waited for him to continue. It felt so wrong to admit being Ladybug as her civilian self, but this was a circumstance that was far from ordinary. "I think I'll you M'Lady, or do you prefer any other nickname?"

"M'Lady is fine, let's just focus, okay?" He nodded, turning his attention on her fully, crossing his arms over his chest in a serious stance.

"So, what can I help you with? Do I need to be your shield? The black cat, well Plagg, said that's what I am mostly." His words left a bitter taste in her mouth even though she was somewhat aware of how he saw himself.

"Don't worry about it, I was just about to search for someone else that could help us. Just do what you think would be helpful." He smiled, putting his hand on her shoulder to show her his support.

"Well, it seems as though this situation is an enormous cat-astrophe. How will we ever fix everything?" He leaned closer; a tad too close for comfort. Marinette felt the vein in her forehead threaten to pop as she stared at her partner, apparently memory loss didn't affect his personality nor his flirtiness.

"All I can hope is for everything to go back to normal after I defeat this akuma. Do you remember being hit by the akuma? I'm starting to believe memory loss is part of its power." She felt his presence beside her as he invaded her personal space.

"What if nothing changes? What if I stay the same?" His breath tickled her skin from how close he had gotten, a flush threatening to form on her cheeks. Pushing him by his forehead, she put distance between the two.

"It has to, it absolutely has to. I'll make sure of it." Her mind flashed to her partner covered in the white suit, his lips pulled taut in a sneer, so different to the grin he held right now. She had to make sure nothing would ever happen. She was resolved on making sure he'd never, they'd never have to go through that. "If you were affected by the akuma, it should turn everything back to normal."

The danger of him knowing her identity, even temporarily, blared warning signs at her. But it was the card she had been dealt with, and it was what she would have to work with.

"M'Lady, I'll forget who you are, won't I?" His smile turned small as he looked down at her, his hand dropping from her shoulder as he grabbed her hand. The gesture would've felt odd if she hadn't become accustomed to it during their friendship.

"Yeah, you have to." She looked up at him, squeezing his hand ever so slightly before making eye contact. "Stay here, I'm going into my room really quick, I'll come back in just a minute, okay?" She didn't wait for his nod or any word of affirmation before turning around and leaving the alley.

Taking a deep sigh, she pushed open the door to the side of her apartment's building. Through here she had a less likely chance of getting noticed by her parents, and her decision proved fruitful when no one came around to greet her presence. Quietly, she walked up the stairs and made her way up to her room.

She walked up to her usual hiding place, taking out the miracle box from its place. Staring back at her was the difficult choice of both which miraculous and who would be the one to wield it. Part of her just wanted to give it to someone that already has experience fighting akumas.

Her hand wandered to the fox miraculous. Perhaps confusing this akuma would be helpful? It wasn't an akuma that fully incapacitated you once it hit you, nor was it an extremely strong akuma this time. "Tikki, would it be wise to choose Alya?"

Said kwami flew to her side, looking up at her with a pensive stare. "It wouldn't be the best choice, but Chloe herself used the miraculous while her identity was known. However, with that came plenty of problems, so you'd have to proceed with caution." Marinette nodded at the kwami's serious tone of voice, staring back at the box, her options clearly laid in front of her, yet she faltered as she thought things over. "Perhaps you should use one yourself? It shouldn't be too bad to use two at the time again."

She turned towards the kwami with surprise ridding her features. Use another herself? Glancing down at the fox miraculous, she extended her hand towards it. The necklace dangled limply in her hand, and she took a deep breath before placing it on her neck. She'd have to make sure Alya didn't see her with the miraculous on as Marinette, but she doubted that'd be a pressing issue.

She made her way back to the alley she had left Chat at, thankfully never running into her parents or anything, even if she had de-transformed just in case, it was always a good thing to not have to stop mid-mission.

Turning the corner to the alley, she breathed out in relief as the sight of her partner came up. He was hunched on his legs, casually leaning against the wall. As she approached him she noticed he was carving something on the wall. "Chat, what the hell are you doing?" He looked up at her, a wide smile gracing his lips.

"I was just bored, so what's the plan?" She briefed him quickly on the matter, touching the fox miraculous lightly as she explained her decision. His brows knitted together as he took in what was just the slightest beginnings of a plan, nodding along what she said.

"So, what exactly do you think will distract her with illusions?" She pursed her lips as she thought it over, she had no idea what she could do. Only that it had felt right to choose the fox miraculous.

"I don't know, I guess we'll find out when we fight her." She let Tikki out of her bag, before calling out her transformation. Seconds later, she stood in front of her partner transformed. It felt all too strange to transform while someone else was looking, no less her partner and friend.

As she turned to face him, she was greeted with an appreciative look on his face. His mouth was wide open as he took her in her suit. "It looks great on you. Although I have to say I'm quite partial to seeing your whole face."

She snorted at his obvious attempt at flirting, "Down, Kitty. You might not remember but both you and I are in separate relationships." He opened his mouth to say something in retort, but she didn't even let him say a syllable before she was pulling herself up unto the rooftop. She was rapidly met with her partner as the two tried to look out for the akuma.

It had been a while since she had heard any screams, which could only mean most of the civilians had either been affected or were hiding to the best of their abilities. "Let's get this over with quickly." With a nod, the two took to two different adjacent rooftops, covering more ground while still keeping close.

It didn't take long to find the akuma walking down one empty street, looking for new victims to subject under its power. "Okay, listen. This akuma isn't fight-based, but it's incredibly nimble. I can only assume that it's due to it being Kagami. You've been affected by her power, so there's no risk regarding that for you. Can you be my shield?" He gave her a quick look before nodding, grabbing his staff as he looked down at the street.

"I'll unite Tikki and Trixx, I don't want to be exposed while doing that." Standing up, she called out the transformation, her usual red and black suit now lined with orange and white lines going up and down her suit.

Taking a deep breath, she swung herself to land a blow on the akuma's head, catching it off-guard for the second time, her kick connected with her temples, throwing it off its balance as she skidded on the street. Standing up straight, Ladybug saw as her partner lunged in to fight the akuma as she tried to find an answer amid battle.

Nothing caught her attention, no matter how much she tried looking at her surroundings. She bit her lip as she called out her Lucky Charm, a red and black dotted Chinese finger trap falling on her hands. She stared at the contraption unamused. What the hell was she even supposed to use this for?

She looked to the side, where Chat was still battling with the akuma, he seemed a tad too amused with the whole situation. She tried getting closer, without getting hit in any way. The object the lucky charm had given her would need her to be extremely close to the akuma but getting in the middle of a fight between her partner and an akuma wasn't on the top of her priorities list.

As she approached the fight, her attention was caught by a new poster from Adrien. But what caught her attention was how it glowed in red with black dots. Glancing back to the akuma, she grinned as a plan started to form in her mind.

Grabbing the flute that laid to her side, she brought it to her lips as she focused on the illusion she wanted to project. She pointed the flute just a ways away so that the illusion wouldn't be too close and get caught in the fight.

"Chat! Leave her." He glanced back at her, narrowly missing a blow to the head as he got distracted by her presence.

She stared at the akuma, it hadn't noticed the illusion yet, and she had yet to figure out how to get it to notice. A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead as both miraculous beeped, the countdown just putting her on edge. She started walking to the side, trying to move the akuma's line of vision.

"Why are you doing this? What happened?" Lethe just looked at her with what Marinette could best describe as the calm before the storm embodied. The guilt and hurt she felt from this akuma were so tangible she almost felt obligated to ask what had caused all this.

"I'll make everyone forget everything they love. That way there will never be anyone with a broken heart. And you can't stop me Ladybug, I'll make you forget everything you've ever loved." Ladybug wasn't one to let herself feel threatened by such words, and it didn't take long for the akuma's eyes to catch what was behind her.

Ladybug knew the sight of Adrien would cause some reaction from the akuma, who at the sight of the blond stilled in her path towards Ladybug. "Kagami, you know I love you. Come back to me." The words that came from her illusion would've stung at least a bit if it weren't for the fact that she was aware it wasn't real.

Lethe shook her head, brows knitting together as the illusion kept talking to her with sweet words. "No, stop. It's not true." Getting behind the illusion, she made sure she couldn't be seen through the illusion.

"I don't know what got you like this, but everything will be alright." The pain in the akuma's eyes almost made her feel bad for doing this, but it was the only plan she had managed to come up with. Taking Lethe's hands, Ladybug quickly shoved the trap into her middle fingers of both hands, incapacitating her as the smoke from the illusion started to fade.

The akuma struggled against the mechanism, glaring at Ladybug for having deceived her. Ignoring the stare from the akuma, she took her ring before throwing it to Chat, who instead of calling out his cataclysm like she had expected him to, threw the ring to the floor and broke the ring with his staff. She almost wanted to laugh at how out of his element he truly was.

The akuma flew out of the destroyed item, as she threw her yo-yo to catch the butterfly. As she let it go, she turned to Chat. Part of her wanted to talk with him like this, while he knew her identity, and it made her desire that they could just know each other's identities, but everything in her knew this was not the right time. She wasn't even sure if there would ever be a right time, but she knew this wasn't it.

"Chat, thanks for being my friend, and partner." He craned his head to the side, a soft smile gracing his lips as he nodded at her. She smiled, throwing the lucky charm into the air, letting the ladybugs fix everything in sight.

She felt her anxiety ebb up as she turned to look at her partner. Had the magic done its work? The confused look that passed her partner's face did nothing to calm her nerves. He turned towards her, head leaned to the side.

"What happened?" She breathed in deeply as she took him in.

"Do you remember?" He put his staff behind his neck, leaning back in that confident stance that only he could look good in.

Rolling his shoulders, he smiled widely, "Remember what?" At his words, she let out a breath of relief, before remembering that he had forgotten something else because of the akuma.

"What do you remember?" He sighed as she refused to give more information, answering her with his own question was going to lead them nowhere, especially as her miraculous gave their second to last warning sound.

"I just remember the akuma hitting me, and suddenly standing on this street, did I manage to be of any help?" She nodded, patting his head gleefully. "Also, may I add, this combination looks great on you, Ladybug." Her cheeks reddened just the slightest at his comment, grinning before throwing her yo-yo to get to an adjacent rooftop.

It was with the thought of being glad that everything had worked out that she remembered that this was the first time she had seen Chat in almost a week, and now she was just a tad mad that he hadn't visited despite being perfectly fine.

… … … … … … … … …

Adrien had half a mind when he decided against visiting Marinette after the akuma attack. Most of him wanted to visit her, but the other part of him, the one that felt responsible for the occurring of the evening, sought out Kagami.

He gulped almost audibly as he sat down near the Seine, his bodyguard just a ways away from him. Waiting for Kagami had never felt so long, but now when all he wanted to do was run across the Parisian rooftops so that he could land on hers, it felt like torture of the highest degree.

He had to fix the mess he'd made, and as quickly as possible. His was far too much of a lonely world that he couldn't bear to lose a friend, only because he wasn't clear to himself over his feelings.

He bit his lip as he saw the familiar silhouette approach him from the side before it dropped to sit next to him. "I'm sorry, you have every right to like anyone you want to. I wasn't fair to you because of my own guilt."

"I understand that you were upset though, I basically played with your feelings." She turned her head to finally look at him, a wistful look crossing her features.

"I knew you were in love with someone else, I knew what I was getting into. I just wish I hadn't endangered my friendship with Marinette just to be with you." A weird-looking smile pulled at her lips as she looked at the water running below their dangling feet. "But she somehow understood that you had made your choice, and she renounced you or at least tried to." His brows knitted as her words didn't seem to make sense at all.

"What do you mean?" She gave him a knowing smile, elbowing his side before laying her head on his shoulder. "You love Marinette, don't you? She might've not been the one you had talked about first, but you love her now." He gulped loudly as he glanced down at his friend as best as he could in their position.

"How do you know?"

"I can tell by the way you look at her. I mean, I'm not good with people at all so I don't usually pick up on these things, but you look at her very differently." She shrugged, she leaned away from him as she stretched her back. "Guess it kind of works out though in the end."

"God, why does everyone talk so cryptically when it comes to Marinette? You, Nino…well that's pretty much it, I don't really talk with anyone else." His shoulders slumped almost comically as he was reminded of his lack of friends he could truly talk with.

She sighed, looking up at the sky before shrugging nonchalantly. "I'm only going to tell you because I'm tired of you both dancing around each other." He stared at her stunned at her words, who was she talking about? Marinette and him? Dancing around each other?

"Marinette loved you, probably still does. You were the person she was, is in love with." The air in his lungs disappeared as he took in her words. Marinette had been in love with him? Which meant he was also the bastard that broke her heart. He didn't have a right to love her after all didn't he?

His throat tightened as he remembered that night he had found Marinette crying because she had seen the guy she was in love with, alongside another girl. And it had been him. It had been him all along, playing as her savior while being the reason for her distraught state.

He just wanted to crawl into her bed, hold her as he asked for forgiveness, and for another chance. He felt sick as he wondered how much she had suffered as he continued blind to her affections.

He truly didn't deserve a chance with her, who had opened her home without a second thought.

"Don't do that." Kagami reprimanding tone startled him from his self-hatred internal rant. He looked at her, how had she known what he was thinking about?

"Life isn't so linear as we wish it were. Sometimes we got to lose something to gain something even better. Perhaps you guys would've ended up together regardless of whether or not this happened. But those are what-ifs, and they'll lead you nowhere." She stood up, hand on his shoulder as she stayed looking towards the flowing river. "It's a waste of time because it did happen, now look to the future you could have with her." With a slight squeeze at his shoulder, she left him alone with his thoughts.

He had to visit Marinette, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to control his feelings right now. With a sigh, he got up from the ledge, walking towards the driver, who had started to get impatient as his curfew quickly approached.

Don't kill me, y'all. So, Chat didn't really find out Marinette's identity, but there's a reason for it.

Also, fight scenes are sooo hard to write, and it's even harder to try to come up with a solution with a lucky charm, trying to make it as convoluted as Mari? Oof impossible. All the respect to authors that write amazing fight scenes, like I wouldn't be able to.

I was wondering whether any of you guys would figure out that Chat had been affected by the akuma. Small detail, I named this akuma after the river of forgetfulness/oblivion in Greek mythology, just thought it would be a nice little thing, but still the name isn't the best. So, the name was a small giveaway to the akuma's powers.

It's kinda a little late in the day but I wanted you guys to not have to wait another day to read the solution to that cliffhanger, welp.